News Releases
Capella Education Company Defers Pricing of its Planned Offering of Common Stock
MINNEAPOLIS, April 17, 2007 – Capella Education Company (NASDAQ:CPLA), a provider of exclusively online post-secondary education through its wholly owned subsidiary Capella University, today announced that it has deferred at the current time the pricing of its planned follow-on offering of common stock.
“We are very pleased with the quality of dialogue in our meetings with investors,” said Stephen Shank, Chairman and CEO of Capella. “Until we have fully completed our internal review and filed our response to the New York Attorney General's office, we believe it is prudent to defer our offering of common stock at this time,” concluded Shank.
The Company is currently gathering facts in response to the April 9th request by the State of New York Office of the Attorney General. The Attorney General's inquiry, which is focused on potential conflicts of interest in the student loan industry, has requested information regarding certain matters, including a consulting arrangement that Capella's Director of Financial Aid participated in from late 2005 to early 2006 with Student Loan Xpress, one of 15 institutions listed as recommended lenders for student loans by Capella. The Company is responding to the Attorney General's Office and is conducting its own internal review and expects to file a response with Attorney General during the week of April 23, 2007.
“We take the issue raised by the New York Attorney General seriously and remain committed to the highest standards of quality and integrity,” said Shank. “We want to thoroughly review and validate all the facts surrounding the Company's recommended lender list, and to be able to share our findings with the Office of the New York Attorney General and investors,” concluded Shank.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information in this news release does not relate to historical financial information, including statements relating to our future prospects and our expectations regarding the inquiry currently being conducted by the New York Attorney General and our related internal review of financial aid practices, including the timing of our response to the New York Attorney General, may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available at the time those statements are made or management’s good faith belief as of that time with regard to future events, and should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results in the future to differ materially from its historical results and those presently anticipated or projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after such date.
Factors that could cause the company's results to differ materially from those contained in its forward-looking statements are included under, among others, the heading “Risk Factors” in our Form 10–K and our most recent Form S-1 on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Capella Education Company
Founded in 1991, Capella Education Company is an exclusively online post-secondary education services company. Through our wholly owned subsidiary, Capella University, regionally accredited by The Higher Learning Commission*, we offer a variety of doctoral, master's and bachelor's online degree programs, in the following disciplines: business, organization and management; education; psychology; human services; and information technology. Our academic offerings combine competency-based curricula with the convenience and flexibility of an online learning format. As of December 31, 2006, Capella University offered over 760 online courses and 13 academic programs with 75 specializations to approximately 18,000 learners.
* Capella University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), http://www.ncahlc.org.
Capella University, 225 South Sixth Street, Ninth Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55402, 1-888-CAPELLA (227-3552), www.capella.edu.