OFG Education, the British schools group formerly known as Outcomes First Group, has acquired Crown American Private School in Ajman, according to Dubai advisory firm Ideal Capital Management Consultants, which advised the school’s shareholders on the sale.
Ideal Capital said the transaction was a notable deal for the UAE’s education sector and reflected continued investor interest in the country’s private schools market. Neither the buyer nor the adviser disclosed the price.
Three schools in one month
The Ajman school is one of three that OFG Education announced it had bought earlier this month. Tes reported on 7 October that the group had acquired Crown American Private School, The Gulf International Private Academy, also an American-curriculum school from kindergarten to grade 12, and Escuela IDEO, a private school in Madrid with around 1,200 pupils. International School Today gave the location of The Gulf International Private Academy as Al Ain, in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
According to Tes, the purchases take the group to four international settings, following its acquisition of Colegio Areteia in Madrid in January, and all three newly acquired schools have a focus on inclusion and early intervention alongside academic results. The group said the deals fit its aim of building a “diverse international education group”.
David Leatherbarrow, the group’s chief executive, told Tes: “Understanding individual needs and adapting education accordingly is something we have focused on for more than 20 years.”
From UK specialist provider to Gulf operator
OFG Education was until recently a UK-only specialist education provider, running specialist provision schools, according to Tes. It moved into mainstream private education in 2025, when it acquired the Blenheim Schools business, made up of four UK independent schools and Beech Hall School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to International School Today. A further 12 UK schools bought from Cognita later joined the Blenheim brand, the publication reported.
In July the group said it was setting up a regional headquarters in Dubai to lead growth across the Gulf Cooperation Council and appointed Mark Whitfield as regional chief executive, International School Today reported. “The Gulf is one of the most dynamic education markets globally, with a strong focus on quality, innovation and inclusion,” Whitfield said at the time. Leatherbarrow said: “This is a significant step in extending our international reach and impact. The GCC has a clear ambition to build world-class, inclusive education systems.”
The school
Crown American Private School is a co-educational school in the Al Jurf 2 area of Ajman, teaching an American curriculum based on California state standards from KG1 to grade 12, for pupils aged three to 18, according to the UAE schools guide Talem. Talem lists it as having about 580 pupils and annual fees of between AED 13,000 and AED 28,300 for 2026 to 2027, with accreditation from the US-based body Cognia. The guide says the school opened too recently to be included in the Ajman government’s 2023 to 2024 inspection cycle and does not yet have a Ministry of Education rating.
Talem lists the school as part of the Avalon Group. Avalon Global Education, founded by Vinod Sharma, has sold an Ajman school before: in November 2023 it sold a majority stake in its British-curriculum Crown Private School to Global School Management, the education platform backed by Safanad, according to a statement published on Zawya. That statement said Crown Private School had more than 1,000 pupils, and that Ideal Capital also advised Avalon on that deal. It described Avalon as operating “a leading American curriculum school” in Ajman as well.
Ajman’s private schools market
The Crown American sale is the second deal involving an Avalon school in Ajman in three years. At the time of the 2023 transaction, Global School Management said it operated more than 165 schools with 45,000 students across the US, the Middle East, the UK and Africa, and that the Crown deal was its first school acquisition in the UAE. The statement cited growth of 5.7 per cent in Ajman’s economy in 2022.
OFG Education has not said whether it plans to change the curriculum, name or leadership at Crown American Private School.
