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 following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 6-8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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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…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Probes Pricing At Drugmakers Including GSK, Merck (English article)
China Merchants Bank (HKEx: 3968) Sets Up Online Branch On WeChat (Chinese article)
HKEx Approves AgBank (HKEx: 1288) To Issue $5 Bln In Medium-Term Notes (HKEx announcement)
Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU), Sogou Increase Search Traffic Share in June (English article)
Beijing Praises Baby Formula Brands for Price Reduction (English article)
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…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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GM (NYSE: GM) China Sales Accelerate on Higher Demand for Cadillac (English article)
Huawei Says Hopes European Rivals Become Big Suppliers For China 4G (Chinese article)
WeChat 5.0 to Overhaul Public Accounts, Add Payment Features (English article)
LeTV’s (Shenzhen: 300104) First Batch Of Super TVs Sells Out In 49 Minutes (Chinese article)
Li Ning (HKEx: 2331) Seeks to Revive Brand With NBA Superstar Dwyane Wade
Web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) and social networking site Renren (NYSE: RENN) are both proving that any news can often be good news, especially during the summer months which are generally considered a slower time for news. In the case of Sohu, a steady stream of rumors that it might sell various assets have sparked a major rally for the company’s shares over the last 2 months. After a few weeks’ pause in those rumors, the news flow is resuming with the latest talk that Sohu may hold a news briefing to actually discuss its plans for its Sogou online search site. For Renren, the latest news is a large new share buyback that could be the prelude to an eventual privatization bid. Read Full Post…
China’s top bank got a boost from its second biggest shareholder last week when Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek boosted its stake in ICBC (HKEx: 1398; Shanghai: 601398), helping to support the lender’s share price as Chinese banks faced an unprecedented liquidity crisis. This kind of buying is exactly the kind of market-oriented support that China’s banks should be getting during this ongoing crisis, as the government tries to wean them from the free handouts they traditionally depended on during the socialist era. Read Full Post…
