Global Education & Technology Group Limited, a leading China-based provider of education services including foreign language training and test preperation, raised $67 million by offering 6,375,000 ADSs at $10.50 per ADS, at high end of its $8.50 to $10.50 range. The $10.50 per ADS pricing gives the company a market value of $266 million, more than 6x the $41 million in revenue it booked over the last twelve months. The stock is expected to open for trading on Friday on the NASDAQ under the symbol GEDU. Credit Suisse and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as lead managers on the deal.
Beijing-based Global Education & Technology marks the sixth IPO from a China-based company to list on a US exchange over the last month. China-based IPOs have been among some of the best performers contributing to the recent uptick in performance of the US IPO market, and include the recent succesful debuts of online real estate portal SouFun (SFUN; up 52%), fast food restaurant chain Country Style Cooking (CCSC; up 68%), and internet content delivery network ChinaCache (CCIH; up 74%). Investors remain selective, however, with Chinese wind power company China Ming Yang (MY; down 5%) falling in its market debut last week and solar company Daqo New Energy (DQ; up 8%) rising only modestly yesterday after pricing below its expected range.
Another China-based education company, Ambow Education (AMBO, up 5%) has seen muted performance since its IPO in August. Two more China-based listings, after school tutoring services provider TAL Education (TAL) and pharmaceutical R&D outsourcing company ShangPharma (SHP), are expected to price over the next two weeks.
