South Africa’s private school giant that was bought by a billionaire trust is now a non-profit company

Curro’s acquisition by the Jannie Mouton Foundation for R7.2 billion earlier this year was one of the biggest developments in South African private education in decades.

The acquisition turned Curro into a non-profit organisation, transforming the private education giant into an unlisted, “everlasting independent educational institution”.

Its status as a non-profit company will allow Curro to reinvest all potential returns and surpluses back into the organisation, which the company’s new owners believe will be a boon for the local education system.

To understand how this deal came about, it is important to return to Curro’s roots. The company was founded by its former CEO, Dr Chris van der Merwe.

Having worked in education as a teacher for most of his career up to the late 1990s, Van der Merwe decided it was time for a change.

In 1997, he took a leap of faith and started his own school at the age of 31, beginning with only 40 pupils whom he taught out of his home.

By the next year, there was enough demand that Van der Merwe could lease a premises at his local church. 

Thus, Curro was born, with the name deriving from the Latin word ‘curro’, meaning “I run”, which Van der Merwe chose to symbolise every child learning at their own pace.

From there, the school continued to grow rapidly, and by 2009, Van der Merwe said he had received three offers from companies seeking a stake in his business.

He was almost set to accept one of these offers – until he got a call from Jannie Mouton.

Mouton is a renowned South African businessman, having built the PSG Group from the ground up, and was instrumental in the growth of major companies like Capitec.

His business dealings had made Mouton a billionaire and a legendary name in the South African business world, which is why Van der Merwe was eager to meet with the man himself when he received the call.

Van der Merwe ended up presenting his business to Mouton and the rest of the PSG board. 20 minutes into the presentation, Mouton told Van der Merwe that he had heard enough and was willing to offer R50 million for a 50% stake in Curro.

With PSG’s backing, Curro grew even larger, eventually listing on the JSE and reaching a market cap of R8.25 billion before it was delisted earlier this year.

Van der Merwe stepped down as CEO in 2017, handing over the reins to Andries Greyling, and joined the Jannie Mouton Foundation, a public benefit organisation and trust founded by Mouton.

Less than a decade later, he would take part in a deal to buy back the company he founded.

Inside the deal and going non-profit

Van der Merwe told BizNews that the Jannie Mouton Trust had been sitting on around R8 billion in cash in 2025, and he was charged with deciding how to use it to best benefit the country.

At the time, Curro’s share price had been relatively flat due to less aggressive enrolments, though the company still had a strong cash flow of around R900 million.

Mouton reportedly had a “brain wave” – “Let’s buy out the shareholders of Curro at a premium of 60%.”

This would not only make Curro shareholders happy, but would also allow the foundation to make the private education giant into a non-profit organisation.

As a non-profit, all of the surplus Curro generates would no longer be going towards shareholders.

Rather, this money can now be reinvested into building more schools, improving the quality of education, and providing bursaries for underprivileged children.

For Van der Merwe, this marked a “full-circle moment” and became something truly spectacular that he and the Jannie Mouton Trust could do for the country.

Thus, Curro was delisted from the JSE in January 2026, in a deal that ended up costing the Jannie Mouton Foundation around R7.2 billion.

Jannie Mouton’s son, Jan, told BizNews last year that Curro’s conversion to a non-profit model allows for long-term capital investments, such as better facilities, without needing immediate commercial returns.

Daily Investor reached out to Curro regarding what its strategy will look like as a non-profit organisation, and was referred to the firm intention announcement released when the deal first came about.

According to this announcement, Curro’s previous operating model focused on generating sustainably higher returns for shareholders by improving financial margins.

However, as a non-profit, Curro’s future now involves reinvesting all potential returns and surpluses back into the organisation.

This will allow Curro to accelerate its growth by scaling its network faster, building more schools, expanding its existing facilities, and driving further innovation.

It will also allow the education provider to offer bursaries to students, with a specific focus on augmenting the government’s efforts to deliver excellent education to young South Africans.

It should also be noted that while the Jannie Mouton Foundation was behind the buyout, Curro continues to operate fully independently, with its board and management remaining in place post-acquisition.