Prospect Partners Expands Post-Secondary Operating School Platform With Acquisition of Utah Institution

CHICAGO, Ill.—June 8, 2007: Leading lower-middle-market private equity firm Prospect Partners, LLC has announced the acquisition of Certified Careers Institute of Salt Lake City, Utah by portfolio company Education Futures Group, LLC (EFG), an operator of smaller accredited for-profit post-secondary schools in secondary markets in the United States. Certified Careers Institute is the second education operating company acquired by EFG in the last year.

Founded in 1983, Certified Careers Institute provides specialized education that prepares students for careers in a variety of allied health-related fields, including employment as medical assistants, medical office specialists, dental assistants and massage therapists. Certified Careers Institute has campuses in Salt Lake City and Clearfield, Utah, and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT).

"As we expand the EFG platform, we seek to add new campuses either organically or by making acquisitions of institutions with strong track records of educational quality," says Maneesh K. Chawla, a Principal at Prospect Partners. "Certified Careers Institute also broadens our reach from Texas and New Mexico into the Mountain states and, more specifically, into a market we believe has substantial opportunities for growth."

EFG was formed by Prospect Partners and Jim Tolbert, a veteran post-secondary school operator who previously was a minority owner of Education Corporation of America, a leading post-secondary school operator and a former portfolio company of Prospect Partners. Mr. Tolbert runs EFG as Chief Executive Officer. In 2006, EFG acquired, with management, Computer Career Center of El Paso, Texas. Computer Career Center offers diversified post-secondary education programs in such fields as information technology, allied health, business and legal. Computer Career Center recently opened a branch office in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

"EFG is a highly-experienced career school operator whose team has extensive backgrounds in career school ownership and operations," says Mr. Tolbert. "We look forward to working with Certified Careers Institute's management team and employees to further invest in and build that school and its programs under the EFG umbrella."

EFG continues to seek acquisitions of smaller accredited post-secondary education operating companies with revenues between $1 million and $10 million in secondary markets across the United States, where the target companies could benefit from an operationally-oriented buyer with a strong capital base.

About Prospect Partners, LLC

Prospect Partners, LLC, of Chicago, Illinois is a leading lower-middle-market private equity firm, managing $270 million in two funds. Since its founding in 1998, Prospect Partners has focused on management-led leveraged acquisitions of small niche leaders with revenues typically between $10 million and $30 million; the firm has invested in more than 60 companies across a wide variety of niche consumer, specialty distribution and service markets throughout the United States.