Laureate Education continues to get schooled in its first days as a public company.
Shares of for-profit school, formerly known as Sylvan Learning Center, fell nearly 3 percent in Thursday morning trading, slipping below $13.
In its trading debut Wednesday, Laureate shares closed at $13.25, down 5.4 percent from its IPO price.
The continued declines add insult to injury for the troubled IPO.
Laureate was planning to launch shares in the $17 to $20 a share range, according to regulatory filings. Instead the IPO priced at $14 a share.
Taking into account Thursday’s trading, Laureate shares are down nearly 30 percent from the company’s desired range.
To raise the desired $490 million, bankers increased the size of the offering late Tuesday night.
Laurate stands in sharp contrast to other for-profit schools, which have seen their share prices soar in recent months.
DeVry Education Group shares are up more than 50 percent in the last six months, to $33.45 as of Thursday afternoon, while Strayer Education shares have risen 80 percent over the same span, to $82.38, as of Thursday afternoon. In addition, Grand Canyon Education shares are up 40 percent since last August, to $58.25 as of Thursday afternoon trading.
Laureate Education’s fizzle out of the gate came even after the school’s current owners, KKR, agreed on Tuesday to purchase $50 million, or roughly 10 percent of the offering.
KKR’s investment was an “endorsement” of the private equity firm’s long-term outlook for Laureate, sources close to the transaction told The Post.
Others saw it differently.
“It was a disappointing reception for this IPO,” Kathleen Smith of Renaissance Capital, an IPO research firm and asset manager told The Post.
KKR “was willing to put money on the line to make the deal work,” she added, citing Laureate’s leverage issues and foreign currency risk.
Representatives for KKR and Laureate declined to comment.
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