The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 9. 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 June 6-8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Three China Solar-Panel Groups Lose EU-Tariff Exemptions (English article)
China Resources Expands Vanguard Convenience Stores, Targets 6,300 by 2020 (Chinese article)
JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) Receives Going Private Proposal at $9.69 Per ADS (GlobeNewswire)
Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Parent Legend Gets HK Approval for up to $2 Bln IPO: Sources (English article)
WoWo (Nasdaq: WOWO), JMU to Merge, Creating Top Online Foodservice Firm (PRNewswire)
Bottom line: The sale of new shares at a discount by Alibaba Pictures and Kingsoft reflects growing competition for funds in Hong Kong, while Mindray is likely to seek a China re-listing following its privatization from New York.
Kingsoft in fund-raising plan
A flurry of fund-raising activity on China’s periphery is in the headlines as we end the week, led by 2 separate plans by Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) film unit and software maker Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888) to raise a combined $2 billion. At the same time, medical device maker Mindray (NYSE: MR) has become the latest in a recent string of companies to receive buy-out offers, following years of lackluster performance for its New York-listed shares.
The underlying theme to these 3 stories is a huge stock market rally in China itself, which has seen the benchmark Shanghai index more than double over the last year. That rally is making companies like Mindray envious, prompting many to de-list from New York and target re-listings at home. At the same time, the China effect is also spilling over into adjacent Hong Kong, making it much easier for Chinese companies listed there to also raise new cash. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba Pictures (HKEx: 1060) To Raise $1.6 Bln in Share Sale For Media Acquisitions (English article)
Mindray (NYSE: MR) Receives “Going Private” Proposal at $30.00 Per ADS (PRNewswire)
WH Group (HKEx: 288) Announces Sale of Campofrio Stake For $354 Mln (GlobeNewswire)
Supermarket and Consumer Electronics Chain Bubugao to Raise 3.4 Bln Yuan (English article)
WandaGroup E-Commerce CEO Resigns, Cites Personal Reasons (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Alibaba’s new tie-up with SMG could produce a homegrown financial news and information giant drawing on both companies’ strengths, but could also face obstacles due to the 2 partners’ differing backgrounds and styles.
Alibaba buys into SMG financial newspaper
E-commerce titan Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is taking an interesting new step into the news media realm, with word that it’s investing 1.2 billion yuan ($200 million) in one of China’s leading financial newspapers that is owned by Shanghai Media Group (SMG), the country’s second largest state-owned media company. I’ve watched for the last couple of years as traditional newspapers like SMG’s China Business News, or CBN, have struggled to chart a new path in the digital media age.
For many of these traditional media, that movement has meant putting their content online, and launching a mobile app, but not much more. As a result, many are seeing their revenue shrink as advertisers flock to more dynamic new media, mirroring a trend in the west. In that light, this new Alibaba tie-up could breathe some new life into CBN’s new media push, providing new ideas and other expertise to reverse the newspaper’s decline.
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) To Invest 1.2 Bln Yuan In Financial Newspaper CBN (Chinese article)
BYD (HKEx: 1211) To Raise Up To 15 Bln Yuan Through New A-Share Issue (HKEx announcement)
LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) to Invest HK$6 Bln in Hong Kong TV Market (English article)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Says No Longer Wants M&A With Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR) (PRNewswire)
European Business Lobby Slams China’s Draft National Security Law (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Focus Media To Inject Assets To Hongda (Shenzhen: 002211) For Up To 45.7 Bln Yuan (Chinese article)
Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Announces Agreement with CEO for US$456 Mln Cash Investment (PRNewswire)
Taomee (NYSE: TAOM) Receives “Going Private” Proposal at $3.588 Per ADS (PRNewswire)
Wanda Cinema Line (Shenzhen: 002739) Buys Australian Cinema Chain Hoyts (English article)
Kunlun Tech (Shenzhen: 300418) To Buy Finnish Game Maker Supercell – Source (English article)
Bottom line: China’s securities regulator should reopen its plan for an international board amid the current stock market rally, which would make big international brands like Imax available to average local investors.
Imax China files for HK IPO
A premier global movie brand slipped away from China’s stock exchanges last week, when the Chinese unit of big-screen superstar Imax (NYSE: IMAX) disclosed it plans to make an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. The case brought back memories of a nearly forgotten plan by China for an international board for such listings in Shanghai, aimed at making big foreign names accessible to Chinese investors.
That plan was conceived more than 5 years ago, but later got put on hold as China focused on launching the Nasdaq-style ChiNext board in Shenzhen. It then got indefinitely shelved when China’s stock markets languished in the 4 years after that. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 30-June 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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IMAX China Files For HK IPO, Betting on Booming Film Demand (English article)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Says Outage Due to Staff Error, Not Hack (English article)
Solarworld (Frankfurt: SWVK) Gains EU Probes of Possible China Duty Evasion (English article)
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), Yahoo Japan (Tokyo: 4689) To Open Tmall Japan Pavillion (Chinese article)
Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) Comes Under New Short Seller Attack, Shares Drop 6 Pct (Chinese article)
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: Twitter’s growing pursuit of business from Chinese advertisers shows it is watching the market for a potential future entry, while a new equity tie-up could see Didi Kuaidi’s hired car services launch on Weibo later this year.
Twitter chases China advertisers
Social networking (SNS) pioneer Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) and its Chinese clone WeiboCorp (Nasdaq: WB) are both in the China headlines today, each taking gambles on different parts of the market. After previously saying that China isn’t a market where it can do business, the original Twitter has quietly begun to court local advertisers, even as its actual service remains blocked in the country. Meantime, Weibo, which rose to prominence after Twitter was first blocked in China in 2009, has announced a relatively large new investment in local hired car services leader Didi Kuaidi. Read Full Post…
