Ambow Education Group Closes with US$103 Million China Education Sector Private Equity Placement Record.

BEIJING, Oct. 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Ambow Education Group ("Ambow"), a leader in China's education services sector, today announced that it has closed a new round of fundraising of US$103 million, despite the challenging market condition.

This is the second time that Ambow has broken the record of single round of private placement in China's education sector. In October 2007, Ambow raised $54 million from Avenue, CID, Cisco and Macquarie Group. The new round of $103m was led by new investor Actis and existing investors Avenue and Macquarie Group.

"The China education market is at an inflection point," said Dr Jin Huang, President and CEO of Ambow. "We plan to use the new round of funding to accelerate the acquisition and business expansion, and promote the development of personalized life-long education platforms in China. By leveraging interactive education platforms and integrated online/offline solutions, we will be able to provide more tailored services to students."

Established in 2000 by Silicon Valley veteran Dr Huang, Ambow is a market leader in personalized education and training services in China's K-12 and vocational training sector. Ambow is founded on a "student-centric" education philosophy with the goal to maximize each student's learning potential. The company has built its school network both by partnering with and operating its own schools to provide education services that complement the national curriculum.

Since the completion of the last round of private placement, Ambow has been aggressive in building regional hubs in strategic provinces including Beijing, Tianjin, Henan, Shaanxi and Guangzhou.

Commenting on the investment, Mr. Lim Meng-Ann, Head of China for Actis, said: "This investment illustrates Actis' strategy in China -- invest in leading companies in attractive domestic consumption sectors with capable and passionate professional management teams. We are excited by the huge potential of the Chinese education sector as well as Ambow's 'student-centric' educational philosophy and its high quality service offerings. China's private sector education services industry is young and going through rapid structural changes. Dr Huang's outstanding strategic vision has helped Ambow refine its business model and strategy to take advantages of the opportunities. She has built a great professional management team which shares her strong passion for education. Actis is proud to support Ambow as it launches the next stage of its development."

"Over the years, Ambow has built a group of excellent investors which are very passionate about education and are willing to bring resources to help company excel our growth," added Dr Huang. "It is not just about funding, but the true partnership to build a great education company. We look forward to continuously benefiting from investors' insights and connection in building businesses."

CONTACT: Chinese-speaking media - Wang Heng, Media Manager of Ambow Education Group, Tel: [phone], or Mobile: [phone], or [e-mail]; English-speaking media - Cherry Pu, VP, Global Alliances & Investment, Ambow Education Group, Tel: [phone], or Mobile: [phone], or [e-mail]