Career Education Corp. (CECO): Blum Capital Partners Cuts Activist Stake To 9.4%

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Blum Capital Partners, managed by Richard Blum, has reduced its position in Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO). A new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Blum Capital Partners holds around 6.36 million shares of the company, down from around 7.14 million shares the fund held previously. The new stake is equal to 9.4% of Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO)’s common stock.

Richard Blum

Blum Capital Partners was founded by Richard Blum in 1975. The San Francisco-based public strategic block and private investment firm has about $1.6 billion of equity capital under management. It focuses on small- to mid-cap companies in both the public and private markets. Prior to forming Blum Capital Partners, Mr. Blum was employed at Sutro & Co. The concentrated equity portfolio of the Blum Capital is valued at over $415 million as of the end of September and contains only four positions, with CBRE Group Inc (NYSE:CBG), Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO), and Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI) representing top three equity positions. In its latest 13F, Blum Capital disclosed ownership of 11.71 million shares of CBRE Group Inc (NYSE:CBG), the stake amassing 83.9% of the total portfolio value. The investor disclosed holding 6.60 million shares of Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO), which was its second largest holding. Blum Capital has also reported ownership of 1.94 million shares of Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI) as at the end of the third quarter.

In October 2014, Blum Capital Partners disclosed reducing its activist stake in ITT Educational Services Inc. (NYSE:ESI) to more than 1.85 million shares from over 2.0 million shares held earlier. As a result, Blum Capital Partners’ stake in ITT Educational Services Inc. (NYSE:ESI) dropped to 7.9% of all outstanding shares of the company.

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