BEIJING, March 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RYB
Education, Inc. ("RYB" or the "Company") (NYSE: RYB)
announces that its subsidiaries have entered into termination
agreements with certain variable interest entities, a decision made
after careful consideration of the regulatory landscape and the
Company's development needs. By entering into those termination
agreements, RYB will no longer have contractual control over its
directly operated kindergarten business (the "Divesture").
The Divesture aims to fully address
compliance requirements with regard to relevant laws and
regulations (including the Opinions of the State Council
on Deepening Reform and Standardized Development of Preschool
Education, the Regulations on the Implementation of the Law
on the Promotion of Private Education, and the Preschool
Education Law (Draft for Comments)). Concurrently, the
Company is proposing to change its name from RYB Education Inc. to
Gravitas Education Holdings Inc., subject to approval at the next
extraordinary general meeting.
This Divestiture improves the Company's ability to adapt to
evolving industry trends, enhance compliance with regulation,
expand its range of products and services, and be a strong sector
leader. The Company will continue to develop its preschool
education business in Singapore
and overseas, and its domestic business will undergo a strategic
transformation: Leveraging its long experience and deep insight in
the early childhood education industry and its strength in
curriculum development, teacher training and management process,
the Company is well-positioned to provide end-to-end services
across brand, content, systems, training, and more, to educational
institutions. The divested kindergartens will continue to be
operated by the current management team, ensuring consistency and
continued delivery of high quality education to students.
This Divesture includes the termination of agreements by and
among Beijing RYB Technology Development Co., Ltd. ("our WFOE"),
Beijing RYB Children Education Technology Development Co., Ltd.
("our VIE") and its shareholders. As compensation for the
termination of VIE agreements, an aggregate amount of RMB158.5 million will be paid in installments to
our WFOE. At the same time, to ensure ongoing stability and
sustained provision of quality kindergarten education, our WFOE has
entered into service agreements at arm's length terms, following
market prices and conditions, with our VIE. The audit committee of
the board of the directors of the Company, with the assistance of a
third-party financial advisor, has independently reviewed and
approved the Divesture as a related party transaction at arm's
length terms. The Divesture proposal was submitted to the board of
directors of the Company, and was officially approved on
February 21, 2022.
About RYB Education, Inc.
Founded on the core values of "Care" and "Responsibility,"
"Inspire" and "Innovate," RYB Education, Inc. is a leading early
childhood education service provider in China. Since opening its first play-and-learn
center in 1998, the Company has grown and flourished with the
mission to provide high-quality, individualized and age-appropriate
care and education to nurture and inspire each child for his or her
betterment in life. During its two decades of operating history,
the Company has built "RYB" into a well-recognized education brand
and helped bring about many new educational practices in
China's early childhood education
industry. RYB's comprehensive early childhood education solutions
meet the needs of children from infancy to 6 years old through
structured courses at kindergartens and play-and-learn centers, as
well as at-home educational products and services.
For more information, please visit http://ir.rybbaby.com.
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," "confident" and similar statements.
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: the
Company's brand recognition and market reputation; the Company's
growth strategies; trends and competition in China's early childhood education market;
changes in its revenues and certain cost or expense items; the
expected growth of the Chinese early childhood education market;
Chinese governmental policies relating to the Company's industry
and general economic conditions in China. Further information regarding these and
other risks is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All
information provided in this press release and in the attachments
is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes
no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as
required under applicable law.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
In China:
RYB Education, Inc.
Investor Relations
E-mail: ir@rybbaby.com
The Piacente Group, Inc.
Yang Song
Tel: +86 (10) 6508-0677
E-mail: ryb@tpg-ir.com
In the United
States:
The Piacente Group, Inc.
Brandi Piacente
Tel: +1-212-481-2050
E-mail: ryb@tpg-ir.com
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SOURCE RYB Education, Inc.