How One Firm Warmed the Frozen Offering Market and Earned 17.1x In The Process
As promised, I spoke with Phil Clough of ABS Capital Partners on his firm's blockbuster, crisis-defying exit. By blockbuster I mean a 17.5x return. By crisis-defying I mean IPO in the coldest offering climate in the past five years. Let's back up and look at what happened before asking how. In 2000, the Baltimore-based middle market buyout firm paid $10 million for American Public Education Group, an online higher education business that serves the military, police and fire department communities. The deal valued the company at $20 million In 2005, the firm invested $8 million more as it watched its investment and the online learning industry at large grow exponentially. That deal valued the company at $50 million. In 2007, with the company growing at a 70% clip, American Public Education went public and ABS made three times its money ($54 million). It only goes up from there. In February the stock was
