Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy may acquire a school within 18 months, CEO says

20/06/2012	Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy may acquire a school within 18 months, CEO says
Story	Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy (TFA), the Chicago, Illinois-based media arts college, seeks to acquire a school with related curriculum in the next 18 months, said Howard Tullman, president and CEO. TFA offers two-year degree programs in media and digital arts. The company seeks to acquire schools particularly in New York, the home base of TFA’s strategic partner, Tribeca Enterprises. Other cities of interest include Austin, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Students have expressed an appetite for longer and more diverse programs, along with business and entrepreneurial training to become more valuable employees, Tullman said. TFA plans to introduce two-year programs in new disciplines along with three- and four-year programs. It would like to offer programs in social media, mobile applications, design, and communications. The development and accreditation process for such offerings will take one to two years. Earlier this month, TFA sold a majority stake to Sterling Partners for an undisclosed sum. It is working with Sterling to evaluate its options for acquisitions, but has not yet appointed an advisor, Tullman said. He anticipates moving forward on an acquisition within 18 months. Internationally, TFA also has its sights on the UAE or Qatar, which hosts the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Strong government support and the lack of bureaucratic regulatory hurdles in this region are incentives for offshore expansion, Tullman explained. While there is no set time frame, Tullman envisions digital media centers for university communities that are already in place, such as Doha’s Education City, which hosts eight universities. The UK, China, France, and India have also shown strong interest in TFA’s programs, but a new location would depend upon global interest in its online offerings, Tullman said. Some of its offerings are well-suited to online courses, such as game development and animation, while other disciplines such as film rely on physical locations. Traditional four-year schools want to partner with TFA to add digital arts majors using TFA’s curriculum instead of developing their own program, Tullman said. They range from the Big Ten to state schools and small humanities colleges. Prior to its stake sale to Sterling, TFA had been searching for a buyer for some time, Tullman said. It eventually ruled out large for-profit education buyers because those institutions are under congressional scrutiny and have low stock values. Once TFA can provide Title IV funding to students and has grown to a larger size, it will be a better target for strategic buyers, a source familiar with the company said. Due to regulatory uncertainty, future interest is more likely to come from media companies, gaming companies, or larger private digital arts schools. The source named Orlando, Florida-based Full Sail University, an art, music, and film school, as a good fit for TFA. Accredited in April 2011, TFA is in the process of receiving approval to provide Title IV aid to students, which could boost enrollment, which has grown by 500% since the school’s foundation, Tullman said. Demand for digital media professionals is growing steadily and TFA’s student enrollment could grow in three-to-five years to between 3,000 to 5,500 from roughly 600 today. At that rate, more add-on buys may be necessary, the source said. Henry Druker of Druker Capital and Stifel Nicolaus advised TFA on its stake sale to Sterling. by Elise Garofalo in New York
Source	Proprietary Intelligence