Brazil Medical School Giant Afya Agrees to Merger With Yduqs
Nasdaq-listed medical education provider Afya and Brazilian university network Yduqs sign a binding merger agreement to build an education powerhouse.
On September 23, 2026, Nasdaq-listed medical education provider Afya Limited and Brazilian higher education group Yduqs Participações signed a binding merger agreement to combine their businesses. The transaction brings together Afya’s specialized medical education ecosystem with Yduqs' broad higher education infrastructure, creating a massive consolidated player in the lucrative Latin American professional training market.
Under the terms of the agreement, Afya will merge into Yduqs, which will survive as the holding company for the combined group. To secure approval for the business combination, the controlling shareholders of both companies signed a formal voting commitment agreement on September 23, 2026. The exchange ratio has been set at approximately 6.41 new Yduqs shares for each Afya share. Upon completion, Afya shareholders will hold 69% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis, while existing Yduqs shareholders will hold 31%. German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, Afya's controlling shareholder, will hold a 47.4% stake in the combined entity.
The tie-up represents a major consolidation in the private Brazilian higher education sector, where operators have increasingly pooled resources to gain scale in high-margin professional courses. For ordinary Brazilians, the private university system is the primary path to professional careers, as public universities have highly competitive admissions. Private medical schools are particularly lucrative because of high tuition fees and steady demand. According to estimates from JP Morgan, the combined entity will control roughly 17% of Brazil's medical school market, making it an undisputed heavyweight in training the country's future healthcare professionals.
The transaction is subject to regulatory hurdles, most notably from Brazil's antitrust regulator, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE). Because of the sheer scale of the merger, the companies will face intense antitrust scrutiny regarding market concentration in regional medical programs. The companies have agreed to submit the transaction to CADE and have set a long stop date of March 31, 2028, to complete the deal.
What it touches
The transaction directly impacts shares of both companies. Following the completion of the merger, Afya’s Class A common shares will be delisted from the Nasdaq. The combined company will be listed solely on the Novo Mercado segment of Brazil's B3 stock exchange under Yduqs' corporate umbrella.