The Education Investor: First Quarter 2005

Private investment in education rose 63% in dollar terms and 40% in terms of the number of transactions during the first quarter of 2005, relative to the fourth quarter of 2004. With a total of $103.3 million in investments across all sectors, postsecondary institutions experienced the strongest showing with 58% of investment dollars.

On the merger and acquisitions (M&A) front, 30 acquisitions of education businesses were announced in the first quarter, up 76% from last quarter. The largest deal was ProQuest’s acquisition of Explore Learning for $361 million. With only five transactions, M&A activity in the postsecondary solutions space was down from previous quarters. Finally, M&A activity in the corporate and government space rose sharply during the first quarter of 2005, with nine total transactions.