The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Submits Confidential YieldCo Registration Statement (PRNewswire)
Dali Foods Seeks Up to $1.34 Bln in Hong Kong IPO (English article)
Wanda Closing Dept Stores, Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) to Take Over Some (Chinese article)
Mindray (NYSE: MR) Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement for Going Private (PRNewswire)
Tongcheng Forms JV with Japanese Travel Agent HIS (Chinese article)
Bottom line: iPhone 6 sales are likely to start slow in China, but could pick up momentum as the nation’s 3 wireless carriers launch aggressive promotions to attract users for their new 4G services.
iPhone 6s in subdued China launch
As everyone awaits the first sales figures for the iPhone 6 after its launch last Friday, it’s becoming apparent that Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) newest smartphone isn’t drawing quite as much buzz as earlier models in China. But that said, strong promotions from some of China’s leading e-commerce sites, a price that’s relatively unchanged from previous ones and the Chinese obsession with owning the newest of everything could work to the new iPhone’s advantage in the world’s largest smartphone market.
In case anyone out there can’t tell, most of us really have no idea how the new iPhone is selling in China for this latest launch, thanks to the huge number of sales channels Apple now has in the country. In addition to official Apple stores and the nation’s 3 wireless carriers, consumers can buy their new iPhones through thousands of unauthorized Apple shops, as well as through top e-commerce sites like the ones operated by Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Carrefour (Paris: CA) to Double China Convenience Stores by Chinese New Year (Chinese article)
Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) Logistics Begins Delivery Service for Tmall Supermarket (English article)
Xiaomi Caught in New Switcharoo Scandal for Redmi 2A Screen (Chinese article)
China’s Sky Solar (Nasdaq: SKYS) Soars After Signing $100 Mln Funding Pact (English article)
TAL Education (NYSE: XRS) to Acquire Firstleap Education (PRNewswire)
Bottom line: Huayi Bros could be moving towards an eventual goal of becoming China’s first major Hollywood-style studio through its massive new 30 billion yuan partnership with Ping An Bank.
HUayi goes to the movies with Ping An
It’s become quite common in China these days to see non-entertainment companies pour millions of dollars into entertainment-related ventures, most notably film-production deals. Everyone’s goal is to repeat the success of recent box office hits like “Monster Hunt”, which are earning big money by drawing on a fast-growing Chinese box office that could pass the US to become the world’s largest in the next decade.
But even I was surprised to see the size of the latest mega tie-up, which will see Ping An Bank pair with the highly successful independent movie producer Huayi Bros (Shenzhen: 300027) in a massive partnership with 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) in investment. That’s quite a large sum of money for the entertainment space, and is roughly comparable to how much e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) said it would pay last week for 20 percent of retailing giant Suning (Shenzhen: 002024). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: After a slow start, China’s VNO program is showing signs of starting to gain momentum and could start to pose a meaningful challenge to the country’s big 3 mobile carriers by the end of next year.
VNOs move slowly but steadily
China telecoms regulator has just released some new data on the country’s virtual network operator (VNO) program a year after the first service launched, aimed at providing some competition for the country’s big 3 state-run telcos. While some observers are saying they’re disappointed at the data that shows China had 8.2 million VNO subscribers at the end of last month, I would actually take a contrarian view and say I find the figures somewhat encouraging.
Frankly speaking, I wasn’t at all confident that the VNO program would attract many subscribers at all. That’s because the program relied on cooperation from China’s big 3 telcos, which were required to sell capacity on their networks to these virtual operators, who would then sell service under their own brand names. The big and obvious problem lies in conflict of interest, since the big state-run telcos would hardly want to support these private companies that could quickly become major new competitors. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s new tie-up with Suning looks logical on the surface but is likely to run into problems due to overlap in the 2 partners’ businesses, which could lead to conflicts and an ultimate dissolution of the partnership.
Alibaba, Suning in massive new tie-up
I’m officially labeling today as “O2O Day” in China, as a recent wave of online-to-offline (O2O) tie-ups reaches a crescendo with news of a $4.6 billion investment by e-commerce giant Alibaba (HKEx: BABA) in traditional electronics retailer Suning (Shenzhen: 002024). Media aren’t really commenting on the size of the deal that will give Alibaba a 20 percent stake of Suning, but to my knowledge it’s the largest such deal in China Internet history and also quite possibly the largest ever by a Chinese tech company.
All that said, I’ll be quite blunt and add my view that I don’t completely understand the logic behind this particular deal and thus wouldn’t expect it to yield very strong returns. On the surface it looks like a classic O2O deal, combining Alibaba’s strength in online retailing with Suning’s in traditional retailing. But a closer look show this deal could be set for a bumpy ride for a number of factors, which I’ll discuss shortly. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 11. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) to Invest $4.6 Bln in Retailer Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) (English article)
Bank of Communications (HKEx: 3328) Said to Let HSBC Name Vice Chmn (English article)
Bottom line: Suning’s plan to invest 1 billion yuan into PPTV’s smart TV foray is coming a bit late, but could stand a good chance of success by drawing on Suning’s position as one of China’s top TV retailers.
PPTV, Suning in smart TV partnership
Many of us were a bit surprised 2 years ago when electronics retailer Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) emerged as one of the winning bidders for PPTV, which was one of China’s leading online video sites at the time. The pair didn’t really seem like a great match, since Suning’s main business was its traditional retail stores that originally specialized in home electronics but later added more general merchandise. Suning’s newer e-commerce business didn’t seem like a great fit either, since retailing and online video entertainment don’t have too much in common.
Fast forward to the present, when Suning has finally developed a strategy for the asset with plans to pump 1 billion yuan ($160 million) into PPTV as part of PPTV’s own new drive into Internet TVs. This particular combination actually seems intriguing, since Suning is in a good position to promote such Internet TVs due to its position as one of China’s biggest home electronics retailers. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on August 1-3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Hisense (Shanghai: 600060) Pays $23.7 Mln for Sharp Corp Mexico Operations (Chinese article)
Renren (NYSE: RENN) Acting CFO Resigns, Interim CFO Appointed (PRNewswire)
Bottom line: Suning’s Japanese expansion and receipt of a new license to build and operate a private broadband network are both positive developments, but also reflect a lack of quick progress in transforming its core China-based retail business.
Suning in Japanese expansion
A couple of new reports involving Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) made me realize it’s been quite a while since I’ve written about this company that is trying to transform from a traditional retailer to a major e-commerce player. Both reports are interesting and noteworthy, though neither is related to its e-commerce drive, which doesn’t appear to be going anywhere quickly.
One of the deals involves Suning’s purchase of a money-losing Japanese electronics seller 5 years ago, and will see it now plow several billion yuan into a major expansion of the Laox chain of home appliance stores. The second deal has Suning named as one of 4 companies to receive licenses to build broadband networks to offer services under a newly announced pilot program to open the sector to private money. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Uber Lands Big Chinese Backer in Hillhouse (English article)
Suning’s (Shenzhen: 002024) Laox to Invest 3 Bln Yuan to Open 26 Stores in Japan (English article)
Hired Car Services Specialist Yidao Makes Big Layoffs (Chinese article)
