The Piacente Group

From all of us at Piacente Financial Communications, our best wishes for a healthy and joyful New Year!

Celebrating 18 years in China this month!

The App Inventor Foundation has authorized Tongcheng Tongmei, a well-known brand under Tarena International, Inc. (Nasdaq: TEDU), to organize the App Inventor Regional Appathon in mainland China. Outstanding works will advance to the Chinese finals. Winners will have the opportunity to attend the global MIT AI and Education Summit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in summer 2024.

Tongcheng Tongmei is China’s leading provider of programming education for children aged 3 to 18. Tongcheng Tongmei complements its high-quality courses focused on programming and robotics education by bringing select competition opportunities to students through collaborations with professional organizations in the industry. The contests serve to enhance students’ learning outcomes and contribute to a more rounded business ecosystem, one of the company’s competitive strengths. https://ir.tedu.cn/

App Inventor Foundation’s news release:
https://www.appinventorfoundation.org/news/regional-appathon-china

Bravo! 26 students from Tarena International Inc. (Nasdaq: TEDU) recently made the finals of the Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) China National Championship. Four contestants from Tarena’s Design Institute received five awards, including Second Prize, Third Prize and the Outstanding Skills Award, showcasing Tarena’s excellence in professional education. Congratulations to all competitors! https://ir.tedu.cn/ http://www.acpwcc.com/portal/index.html

Shout out to our client, Tarena International Inc. (Nasdaq: TEDU)! Tarena’s April Employment Report revealed that a total of 2,523 Tarena students found jobs last month, with students from its Java Senior Internet Architect course securing the highest monthly salary (RMB29,000). This Java course, along with UID Full Stack Design and Web Front-end Development, have become Tarena’s most popular courses among employed students, accounting for 34.6%, 12.5% and 12.3% of total employed students, respectively. Upskilling for the win! https://www.tedu.cn/ https://ir.tedu.cn/

A hearty congratulations to our client, Tarena International Inc. (NASDAQ: TEDU), on Tongcheng Tongmei's teams' performance at the 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas! Tongcheng Tongmei is a leading provider of childhood and adolescent programming education services in China under Tarena.

Competing alongside more than 3,000 VEX teams from over 70 countries and regions worldwide, Tongcheng Tongmei’s Hubei Team 67915D and Shandong Team 65115C won second and third place, respectively, in the VEX IQ Challenge, the best performance among participating teams from China thanks to the teams’ outstanding programming skills. Way to go, Tongcheng Tongmei and Tarena!

VEX Robotics World Championship 2023 The 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship, presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation and the REC Foundation, will take place in Dallas, Texas, on April 25 through May 4, 2023.

The 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship kicked off on April 26 in Dallas. Tongcheng Tongmei, a leading childhood and adolescent programming education brand in China under Tarena International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TEDU), sent 119 players on 15 teams to participate. These teenagers competed on the world stage along with their peers from around the world, showcasing their skills and accomplishments in robotics. Check out the event webcast!

Webcast Visit VEX TV for the webcast of the 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship.

Thrilled to be a part of $HSAI's IPO journey on . Thanks O'Dwyer's Public Relations News - odwyerpr.com for the shout out!

Piacente Group Works Big Chinese IPO The Piacente Group handled the $2.4B IPO of Shanghai-based Hesai Technology.

Thursday was a big day for Hesai Technology as they joined the ranks of publicly listed companies on . Congratulations to all our friends at Hesai on this milestone! Learn more about Hesai's industry-leading LiDAR solutions: https://investor.hesaitech.com/ $HSAI

Yesterday, Kanzhun Limited completed its dual primary listing by way of introduction on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 2076). Congratulations to all at BOSS Zhipin. What a great way to move into 2023! :BZ, $BZ

Hurrah! The U.S. Public Company Account Oversight Board (PCAOB) today announced that for the first time in history, PCAOB has successfully obtained complete access to inspect and investigate registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong. This major milestone in U.S. and Chinese regulators’ mutual efforts to protect investors is welcome news for Chinese companies listed in U.S. markets, but it is just the beginning of the PCAOB’s work in China, not the end. Gary Gensler, chair of the SEC, stated “Chinese authorities will need to give PCAOB full access for inspections and investigations in 2023 and beyond.”

https://pcaobus.org/news-events/news-releases/news-release-detail/pcaob-secures-complete-access-to-inspect-investigate-chinese-firms-for-first-time-in-history
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-pcaob-says-is-able-inspect-firms-china-first-time-2022-12-15/

PCAOB Secures Complete Access to Inspect, Investigate Chinese Firms for First Time in History Chair Williams: Investors are more protected today because Congress passed the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA)

For the second consecutive year, Piacente is proud to partner with IR Magazine and sponsor their Forum & Awards for both Greater China and Southeast Asia. These two virtual events will be held on December 8 and December 6, respectively. Brandi Piacente, our President and Founder, will be a featured award presenter for six award categories.

During these events, investors, analysts and IR teams from Asia and abroad will convene to discuss critical issues relating to investor relations, corporate governance, shareholder needs and IR’s role in Asia-based publicly listed companies. Other timely topics will include a look at capital market and macroeconomic trends for 2023, investor concerns around ESG and attracting international capital during a volatile market environment.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn alongside some of our industry’s most renowned professionals, sharpen your skills and celebrate excellence in the field of investor relations. We hope to see you there!

