The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Fosun (HKEx: 656) Raises Club Med (Paris: CU) Bid Hours Before Deadline (English article)
Jack Ma, Pony Ma May Join In Ping An’s (HKEx: 2318) $4.75 Bln Fund Raising (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Ctrip’s explanation for a recent major share sale by top executives looks reasonable and shouldn’t be cause for concern, while Tuniu won’t gain any short-term advantage from its new war with Tongcheng.
Ctrip execs invest in cruising
A couple of news bits are cruising through the online travel space this first week, with industry leader Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) and recently listed Tuniu (Nasdaq: TOUR) both engaged in new strategic moves. In the former case, Ctrip is explaining a recent wave of selling of its shares by top company executives, saying the move was prompted by their need for cash for a new strategic investment. The latter case has Tuniu reportedly engaged in an entertaining behind-the-scenes battle with unlisted rival Tongcheng for the lucrative and fast-growing overseas travel market. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The recent plunge in solar stocks is the result of panic selling due to falling oil prices, meaning the shares could rebound sharply once the sell-off subsides.
Falling oil prices cast cloud over solar stocks
US investors were showing signs of new energy indigestion in the shortened trading day after Thanksgiving, dumping stocks of all the major solar panel makers in a messy post-holiday sell-off. With no major news from any of the companies, the driving force behind the sell-off appears to be the recent plunge in oil prices, which hit new 4 years lows late last week after OPEC declined to cut its daily output quotas.
Investors appear to be worrying that falling oil prices will dampen enthusiasm for building new solar plants, since lower oil prices mean solar power will be less competitive with more traditional power sources derived from fossil fuels. The only problem with that logic is that solar power was never competitive with fossil fuels to begin with, meaning solar stocks could be getting punished for no good reason. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Upcoming Hong Kong IPOs for nuclear energy firm CGN Power and real estate developer are likely to do well, while a third listing for car maker BAIC could get a more lukewarm reception.
Dalian Wanda seeks approval for $6 bln HK IPO
New York has posted a banner year for Chinese IPOs, culminating with the record-breaking $25 billion listing for Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) in September. But Hong Kong is showing it still has plenty to offer too, with a flurry of major new listings coming in the final month of 2015. At least 3 major new offerings are bubbling around the headlines as we head into December, led by one for China’s largest nuclear plant builder, CGN Power Co. Meantime, Beijing-based auto maker BAIC and property giant Dalian Wanda are also revving up for what could well be 2 of the biggest listings for the year. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 29-December 1. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Alibaba-Backed (NYSE: BABA) Momo Seeks Up To $232 Mln In Chat App IPO (English article)
Wanda Cinema Line Gets First-Round Regulatory Approval For China Listing (Chinese article)
Cosmetics Start-Up Hanhoo Gets 100 Mln Yuan-Plus Funding From Sequoia (Chinese article)
TPG Exits China Grand Auto Investment Via Haitong (HKEx: 665) Sale (English article)
Ctrip (Nasdaq: CTRP) Says Execs Sold Company Shares For Cruise Investment (Chinese article)
Bottom line: China’s plan to allow private competition in the wire-line broadband sector will move forward slowly, but should provide needed competition for Unicom and China Telecom within the next 3-5 years.
China opens broadband to private investment
China’s drive to open up its telecoms services sector to more competition could soon gain some new momentum, with word that the telecoms regulator is crafting a plan that would let private companies offer wire-line broadband services. This particular move looks like an extension of a campaign that launched earlier this year, allowing private companies to offer traditional mobile service through the creation of virtual network operators (VNOs).
This new campaign would also come as China works to break the current monopoly in the wire-line broadband sector held by China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; NYSE: CHA), which previously were probed for monopolistic practices. It would also come as Beijing assembles a new national wire-line broadband company through consolidation of the nation’s dozens of cable TV operators. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Weibo’s latest moves to stop users from defecting to WeChat reflect the company’s concerns over its fading momentum, and send a negative signal that will put pressure on its stock.
Weibo takes new steps to counter WeChat’s rise
An entertaining war is breaking out in the social networking (SNS) space, with word that the Twitter-like Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) is taking steps to punish people who use the service to promote their parallel accounts on archrival WeChat. I say this particular war is somewhat entertaining, as it seems quite petty and reflects the intense competition between these 2 companies. But at a more serious level, Weibo’s move reflects the very real fact that its service is rapidly losing eyeballs to the trendier WeChat, which is far more versatile and is also optimized for the fast-growing mobile Internet space. Read Full Post…
With the Double Eleven shopping binge now in the past, many of Shanghai’s singles are moving their sights to the upcoming Chinese New Year when they’ll have to face the barrage of questions about their love lives from friends and relatives. Sensing an opportunity to play on the upcoming anxiety, our city is preparing to hold the latest edition of its semi-annual matchmaking event next month to give singles something to talk about in response to their grillings at home. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Dalian Wanda To Seek HK Approval For Up To $6 Bln IPO On Monday: IFR (English article)
Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) Freezes Out Users Who Promote WeChat Public Accounts (Chinese article)
China To Allow Private Companies To Sell Broadband Services (English article)
BAIC Approved For Hong Kong IPO, To List On December 18 (Chinese article)
Xiaomi’s Lei Jun Invests 100 Mln Yuan In You+ Youth Apartment Rental Service (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Chen Tianqiao’s sale of his Shanda Games stake marks his symbolic exit from online entertainment, and he will probably return to deal-making by setting up his own private equity firm.
Chen Tianqiao steps down from Shanda Games
The slow-motion breakup of the online entertainment empire of Shanda Interactive has taken a major step forward, with news that the company is selling its entire stake in its core online gaming unit. The news follows previous reports that Shanda Interactive had reached a deal to sell a controlling stake in its Cloudary online literature unit, and its sale earlier this year of a controlling stake in its struggling Ku6 Media (Nasdaq: KUTV) online video unit. All of this comes as Shanda Interactive’s chairman and founder Chen Tianqiao looks to disband his empire that was an early leader in online entertainment, but later languished as it was overtaken by rivals like NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) and Tencent (HKEx: 700). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A tax evasion probe against Microsoft is likely to end in a settlement with Beijing, and will be followed by similar probes against other major multinationals that use their complex structures to avoid taxes.
Beijing seeks back taxes from Microsoft
After a period of relative quiet, a recent Chinese wave of probes against major multinationals is jumping back into the headlines with news of yet another investigation against beleaguered software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). This time the world’s largest software company is being investigated for tax evasion, as Beijing looks set to open a new front in its recent series of probes against major multinationals. Whereas the early investigations focused on anti-competitive behavior, this new wave is more likely to be less controversial since it involves tax evasion and dovetails with similar campaigns in the west. Read Full Post…
