initial public offerings (IPOs) trading on American exchanges

Monday, April 9, 2012

Laureate Education eyes IPO up to $750 million


(Reuters) - For-profit higher education company Laureate Education, which has former U.S. President Bill Clinton as honorary chancellor, has picked banks to lead an initial public offering that could raise as much as $750 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

Laureate has chosen Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Barclays (BARC.L) to lead the proposed offering, the sources said. Citigroup (C.N) is also an active bookrunner in the IPO, they added.

The Baltimore, Maryland-based company, which was bought by a consortium led by its chief executive, Douglas Becker, and private equity firm KKR & Co LP (KKR.N) for $3.82 billion in 2007, is expected to file an IPO registration document after June, the sources said.

They added that no decision had been made on the size of the offering, but the IPO could raise $500 million to $750 million.

Representatives for Laureate, KKR, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Citigroup declined to comment.

Sources told Reuters on March 29 that Laureate was in the process of appointing investment banks for an IPO.

Laureate Education runs a network of 60 accredited campus-based and online universities offering undergraduate and graduate degrees to more than 675,000 students around the world, according to its website.

About half Laureate's revenues come from Mexico, Chile and Brazil, where post-secondary enrollment is growing faster than in the United States and international schools are less regulated, according to a recent Standard & Poor's note.

The consortium that bought Laureate in 2007 also included investment firms Citigroup Private Equity, S.A.C. Capital Management LLC, SPG Partners, Bregal Investments, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Sterling Capital, Makena Capital, Torreal S.A. and Southern Cross Capital.

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