Education Management Corporation will acquire all 6.5 million shares of Argosy Education Group Inc. for $12 per share. Leaders of the companies, both major players in for-profit higher education, said that the merger’s impact would be at the corporate level and that it would not affect students.
“The individual schools will not be changed by the merger,” said Michael C. Markovitz, Argosy’s chairman.
The names of the schools, he said, will not change, and course offerings will evolve as they normally would. If EDMC, as the Education Management Corporation is known, and Argosy have schools in the same city, there are no plans to combine them, he said.
EDMC, based in Pittsburgh, operates 22 art schools nationwide, most of which, like the Art Institute of Dallas, are named for the cities in which they are located. The company also operates two other educational institutions -- the New York Restaurant School, which will be renamed the Art Institute of New York City, and the National Center for Paralegal Training, in Atlanta. Total enrollment for all 24 EDMC institutes in the fall of 2000 was 28,000. The institutes offer bachelor’s- and associate-degree programs, as well as nondegree programs in design, culinary arts, communications, and fashion.
Last month, Argosy, based in Chicago, announced that it had the approval of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools to combine its three largest institutions -- the American School of Professional Psychology, the University of Sarasota, and the Medical Institute of Minnesota -- to create Argosy University.
Argosy will have 14 campuses across the country offering a mix of doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s, and associate degrees in education, psychology, business, and health care. The university also owns Western State University College of Law, John Marshall Law School, PrimeTech Institute, in Toronto, and a professional-services division, which offers licensure-preparation courses for the mental-health professions and continuing education for schoolteachers.
In the fall of 2000, total enrollment of Argosy schools was more than 5,000 students.
Argosy last week reported third-quarter revenues of $16.8-million, a 33-percent increase over revenues for the period in fiscal 2000. Its net income was $1.1-million, versus $1.4-million a year ago.
Robert B. Knutson, chairman and chief executive officer of EDMC, said that the deal, expected to become final in November, is subject to approval by the host states, the North Central Association, and the U.S. Department of Education.
http://chronicle.com Section: Money & Management Page: A26