Copyright© 1999 by School Services of California, Inc.
By The Way. . .
First Education Fund Launched. The first private equity fund to invest exclusively in for-profit education and training enterprises has been launched with projected commitments of $250 million. The fund was conceived by former Lazard Freres & Co. investment banker Jeffery T. Leeds, who is a principal of the fund's general partner, in collaboration with former Massachusetts Governor (1991-97) William F. Weld, who is Co-Chairman of the fund board of advisors. Investors in the Leeds Equity Partners III fund include GE Capital, the Chrysler Corporation pension fund, and leading multinational banks such as Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, and First Union.
The Leeds fund will seek to capitalize on such trends as the exploding growth of distance learning made possible by the Internet and innovative software. In addition to corporate training, other sectors that the Leeds fund will focus on include professional and adult continuing education; postsecondary education; at-risk youth education and training; tutoring, and testing; childcare, and education content providers.
The sponsors of the Leeds fund believe the education and training sector is hugely appealing as an investment opportunity. In the U.S. alone, spending is estimated to be somewhere between $700 million and $800 annually. The impact on community colleges will be watched closely.