SEC Company Response from Ambow Education Holding Ltd. (AMBO) (CIK 0001494558) (AMBO) — Apr 1, 2016
Ambow Education Holding Ltd. (AMBO) (CIK 0001494558)
Date: April 1, 2016 · CIK: 0001494558 · Accession: 0001144204-16-092094
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File numbers found in text: 001-34824
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
April 1, 2016
Re:
Ambow Education Holding Ltd.
Form 20-F for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2014
Filed April 21, 2015
File No. 001-34824
Larry Spirgel
Assistant Director – AD Office 11
Securities and Exchange Commission
Division of Corporation Finance
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Dear Mr. Spirgel:
On behalf of Ambow Education Holding Ltd.
(the “Company”), we have set forth below responses to the comments of the staff (the “Staff”) of the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) contained in its letter of December 21, 2015 with respect to the Form 20-F
filed on April 21, 2015 (the “20-F”) by the Company. For your convenience, the text of the Staff’s comments is
set forth below, followed in each case by the Company’s response.
Results of Operations
Year ended December 31, 2014 compared with year ended December
31, 2013
Net revenues, page 132, Tutoring, page 135, Career
enhancement, page 137, and K-12 schools, page 138
1.
We note from the last paragraph of page 106 and the second paragraph of page 112 that your revenue have declined materially
in part because of “increasing requested refund from the students”. Please explain for us how your revenues can be
materially impacted by such request given your stated practice of not providing refunds. Explain for us whether refunds or credits
or other adjustments were made for the benefit of dissatisfied students during each of the reporting periods, and if so
tell us the terms of those refunds, credits or other adjustments.
Company Response:
The Company respectfully advises
the Staff that its refund policy only applies to educational programs and services, which includes K-12, tutoring and career enhancement.
The standard practice of not providing refunds only applies to sales of software products and services. The Company suspended its
sales of software products and services after 2012. There were no software sales after 2013. As such, the Company will exclude
the section related to “Sales to distributors” from its 2015 Annual Report filing on Form 20-F to avoid any confusion.
The refunds on tuition fees
collected from educational programs and services are only allowed after the first trial session, but before the start of the second
session, after which no refunds are allowed. In other cases, the Company may issue refunds when circumstances require it, such
as the students not receiving the educational program or service they have paid for. In this regard, in 2013, one of the former
owners of the deconsolidated entities in Guangzhou collected advance tuition fees from students but failed to start the educational
programs as promised, which caused these students’ parents to panic and request refunds. As a result, the Company refunded
approximately RMB3.0 million in aggregate to the affected students in 2014. Other than this incident, there was no major refunds
identified in relation to Company’s educational programs and services segment for 2013 and 2014.
2. Tell us and quantify for us and disclose the separate impact of each factor materially affecting your revenues. Quantify the
impact of declining student enrollments and refunds to students. Quantify also as applicable any material impact on your revenues
due to changing course fee rates.
Company Response:
The Company respectfully advises the Staff that revenues
declined RMB124.5 million from RMB536.5 million in 2013 to RMB412.0 million in 2014. This decline in revenues was mainly caused
by the lower number of student enrollments, decreasing from 114,000 in 2013 to 83,000 in 2014, representing a 27% decrease in revenues
compared to 2013. The revision of tuition fees for the respective segment was not significant for the years ended December 31,
2013 and 2014. Hence, it did not have any material impact on the Company’s revenues in those periods.
There were two main reasons for the decrease in number
of student enrollments: under-performing tutoring business and deconsolidation of four entities.
- Tutoring revenues declined by RMB89.2 million in 2014
a. Tutoring centers (excluding deconsolidated entities): revenue declined by RMB65.1 million
Some of the tutoring centers encountered operational
difficulties following the appointment of the Joint Provisional Liquidators (“JPLs”) in June 2013. Under Cayman Islands
law, the authority of the Company’s Board of Directors ceased upon the appointment of JPLs. The JPLs were in charge of the
Company’s operations from June 2013 to May 2014. During this period, a significant number of students and parents cancelled
tutoring classes. In addition, employee morale was also significantly affected. High employee turnover during this period affected
the ability of the Company’s profit centers to attract new student enrollments and generate new revenues.
b. Impact from the Deconsolidation: revenue declined by RMB24.1 million
There were three entities relating to our tutoring
business that were deconsolidated in 2013 and 2014. The reasons for the deconsolidation of these entities are further elaborated
in response to Comment 4 below.
