China wealthy class is setting its sights on Thai international schools. It’s a boon for Thailand’s only publicly traded school operator, whose chief executive is already among the billionaires as a result.
Shares of SISB Pcl, formerly known as the Singapore International School of Bangkok, have soared as demand from China has surged. Enrollment in March this year reached more than double that of the same month last year.
The school’s stock has jumped 216 percent in the past 12 months, making it one of the biggest gainers this year among education services stocks with a market capitalization of no less than $500 million in the global market, Bloomberg data show.
SISB Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Koh owns about 32 percent of the company, and Bloomberg calculates that those shares are worth about $300 million after the stock price soared.
Koh said Thailand has become a popular place for Chinese parents to study because of its location near China and the lower cost of living compared with other places such as Singapore.
In a recent video interview from Bangkok, Koh said, “We have the Singapore brand and the management is Asian-minded. I think the culture itself is very close to the Chinese. That’s why we can be one of the biggest beneficiaries of international students coming to Thailand.”
According to the company’s financial statements, total student enrollment at SISB’s four campuses increased 25 percent year-over-year to 3,284 in March, with 715 foreign students, 68 percent of whom were from China.
SISB’s revenue comes primarily from tuition fees, which range from roughly $12,400 to $20,800 a year, depending on the age of the child and the campus.
By comparison, the median tuition for an international school last year was $21,386 in Singapore, $43,100 in New York and $21,758 in London, according to the International School Database.