SEC Form S-8 filed by Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 17, 2024
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Cayman Islands | Not Applicable | |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
No. 1, Country Garden Road
Beijiao Town, Shunde District, Foshan, Guangdong 528300
The People’s Republic of China
(86)-757-2991-6814
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
2024 Share Incentive Plan
(Full title of the Plan)
Cogency Global Inc.
122 East, 42nd Street, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10168
(212) 947-7200
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Ruolei Niu Suites 6-7, The Turvill Building Old Swiss, Cambridge, England, CB1 7BX, United Kingdom |
Dan Ouyang, Esq. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professional Corporation Unit 2901, 29F, Tower C, Beijing Yintai Centre No. 2 Jianguomenwai Avenue Chaoyang District, Beijing 100022 People’s Republic of China (86) 10-6529-8300 |
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
Non-accelerated filer | ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☐ |
Emerging growth company | ☐ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
PART I
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS
Item 1. Plan Information*
Item 2. Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information*
* Information required by Part I to be contained in the Section 10(a) prospectus is omitted from this registration statement in accordance with Rule 428 under the Securities Act and the introductory note to Part I of Form S-8. In accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) and the instructions to Form S-8, such documents are not being filed with the Commission either as part of this Registration Statement or as prospectuses or prospectus supplements pursuant to Rule 424. The documents containing information specified in this Part I will be separately provided to the participants covered by the Plan, as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act.
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PART II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference
The following documents previously filed by the Registrant with the Commission are incorporated by reference herein:
(a) | The Registrant’s annual report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-38077) filed with the Commission on January 2, 2024, which includes audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023; and | |
(b) | The description of the Registrant’s Class A ordinary shares, contained as Exhibit 2.5 in the Registrant’s annual report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-38077) filed with the Commission on June 21, 2023. |
All documents subsequently filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), after the date of this registration statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing of such documents. Any statement in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration statement will be deemed to be modified or superseded to the extent that a statement contained in this registration statement or in any other later filed document that also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded will not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to be a part of this registration statement.
Item 4. Description of Securities
Not applicable.
Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel
Not applicable.
Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against fraud or dishonesty. The Registrant’s amended and restated articles of association provide that the Registrant shall indemnify secure harmless each of its directors and officers (but not including the Registrant’s auditors) out of the assets and profits of the Registrant from and against all actions, costs, charges, losses, damages and expenses which they or any of them or their heirs, executors or administrators may incur or sustain by or by reason of any act done, concurred in or omitted in or about the execution of duty, or supposed duty, in their respective offices or trusts; any none of them shall be answerable to for the acts, receipts, neglects or defaults of the other or others of them or for joining in any receipts for the sake of conformity, or for any bankers or other persons with whom any moneys or effects belonging to the Registrant shall or may be lodged or deposited for the sake of safe custody, or for insufficiency or deficiency of any security upon which moneys of or belonging to the Registrant shall be placed out on or invested, or for any other loss, misfortune, or damage which may happen in the execution of their respective offices or trusts, or in relation thereto other than by reason of any such person’s own fraud or dishonesty.
Pursuant to the indemnification agreements, the form of which was filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Registrant’s registration statement on Form F-1, as amended (File No. 333-217359), the Registrant has agreed to indemnify its directors and executive officers against certain liabilities and expenses incurred by such persons in connection with claims made by reason of their being such a director or officer.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, the Registrant has been informed that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
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The Registrant also maintains a directors and officers liability insurance policy for its directors and officers.
Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed
Not applicable.
Item 8. Exhibits
See the Index to Exhibits attached hereto.
Item 9. Undertakings
(a) | The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes: |
(1) | To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement: |
(i) | to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act; |
(ii) | to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of this registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in this registration statement; and |
(iii) | to include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to that information in the registration statement; |
provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) above do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this registration statement;
(2) | That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. |
(3) | To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering. |
(b) | The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in this registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. |
(c) | Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue. |
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EXHIBIT INDEX
* | Filed herewith. |
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Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in Foshan, China, on May 17, 2024.
Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited | ||
By: | /s/ Ruolei Niu | |
Name: Ruolei Niu | ||
Title: Chief Executive Officer |
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below does hereby constitute and appoint Ruolei Niu, as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, each with full power of substitution and re-substitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this registration statement and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney-in-fact and agent, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorney-in-fact and agent, or her substitute, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ Hongru Zhou | Chairman | May 17, 2024 | ||
Hongru Zhou | ||||
/s/ Ruolei Niu | Chief Executive Officer | May 17, 2024 | ||
Ruolei Niu | (principal executive officer) | |||
/s/ Hui Zhang |
Chief Financial Officer | May 17, 2024 | ||
Hui Zhang | (principal financial and accounting officer) | |||
/s/ Shuting Zhou | Director | May 17, 2024 | ||
Shuting Zhou | ||||
/s/ Jun Zhao | Independent Director | May 17, 2024 | ||
Jun Zhao | ||||
/s/ Meng Rui | Independent Director | May 17, 2024 | ||
Meng Rui |
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SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE IN THE UNITED STATES
Pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, the undersigned, the duly authorized representative in the United States of Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited has signed this registration statement or amendment thereto in New York on May 17, 2024.
Authorized U.S. Representative Cogency Global Inc. |
||
By: | /s/ Colleen A. De Vries | |
Name: Colleen A. De Vries | ||
Title: Senior Vice-President on behalf of Cogency Global Inc. |
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