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September 9, 2020
VIA EDGAR
Katherine Bagley
Lilyanna Peyser
Division of Corporation Finance
Office of Trade & Services
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549-7561
Re: | Lixiang Education Holding Co., Ltd. |
Registration Statement on Form F-1
CIK No. 0001814067
Dear Ms. Bagley and Ms. Peyser,
On behalf of Lixiang Education Holding Co., Ltd. (the “Company”), a company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, we are filing herewith the Company’s registration statement on Form F-1 (the “Registration Statement”) and certain exhibits via EDGAR with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Registration Statement also includes changes that reflect responses to the comments received from the staff (the “Staff”) of the SEC by the letter dated August 27, 2020 regarding the Company’s draft registration statement on Form F-1 confidentially submitted to the SEC on August 19, 2020. | Partners T C Hill M Lin O Chan D Y C So C J Dobby M D R Parsons N W O Tang E I Low* J P Kwan S K S Li L H S Leung A J McGinty L Davidson J E M Leitch
Counsel A D E Cobden K K S Wong K C W Lee J S F Yim J Leung
Foreign Legal Consultants S Tang (New York, USA) A Croke (NSW, Australia)
*Notary Public | |
The Company is, concurrently with the Registration Statement, filing the draft registration statements that were previously submitted for the non-public review of the Staff, and plans to file an amendment to the Registration Statement containing the estimated price range and offering size and launch the road show as soon as legally permissible on or around September 23, 2020, subject to market conditions. As such, the Company would greatly appreciate the Staff’s continuing assistance and support in meeting its timetable. | ||
The numbered paragraphs below correspond to the numbered comments in the Staff’s letter and the Staff’s comments are presented in bold. |
Description of American Depositary Shares
Governing Law/Waiver of Jury Trial, page 169
Hogan Lovells is an affiliated business of Hogan Lovells International LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales.
Hogan Lovells is part of an international legal practice that includes Hogan Lovells International LLP, Hogan Lovells US LLP and their affiliated businesses, with offices in: Alicante Amsterdam Baltimore Beijing Birmingham Boston Brussels Colorado Springs Denver Dubai Dusseldorf Frankfurt Hamburg Hanoi Ho Chi Minh City Hong Kong Houston Johannesburg London Los Angeles Luxembourg Madrid Mexico City Miami Milan Minneapolis Monterrey Moscow Munich New York Northern Virginia Paris Perth Philadelphia Rome San Francisco São Paulo Shanghai Silicon Valley Singapore Sydney Tokyo Warsaw Washington, D.C. Associated Offices: Budapest Jakarta Riyadh Shanghai FTZ Ulaanbaatar Zagreb. Business Services Centers: Johannesburg Louisville. Legal Services Center: Berlin.
The word “partner” is used to describe a partner or member of Hogan Lovells International LLP, Hogan Lovells US LLP or any of their affiliated entities or any employee or consultant with equivalent standing. Certain individuals, who are designated as partners, but who are not members of Hogan Lovells International LLP, do not hold qualifications equivalent to members. For more information about Hogan Lovells, the partners and their qualifications, see www.hoganlovells.com.
Hogan Lovells is a member of the Sino Global Legal Alliance with offices in: Beijing Changsha Chengdu Chongqing Dalian Guangzhou Hangzhou Hong Kong Jinan Kunming Lanzhou Shanghai Shenyang Shenzhen Tianjin Wuhan Xiamen Xian and of the Pacific Rim Advisory Council with member offices in: Argentina Australia Brazil Canada Chile China (Mainland) Colombia France Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan Korea Malaysia Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Peru Philippines Singapore Taiwan Thailand USA Venezuela.
1. | We note your disclosure that “[a]s an owner of ADSs, you irrevocably agree that any legal action arising out of the Deposit Agreement, the ADSs or the ADRs, involving the Company or the Depositary, may only be instituted in a state or federal court in the city of New York.” However, you disclose in your risk factor on page 50 that “federal or state court in the New York City . . . has non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement.” Therefore, it is unclear whether federal and/or state courts in New York City have exclusive or non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement. Please revise to clarify this inconsistency, and to disclose the extent to which the exclusive forum provision in the Deposit Agreement applies to Securities Act and Exchange Act claims. In this regard, we note that Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder, and Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Please discuss the material risks to investors of the exclusive forum provision. If the provision applies to Securities Act claims, please also revise your disclosure to state that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such exclusive forum provision. If this provision does not apply to actions arising under the Securities Act or Exchange Act, please also ensure that the exclusive forum provision in the Deposit Agreement states this clearly, or tell us how you will inform investors in future filings that the provision does not apply to any actions arising under the Securities Act or Exchange Act. |
Response:
In response to the Staff’s comment, the Company has revised the disclosure on pages 50 and 51 of the Registration Statement.
Should you have any questions about the responses contained herein, please contact me by telephone at (852) 2840 5026 (office) or via email at stephanie.tang@hoganlovells.com. Questions relating to accounting and auditing matters of the Company may also be directed to Theodore Deng, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP (“PwC”), by telephone at (86) 21 2323 2567 or via email at theodore.deng@cn.pwc.com. PwC is the independent registered public accounting firm of the Company.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Stephanie Tang
Stephanie Tang
CC: | Biao Wei, director and chief executive officer, Lixiang Education Holding Co., Ltd. |
Theodore Deng, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP
Galleon Lin, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP
Dan Ouyang, Esq., Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation
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