Attention -- Middle-Market Private Equity
& Mezzanine Investors & Lenders
ENCORE CONFERENCE
Private Equity Investing in
For-Profit Education Companies
For-Profit Education Companies
CHAIRED BY
Avy H. Stein, CEO
Willis Stein & Partners LLC
Willis Stein & Partners LLC
Featuring 20 Expert Speakers, including --Jay N. Bartlett, The Parthenon Group
Craig F. Cassell, Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Judith S. Eaton, Council for Higher Education Accreditation
Gregory Ferenbach, Dow Lohnes PLLC
Gregory Ferenbach, Dow Lohnes PLLC
Lincoln E. Frank, Quad Partners LLC
Michael B. Goldstein, Dow Lohnes PLLC
Tim Hannegan, Hannegan Landau Poersch Advocacy
David A. Hoverman, The Parthenon Group
Michael B. Goldstein, Dow Lohnes PLLC
Tim Hannegan, Hannegan Landau Poersch Advocacy
David A. Hoverman, The Parthenon Group
J. Michael Locke, Rasmussen College Inc.
Barry F. Malkin, Apollo Global Inc.
Chip Paucek, 2U Inc.
Ralph Protsik, BSG Team Ventures
Andrew S. Rosen, Kaplan Inc.
Joshua N. Schwartz, East Wind Advisors LLC
Joshua N. Schwartz, East Wind Advisors LLC
Matthew J. Shafer, Vision Capital Americas LLC
Sally Stroup, Association of Private Sector Colleges & Universities
Trace Urdan, Wells Fargo Securities LLC
Trace Urdan, Wells Fargo Securities LLC
FULL-DAY CONFERENCE
Thursday, July 25, 2013
8:00 am – 5:00 pm
New York City
New York City
Designed to Meet the Needs of GPs, LPs, & Managers of Buyout, Growth Equity, Mezzanine, & Lending Funds, as Well as Independent Sponsors, Operating Partners, Portfolio Company Managers, and the Bankers, Lawyers, Accountants,
& Other Advisors Who Support Them
Private equity investing in the for-profit education sector has been quiet lately.
Investors have been lingering on the sidelines, keeping their eyes on Washington policies and politics.
All the same, recognition is growing that it’s the private sector where solutions to America’s education problems are going to come from.
Take, for example, the Big New Thing -- competency-based learning.
This approach replaces traditional lectures, exams, and credit hours with the successful completion of assessments that prove students’ mastery of their subjects. Accreditors are now recognizing this approach -- and the U.S. Dept. of Education has qualified it for Title IV funding.
This is a long-overdue shift the public has been clamoring for -- measuring quality by what students are able to master, not by time spent in a classroom -- and the private sector is offering numerous opportunities to ride this wave.
Another example is the push to enhance offerings in the K-12 space, potentially opening up more early childhood and supplemental education.
And many for-profit providers are finding opportunities in partnerships with hospitals and universities and other large employers, so what was once a demand stemming primarily from affluent parents is now trickling downwards.
These are just some of the excellent reasons why investors who appreciate expanding opportunities in attractively-priced companies belong at The Capital Roundtable’s ENCORE conference -- “Private Equity Investing in For-Profit Education Companies,” being held in New York City on Thursday, July 25th.
Here are even more reasons that new technologies have created among education companies focused on support services --
- Teacher Evaluations -- now being put into the hands of third parties.
- Enrollment Specialists -- outsourcing this key activity to dedicated firms.
- Student Services and Job Placement -- increasingly being turned over to middle-market providers.
- Admissions and Financial Aid IT -- with huge interest in software and SAAS providers.
- Massive Open Online Courses -- helping institutions deliver large-scale MOOCs that are typically free to take and to serve to build an institution’s brand.
- Syndicated Content -- helping institutions save on course development and faculty costs with pre-packaged curriculums to be delivered online with the institution’s own brand.
No argument, this is an amazing moment for private equity investors to explore for-profit education opportunities. And this encore conference from The Capital Roundtable is particularly valuable if you are new to the education marketplace and need to understand its particular complexities such as the Higher Education Reauthorization Act implications.
Just consider --
- The education sector represents the second biggest category of GDP, so there’s a lot of need to address.
- 63% of the deal value last year in the for-profit education sector represented private equity transactions, up from 51% the year earlier.
- There are hundreds of education companies ready for purchase at extremely low multiples -- 4-5 times EBITDA.
