Shares for controversial Apax English school suspended from trading

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange made the decision after the company failed to submit its 2022 financial reports by the official deadline this year.

A representative of Apax Holdings declined to comment.

The ticker for the language school chain (official Apax Holdings), IBC, had already been somewhat restricted on the trading floor since mid-May due to disclosure delays.

Apax Holdings is the only listed company in the ecosystem of Egroup, an education startup founded by Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, known for being an investor on the popular reality show Shark Tank Vietnam.

Thuy, Egroup chairman, said in July that the company was facing staff shortage and was in the process of restructuring, which was why it could not submit its financial reports on time.

The English centers of Apax Holdings recorded a combined revenue of VND2.78 billion from new students in July, a surge from VND465 million in April.

There are now 37 centers, mostly in the north, with 11,100 students.

Apax's challenges began last year when many parents claimed that the school failed to provide lessons in the quantity and quality it promised.

Most of its centers were closed down as a result, and Thuy had to meet with lenders several times to settle large debts.