American Learning Corp. of Huntington Beach said...

American Learning Corp. of Huntington Beach said it plans to use the $8.5 million it has raised with a public offering to nearly triple the number of reading and mathematics learning centers it operates. The company also plans to use $2.9 million of the proceeds to repay a loan from its parent, Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corp. of Chicago. A spokesman for William Blair & Co. of Chicago, which underwrote the offering, said the 850,000 shares were priced at $10 each. The sale will bring the number of American Learning common shares outstanding to 3.85 million, the Blair spokesman said. American Learning, which operates 82 centers, primarily in California, Texas and Illinois, plans to open 60 centers this year and 80 more in 1987.