The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 24-26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) CEO Says Negotiating with China on Local Production (English article)
Bottom line: CICC’s IPO will price and debut weakly due to uncertainty about its prospects following recent management turmoil, though the stock could do well over the longer term if its new executive team performs well.
Investor unimpressed by CICC offering
Chinese investment bank CICC is quickly discovering just how much its fortunes have faded, with word the former financial superstar has scaled back its Hong Kong IPO by 20 percent due to lack of investor interest. Just a month or two ago CICC might have been able to blame the lukewarm sentiment on the broader market, as a massive sell-off on China’s A-share markets infected Hong Kong. But strong recent demand for 2 major new listings in Hong Kong shows positive sentiment is returning, and that CICC is being left out of the rebound.
IPOs by Chinese companies have come creaking back to life in Hong Kong lately, led by last week’s strong debut for IMAX China (HKEx: 1970), the Chinese unit of Canadian big-screen theater technology company IMAX (NYSE: IMAX). Since debuting last week, IMAX China shares have risen by a third on big hopes for rapid expansion in China’s theater market. Last week, the stodgier China RE insurance company also priced shares for its upcoming $2 billion Hong Kong IPO at the top of their range, after getting strong demand. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Cook on 3rd China Trip This Year, Meets App Developers (English article)
CMC, Merlin Entertainment to Build China Legoland Park (Chinese article)
China’s CCB (HKEx: 939) Agrees to Buy Majority Stake in LME Ring Dealer Metdist (English article)
Speech Technology Firm Mobvoi Wins $75 Mln Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Funding (Chinese article)
Trina (NYSE: TSL) Connects Two-Thirds of 300 MW Yunnan Project to Grid (PRNewswire)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 21. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) to Separate China Unit Amid Activist Pressure (English article)
Meituan, Dianping Said Seeking to Raise Up to $3 Bln (English article)
Bottom line: Beijing needs to accelerate reform of traditional media in the face of rising challenges from players like Alibaba and Baidu, or risk seeing many of these state-run companies fall into irrelevance.
Alibaba challenges traditional media to speed up reform
A wave of mega-mergers sweeping through China’s Internet over the last 2 years saw its biggest deal to date announced late last week, when e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) offered $4.6 billion for the more than 80 percent of leading online video site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) it doesn’t already own. The move marked the latest challenge to China’s traditional media industry, which has been monopolized for years by state-run broadcasters and printed publications.
If this latest mega-deal gets completed, a new Youku Tudou with access to Alibaba’s cash and other vast resources will almost certainly accelerate its challenge to traditional media by aggressively rolling out compelling new on-demand products and premium content. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Declining Wal-Mart China sales and Suntory’s decision to dissolve a China joint venture reflect difficulties foreign consumer names face in the fast changing market, and also challenges posed by local rivals like Bright Food.
Sales fall 6 pct at Walmart China JV stores
Two new consumer stories are shining a spotlight on the difficulties many big foreign brands are facing in China’s tough retailing market, where they compete with both homegrown giants and also smaller names that can quickly gain scale over the Internet. One story reports on falling sales at US retailing giant Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) China stores, based on rarely seen data from a local joint venture. The other reports that Japanese brewing giant Suntory (Tokyo: 2587) is putting a lid on its 3-year-old Chinese beer-making joint venture.
Meantime, a third outbound M&A story involving Shanghai-based Bright Food shines a spotlight on one of the rising local giants that is posing a growing challenge to the big western consumer names. That deal has the acquisitive Bright, which has made billion-dollar purchases in Britain and Israel, signing another smaller deal to buy half of a major New Zealand meat processor for $200 million. Bright’s agreement to buy the stake in Silver Fern Farms looks similar to WH Group’s (HKEx: 288) blockbuster deal 2 years ago that saw it purchase leading US pork producer Smithfield for nearly $5 billion. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 17-19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Offers $4.6 Bln for Rest of Youku (NYSE: YOKU) Video Site (English article)
Rare Store Sales Data Highlights Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) China Challenge (English article)
BrightFood to Buy 50 Pct of New Zealand Meat Processor for $200 Mln (English article)
Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL) Cuts 800 Jobs in China, Workers Stage Protest (Chinese article)
IBM (NYSE: IBM) Gives Beijing Access to Software Code (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 16. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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AMD (NYSE: AMD) Brings in Much-Needed Cash Through Asset Sale to China (English article)
Online Wine Seller Jiuxian Approved to List on China’s OTC Board (Chinese article)
CCB (HKEx: 939) in Talks to Buy LME Broker Metdist – Sources (English article)
Bottom line: Wal-Mart’s loss of China Resources as one of its major Chinese partners reflects rapid changes in the traditional retailing market, and could prompt Wal-Mart to accelerate an overhaul of its broader China strategy to focus more on e-commerce.
China Resources dumps Wal-Mart JV stake
Just 3 months after sacking the founders of its China e-commerce site, US retailing giant Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has suffered yet another blow in the huge but difficult market with the loss of a major local partner for its traditional brick-and-mortar stores. That move is seeing China Resources, one of the country’s biggest and oldest consumer names, dump shares worth $515 million in a number of Wal-Mart stores that it jointly owns with the US retailing giant.
The move isn’t all that surprising for a number of reasons, but still doesn’t look too good for Wal-Mart in the fast-changing Chinese retailing market. For starters, China Resources is already a major owner of smaller supermarket chain called Vanguard. It also moved into the hypermarket business 2 years ago when it effectively took over the China-based operations of British giant Tesco (London: TSCO) through a joint venture. (previous post) Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Huarong IPO Seeks $2.8 Bln; Boost Seen From Cinda (HKEx: 1359) Surge (English article)
Alibaba (Nasdaq: BABA) Moves Main Singles Day Venue to Beijing (Chinese article)
Pepsi Cola (NYSE: PEP) Confirms Plans for Cellphone in China (Chinese article)
Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) to Hold Shareholder Meeting to Vote on Privatizing (PRNewswire)
Yingli (NYSE: YGE) Repaid Substantial Amount of Notes Due Oct 13 (PRNewswire)