Entity Name
Deconsolidation date
Guangzhou DP Tutoring
December 31, 2013
Tianjin Tutoring
September 30, 2013
Jilin Tutoring
September 30, 2014
- Career Enhancement: revenues declined by RMB20.0 million
The decline was mainly caused
from the deconsolidation of the Guangzhou ZS Career Enhancement as of December 31, 2013, which caused the revenue to decrease by
RMB9.0 million. In addition, certain contracts with the partner schools expired in 2014 which caused revenues to decrease by RMB11.0
million. These contracts were subsequently renewed in 2015.
- K-12: revenues declined by RMB15.3 million
The decline was mainly due to
the different amortization days of revenue basis due to timing of public holidays in China.
The Company will disclose the decrease in number
of enrollments as the major contributing factor that caused the decline in 2014 revenue in its 2015 Annual Report filing on Form
20-F and include disclosure regarding the separate impact of each factor materially affecting the Company’s revenues in future
filings with the Commission.
3. Similarly, please quantify for us, and if material disclose the impact on your revenues and results of operations caused by
your loss of control over several of your VIEs during the reporting periods.
Company Response:
The Company respectfully advises
the Staff that there was a decrease in revenues in the amount of RMB29.4 million and a decrease in net losses of RMB20.7 million
caused by four VIEs that the Company lost control of in 2013 and 2014.
The impact of deconsolidating
these entities in 2013 was not material, since these entities were deconsolidated towards the last quarter of 2013.
The Company will disclose the impact on its revenues
and results of operations caused by the loss of control of the VIEs during the reporting periods in the Company’s 2015 Annual
Report filing on Form 20-F.
Financial Statements
1. Organization and Principal Activities
c. Major subsidiaries and VIEs, page F-13
26. Deconsolidation, page F-53
4. Explain for us in reasonable detail how loss of confidence in your Group by personnel at Tianjin Tutoring, Guangzhou DP Tutoring,
Guangzhou ZS Career Enhancement, and Jilin Tutoring resulted in your loss of control over these legal subsidiaries of your
VIEs. Describe how such control was lost. We note that your VIEs own 100% of the legal equity of these four subsidiaries. Explain
for us in detail the legal basis for the refusal by Tianjin Tutoring and Jilin Tutoring to provide you with financial statements.
In this regard please tell us the following:
· The circumstance surrounding the failure by Tianjin Tutoring and Jilin Tutoring to provide you
with financial statements;
· The extent to which each of the four subsidiaries continue to operate;
· Quantify the impact of the loss of these subsidiaries on your revenues and results of operations;
· Describe your efforts to maintain and to recover control of these subsidiaries of your VIEs;
· Describe what legal recourse, if any, is available for you to regain control over these four deconsolidated
subsidiaries of your VIEs; and
· Explain for us why you have not regained such control.
Please address all pertinent accounting literature
in your response and tell us your basis for deconsolidating these four subsidiaries.
Company Response:
The Company respectfully advises the Staff that during
the reporting periods, the appointment of the JPLs caused significant doubts among the students and their parents, as well as the
Company staff about the ability of JPLs to control the Company effectively. As a result, the Company’s revenues decreased
significantly from 2013 to 2014. In addition, cash flow constraints and high employee turnover caused significant operational difficulties.
The JPLs tried to raise funds for the Company during the period, but their attempts were unsuccessful.
All of the management teams of the deconsolidated
entities previously were the former owners of the centers. With decreased revenues and severe liquidity issues, the management
team requested the JPLs to provide financial support to these deconsolidated entities. However, their requests were unanswered.
Given the inadequate support received from the JPLs, these former owners and employees of the deconsolidated entities have all
left. They have taken away the deconsolidated entities company seals, business license and other relevant registration documents
(“the relevant legal items” or “these items”) when they left. In China, these items are important for an
entity to conduct day to day business activities, including entering into employment contracts with teachers, issuing tuition fee
invoices to students, making payments for business expenses, submitting regulatory filings and similar corporate actions. Without
possessing these items the Company did not have control over these entities by the deconsolidation date described above in response
to Comment 2.
Following the dismissal of JPLs and the return of
management authority to the Board of Directors of the Company, the Company regained control over the deconsolidated entities in
the second half of 2015. All the previously mentioned legal items were returned and were placed under the custody of the Company.
However, the deconsolidated entities businesses had ceased.
