Shares of TAL Education Group dive after short seller's attack

Shares of Chinese leading after-school tutoring platform TAL Education Group plunged 9.95 percent to $41.11 on Wednesday, right after Muddy Waters' allegations that TAL had "fake financials" although it was a real business.

Carson Block, founder of Muddy Waters, said that the short seller is shortening TAL's stock and it estimates TAL overstated earnings for fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2018 by over 43 percent.

Shares of other US-listed Chinese education companies, including New Oriental, Hailiang Education and REDU, also experienced a drop shortly after the event.

In response, TAL called Muddy Waters' allegations deceptive.

"The allegations made by this short seller contain numerous errors, unsupported speculation and malicious interpretations of events," said TAL in a statement provided to China Daily.

"The board, together with its audit committee, intends to review the allegations made and will consider appropriate actions to protect the interest of its shareholders."

The Beijing-based company added that it will remain focused on its business strategy to maintain and strengthen its leadership in China's private education market.

The company's latest fiscal report showed that TAL has generated a revenue of $1.715 billion in 2018 fiscal year, which was an increase of 64.4 percent year-on-year.