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Journalist China
Business news from China By Doug Young.
Doug Young, journalist, has lived and worked in China for 20 years, much of that as a journalist, writing about publicly listed Chinese companies.
He is based in Shanghai where, in addition to his role as editor of Young’s China Business Blog, he teaches financial journalism at Fudan University, one of China’s top journalism programs.
He contributes regularly to a wide range of publications in both China and the west, including Forbes, CNN, Seeking Alpha and Reuters, as well as Asia-based publications including the South China Morning Post, Global Times, Shanghai Daily and Shanghai Observer
Bottom line: Qunar’s latest quarterly results show it will continue to spend aggressively and post big losses as it competes with Ctrip, and reflect the fact that its biggest asset is its majority ownership by the cash-rich Baidu.
Qunar spurns Ctrip, raising cash
China’s highly competitive online travel landscape is rapidly shaping up as a two-horse race, with one group centered on industry leader Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and the other on up-and-comer Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR), which is controlled by leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). After Ctrip announced a flurry of major new tie-ups last week, Qunar is fighting back with new fund-raising announcements that include a nearly $1 billion cash injection through the issue of new stock and bonds.
Qunar announced the fund-raising the same day that it released its latest quarterly results, which contained the surprise disclosure that it was approached by Ctrip last month about a merger. It added that it rebuffed the advance, but it clearly needs new funds as its own cash pile remains relatively small and its losses balloon due to aggressive spending. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The latest EU anti-dumping probe into Chinese solar panels is likely to find that manufacturers violated a previous agreement, which could result in new punitive tariffs by the end of this year.
EU launches new probe into Chinese solar panels
In a move that will surprise to no one, the European Union has formally launched a probe into Chinese solar panel makers who are being accused by European rivals of violating a landmark agreement that averted anti-dumping tariffs. I should really stop using the word “landmark” to describe the 2013 deal between the Chinese panel makers and EU that avoided a trade war. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that a better word to describe the deal would be “foolish”, since it appears many of the Chinese panel makers never really intended to follow the spirit of the agreement to begin with. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s technical glitch at Alipay, the launch of its new bank and use of its Taobao platform to auction of bad loans reflect its growing clout in financial services, as it attempts to build up its Ant Financial unit for a future IPO.
Technical glitch interrupts Alipay
E-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is in a trio of finance-related headlines, spotlighting its growing bet on financial services that could be a huge growth area as Beijing opens the sector to private investment. One headline has seen Alibaba get official permission from its home province to open a bank, after it became one of the first 3 entities to receive private banking licenses under a pilot program by Beijing.
The second headline has seen the company’s popular Alipay electronic payments service experience technical problems that cut off access for 2 hours earlier this week, prompting it to quickly say that no accounts were compromised. The final news bit comes in a larger story about China’s growing bad asset crisis, which will see the nation’s top bad asset management company use Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace to auction off some of those assets. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Didi Kuaidi’s IPO could come as early as the fourth quarter, with Hong Kong, China and New York standing equal chances of winning what could be the year’s biggest China Internet listing, worth up to $2 billion.
Didi Kuaidi to list in Q4
Just days after launching a massive promotion to attract new customers to its private hired car services, Didi Kuaidi is reportedly starting the process that could end with a major IPO for China’s largest taxi app operator by year end. Such a development wouldn’t come as a huge surprise, following the company’s formation earlier this year through the merger of 2 bitter rivals to create a Chinese market leader reportedly valued at up to $9 billion.
But equally interesting will be where this fast-driving company chooses to list. Just a year ago the answer would have almost certainly been New York, which is where most of China’s top Internet companies are traded. But a recent boom in China’s own stock markets and a new program that allows mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks have made Chinese Internet companies start to seriously consider both of these markets for IPOs as well. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) to Raise 7.5 Bln Yuan Through Private Placement (English article)
Bottom line: Ctrip’s purchase of a controlling but minority stake in eLong is the latest in a string of similar equity tie-ups by the company, none of which looks very exciting because these new partners aren’t interested in working closely with Ctrip.
