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Verod Capital Management, a leading private equity firm based in Nigeria, has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Greensprings Educational Services, according to a statement released on Monday.

The fund manager said the investment will be made through its Oreon Education investment vehicle and will enable Greensprings restructure its capital base and fund growth initiatives.

“Greensprings has a long track record of academic excellence and is led by an experienced CEO and management team,” said Eric Idiahi, Partner at Verod. “We believe in the company’s growth potential and are thrilled about its expansion plans both in the traditional education space and in ancillary services – supplementary education and teacher training.”

Founded in 1985, Greensprings provides pre-¬primary, elementary, secondary and post-¬secondary schooling for both day and boarding students. The school has a blended curriculum that prepares students for both local and international entrance exams.

Greensprings’ campuses in Anthony and Lekki (both in Lagos, Nigeria) have grown from 3 to 2,270 students. The school is now recognized as one of the top schools in the country, with the potential to rapidly expand across West Africa.

“We are pleased to have Verod as a partner and look forward to working with their team to continue providing educational excellence to our students and building new opportunities for growth in Nigeria’s education sector,” said Lai Koiki, Founder and CEO of Greensprings. “Verod has extensive experience supporting the development of companies and we are confident that their resources, network and insights will help us achieve our long-term goals.”

Verod said its Oreon Education vehicle was set up to take advantage of the continued growth in demand for quality K‐12 education in West Africa. And due to its favourable socio-¬demographic environment, Nigeria possesses an attractive market for the K¬‐12 education segment in Africa.

The private equity firm said it expects that the segment will continue to grow owing to increasing affordability for the middle class and the Nigerian government’s increasing role as a steward and enabler rather than a provider of public education.

Founded in 2008, Verod Capital Management invests equity and equity-linked capital in growth companies across various sectors including education, financial services, consumer products, manufacturing and agribusiness. The private equity firm has invested in 14 companies to date. The Greensprings investment is Verod’s sixth investment from its sophomore fund, Verod Capital Growth Fund.