Anhanguera is going back to shopping
Valor Econômico
With R$ 1 billion (US$ 588.2 million) in cash, Anhanguera is one of the highest rated educational institutions to pull the resumption of consolidation in the sector of education that should happen in 2011. Over the past two years, the educational group organized only one purchase, a Rio de Janeiro Plinio Leite Rio, last month. The shortage of business was not an isolated phenomenon of Anhanguera but almost of the entire sector, which promoted large transactions between 2007 and 2008 and should go back to shopping strongly this year.
Anhanguera, the segment leader with nearly 300 thousand students, wants to double the number of campuses, which have the capacity to meet half a million students by the end of next year. The goal is to grow from the current 54 to 100 campuses, spread throughout the country and thus cease being an institution basically from São Paulo. Of the 46 new campuses, 80% will come from acquisitions - which shows the appetite of the company. The national expansion is one of the three pillars of growth planned by Anhanguera for the next five years. The company is benefited the cash flow of R$ 1 billion (US$ 588.2 million). Of this amount, R$ 844 million (US$ 496.5 million) were obtained in December via stock offering.
Another strong bet of Anhanguera is the technology - where the company has ambitious plans. Aimed at the popular public, the educational group wants that its academic content reach the students not only through books, but also through computers, cell phones, tablets and other tech gadgets. No wonder the company hired, in September, to the new position of CEO, the former president of Google in Brazil, Alexandre Dias. He has the mission to make the Anhanguera differentiate itself from competitors by its technology platform.
The third pillar of the growth plan is also related to technology, focusing on the distance learning. The goal is to increase the share of the post-graduate programs, free and professional, in the revenue, which today is 20%. Currently, the main source of revenue, which in the past nine months totaled R$ 1.1 billion (US$ 647.1 million), is the graduation. The goal is that in five years this share jump to 50%.