Carlyle Group's venture capital fund plans to announce the purchase today of Wall Street Institute, an English-language-instruction company with locations around the world, from Laureate Education Inc.
Baltimore-based Laureate, formerly Sylvan Learning Systems, is primarily an owner of post-secondary education institutions in Europe and Latin America. Its Wall Street Institute division has been for sale since 2003, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
J. Craig Venter, founder of the J. Craig Venter Institute, is known for his work mapping the human genome. The institute has received an $8.9 million grant.
(Juana Arias -- The Washington Post)
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Brooke Coburn, a managing director in Carlyle's venture capital group, said District-based Carlyle plans to expand Wall Street Institute through acquisition and internal growth. Carlyle bought Wall Street Institute on its own, with some debt financing, instead of bringing in a group of other venture investors, as is common. Terms were not disclosed.
"What we're trying to do is bring traditional venture capital business building skills to bear on the traditional buyout business," Coburn said.
This is the fourth investment in the education sector for the Washington-based private equity company. In 1999, Carlyle's venture capital group invested in Washington's Blackboard Inc., which went public last year. Carlyle also is an investor in LearningMate Solutions and Educomp Datamatics, both based in India.
Wall Street Institute has 285 company-owned and franchised language centers, mostly in Europe and Asia, and had 34,000 students enrolled as of the end of last year. Though it is based in Baltimore, it has no language centers in the United States. It was started in 1972 by an Italian entrepreneur.
-- Terence O'Hara
VIRGINIA
EDS Government Solutions of Herndon won a $183.7 million, seven-year contract to develop and implement a Web-based Medicaid management information system for the state of Wisconsin. EDS has Medicaid contracts with 16 states. Barbara H. Anderson, the company's vice president of U.S. state and local government business, said that instead of phoning a call center, doctors and other Medicaid providers in Wisconsin would be able to sign on to a Web site to determine elibility details "like how many pairs of glasses a person can get a year." The Herndon operation is a division of Electronic Data Systems of Plano, Tex.
Trust Digital of McLean, which provides security software to businesses for mobile devices, said Amit Yoran, the former chief of the Homeland Security Department's cyber security division, joined its board of directors.
KSI Management of Centreville, which owns or manages 8,000 residential units in the Washington area, said a new partnership will permit tenants in its upscale properties to charge their monthly rent payments to American Express credit cards.
LandAmerica Financial Group of Richmond, which provides real estate transaction services, acquired Carolina Home Check Inc., a provider of home inspections in the Raleigh, N.C. area. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Air Culinaire of Arlington, a jet caterer, was bought by Air Chef Holdings of Columbia, Ohio, a provider of in-flight catering for the private jet industry. Terms were not disclosed.
MARYLAND
J. Craig Venter Institute of Rockville said it will sequence the genomes of more than 100 key marine microbes stored in culture collections around the world, helping scientists understand the role that microbes play in the ecology of oceans. The institute received an $8.9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of San Francisco. The Venter Institute was founded by the biologist known for his work mapping the human genome. The Moore foundation was created by the co-founder of Intel and his wife.
