New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc., the largest provider of private educational services in China went public on Thursday in New York Stock Exchange. Its initial public offering of 7.5 million American depositary shares was priced at $15 each, topping the expected pricing range of $11 to $13.

New Oriental soared 39 percent after their initial public offering, the biggest first-day gain for a new stock since April.

New Oriental has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.13 million ADSs.

Each ADS represents four common shares of New Oriental, and shares begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "EDU."

Credit Suisse Securities was the sole global coordinator¹ and acted as joint² book-runners with Goldman Sachs. Piper Jaffray & Co. acted as a co-manager for the offering.

New Oriental offers English and other foreign-language classes, test-preparation and online instruction. It runs 25 schools and more than 110 learning centers concentrated in the eastern provinces of China.

Proceeds will be used to develop programs, acquire facilities and repay debt, according to the filing. New Oriental opened 10 schools in the fiscal³ year and plans to open six to eight more in fiscal 2007.

"Private education is just starting to take off in China and we hope we can help China's growth,'' Chief Executive Officer Michael Ming Hou Yu said in an interview.