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News Digest: September 5, 2012 报摘： 2012年9月5日

By newsdoug on September 4, 2012

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Japan’s NEC (Tokyo: 6701) to Sell Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Stake in $235 Mln Deal (English article)

Sharp New Exchanges in China Short Seller Showdown (English article)

SEC Charges China Sky One (Nasdaq OTC: CSKI) With Securities Fraud (English article)

Wanda Group Completes Acquisition of AMC Entertainment Holdings (Businesswire)

News Report Exposes Xiaomi Re-Selling Used Phones as New (Chinese article)

CNOOC’s Nexen Bid: Where’s the Noise? 中海油收购尼克森：争议在哪？

By newsdoug on August 27, 2012

Politicians mum on CNOOC's Nexen buy I have to admit that I’ve been quite surprised by the lack of noise coming from North American politicians in the month since Chinese oil major CNOOC (HKEx: 883; NYSE: CEO) announced its landmark plan to buy Canadian oil giant Nexen (Toronto: NXY) in a deal valued at $15.1 billion. In fact, you could say the silence over that period has been almost deafening, with the lack of noise only ending late last week when Nexen made the low-key announcement that it has scheduled a meeting on September 20 for its shareholders to vote on the deal. (English article)

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Chinese US Home Loan Set for Trouble 国开行拟向美国地产商贷款料遇政治障碍

By newsdoug on June 27, 2012

China finances US homes There’s an interesting report out there today about another Sino-US deal that’s bound to attract controversy for political reasons, this one involving an American real estate developer looking for Chinese money to build homes in the San Francisco area. I’m probably sounding a bit too pessimistic by repeatedly predicting these kinds of deals are destined to fail due to pressure from US politicians, which is what has happened several times over the last 2 years for deals in the sensitive telecoms infrastructure space.

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HNA Goes to Hollywood 海航走向好莱坞

By newsdoug on May 31, 2012

RealD plays on China theater drive The huge potential of China’s box office is back in the spotlight again today, with word that US technology company RealD (NYSE: RLD) will install its 3D technology on a major new theater chain with up to 500 screens being set up by a unit of HNA Group, one of China’s more entrepreneurial business groups. (company announcement) The announcement by HNA Vigor Film Investment comes less than 2 weeks after China’s largest movie theater operator, Wanda Group, announced it will buy AMC Entertainment, the second largest US movie theater operator, in a landmark plan that also includes major facility upgrades. (previous post) All this shows how much potential these companies see in China’s movie market, now the world’s second largest, and also underscores their determination to take advantage of a newly relaxed quota for the import of foreign films that now command the big majority of the country’s fast growing box office. Let’s take a look at this latest news, which has HNA Group getting into the movie theater business with a big move that will make it one of China’s top movie theater operators, behind Wanda’s 730 screens in 86 movie theaters. Equally important, the installation of 3D technology in its new theaters means that HNA will be eligible to show films under China’s newly expanded quota for imported foreign movies. After limiting the annual import of foreign films to 20 for many years, China recently raised the figure by allowing in additional 14 movies in high-tech formats like 3D. That could mean a 40 percent increase in box office sales, as foreign films currently dominate a sector that generated more than $2 billion last year and whose sales could top $5 billion by 2015 as more affluent Chinese are willing to pay relatively expensive ticket prices to see big-budget films. The domestic film-making business has also gotten a lift in recent months, with global animation leaders Disney (NYSE: DIS) and DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) both setting up joint venture animation studios in China earlier this year. (previous post) Look for this trend to continue, with movie theaters quickly multiplying in China’s biggest cities to meet the growing demand from affluent Chinese eager to see a growing number of top-notch films coming into the country. That should play well not only for the theater operators and movie makers, but also technology and equipment makers like RealD and Imax (NYSE: IMAX).

Bottom line: Real ID’s tie-up to install 3D technology in HNA Group’s new theater chain marks the latest step the recent boom for China’s movie industry.

News Digest: May 22, 2012 报摘： 2012年5月22日

By newsdoug on May 21, 2012

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

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◙ Alibaba Already in Fund-Raising Talks, Temasek to Invest $500 Mln – Source (Chinese article)

◙ China’s Wanda to Buy AMC Cinema Chain for $2.6 Billion (English article)

◙ Tencent (HKEx: 700) E-Commerce Subsidiary May IPO (English article)

◙ China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Spends 193 Bln Yuan Over 3 Years to Commercialize TD-SCDMA (Chinese article)

◙ China Mobile Subscribers Rise 1.1 pct to 1.02 Bln in April (English article)

