--FILE--Zhang Bangxin, chairman of TAL Education, poses for a photo in Beijing, China, 19 October 2012. An equity investment firm has agreed to pay USD500 million for a minority stake in TAL Education Group, according to the rapidly growing Chinese K-12 after-school tutoring services provider. The investor has agreed not to sell the proposed 7 percent stake, involving newly issued class A common shares, for six months after the purchase, the Beijing-based target firm said in a statement, without disclosing the name of the buyer. The transaction is expected to take place this month, it added. TAL's revenues rose 32 percent to UDS568 million in the third quarter of the fiscal year of 2019, according to an earnings report. The expected price-to-earnings ratio, based on the firm's profit estimate over the next 12 months, exceeds 60.
