Two of the brightest and most successful firms on Wall Street may soon get an F on investments in a for-profit college, The Post has learned.
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, which owns 43 percent of the money-losing Education Management Corp., is racing to tidy up EDMC’s finances before the end of the month when Washington, in the midst of a crackdown on for-profit colleges, will begin to review the books of the Pittsburgh-based group of schools.
Federal regulators this month, as part of a probe into whether for-profit colleges mislead students and survive primarily to collect federal student loans, forced another group of schools, Corinthian Colleges, to shut its campuses.
EDMC, which owns the 50 Art Institutes across the country, including the one in Midtown Manhattan, has 125,000 students — plus eroding revenues and lots of debt.
It could face a similar fate, sources said.
But it won’t be easy for Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman, to buff up EDMC’s balance sheet.
For starters, sitting across the table from Goldman is Henry Kravis’ KKR, which owns a sizable piece of EDMC’s $1.3 billion in debt and is pressing for a lucrative payout in return for trimming its debt load.
Already, EDMC is said to have tripped its loan covenants. It recently received a waiver until Sept. 15 to straighten it out.
This would seem to put KKR in the driver’s seat — what with the threat of foreclosing on the bonds ever present. But not here.
When it comes to being able to foreclose on EDMC debt, Kravis is impotent.
That is because a change of control in which the creditors get EDMC in forgiveness for their loans — typical in these situations — is unlikely because KKR would first need to get the education departments in the 25-plus states in which the college operates to approve such a transfer, sources said.
“That’s not so easy at all,” the source noted. “Equity has leverage [here] they wouldn’t normally have. It puts them in a strong position.”
KKR, which has owned EDMC debt since Goldman’s 2006 leveraged-buyout, didn’t begin getting state approvals earlier because, a source said, it was surprised at how fast the college’s balance sheet has eroded.
KKR cannot force the company into bankruptcy, either, or it would likely be the death knell for the college, as the US Department of Education would likely immediately stop all student loan payments.
One would think this would give Blankfein the upper hand. After all, just how hard can Kravis push?
As it turns out, quite hard.
KKR and the other creditors want warrants, or similar debt instruments, that give them potential control several years down the road, a source said.
A source close to the creditors asked, “Does Goldman want the “reputational risk” of having Education Management liquidate, forcing 23,000 employees and 125,000 students into the cold?
Among other opportunities, EDMC’s Art Institute conducts an annual “Best Teen Chef” competition that awards a $40,000 scholarship.
So with the clock ticking, both KKR and Goldman, who are now far apart, face the possibility of their investment blowing up in their faces.
The DOE, KKR and Goldman declined comment.