Exclusive: Education company Blackboard seeks $3 billion sale - sources

Blackboard Inc, a U.S. software company that provides learning tools for high school and university classrooms, is exploring a sale that it hopes could value it at as much as $3 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.Blackboard's majority owner, private equity firm Providence Equity Partners LLC, has hired Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) to run an auction for the company, the people said this week.Blackboard has annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around $200 million, some of the people added.The sources asked not to be identified because the sale process is confidential. Providence Equity and Blackboard declined to comment, while Deutsche Bank and Bank of America did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Based in Washington D.C., Blackboard provides custom software to help students collaborate on assignments and communicate with teachers. It serves 1,900 institutions in 100 countries, with 80 percent of the top academic institutions using its software, according to its website.Providence took Blackboard private in 2011 for $1.64 billion and also assumed $130 million in net debt. A pioneer in education management software, Blackboard has seen its growth slow in recent years as cheaper and faster software upstarts such as Instructure Inc have tried to encroach on its turf. Since its launch in 2011, Instructure has signed up 1,200 colleges and school districts, according to its website.  The sector has been very active for private equity firms. Last year, Hellman & Friedman LLC acquired K-12 education company Renaissance Learning for $1.1 billion, and Charterhouse Capital Partners acquired Skillsoft, which provides educational software to businesses, for more than $2 billion. Apollo Global Management LLC (APO.N) has held talks with investment banks about taking McGraw-Hill Education public later this year in an IPO worth more than $5 billion, reported in April.Providence has previously invested in education companies ITT Educational Services Inc (ESI.N), Archipelago Learning and Education Management Corp. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker, Greg Roumeliotis and Mike Stone in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)