A woman applies for driver training in a driving school in Siheung in Shandong Province. (Photo : REUTERS)
A driving school in China became the first driving school in the country to go public when it announced to join six other firms in launching IPOs in Shanghai and Shenzhen, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The report said that Eastern Pioneer Driving School will join six other firms in the IPO in early February, ahead of the Chinese New Year.
The Beijing-based company aims to raise 820 million yuan (around $124 million) at 16.4 yuan per share in Shanghai. According to the report, the company's share subscription began on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
In China, investors are likely to oversubscribe shares for IPOs which often assure of high-level rise in the first few days of trading.
According to the revised IPO rule that took effect this year, investors are allowed to pay for shares they subscribed two days after submitting orders, and thus prevent the freezing of large amounts of funds that result from upfront payment, which usually leads to volatility in the stock market.
During the first half of 2015, Eastern Pioneer reported net profits of 175 million yuan, and 298 million and 265 million in 2014 and 2013, respectively.
The report said that Eastern Pioneer offers driver training and operate driving schools in Beijing, Hebei Province in north China and Yunnan Province in the southwest.
According to Shenwan Hongyuan Securities, there are more than 260 million drivers in China and 20 million drivers graduate from training schools around the country each year. In 2014, Eastern Pioneer said it trained 237,000 in Beijing.
The company also dismissed the threat of driverless cars, an emerging trend among major carmakers around the world which presented conceptual vehicles that do not need a human driver.
Eastern Pioneer added that the trend will not have a substantial impact on its business.
