In an effort to raise finance, China's largest English training school is bidding to raise funds by listing on the New York Stock Exchange Big Board.

Beijing-based New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc., registered on August 22 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to raise US$112 million through an initial public offering under the symbol "EDU." The company has assisted hundreds of thousands of Chinese students in entering US universities.

According to its website, the company expects to price its IPO next Wednesday. It plans to offer 7.5 million American depositary and foreign company shares traded in the US at an estimated price of US$11 to US$13 per share.

With the money raised, the company plans to use US$18.5 million to pay off debts and some US$20 million to expand its teaching network in China, according to its SEC prospectus.

Yu Minhong (also known as Michael Yu), the company's board chairman, told China Daily by e-mail yesterday that he's currently "on business in the United States." He didn't give any details.

New Oriental, founded in 1993 by Yu, has grown from just one class of 30 students to China's largest private education service provider. It has a network of 25 schools and 111 learning centers in 24 cities as well as an online network attracting 2 million registered users.

Before setting up the school, Yu was an English teacher at Peking University for seven years with a monthly salary of just US$12.

The US denied Yu a visa to study in the country so he started his own test-preparation classes to coach others to sit the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the Graduate Record Examinations, which are the two qualifications required for foreign students to gain admission to American graduate schools.

The school has benefited from Chinese students' increasing desire to study overseas. Figures show that it had around 872,000 students enrolled for the 2006 fiscal year which ended May 31. Since its establishment, more than 3 million students have been taught.

(China Daily August 31, 2006)