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A few months ago I wrote about 2 emerging leaders in the fast growing sector for taxi apps, and now we’re hearing word that those companies, Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, may be in talks for an equity tie-up. The reports are a bit vague, which leads me to question their accuracy; but they highlight the fact that this interesting and fast-growing sector is in need of consolidation. Read Full Post…
It seems I was incorrect with my previous prediction that an alliance between online gaming giant NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) and US game designer Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) could be headed for trouble, with news of a major new tie-up between the pair. The news that NetEase has won the China rights for Activision Blizzard’s new “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft” game comes more than 2 years after NetEase first licensed another popular game from the US company, and appears to reflect a strengthening of their relationship. (company announcement; English article) Read Full Post…
After months of heated rhetoric, the voice of reason is growing between Europe and China as they seek to end their dispute over Beijing’s state support for its solar panel sector. In the latest sign that a potential agreement to resolve the dispute could be near, Beijing has decided not to levy punitive tariffs against European polysilicon, the main ingredient used in making solar panels. (English article) Many had seen China’s launch of an anti-dumping investigation into European and US polycilicon imports last year as a retaliatory move for similar US and European investigations into Chinese solar panels. Read Full Post…
It’s a new week, which increasingly seems to mean a new investigation against a foreign firm for anti-competitive behavior. Last week it was foreign milk powder and drug makers that came under Beijing’s scrutiny, and now we’re getting word that global packaging giant Tetra Pak is also being probed for potential abuse of its market dominance in China. Read Full Post…
US stock markets have lost yet another Chinese company with word that hotel operator 7 Days (NYSE: SVN) has successfully privatized, but could soon gain another member amid signs that online literature provider Shanda Cloudary may be preparing to restart its long-stalled IPO process. These 2 cases show companies moving in very different directions, but do seem to indicate that public listings in New York remain an important money-raising option for profitable, Chinese tech firms with big growth potential. Read Full Post…
Following its initial roll-out of a trial program 2 months ago, mid-sized commercial lender China Merchants Bank (HKEx: 3968; Shanghai: 600036) is boosting its tie-up with Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) popular WeChat mobile instant messaging service. The growing tie-up is leading media to dub the new WeChat-based service as China Merchants Bank’s newest “branch office”, and looks like an interesting model to watch as online products and services migrate from the desktop to the mobile Internet. Read Full Post…
China’s state planner has always been a potent force in making big investment decisions that affect the macro economy, and now it’s quickly emerging as a potent regulator of product pricing by the private sector. That’s my major conclusion following news for the second time this week that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is conducting yet another pricing investigation against foreign firms it suspects of fixing prices artificially high. Earlier this week the target of a new probe was foreign milk powder makers, and this time it’s foreign drug makers including Merck (NYSE: MRK), GlaxoSmithKline (London: GSK), Novartis (Switzerlan; NOVN) and around 2 dozen other companies. Read Full Post…
The latest moves from embattled telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies are showing it will continue its aggressive public relations campaign to convince the world it is a serious company and not just a spying arm of Beijing. One of those moves has Huawei actually lobbying on behalf of its major European rivals as everyone gets set to bid for billions of dollars in contracts to help China build its 4G mobile networks. The other comes in a new executive appointment that has Huawei hiring a major former top executive from Nokia (Helsinki: NOK1V), as part of the company’s drive to make its management team look more global. Read Full Post…
The latest monthly sales figures are showing that sales for GM’s (NYSE: GM) luxury Cadillac division zoomed ahead in the first half of 2013, while Japanese car makers are suffering from a prolonged downturn following a diplomatic dispute between Beijing and Tokyo last year. Neither of these trends is particularly new, but what’s noteworthy is the speed of each. In GM’s case, the rise of sales for its Cadillac cars seems faster than many expected. Meantime, the Japanese sale slump also seems more prolonged than many were predicting. Read Full Post…
A new price-fixing investigation looks suspiciously aimed at tarnishing the reputations of foreign milk powder makers like Danone (Paris: BN) and Nestle (Switzerland: NESN), demonstrating one of the many unusual challenges that such firms face when doing business in China. Such negative campaigns against foreign firms are relatively common, and often involve real issues such as product mislabeling or other minor transgressions. The fact that these issues often become big news in the Chinese media reflects a subtle tactic by Beijing, aimed at undermining the reputation of such firms in the eyes of Chinese consumers who often trust the foreign brands more than their domestic rivals. Read Full Post…
A mini flurry of news from embattled solar panel makers seems to have the same singular message, designed to tell investors that they can survive an industry crisis now entering its third year. Of course the companies that emerge when the crisis finally subsidies could be far different from the ones that went into the crisis, which seems to be the message from LDK (NYSE: LDK) in its latest announcement involving its slow takeover by a Chinese investor. At the other end of the spectrum, the message from Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) is a more upbeat, with the company forecasting a return to profit for all of 2013 as it rolls out a new business model. Finally in the middle there’s Trina (NYSE: TSL), which is simply trying to show investors it’s capable of repaying its debt. Read Full Post…
