I had speculated in For Profit Education – More LBOs Coming that Educate (EEEE) and Apollo (APOL) were next up, at the heels of Laureate’s (LAUR) acquisition by KKR and associates.
I had missed the announcement that Educate’s management has already arranged such a deal to take the owners of Sylvan tutoring services private.
Tutoring services company Educate Inc. has, in fact, agreed to be acquired by an investment group led by two of its executives for $344 million, or $8 per share in cash. Including assumed debt, the total value of the deal, which has been approved by Educate’s board, is about $535 million. Read the full article »
Marketwatch reports:
The board of Laureate Education (LAUR), a for-profit provider of higher education, has agreed to a $3.1 billion buyout led by founder and Chief Executive Douglas L. Becker and backed by a private equity consortium including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Citigroup Private Equity and hedge fund S.A.C. Capital Management LLC.
Under the deal, announced Sunday, Laureate shareholders would receive $60.50 a share in cash, an 11% premium to the closing price of the stock Friday. Including assumed debt, the total value of the deal is $3.8 billion. The board will actively seek a higher, competing bid under a “go-shop” clause for the next 45 days. While such arrangements don’t typically produce competing bids, the management team’s agreement with the financing group isn’t exclusive, meaning it could, in theory, sign up with a richer offer.
The deal extends a foray by private equity firms into for-profit education following a transaction last March in which Providence Equity Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners paid about $3.4 billion to acquire Education Management. Read the full article »
