Chinese math education service provider Four Seasons Education debuts on NYSE

NEW YORK - Chinese after-school math education service provider Four Seasons Education (Cayman) Inc made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Wednesday, trading under the ticker symbol of FEDU.

FEDU priced its initial public offering (IPO) of 10,100,000 American depositary shares (ADSs) at $10 per ADS for a total offering size of $101 million, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. Each two ADSs represent one ordinary share.

Of the total 10,100,000 ADSs offered, 9,200,000 ADSs are being offered by the company and 900,000 ADSs are being offered by selling shareholders.

In addition, the company and selling shareholders have granted the underwriters an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus, to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,515,000 additional ADSs to cover over-allotments.

FEDU started trading at $10.20 per ADS on Wednesday, rising 2.0 percent from its pricing of $10 per ADS, which is at the middle of the pricing range of $9 to $11 given by the company.

Shares of the company declined about 5 percent to trade at $9.5 apiece around midday.

FEDU has offered after-school math education for elementary school students since 2010. In 2016 and the six months ended June 30, 2017, FEDU was the largest after-school math education service provider for elementary school students in Shanghai, as measured by gross billings and number of students, according to the Frost & Sullivan Report.

"Listing on the NYSE will raise the popularity of our brand and help our company develop in a more standardized way, which will ultimately contribute to the company's cross-regional development in the future," Four Seasons Education Chairman & CEO Peiqing Tian told Xinhua after the opening bell.

"Meanwhile, we will have better opportunities to learn from China's leading educational firms, like New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc and TAL Education Group, which also went public in the US stock markets," He added.

For the six months ended on Aug 31, 2017, FEDU's revenues were $22.2 million, up 53.3 percent from the same six months a year ago, while its gross profit for the six months ended on Aug 31, 2017 was $14.6 million, 77.8 percent higher than the year-ago period, according to the company's prospectus.