BEIJING, October 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) ("TAL" or the "Company"), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, today announced a strategic investment of US$30 million in Phoenix E-Learning Corporation ("Phoenix E-Learning"), which operates zxxk.com, the largest online educational platform serving the public school system in China.
Founded in 2003, Phoenix E-Learning has built an national online education services network serving mostly primary and middle schools and their teachers and students. It offers a full range of online educational products and services to support an information-based educational environment, including databases for teaching and learning materials and data and software and cloud platforms. Zxxk.com is used in over 30,000 public schools and has accumulated more than 15 million registered users, 80% of whom are teachers. Upon completion of the investment, which is subject to filing with the relevant government authorities, TAL will hold 32% equity interest in Phoenix E-Learning.
"TAL's investment in Phoenix E-Learning is an important step to enter the market of digitalizing public schools. We have achieved strong organic growth in our own business while proactively building an ecosystem for education through strategic investments and acquisitions. Through our direct investment in Phoenix E-Learning, we have the opportunity to enter a white space market with our advantages in proprietary content and tutoring services," said the management of TAL.
"We welcome the strategic investment by TAL in the transformation of the public education system and digital education upgrading. Phoenix E-Learning and TAL are highly complementary in the field of education and we look forward to the two sides working together to open up the education market within the public school system to the outside," said the management of Phoenix E-Learning.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, quotations from management in this announcement, as well as TAL Education Group's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: its ability to continue to attract students to enroll in its courses; its ability to continue to recruit, train and retain qualified teachers; its ability to improve the content of its existing course offerings and to develop new courses; its ability to maintain and enhance its brand; its ability to maintain and continue to improve its teaching results; and its ability to compete effectively against its competitors. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's reports filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and TAL Education Group undertakes no duty to update such information or any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
About TAL Education Group
TAL Education Group is a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China. The acronym "TAL" stands for "Tomorrow Advancing Life," which reflects our vision to promote top learning opportunities for Chinese students through both high-quality teaching and content, as well as leading edge application of technology in the education experience. TAL Education Group offers comprehensive tutoring services to students from pre-school to the twelfth grade through three flexible class formats: small classes, personalized premium services, and online courses. Our tutoring services cover the core academic subjects in China's school curriculum including mathematics, English, Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology. The Company's learning center network includes 303 physical learning centers as of May 31, 2015, located in 19 key cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi`an, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Suzhou, Shenyang, Jinan, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao and Changsha. We also operate www.jzb.com, a leading online education platform in China. Our ADSs trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "XRS."
For further information, please contact:
Mei Li
Tel: +86 10 52926658
Email: ir@100tal.com
Caroline Straathof
IR Inside
Tel: +31 6 5462 4301
Email: info@irinside.com
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