◙ Latest calendar for Q1 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

Welcome to the US Dollhouse, China Mobile 中移动和万达进军美国料将失败

By newsdoug on May 10, 2012

There are several interesting developments today on big-name Chinese firms moving into the US, highlighting both the opportunities but also the risks for increasingly assertive Chinese names looking to expand into a market that is at once the world’s largest but also highly suspicious of China. Leading the news is dominant wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), whose US expansion aspirations are reportedly running into trouble over familiar security concerns. (English article) That report is followed by another one saying Wanda Group, a real estate developer and owner of China’s largest movie theater chain, is in talks to buy some or all of AMC, operator of the second largest US movie theater chain. (English article) And last but not least, long-frustrated telecoms equipment maker Huawei appears to have found a new backdoor into the US through a new tie-up with local company Synnex (NYSE: SNX) to sell its enterprise products in the world’s biggest market. (English article) Let’s look at the China Mobile and Wanda-AMC developments first, as they’re certainly the newest and each provides an interesting challenge that many will be watching in the months ahead. US media are reporting that US national security officials, concerned about the potential for cyber-spying, may deny China Mobile’s recent request to provide mobile service between the US and China and to build facilities in the US. Their main concern is that China Mobile could use the US presence to gain access to local infrastructure that could then be used for spying and to steal intellectual property. This particular concern has become a popular refrain for Chinese telecoms firms trying to enter the US, with both Huawei and rival ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen 000063) both being denied access to the market numerous times due to similar concerns over the last year. Whereas Huawei and ZTE have both made significant efforts to improve their US images and ease spying concerns, I suspect that China Mobile has done little or nothing in this regard and for that reason its request is very likely to be vetoed. Meantime, other US media reports say that Wanda is talking with AMC’s private equity owners about buying some or all of the US theater chain, in discussions that began a year ago but have become more serious since then. Anything involving Chinese ownership in the US media space is also likely to be sensitive, despite China’s recent opening of its own media sector by allowing big names like Disney (NYSE: DIS) and DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) to form new animation joint ventures. Accordingly, I would also give this deal a good chance of failure, higher than 50 percent, both due to such sensitivities and also Wanda’s inexperience at this kind of overseas M&A. Lastly there’s Huawei, which is the most experienced in the US after a number of high-profile failed attempts to enter the market in the last 2 years. I quite like this deal with Synnex, which will see the US company sell Huawei routers and switches to US businesses for use in their internal networks, putting it in direct competition with Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO). These kinds of smaller sales are much less likely to attract controversy than Huawei’s previous efforts to build bigger mobile networks in the US, and thus could actually succeed and give Huawei its first chance to make a serious inroads to the elusive market.

Bottom line: New efforts by China Mobile to enter the US and a Chinese real estate firm to buy US theater operator AMC are likely to fail due to sensitivities, while a new Huawei initiative could succeed.

Bona Opens New China Back Door 博纳欲与美国同行合拍电影中国同好莱坞恋情升温

By newsdoug on April 20, 2012

Bona in co-production talks The growing new love affair between Hollywood and China is taking yet another step forward, with news that New York-listed movie maker Bona Film (Nasdaq: BONA) is in talks with several major US studios to co-produce films for the China market. (Chinese article) In fact, such co-productions aren’t completely new, and many of the other studios have used them in recent years to circumvent a strict quota system that limits the number of foreign films that can be imported to China each year. But Bona’s plan looks particularly aggressive, presenting a potentially interesting proposition for foreign investors looking to buy into the China film story. According to the reports, Bona is talking with a number of major studios, including 20th Century Fox, Universal, Sony Pictures (Tokyo: 6753) and Paramount (NYSE: VIAb) about co-producing movies for the Chinese market. Furthermore, the company’s chief executive says his ultimate goal is to make 2 such co-productions a year. Such a large number would mark a big opening into China for the foreign studios, which until recently were only allowed to collectively export 20 of their films each year into China, now the world’s second largest movie market. Beijing recently increased the total by saying it would allow another 13 movies into the market each year using high-tech formats like 3D. Still, the appetite and potential for high-quality films in China is clearly capturing Hollywood’s attention, leading to a recent flurry of moves into China by the major studios. One of those moves, in fact, saw 20th Century Fox’s parent News Corp (Nasdaq: NWSA) take a 20 percent stake in Bona Film itself last month (previous post); accordingly, I wouldn’t be surprised if 20th Century Fox ends up signing the first co-production deal with Bona in this new round of tie-up talks. Bona’s talks come as other major studios are making their own new moves into China, amid increasing signs that Beijing wants to open the industry to more outside investment. Disney (NYSE: DIS) and DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) both announced new animation joint ventures in China earlier this year (previous post); and HNA Group and Wanda Group have both discussed major new moves to open and expand their domestic theater operations to accommodate the expected big influx of Hollywood-quality movies. (previous post) Another name to watch could be Huayi Brothers (Shenzhen: 300027), one of China’s other major privately held film studios with foreign experience, though that company has tended to focus more on co-productions with other Asian firms. Either way, these foreign-focused Chinese studios could make an interesting investment play into the market as it prepares for major expansion, with the potential to perhaps someday rival some of the major US entertainment giants.

Bottom line: Bona Films’ aggressive pursuit of foreign co-productions reflects the recent opening of China’s film industry, which is forging growing ties with Hollywood.