It’s important to realize that for financial and other ingrained reasons, not-for-profit education providers have long favored the status quo over cutting-edge innovation.
Yet new wave methods are exactly what students, parents, and employers believe is necessary for America to keep pace with the world. Delivering education through the right means for success -- be it online, ground-based, a blended model or some other hybrid -- continues to be a for-profit industry specialty.
Here are just 6 important reasons to register now to attend this encore conference, “Private Equity Investing in For-Profit Education Companies,” being held in New York City on Thursday, July 25th --
- Realize why competency-based education is being pushed for preparing people for jobs and job skills.
- Understand how to participate in the push to improve early childhood education.
- Hear which sub-sectors and companies are trading at the lowest multiples and where valuations are heading.
- Discover how the new generation of “digital natives” and the push for universal broadband is feeding online innovation.
- Recognize which emerging technologies have the most potential to create disruption -- and opportunity -- within the market.
- Learn why both for-profit and not-for-profit institutions share the same need for lower-cost, more efficient service delivery.
In the post-secondary area, for-profit universities are gaining new respect with their innate ability to excel at competency-based learning.
Capella University is now enrolling hundreds of students using this method, which can be efficiently delivered online with students proceeding at their own pace, and with faculty spending time shaping the assessments and communicating back-and-forth with students.
Competency-based education also has high applicability for the corporate training and development market, where there are huge opportunities for companies that can build a model that succeeds among the sector’s traditionally lower margins.
For-profit institutions with established track records in competency-based post-secondary education are in excellent positions to expand into training.
To chair this timely conference, we’re delighted to welcome Avy H. Stein, chair of Education Corporation of America, which owns Virginia College, Golf Academy of America, Ecotech Institute, Virginia College Online, Culinard – The Culinary Institute of Virginia College and New England College of Business and Finance (NECB). He also serves as the CEO of Willis Stein & Partners, where he is responsible for managing the affairs of Willis Stein and the firm’s private equity funds which have investments in education, recycling, telecommunications, energy, and consumer areas.
Prior to forming Willis Stein, Avy was a managing director of the private equity arm of Continental Bank Corp. -- which was acquired by Bank of America in 1994. He has also served as a consultant on acquisitions, dispositions, and restructurings for NL Industries as founder and CEO of Regent Corp. and its affiliates, as president of Cook Energy Corp., and as an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis.
He serves on the boards of Education Corporation of America, Interval Leisure Group, Roundy's Inc, Strategic Materials, Inc., and Velocitel. He also serves on the board of APSCU (Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities).He is a member of the board and executive committee of the University of Illinois Foundation and the Ravinia Festival.
Avy received his law degree from Harvard Law School, holds a BS degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois, and is also a CPA.
Led by our chair, this conference on July 25th will bring you four panel discussions and feature the shared insights from twenty top PE professionals who are all successful experts in for-profit education companies.
You’ll hear from GPs, operating executives, investment bankers, lenders, consultants, and more -- offering real-world perspectives, lessons learned, and industry outlooks, plus insights on managing current portfolio companies.
Plus, you will find out about recent notable industry deals including --
- John Wiley’s acquisition of online education company Deltak.edu LLC, a provider of marketing and curriculum support to colleges and universities.
- Pearson’s acquisition of EmbanetCompass, a provider of support services for colleges and universities moving their programs online.
- Sterling Partners’ acquisition of Plattform Advertising, a provider of enrollment-management services to colleges and universities, from Arlington Capital Partners.
By attending this Capital Roundtable conference, you’ll be ahead of the pack in recognizing and seizing today’s most promising opportunities come your way. We’ll answer such questions as:
- Which market segments are likely to provide the best returns for 2013 and 2014?
- What are some of the main challenges that PE investors are facing in the education sector?
- How eager are lenders to finance for-profit education deals?
- What are the most common misconceptions about investing in for-profit education … and what is the reality?
- How can first-time investors in the sector avoid traps and pitfalls?
- What are the best practices of managing portfolio companies in the sector?
- How is the legislative climate changing toward for-profit education, and what regulation can and cannot be expected in the future?
- What are the metrics and valuation guidelines that can help you judge a middle-market education deal?
- What have been some recent notable deals with middle-market education companies?
- Which education-related technologies and digital tools have the most impact on the industry today?
- How are private equity firms adding value to their education portfolio companies?
- How should you be preparing your current portfolio companies for exits?