The Company also respectfully advises the Staff with
respect to specific points listed above:
· The circumstance surrounding the failure by Tianjin Tutoring and Jilin Tutoring to provide you with financial statements;
a) Tianjin Tutoring
The relevant legal items, as well as books and records
of Tianjin Tutoring were under the management of the former owner and principal. The Tianjin Tutoring management stopped providing
financial statements to the Group beginning September 30, 2013 as the business was slowing down and they were not satisfied with
the JPL’s management and support. Since then, the former owner and all the employees resigned from their positions in Tianjin
Tutoring. By the deconsolidation date, the Company did not have the ability to control the business activities of Tianjin Tutoring,
therefore the Company decided to deconsolidate this entity. As mentioned in the preceding section, the Company re-established control
over Tianjin Tutoring in the second half of 2015. However all the operations of Tianjin Tutoring had ceased.
b) Jilin Tutoring
The management of Jilin Tutoring did not receive
the level of expected financial support from the Company after the JPLs took control of the Company. Similar to Tianjin Tutoring,
their business was slowing down and the management was not satisfied with the JPL’s management and support and therefore
they stopped providing financial statements to the Company. The relevant legal items were also under the custody of Jilin Tutoring
management. As such, management and employees of Jilin Tutoring all left the Company after September 30, 2014. By that time, the
Company had decided to deconsolidate this entity. As mentioned in the preceding section, the Company re-established control over
Jilin Tutoring in the second half of 2015. However all the operations of Jilin Tutoring had ceased.
· The extent to which each of the four subsidiaries continue to operate;
The operations of all four subsidiaries have
completely ceased.
· Quantify the impact of the loss of these subsidiaries on your revenues and results of operations;
The revenue included in the 2013 Group results
for Tianjin Tutoring, Guangzhou DP Tutoring, Guangzhou ZS Career Enhancement and Jilin Tutoring were RMB7.0 million (nine months),
RMB1.8 million (twelve months), RMB9.0 million (twelve months) and RMB15.3 million (twelve months), respectively; while there were
nil, nil, nil and RMB3.7 million (nine months) of revenue included in 2014 for these deconsolidated entities, respectively.
All the four deconsolidated entities were operating
at a loss in 2013. The net loss for Tianjin Tutoring, Guangzhou DP Tutoring, Guangzhou ZS Career Enhancement and Jilin Tutoring
were RMB10.8 million (nine months), RMB4.1 million (twelve months), RMB6.5 million (twelve months) and RMB1.3 million (twelve months),
respectively; while there was nil, nil, nil and RMB2.0 million (nine months) of net loss in 2014 for these deconsolidated entities,
respectively.
· Describe your efforts to maintain and to recover control of these subsidiaries of your VIEs;
Following the dismissal of JPLs and with the
return of management authority to the Board of Directors of the Company, the Company regained control of these deconsolidated entities
in the second half of 2015. A legal team has been sent to resolve the issues with the ex-owners. As a result, the management has
successfully regained control over the relevant legal items and the subsidiaries of VIEs. However, all the operations of these
deconsolidated entities have ceased.
· Describe what legal recourse, if any, is available for you to regain control over these four deconsolidated
subsidiaries of your VIEs; and
As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the
Company has regained control over these four deconsolidated subsidiaries in the second half of 2015.
· Explain for us why you have not regained such control.
As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the
Company has regained control over these four deconsolidated subsidiaries in the second half of 2015.
Determination of deconsolidation and accounting
literature:
Following literature (ASC Subtopic
810-10, paragraph 810-10-40-4) states when a subsidiary should de-consolidated:
A parent shall deconsolidate
a subsidiary or derecognize a group of assets specified in the preceding paragraph as of the date the parent ceases to have a controlling
financial interest in that subsidiary or group of assets. See paragraph 810-10-55-4A for related implementation guidance.
810-10-55 Implementation
Guidance and Illustrations
>> Deconsolidation
of a Subsidiary
55-4A All
of the following are circumstances that result in deconsolidation of a subsidiary under paragraph 810-10-40-4:
a. A parent sells all
or part of its ownership interest in its subsidiary and, as a result, the parent no longer has a controlling financial interest
in the subsidiary.
b. The expiration of a
contractual agreement that gave control of the subsidiary to the parent.
c. The subsidiary issues
shares, which reduces the parent’s ownership interest in the subsidiary so that the parent no longer has a controlling financial
interest in the subsidiary.
d. The subsidiary becomes
subject to the control of a government, court, administrator, or regulator.
The Company acknowledges that
the facts and circumstances relating to the four deconsolidated VIEs does not come within the examples referred to in the guidance
describ