New Oriental Announces Formation of Independent Special Committee

BEIJING, July 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. (the "Company" or "New Oriental") (NYSE: EDU), the largest provider of private educational services in China, announced that the Company's board of directors today formed an independent special committee to conduct an independent review of the various allegations raised in a report issued by Muddy Waters on July 18, 2012.  The committee is comprised of three independent directors of the Company, Mr. Denny Lee, Mr. Robin Yanhong Li and Dr. John Zhuang Yang, and is authorized to retain independent advisors in connection with its investigation.  

As previously stated, New Oriental believes that the Muddy Waters report contains numerous errors of facts, misleading speculations and malicious interpretations of events.  Nevertheless, in order to provide the highest level of transparency to its shareholders, the board of directors of the Company decided to form the independent special committee to review the allegations and management will fully cooperate with the committee in the investigation. 

About New Oriental

New Oriental is the largest provider of private educational services in China based on the number of program offerings, total student enrollments and geographic presence. New Oriental offers a wide range of educational programs, services and products consisting primarily of English and other foreign language training, test preparation courses for major admissions and assessment tests in the United States, the PRC and Commonwealth countries, primary and secondary school education, development and distribution of educational content, software and other technology, and online education. New Oriental's ADSs, each of which represents one common share, currently trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ''EDU.''

For more information about New Oriental, please visit http://english.neworiental.org.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confidence" and similar statements. New Oriental may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about New Oriental's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in New Oriental's annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and New Oriental undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Contacts

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Ms. Sisi Zhao
New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.
Tel: +86-10-6260-5568
Email:  [email protected]

Mr. Martin Reidy
Beijing Brunswick Consultancy Ltd.
Tel: +86-10-5960-8616
Email:  [email protected]

In the U.S.:

Ms. Cindy Zheng
Brunswick Group LLC
Tel: +1-212-333-3810
Email:  [email protected]

SOURCE New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.