The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 11-13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Volkswagen (Frankfurt: VOWG) Extends China JV 25 Years To Tighten Market Grip (English article)
Nokia, China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Sign $970 Mln Framework Deal (English article)
Airbus (Paris: BUS) Signs Tentative Deal To Open New Plant In China (English article)
Xiaomi’s Lei Jun Updates Bet, Sees Passing Gree (Shenzhen: 00651 ) Within 5 Years (Chinese article)
Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) Announces Board Change, President’s Resignation (PRNewswire)
A new cloud computing tie-up between US networking equipment giant Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and leading Chinese TV maker TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100) caught my attention more due to its broader implications for both companies rather than the modest size of the actual investment. The deal comes as Cisco is facing difficulties in China, the direct result of an ongoing spat between Washington and Beijing over cyber security. At the same time, it also represents the latest in a string of recent signals that TCL is eying some new global alliances, a decade after 2 high-profile tie-ups with other western partners ended in disaster. Read Full Post…
I’m not a close follower of global game console leaders Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Sony (Tokyo: 6753), but the latest reports of the latter’s launch plans for its PlayStation in China seem to reflect the recent state of disarray at the ailing Japanese giant. Microsoft was quick to formulate a China plan for its popular Xbox after Beijing recently lifted a decade-old ban on foreign consoles, forming a joint venture and launching the consoles last month. By comparison, only sporadic reports have emerged over that time about Sony’s plans, including the latest confusing reports that indicate the company will try to launch its PlayStation 4 in China by the end of the year. Read Full Post…
New overseas investments by 2 of China’s top 3 Internet firms hint at where future priorities will lie for e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and Internet search giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), which have made new purchases in the US and Brazil, respectively. More broadly speaking, the relatively modest size of these latest investments reflects the very real fact that major M&A targets have mostly disappeared by now, putting pressure on the cash-rich trio of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (HKEx: 700) to look overseas for places to invest. Based on the nature of these new investments and other similar recent ones, it’s becoming clear that overseas companies are most interested in the Chinese companies’ cash and would probably prefer to avoid being seen as a “made in China” company. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Buys Control Of Brazil’s Peixe Urbano In Expansion Push (English article)
Several significant telecoms stories are buzzing through the headlines as China returns to work after a long holiday, led by news that iPhone sales have gotten off to a roaring start after initially hitting a regulatory roadblock in the world’s largest mobile market. Also of interest is word that China and the European Union are close to settling a long-running dispute that could give European networking equipment makers better access to the lucrative Chinese market. And finally there’s a bit of regulatory news that looks like a positive sign, showing China is trying to cut its vast bureaucracy to provide easier market access for makers of telecoms products. Read Full Post…
A Chinese group has failed in its bid to buy a top global aircraft leasing firm for the second time in 2 years, with word of the collapse of talks by domestic aviation giant AVIC and Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC to purchase Europe’s Avolon. This second case follows another failed bid by a lesser-known group to buy US giant ILFC last year, and shows that Chinese firms still have a bit to learn when doing this kind of M&A. Some politics may also have been at play in this latest case, since AVIC is also designing a new large commercial aircraft that it hopes will someday compete in a lucrative market now dominated by Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Airbus (Paris: AIR). Read Full Post…
The microblogging realm has been relatively quiet this past week as Chinese tech executives enjoy the long October 1 holiday. Still, a few couldn’t completely stay away from their online accounts, led by TCL’s (Shenzhen: 000100) thoughtful Chairman Li Dongsheng who hinted at a possible tie-up with struggling former Taiwanese smartphone giant HTC (Taipei: 2498).
Meantime, LinkedIn’s (NYSE: LNKD) China chief Derek Shen commented on the current overheated investment environment in China’s Internet, reinforcing a view I’ve been stating for a while now. Finally there was Lenovo (HKEx: 992) CEO Yang Yuanqing, who let his deputies do the talking on his behalf as he donated a portion of his annual bonus to rank-and-file company employees in a goodwill gesture for the third straight year. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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iPhone Orders To 3 China Telcos Top 1 Mln In First 6 Hours (Chinese article)
China, EU Close To Deal On Telecoms Trade Dispute- Sources (English article)
KFC (NYSE: YUM) China Same-Store Sales Fall 14 Pct In August (Chinese article)
Alibaba-Distributed (NYSE: BABA) Game Mistake Exposes Private Videos (English article)
Evergrande (HKEx: 3333) Invests In E Bon (HKEx: 599) In Solar Drive (Chinese article)
Two major new global investments are highlighting a recent trend that has Chinese buyers moving beyond their traditional comfort zones of resources and manufacturing and into other less familiar areas like real estate and sports clubs. The first case will see domestic insurance company Anbang Insurance buy New York’s landmark Waldorf Astoria hotel for a supercharged price of nearly $2 billion. The second deal has media reporting that Wang Jianlin, founder of real estate giant Wanda Group, is preparing to buy a stake in Spanish soccer club Atletico de Madrid. Read Full Post…
The solar power sector has become a highly volatile place these days, with company stocks rallying one week on upbeat news, only to tumble days later on more downbeat signals. Much of the volatility owes to 2 factors that have created big uncertainty: protectionism and doubts about funding for many new power plants now being announced. Both of those factors are at play in a new string of downbeat news on industry lead Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ), as well as struggling Chaori Solar (Shenzhen: 002506) and the now defunct former superstar Suntech. Read Full Post…
