Nobel Learning Communities, Inc. (NASDAQ: NLCI) shareholders woke up to a bit of a surprise after Knowledge Learning Corporation proposed to acquire the company for $13.50 per share in cash. The proposal is the first formal communication from the competitor since its unsolicited expression of interest in pursuing an acquisition at $17 per share in cash on in September. And not many are happy with the dramatically lower price... According to the letter: As you know, in a letter dated September 22, 2008 Knowledge Learning Corporation (KLC) expressed an interest in pursuing a strategic business combination with Nobel Learning Communities, Inc. (Nobel). Subsequently, Nobel announced a process to explore the potential sale of the company and thus invited bids for Nobel. This letter supersedes our September[More...]

As the old maxim goes,"Those who can't do, teach." In public schools, perhaps. But the private Educational Services sector has quietly become a good place to invest vs. almost all of the rest of the lousy market sectors worldwide. After about two years of sharp business pullback, the operating performance of many for-profit educational institutions have started to recover. The slowing growth in the mid-30s age demographic, greater competition and closer regulatory scrutiny had caused a cleansing of less worthy institutions the past few years. Now, with higher unemployment translating into more time to re-tool and retrain, mature students (many with families and/or underemployed with set hours) enrolling in for-profit schools are beginning to translate into higher and more stable online clients gravitating towards student-friendly higher learning ports. Many for-profit institutions are placing greater emphasis on specific trades and other occupations,[More...]