Expedia sells eLong stake
A longtime but largely empty cross-border Internet partnership has finally come to an end, with word that US online travel agent Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) has dumped its stake in Chinese laggard eLong (Nasdaq: LONG). In an interesting twist to the story, the group buying eLong includes Chinese industry leader Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP), which seems to be buying small stakes in many of its rivals these days without buying anyone outright.
Personally speaking, I don’t see much reason to get excited about Ctrip’s latest buy, even though investors seemed to think differently. eLong is a perfect example of a company that had huge advantages due to its early arrival to the online travel market and longtime partnership with Expedia. And yet it failed to parlay any of that into a market leading position, and instead has become an afterthought as it got overtaken by younger, more innovative companies like Tuniu (Nasdaq: TOUR) and Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A Yidao Yongche merger with Uber China continues the rapid consolidation in China’s hired car services, which could be followed soon by a successful bid by Uber and Baidu for Nokia’s digital mapping division.
Yidao Yongche to merge with Uber China
Rapid consolidation is taking place in China’s hired car services market, with word that a new alliance is shaping up between major local player Yidao Yongche and an existing tie-up between global giant Uber and local Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). As a longtime Chinese Internet watcher, I’m quite surprised at the sudden and rapid speed of consolidation in this particular sector, since such consolidation in other areas tends to be a slow and painful process that often takes years.
A major factor behind this sudden and rapid consolidation could be the participation by all 3 of China’s top Internet players, including Baidu, alongside social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) and e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). Two of those companies are also involved in a related headline that is seeing Baidu and Tencent making separate bids for the digital mapping division being sold off by former cellphone giant Nokia (Helsinki: NOK1V). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China’s largest corporations need to face stiffer regulatory penalties to ensure their compliance with Beijing rules, as part of a campaign to clean up the country’s business climate.
More strictness needed in Alibaba, telco cases
Some of China’s leading high-tech firms were in the headlines last week for foot-dragging in response to government calls to change their business practices, in separate cases that show why Beijing needs to get more aggressive about enforcing its rules among big domestic corporations.
The first case saw e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) sued by one of the world’s top makers of luxury goods for allegedly refusing to clean up its popular sites of trafficking in pirated goods. The second saw critics accuse China’s 3 major mobile carriers of taking largely empty steps to improve their mobile data pricing and speeds, after Beijing called on them to take such action. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Shares of Youku Tudou and Vipshop are likely to remain stable over the next few weeks, as the former moves towards a rumored merger with iQiyi and the latter fends off a short seller attack.
Vipshop likely to fend off short seller attack
Two stories with big implications for individual company stocks are in the news as we begin the new week, led by a denial from Baidu-backed (Nasdaq: BIDU) online video site iQiyi that it’s in talks for a merger with large rival Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU). The other big news has high-flying discount e-commerce site Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) coming under a short-seller attack, prompting it to issue not one but two separate statements denying the allegations. The week ahead could be bumpy for both of these stocks, which is why I’m weighing in with my own view of what may be happening behind the scenes. Read Full Post…
A growing number of Chinese and foreigners in Shanghai know the story of European Jewish refugees who fled to the city during World War 2, thanks to frequent media coverage and other publicity for this unusual wartime story. But far fewer know that this tale that saw more than 20,000 Jews escape Nazi persecution in Shanghai almost had a far more sinister ending.
Strangely enough, it was the Japanese military, which brought so much suffering to others in China and Asia during the war, which was the unlikely hero in this case. As people around the world observe the 70th anniversary of the end of World War 2, it seems only fitting that we remember not only the many tales of tragedy and bravery, but also the many smaller strange twists and turns that often can mean the difference between life and death during wartime. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new wave of traditional Chinese firms are taking new high-tech names to fool local investors who often buy stocks with little or no knowledge of the companies, and should serve as a warning to foreigners interested in Chinese shares.
Real estate firm renames itself as Pi Tu Pi
An entertaining local media report is poking fun at the latest trend among Chinese companies, which is seeing many adopt high-tech sounding names in a bid to convince unsavvy investors that they are engaged in high-growth industries. But all joking aside, the report also casts a very real spotlight on the dangers of buying Chinese stocks for average international investors, who have been ramping up their purchasing via Hong Kong following the launch last year of the landmark Hong Kong-Shanghai connect program. Read Full Post…
