** Shares of Minsheng Education Group Co Ltd 1569.HK rise
as much as 17.2 pct to HK$1.36, the highest since Aug. 14, on
the education service provider's plans to buy a stake in a
college in Yunnan province to expand its network of schools
** The shares later trim gain to HK$1.30, still up 12.1 pct,
heading for the best day since last September
** Co has agreed to buy a 51 pct stake in Leed International
for 582.5 million yuan ($84.74 million) in a deal to be
financed by internal resources urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN1VB0K2
** Leed owns the sponsorship interests of Dianchi College, a
private higher education institution offering undergraduate
courses in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province
** As of the previous close, the stock has fallen 27.5
percent so far this year
** Minsheng Education has underperformed the Hang Seng
Utilities Index sector .HSNU by 41.0 percentage points in the
past month
** As of 0228 GMT, about 13.04 million shares of the
Beijing-based company have been traded, compared with their
30-day moving average of 8.06 million shares a day
** Among the 10 analysts that cover Minsheng Education, the
current average rating on the shares is "buy"; the breakdown of
recommendations is 8 "strong buy" or "buy", and two "hold". The
analyst mean price target is HK$1.96
** Hong Kong benchmark index .HSI edges up 0.02 pct
($1 = 6.8740 Chinese yuan)
(Reuters Messaging: donny.kwok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)