An ongoing consolidation in the crowded online travel space has taken a new twist, with word that industry leader Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) has made a major investment in up-and-comer Tongcheng and is eying a similar tie-up with IPO candidate Tuniu. The latest news comes from one official announcement on Tongcheng, and another media report on Tuniu, showing just how active the online travel space has recently become due to the entry of several new players over the last few years. All of this comes just weeks after Ctrip was reportedly in talks to merge with Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR), the sector’s second largest player, in a deal that would have created a sector leader with a market value of around $10 billion. Read Full Post…
New developments from leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) and listing candidate Jumei are providing the latest signals that the heady market for Chinese IPOs in New is rapidly losing steam, potentially derailing many upcoming new offerings. Sina has just announced a massive share buyback to support its crumbling stock, just days before a rapidly weakening IPO for its Weibo microblogging unit that could come as soon as this week. Meantime, online cosmetics seller Jumei has sharply scaled back the size of its original IPO plan, again hinting at rapidly weakening demand for shares of Chinese Internet companies. Read Full Post…
Just days after reports emerged that China’s top 2 online travel agents were in talks for a potential merger, rivals eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) and venture-backed Tongcheng have announced their own new tie-up that could be prelude to a similar marriage. In an interesting twist, this newest deal looks like it’s being engineered behind the scenes by Tencent (HKEx: 700), China’s leading Internet company that is also a major stakeholder in both eLong and Tongcheng. Such a dynamic would be similar to the bigger deal that emerged earlier this week, which could see leading online search firm Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) orchestrate a much larger merger between Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). Read Full Post…
The news has been flying thick and fast these past 2 few for Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP), including the latest word that China’s oldest and largest online travel agent could be headed for a merger with fast-rising rival Qunar (Nasdaq: QUNR). I actually predicted this potential merger last fall in the run-up to Qunar’s IPO, even though nothing happened at that time. Now the latest reports are saying such a deal is in late-stage talks as Ctrip prepares to sell a controlling stake of itself to leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which also happens to be Qunar’s controlling stakeholder. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Chinese IPO Drought in New York Ends as Tarena (Nasdaq: TEDU) Advances (English article)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Announces Up to $600 Mln Share Repurchase Program (PRNewswire)
Alibaba’s Jack Ma Invests $532 Mln In Financial Software Firm (English article)
Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888) Makes $90 Mln Investment In Video Site Xunlei (Chinese article)
The number 1,000 took on new significance in the blogosphere this past week, with tech titans Lenovo (HKEx: 992), Huawei and Xiaomi in a sudden new rush to chop prices for some of their newest products to under 1,000 yuan. The number translates to roughly $160, and is certainly not a bad price for the relatively high quality smartphones and tablet PCs that are suddenly being sold by the trio at that price and even less.
Meantime, tech executives were also paying tribute on their microblogs to Pat McGovern, the billionaire founder of the IDG media empire that was one of earliest venture capital investors to realize the potential of China’s Internet. McGovern, who died last Wednesday, leaves behind an empire that helped to fund some of China’s most recognizable Internet names, including sector leaders Tencent (HKEx: 700), Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and SouFun (NYSE: SFUN), and many others. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) China Investment Bank CEO Quits Over Hiring Scandal (Chinese article)
Disney (NYSE: DIS) Unveils Retail Strategy For Shanghai Park, Forms JV (Chinese article)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Hit By Security Loophole (English article)
China Fines NU Skin (NYSE: NUS), Eyes Tighter Direct-Sales Control (English article)
ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) Announces Q4 And Full Year 2013 Results (PRNewswire)
I don’t usually like to toot my own horn, but my prediction last month that we could soon see a major fund-raising exercise by high-flying e-commerce firm Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) has come to pass, with word that the firm is preparing to sell stock and bonds worth more than $600 million. Investors weren’t extremely excited about the plan, with Vipshares falling slightly after the announcement came out. But considering that the company’s shares have risen about 8-fold over the last year alone, the reception wasn’t all that bad either. From the strategic perspective, this new massive fund raising hints that Vipshop wants to take advantage of the recent wave of M&A sweeping China’s e-commerce space, and I expect we could see some big deal announcements later this year. Read Full Post…
Reports of major new funding for online travel site Tongcheng are casting a spotlight on a sudden rise in competition for the sector, which for years was dominated by industry leaders Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and eLong (Nasdaq: LONG). The trend looks a bit worrisome to me, hinting at a new looming round of price wars and potentially some consolidation. Ctrip could well become a leader of such consolidation if it occurs, since the company now has a huge cash pile of nearly $2 billion following its raising of $800 million through a highly popular convertible bond offer last fall. Read Full Post…
The group of big Chinese web firms driving a recent wave of M&A has a new member, with word that fast-rising e-commerce site Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS) has made its first major acquisition. The move marks the latest step in consolidation in China’s overheated e-commerce sector, which is crowded with around a half dozen major players and many smaller ones that are mostly losing money. Vipshop is one of the few players that is quite profitable, even though it doesn’t have a huge cash pile as it spends heavily to quickly build up its business. That leads to my next prediction that we could see the company raise some money soon through a share or bond sale, as it seeks to build up a war chest to help fund future acquisitions. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) Eases Permissioning Process For Shanghai, Other Big Cities (Chinese article)
Wangfujing Department Store, Tencent (HKEx: 700) Partner on WeChat Payment (English article)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Prices Offerings of 2.78 Mln Shares, $130 Mln Convertible Notes (PRNewswire)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Reports Unaudited Q4, Full Year 2013 Results (PRNewswire)
Danone (Paris: DANO) To Raise Stake In Mengniu (HKEx: 2319) For $665 Mln (English article)