More info and tickets:
https://events.irmagazine.com/greaterchina/
https://events.irmagazine.com/southeastasia/

Join us online Wednesday, November 23, at 6pm BJT as Piacente’s Senior Vice President, Helen Wu, and Wang Zheng, counsel at Latham & Watkins, discuss effective investor relations practices and accurate disclosure during a volatile market. Hosted by Tiger Brokers, this event will offer practical advice, tips and reminders suitable for both listed companies and those looking to list. Scan the QR code below for registration and further information. Please note, this event will be conducted in Chinese.

Salute! On Friday Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited successfully listed on NASDAQ (NASDAQ: $ATAT). Great hotels! Great Team!

We want to welcome Tarena International Inc (Nasdaq: $TEDU) to the Sidoti & Company, LLC Micro-Cap Conference (Nov 9-10) section of b2i digital at https://lnkd.in/er3UeW7K

Tarena is a leading provider of adult professional education and childhood and adolescent quality education courses and services in China. Tarena benefits from its robust capabilities and experience gained through providing an innovative platform and IT education services for over two decades, increasing demand for adult & STEAM education as well as its outstanding comprehensive systems in both business lines. Tarena’s growth strategy includes further deepening market pe*******on, consistently optimizing its products and delivery systems as well as reinforcing its financial health. Tarena grew its revenue by 14% year-over-year in the first half of 2022 while achieving profitability for the period, a major turnaround for the company.

We look forward to seeing the continued results from Ying Sun, Ping Wei, and the rest of the Tarena team!

Please join us in saying, “Well done!” to the hard-working team at Tencent Music on their successful listing by way of introduction on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX: 1698). Great to work with you!

:TME,

A very positive step!

On Friday, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) signed a Statement of Protocol with China’s Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and Ministry of Finance governing inspections and investigations of audit firms based in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Thru put begins next month in HK. Stay tuned!

For reference:
• From PCAOB – https://pcaobus.org/news-events/news-releases/news-release-detail/pcaob-signs-agreement-with-chinese-authorities-taking-first-step-toward-complete-access-for-pcaob-to-select-inspect-and-investigate-in-china
• From CSRC (EN) - http://www.csrc.gov.cn/csrc_en/c102030/c5572272/content.shtml
• From SEC - https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/gensler-audit-firms-china-hong-kong-20220826

Last Friday in Beijing, TPG’s SVP Ross Warner joined other capital market professionals and private company executives for an afternoon of presentations, panels and discussion addressing overseas and Hong Kong public listing challenges in the current environment. Covering evolving topics in the spheres of law, accounting, industry, investor sentiment, compliance and others, the session provided a multi-vantage point perspective around present-day listing concerns.

Happy Birthday to Us!

We Opened for Business (July 5th 2005)
On a hot July day in 2005, The Piacente Group, Inc. hung out its shingle in Beijing, Guangzhou, New York and San Francisco and said to the world, “We’re open for business!”

17 Years Later…
Fast forward 17 years…a lot has changed! Today, The Piacente Group has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco and Miami, our team of IR and financial comms professionals is nearly 40 strong, and our client book is pushing 50.

Market Leader
By our humble stat count, we are the largest and most experienced IR and financial communications firm in mainland China, serving the largest book of China- and Asia-based companies publicly listed in the U.S., Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Known for our service quality, we are also the market leader in IPOs for mainland companies listed in the U.S.

Asia-Exclusive
We exclusively serve Asia-based clients. Building on our deep roots in China, we’ll be growing our footprint in Asia with a new office in Singapore later this year. Southeast Asia is one of the world’s fastest-developing regions with rapidly expanding economies, a dynamic tech scene and burgeoning new enterprises.

Looking Back & Looking Forward
Outstanding quality got us to where we are today and will remain our bedrock going forward. We are passionate about helping our clients tell their stories and thrive in international capital markets. That’s what we’ve done and that’s what we will continue to do.

17 years is just the start!

TPG has a long history of empowering women in business. Join us June 29 in supporting the Women Empowerment Council at their Women Empowerment Awards in China Ceremony, held online from 12:30-2:00pm Beijing time.

The awards seek to showcase trailblazing individuals and innovative companies that have demonstrated a robust commitment to promoting women in the workforce and taking actions to effectively advance gender equality which can drive stronger business outcomes.

Last year, our president and founder, Brandi Piacente, was recognized at this event as a top-five finalist for the Outstanding Woman Leader of the Year in China award, nominated for her success as a senior executive female leader and her effort in the advancement of women in finance in China. We congratulate all of this year’s nominees on their selection and their remarkable contributions to this important societal movement.

Scan the QR code below for event registration info.

Morning rush hour around our Beijing office is pretty quiet these days, but our team is still hard at work getting clients ready for 1Q22 earnings.

Bravo! Yesterday, KE Holdings Inc. (Beike) completed its dual primary listing by way of introduction on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 2423.HK). Great to work with you! :BEKE $BEKE

Congratulations to our client Zhihu Inc. on their Hong Kong main board listing last Friday (HKEX:2390)! :ZH