10/08/2008 16h01
Anhanguera purchases LFG by US$ 78.3 million
Valor Econômico - 10/08/2008
Yesterday, amidst the market's financial crisis, Anhanguera Educacional announced the acquisition of the Luiz Flávio Gomes (LFG), a teaching institution of preparatory and graduation distant learning courses with 70 thousand students, by R$ 180 million (US$ 78.3 million),. It is one of the biggest acquisitions of Anhanguera, which, since the IPO last year, has already bought 20 teaching institutions in the country. From the total amount, R$ 80 million (US$ 34.8 million) will be paid at the closing of the deal. From this total, R$ 40 million (US$ 17.4 million) proceeds from its own cash, and the other half refers to the share swap with the LFG's Founder, says the criminal attorney, Luiz Flávio Gomes. In 2013, Anhanguera will disburse the remaining R$ 100 million (US$ 43.5 million), which may be paid in cash or in shares. According to Ricardo Scavazza, director of operations and relations with the investors of Anhanguera, the company currently has R$ 15 million (US$ 65.2 million) in cash, from which R$ 50 million (US$ 21.7 million) come from a loan it obtained from Santander on Monday. With LFG's purchase, Anhanguera becomes the biggest higher education institution of the country, with a total of 220 thousand enrolled students. Owner of regular universities and vocational training courses, Anhanguera creates, due to this new acquisition, a third branch of business: the distant learning with 94 thousand students, presided by Luiz Flávio Gomes. The other businesses are vocational training courses, led by José Carlos Semenzato, found of Microlins, which had 30% of its capital acquired, and regular universities, headed by Professor Antonio Carbonari Neto. According to Sergio Werther Duque Estrada, partner of consulting company Valormax, specialized in fusions and acquisitions, Anhanguera and Luiz Flávio Gomes have good synergy regarding the public they serve, C and D classes. "LFG is strong in preparatory courses for the BAR examination and for public contests. A good Law course with good results attracts many people, even to other courses of the college", says the consultant, pointing out that a Law program is relatively cheap for a teaching institution. Founded in 2002, the Luiz Flávio Gomes chain has 322 distant learning poles spread in 290 Brazilian cities.
