Chicago-based Glencoe Capital invests $10m in American Education Group

The funding will help AEG to provide numerous resources to enhance the performance of the 13 partner schools that they manage, and four more schools within the next few months. This will include capital for growth and expansion, academic programming assistance, business management services and marketing expertise.

AEG was formed in 2007 in partnership with private equity investor Winona Capital Management. Jason Duzan, managing director of Glencoe Capital’s Michigan Opportunities Fund, said, “American Education Group is growing rapidly and is an attractive investment opportunity in the specialised education sector, given rising student needs and parents’ demands for schools that provide individualised programmes.”

As a participant in the InvestMichigan! initiative, Glencoe Capital's Michigan Opportunities Fund is a partnership between the public and private sectors, leveraging equity capital to make lead-sponsored acquisitions and growth equity investments in companies in the state of Michigan or with the prospect of expanding operations into the state.

Dunzan added, “This investment is in keeping with our Michigan Opportunities Fund’s objective to invest in growing companies in Michigan. The concept of supporting an accomplished Michigan-based management team in this innovative educational platform is exciting to us.”

The Michigan Opportunities Fund invests in companies that show the promise of future growth or where operational improvements will create additional value. Investment targets are lower middle-market companies with EBITDA in excess of $3m and with minimum equity capital requirements of $10m.  

Glencoe Capital is a private equity firm focused on lead-sponsored acquisitions and growth equity investments in lower middle-market companies, and has over $1.3bn under management. It has experience in the for-profit education sector, having acquired Child Development Schools Inc. in 2006 and providing capital to fund its growth. Child Development Schools has gone on to become the fifth largest for-profit education and early childhood care provider in the US.

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