The sounds of a death knell for fast-falling solar star Suntech (NYSE: STP) keep growing louder, this time with word that Italian officials have charged a company affiliate for illegally abusing the country’s solar subsidies meant to promote clean energy development. After 2 weeks of nearly non-stop news about its questionable relationship with a firm that Suntech set up to buy its solar panels at inflated prices, Suntech had largely faded from the headlines as the stream of new revelations started to subside. But now we’re getting word that an Italian court has filed criminal charges against GSF, the fund that Suntech set up to build solar farms to take advantage of generous Italian subsidies. (English article)
Journalist China
Lenovo NEC: Here to Stay? 联想与NEC能否长相厮守？
A year after announcing their landmark joint venture, Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and NEC (Tokyo: 6701), the leading PC makers in China and Japan, are releasing some numbers to try to convince the world that their marriage was correct and the venture will dominate the difficult Japanese market. I’ll admit that I’m not quite a skeptical as I was when the 2 sides first announced their joint venture, as they seem to be taking a relatively cautious approach to the business. Still, I would only give this venture a relatively modest chance for success, perhaps around 40 percent, versus a previous prediction for around a 35 percent.
SARFT Comments: Media Clampdown Coming? 中国传媒业对外开放要放缓？
I’ve been writing about China’s media industry long enough now to know that a blossoming love affair with Hollywood might be too much too quickly, and new comments from the TV and film regulator appear to hint that a crackdown or at least a slowdown could be looming for this fast emerging relationship. If it comes, such a crackdown would hardly be a new thing, as China has twice before signaled it was preparing to open its media to foreign investment, only to quickly slam on the brakes after the big foreign players got too aggressive.
CNOOC Rolls out Exploration Welcome Mat 中海油向外国油企开放26块合作区块
In what looks like a brilliant tactical move, oil major CNOOC (HKEx: 883; NYSE: CEO) has just issued a massive new invitation for foreign companies to help it develop oil fields off the China coast, a move that should help both the company and Beijing to advance some of their most recent initiatives. In CNOOC’s case, the latest offering of 26 offshore blocks for co-development could help to show that it isn’t only interested in buying assets in other countries but is also prepared to offer assets in its home China market to foreign oil majors. On a more geopolitical level, the offering of so many new blocks for development is likely to send the signal that China wants to move aggressively to settle some of the noisy territorial disputes with many of its Asian neighbors, many of which involve disputed islands in ocean areas that could contain valuable new oil deposits.
Tencent Bonds: Activision in View? 腾讯债券：目标是动视？
Update: A short time after I issued this article, Tencent released its formal plan to issue $600 million worth of bonds. The notes will mature in 2018 and carry an interest rate of 3.375 percent (company announcement)
Internet leader Tencent (HKEx: 700) is taking a dip into the corporate bond market, an interesting move that should not only test investor aippetite for a new kind of financial product from China’s Internet space, but may also hint at the company’s future M&A plans as it explores a potential bid for Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI). Longtime China Internet watchers may recall that it’s been quite a long time since any companies from this space have issued corporate debt. Veteran players Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) and NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) all issued bonds shortly after becoming profitable about a decade ago, but none really needed the money and largely retired the fund-raising method after that.
Cars: BYD Keeps Trying, Dongfeng Drives Consolidation 比亚迪坚持电动汽车梦
Despite the many problems at car maker BYD (HKEx: 1211; Shenzhen: 002594), I have to admit that I admire this company for its dogged determination to follow its vision of a future powered by electric cars, even if the company may not survive long enough to see that future. The very real problems that BYD faces as it tries to realize its electric dreams were on display in its latest dismal earnings report, even as company officials spoke positively of a new push to put more electric buses on the streets in their home province of Guangdong. Meantime a separate development in the auto space could be a sign of a much-needed consolidation in China’s fragmented car market, with Dongfeng Motor (HKEx: 489) reportedly in talks to buy a smaller rival in Fujian province.
Online Price Wars: Smoke and Mirrors? 电商价格战：烟雾弹还是真刀实枪
The recent round of online price wars took an interesting turn over the weekend, with data that looks suspiciously like it was provided by e-commerce leader Alibaba showing that a big part of the so-called wars may have been mostly talk and potentially just a publicity stunt by Jingdong Mall’s talkative CEO Liu Qiangdong. (English article) Following that latest development in this colorful story, we’re now seeing reports that Jingdong Mall, which also goes by the name of 360Buy, has blocked all of its prices from searches by Alibaba’s Etao online pricing search engine, which was the source of the original reports that raised the publicity stunt allegations. (Chinese article)
Outlook Cloudy For Shanda 盛大前景暗淡
Things are looking cloudy for Shanda Interactive, the formerly listed entertainment company whose core online game unit appears to be going through some turmoil even as its more promising online literature unit faces its own separate headwinds. Shanda was once a superstar in its space, making headlines when it became the country’s first new media entertainment firm to make a New York IPO in 2004. But it has struggled in the last 3 years, as its core online game unit Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) saw its growth shrivel and many of its other initiatives bombed.
CNOOC’s Nexen Bid: Where’s the Noise? 中海油收购尼克森：争议在哪？
I have to admit that I’ve been quite surprised by the lack of noise coming from North American politicians in the month since Chinese oil major CNOOC (HKEx: 883; NYSE: CEO) announced its landmark plan to buy Canadian oil giant Nexen (Toronto: NXY) in a deal valued at $15.1 billion. In fact, you could say the silence over that period has been almost deafening, with the lack of noise only ending late last week when Nexen made the low-key announcement that it has scheduled a meeting on September 20 for its shareholders to vote on the deal. (English article)
Apple’s Next Targets: ZTE, Huawei, TCL 华为、中兴及TCL或成苹果下一轮专利诉讼目标
Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) big courtroom victory in its smartphone patent dispute with Samsung (Seoul: 005930) could soon send a chill through China’s up-and-coming tech sector, with the US giant likely to soon file a series of similar lawsuits against companies like Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063). This probable new twist in Apple’s ongoing quest for global smartphone dominance would not only hit the Chinese firms financially, but would also shine a spotlight on the uncomfortable fact that most still depend strongly on foreign technology for many of their higher-end products.
Alibaba, Tencent, Ping An JV: Insuring Failure 阿里巴巴、腾讯和平安联手网上卖保险
I was quite intrigued when buzz first emerged last week about a new tie-up between Internet leaders Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700) and insurance giant Ping An (HKEx: 2318; Shanghai: 601318), hoping we might see an innovative financial services tie-up between these 3 industry titans. So it came as somewhat of a disappointment when reports disclosed the companies would pool resources to simply launch a new online insurance joint venture. (English article; Chinese article)
