Bright Scholar Education strikes a deal to go private

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Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited (NYSE:BEDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BEDU]) announced on Monday that it will be taken private through a merger with Excellence Education Investment Limited and its subsidiary. Under the terms of the agreement, Bright Education Mergersub Limited will merge into Bright Scholar Education (NYSE:BEDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BEDU]), making the company a wholly owned subsidiary of Excellence Education Investment Limited.

At closing, each Bright Scholar ADS (representing four Class A ordinary shares) will be canceled, and shareholders will receive $2.30 in cash per ADS, while each ordinary share will receive $0.575 in cash. The deal price represents a 47.4% premium over the ADS closing price on May 23 and premiums of 39.4% and 35.9% over the prior 30- and 60-day volume-weighted averages, respectively. The company said the transaction will be funded through a mix of new cash contributions, equity rollover, and share transfers by members of the buyer group.

The board of directors of Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited (BEDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BEDU]) has approved the merger agreement. The merger is currently expected to close before the end of the year.

Shares of Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited (BEDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BEDU]) rose 5.1% to $2.25 in early premarket action on Monday.

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* Financial information for Bright Scholar Education [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BEDU/income-statement]