Return of the King

Did you think this recent wave of deal making had it all? Well, everything but a cameo from the junk bond king.

Michael Milken, who has kept a low-profile the past few years, is looking to complete a private placement in his educational company Knowledge Universe:

March 20 (Bloomberg)—Michael Milken, the former junk bond chief from Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. who served prison time for securities fraud, is back raising money. This time, for himself.

Milken plans to sell a $1 billion stake in his group of educational companies called Knowledge Universe. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group are helping find investors for the private sale, according to U.S. regulatory filings.

For the past decade, Milken has run his own research institute and focused on philanthropy. He also has funded Knowledge Universe with his money and that of close associates including Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison. He has commitments for ``more than'' half the offering, said Milken spokesman Geoffrey Moore in a March 14 statement. Investor sentiment has waxed and waned in the education space the past few years but valuations have firmed up since Goldman Sachs and SAC Capital, among others, were involved in deals to buy Education Management and Laureate Education, respectively.

Still, Knowledge Universe is no pure play on post-secondary education. And their investments spun out to public holders have struggled as any investor in LeapFrog Enterprises (LF-NYSE) could attest.

Milken has been a perennial attendee at Credit Suisse’s annual Global Services Conference held in Phoenix every March, and the timing of the deal announcement shortly after this year’s conference concluded is probably no coincidence.

Still, Milken’s lifetime ban from serving as a broker or investment adviser should limit his flexibility, and it no doubt pains him to sit on the sidelines and watch the recent era of deal making unfold.

Can you imagine how crazy this market would be if we had Milken running around stuffing “highly confident” commitments in everybody’s inbox?

Dealmakers like Steven Schwarzman are so boring. His birthday party was a joke compared to the Predators Ball.

Now that was a conference.
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