Chase Coleman Raised Stake In TAL Education Group

TIGER GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLCTiger Global Management’s Chase Coleman, who was famous for his outstanding 45% return in 2011, boosted his activist stake in TAL Education Group (XRS). According to a SEC regulatory filing late yesterday, Chase Coleman reported 23.48 million shares of TAL Education in his portfolio, corresponding to a 37.8% activist stake. This amount includes 21.88 million Class B common shares which can be converted into the same number of Class A common shares, and 800 thousand American Depositary Shares, which can be exchanged for Class A common shares at a ratio of 1:2.

Chase Coleman previous had a small position in TAL Education. He only had 800 thousand American Depositary Shares at the end of the third quarter. Because of the small daily trading volume, it might take Coleman a long time to expand his position. Probably he entered during the fourth quarter 2011 and bought most of his shares at about $10 per share. On January 4, 2012, TAL Education began to show a strong uptrend. The stock is currently approaching $11.

Several other hedge funds also owned American Depositary Shares from TAL Education, including Richard Chilton, David E. Shaw and Jim Simons, according to their third quarter filings.

Seeded by legendary investor Julian Robertson, Coleman is only 35 years old and a graduate of Williams College. Tiger Global Management returned 71 percent after fees in 2007. Tiger Global’s Chase Coleman is one of the more successful tiger cubs. Coleman’s Tiger Global has nearly $5 Billion under management and achieved an average 21% return per year since 2001. During the first nine months of 2010 Tiger Global’s flagship fund returned 64%. Through the end of October 2011, Tiger Global returned 45% last year. He mainly invests in technology companies.

TAL Education Group is “a holding company for a group of companies engaged in provision of after-school tutoring programs for primary and secondary school students in the People’s Republic of China (the PRC). The Company offers tutoring services to K-12 students covering core academic subjects, including mathematics, English, Chinese, physics, chemistry and biology. It delivers its tutoring services through small classes, personalized premium services (such as one-on-one tutoring) and online course offerings.” according to Google Finance.