Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions

Related Party Transactions

Santa Fe University of Arts and Design (SFUAD) is owned by Wengen, our controlling stockholder. Laureate is affiliated with SFUAD, but does not own or control it and, accordingly, SFUAD is not included in the financial results of Laureate. On April 12, 2017, SFUAD announced that it planned to close after the end of the 2017-2018 academic year; its teach-out plan was subsequently approved by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and completed in 2018. As of December 31, 2017, Laureate had a payable to SFUAD of approximately $1,250 related to a surety bond issued to the New Mexico Higher Education Department that Laureate was maintaining on SFUAD's behalf. The cash collateral for the bond, which was recorded in Restricted cash on our December 31, 2017 Consolidated Balance Sheet, was funded by SFUAD and therefore was recorded as a payable to SFUAD. During the fourth quarter of 2018, this bond was released and SFUAD was fully repaid.

During the first quarter of 2017, Laureate made a charitable contribution of $2,000 to the Sylvan Laureate Foundation, a non-profit foundation that supports programs designed to promote education and best practices and principles in teaching. The payment was accrued in prior periods.

An affiliate of one of the Wengen investors acted as a financial adviser in connection with our IPO and our 2017 debt refinancing and we paid this affiliate $2,768 during the year ended December 31, 2017.

We have agreements in place with I/O Data Centers, LLC and affiliates (I/O) pursuant to which I/O provides modular data center solutions to the Company. One of our directors was also a director of the parent of I/O. Additionally, this director, along with our former CEO, and Sterling Partners (a private equity firm co-founded by the director, our former CEO, and others) maintained an ownership interest in I/O through 2017. During the year ended December 31, 2017 we incurred costs for these agreements of approximately $500.

As part of our initial public offering in February 2017, an affiliate of one of the Wengen investors purchased from the underwriters 3,571 shares of Class A common stock at the initial public offering price.

As part of the issuance and sale of shares of the Company’s Series A Preferred Stock in December 2016, KKR and Snow Phipps, affiliates of Wengen, purchased from the Company 60 and 15 shares of Series A Preferred Stock, respectively. During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company paid cash dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock totaling $11,103 and $18,052, respectively, of which $1,822 and $3,644, respectively, was paid to KKR and Snow Phipps. As discussed in Note 14, Share-based Compensation and Equity, on April 23, 2018, all of the issued and outstanding shares of the Series A Preferred Stock were converted into Class A common stock.

As further discussed in Note 25, Subsequent Events, the buyer of our Costa Rica operations is controlled by certain affiliates of Sterling Capital Partners II, L.P., an entity that has the right to designate a director to the Laureate Board of Directors pursuant to a securityholders agreement.