Bottom line: China should expand its plans for a new enterprise board in Shanghai to include a place for the Chinese units of big multinationals like Yum and Uber, allowing domestic investors to buy into these big foreign names.
Calls grow for KFC parent to spin off China unit
Global fast food giant Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) became the latest major multinational to contemplate a spin-off for its China business last week, following in the tracks of Uber and IMAX (NYSE: IMAX), two leaders in their respective areas of hired car services and big-screen theater technology. The trend acknowledges that China will soon become the world’s largest consumer market, and its unique qualities and complexities often justify creation of separate companies for these big global names to effectively develop the market.
China should seize on this trend and modify its current plans for a new Nasdaq-style enterprise board based in Shanghai to also include a place for these larger, newly created companies with foreign roots. Reports earlier this year indicated the regulator was aiming to roll out the new strategic industries board as soon as next year, though its plans could be delayed due to the recent turmoil on China’s stock markets. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 10-12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Resources Unit to Sell Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) China Store Stakes for $525 Mln (English article)
Bottom line: The offshore market for Chinese IPOs will see a brief resurgence in the next month as China’s stock markets stabilize, but the window will be short-lived as China’s economy shows new signs slowing sharply.
Imax China jumps in HK debut
After an extended period with few new listings, a new wave of IPOs by Chinese firms in offshore markets could be coming, led by stodgy insurer China RE. Sources are saying the re-insurer has taken a major step forward in its creaky IPO process by setting a price range for its stock after receiving strong feedback from investors.
This particular deal has been in the works for the last month, but it’s still relatively encouraging to see that it’s moving closer to the end. But the fact that it comes in the conservative and unexciting insurance sector means we’ll probably have to wait for a more controversial offering to see if the fall IPO season will really take off. Such a riskier deal could come in the next week or so if we see renewed activity for the other major offering in the pipeline, a $1 billion IPO by faded investment banking superstar CICC. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Beijing should take a more holistic approach to developing green cars in China, which should include education of owners and creation of owner communities in addition to financial incentives and infrastructure building.
Beijing in new steps to charge up EV sales
China made the latest new move to boost its sputtering electric vehicle (EV) program over the holiday, disclosing an ambitious plan to sharply accelerate installation of charging stations across the country. The plan was aimed at countering one of the biggest obstacles to EV development, namely concerns from potential owners about difficulties they might face recharging their vehicles.
The new move comes after Beijing announced new financial incentives for EV buyers in May, and could provide some more momentum to a national program that has fallen far short of expectations. These kinds of piecemeal measures look good in theory, but often seem to fall flat due to lack of national coordination and supporting education and other publicity. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China RE Sets Price Range for $2 Bln HK IPO; to Launch Deal Monday – Source (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 6-8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Meituan, Dianping in Merger Talks – Source (Chinese article)
Apparel, Footwear Industry Calls for Taobao Relisting as “Notorious Market” (press release)
China to Hasten Roll-out of Car Charging Network: Xinhua (English article)
Yum’s (NYSE: YUM) China Missteps Amplify Calls For Spinoff, Other Change (English article)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Closes Purchase of Ontario Assets from KKR (PRNewswire)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Telecom (HKEx: 728), Unicom (HKEx: 762) May Merge – Deutsche Bank (Chinese article)
Didi Kuaidi in Strategic Partnership with LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) (Chinese article)
Toshiba in White Goods Deal with China’s Skyworth (HKEx: 751) (English article)
Huishang Bank Turns to HK for Share Sale After China Rout (English article)
JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) Boosts Asia Reach With HK Office, Logistics Tie-Up (GlobeNewswire)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Tmall to Split Headquarters Between Hangzhou, Beijing (Chinese article)
Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) in $100 Mln JV with China’s Inspur Group (English article)
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Hack Exposes Flaws in Building Apps in China (English article)
ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) Announces $20 Mln Share Repurchase Program (PRNewswire)
Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) Billionaire Founder Sells $414 Mln in Shares (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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LSE’s Sale of Russell Investments to Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) May Collapse (English article)
58.com (NYSE: WUBA) to Invest in 100 O2O Firms This Year, May Lose $200 Mln – CEO (Chinese article)
Boeing (NYSE: BA) Plans 737 Plant in China, Pledges No US Layoffs (English article)
LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) Caught in Whirlpool of Unpaid Bills (Chinese article)
China Three Gorges Weighs $2.3 Bln Wind Investments (English article)
Bottom line: China’s award of a big US high-speed rail contract reflects improving high-tech ties the 2 sides hope to build in an upcoming presidential summit, which could help prospects for a sale of US chipmaker Atmel to China’s CEC.
Xi Jinping heads to Washington
A couple of Sino-US deals from the sensitive high-tech space are in the news today, ahead of a summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama that could ease some of their recent bilateral tensions over technology issues. Leading the headlines is a breakthrough deal that will see leading Chinese high-speed rail company CRRC (HKEx: 1776; Shanghai: 601776) help to build a planned line linking the western US cities of Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
While timing of that announcement looks squarely tied to the Xi visit and should be welcome by both sides, the second looks more controversial since it could see a mid-sized US chipmaker bought by a Chinese company. That deal, which was disclosed by unnamed sources, would see the state-owned China Electronics Corp (CEC) purchase Atmel (Nasdaq: ATML), in a deal that could value the latter at more than $3 billion. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Electronics in Talks to Acquire US Chipmaker Atmel (Nasdaq: ATML) （English article)
Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Rise and Fall: What Comes After the Historic Wipeout? (English article)
Rail Giant CRRC Ramps up Overseas Drive as Unit Signs Las Vegas-LA Deal (English article)
Yingli (NYES: YGE) Signs Its Largest Solar Panel Supply Agreement to Date in China (PRNewswire)
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) to Sell Off Music Unit Amid Copyright Difficulties – Source (Chinese article)
