Asia’s richest woman plans to list Chinese school operator Bright Scholar in New York

Bright Scholar Education, a company partly owned by Asia’s richest woman, is seeking to raise US$200 million through an initial public offering in New York in May.

The company, which operates K-12 international and bilingual schools under the “Country Garden” brand in China, has filed an application to the New York Stock Exchange. It was targeting a listing in mid-May, a source familiar with the matter said.

Founded in 1994, Bright Scholar is backed by Chinese property tycoon Yeung Kwok-keung’s family. Yeung is the founder and chairman of Country Garden Holdings, China’s third-largest property developer.

Yeung’s sister, Yang Meirong, and his daughter, 35-year-old Yang Huiyan, together own a 92.59 per cent stake in Bright Scholar. Yang Huiyan is also the largest shareholder of Country Garden and the richest woman in Asia with a net worth of US$12.6 billion, according to Forbes.

Since establishing its first Country Garden School in Foshan city of Guangdong province, Bright Scholar has expanded its network to 51 schools across seven provinces in China, covering kindergartens, elementary and secondary learning institutions. Most of the schools are close to Country Garden’s residential developments.

Bright Scholar had 29,230 students enrolled at its schools midway into the 2017 school year, a gain of 54.6 per cent from the 18,913 enrolled for the 2014 school year, the company’s filing with the NYSE showed.