S&P Lowers Education Management’s Rating on Enrollment Decline

Standard & Poor’s cut the credit rating of Education Management Corp., the education chain whose largest owner is Goldman Sachs Group Inc., by one level to CCC+ because of declining enrollment.

The credit rater lowered the Pittsburgh-based company’s rating from B- and said in a statement that it expects higher leverage as fewer students sign up to take classes. Education Management, founded in 1962, has reported two straight years of losses with revenue sinking to $2.5 billion in the year through June 30 from $2.76 billion in the previous 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has $1.28 billion of bonds and loans outstanding, the data show.