The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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After repeatedly criticizing China’s anti-monopoly regulator for its slowness in approving global M&A, I finally have to congratulate the Chinese Commerce Ministry for improving its record with the relatively fast approval of a major deal. In this case, the ministry has given its official approval just over 3 months after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced it would partner with private equity firm 3G Capital to buy US ketchup giant H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) for $28 billion. Read Full Post…
I’ve been watching with interest these last few weeks as local media have feasted on the story of an old neighborhood in Jingan District that’s now being emptied for future development, forcing out longtime residents who have lived there for decades. I’ve been partly intrigued by the story because I’m not sure why this particular neighborhood is drawing so much attention, since this kind of redevelopment has become quite commonplace since the 1990s. Read Full Post…
It’s been interesting to watch all the different interpretations coming out of a brief flurry of talks in Europe late last week aimed at settling a trade dispute between the EU and China over Beijing’s support for its solar panel makers. About the only thing that everyone agrees on is that some talks did happen, and that China took the interesting step of letting an industry association rather than government officials handle its side of the negotiations. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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EU Duties On Chinese Solar Panels Losing Member State Support (English article)
Lashou in Acquisition Talk with Renren’s (NYSE: RENN) Nuomi – Source (English article)
Japan’s Line Aims For No.2 in China’s Mobile IM Market (English article)
Nearly two years after US securities regulators first held breakthrough meetings with their Chinese counterparts, the two sides have reached an agreement that marks a big step forward in making cross-border stock listings more transparent. The agreement will pressure overseas-listed Chinese firms and their independent auditors to become more accountable to both regulators and shareholders, helping to restore confidence to battered shares of these companies. Read Full Post…
Today I want to give myself the poor timing award for my recent remarks about the upcoming New York IPO for Chinese e-commerce firm LightInTheBox. A day after commenting that the company’s IPO had mysteriously disappeared 5 weeks after it was first announced, media are now reporting that the offering is indeed moving ahead with a new public filing. (Chinese article) What’s more, my speculation that the silence could be due to lack of investor interest also seems to be at least partly incorrect, since the latest reports indicate the company could still raise up to the full $86 million that it had originally indicated in its first public filing in April. Read Full Post…
Christopher Nixon Cox meets Yang Jiechi on commemorative trip
I’m a big history buff, so I was quite excited when I heard that a grandson of Richard Nixon was traveling to China to retrace his grandfather’s groundbreaking visit to China in 1972. Christopher Nixon Cox’s trip last week saw him travel first to Beijing, then make stops in Hangzhou and finally my adopted hometown of Shanghai, as he followed the path his grandfather took more than 40 years ago on a trip that paved the way for the restoration of Sino-US ties after more than 20 years of hostility. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 25-27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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US Audit Regulator Reaches Deal With China On Document Access (English article)
China Approves H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) Purchase By Berkshire Hathaway (Businesswire)
EU Denies Breakdown In Solar Panel Talks With China (English article)
Walmart’s (NYSE: WMT) Yihaodian To Try Own-Brand For Some Products (Chinese article)
AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) Sells Interests in 2 Entities (PRNewswire)
The latest reports saying web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) has broken off talks to buy online video site PPTV don’t surprise me too much, as I’ve come to expect this kind of volatility these days from Sohu and its fickle Chairman Charles Zhang. After disappearing from his company for a year for unspecified personal issues, Zhang has suddenly come back and appears determined to make up for all the time he was away by making sure his company appears in the news headlines as much as possible in connection with a string of potential new tie-ups. This kind of frenetic activity seems like what we should expect these days from Zhang, who has suffered for more than a decade as the head of what I’ve previously dubbed China’s “biggest little Internet company.” Read Full Post…
I have to commend Yang Yuanqing, chairman of PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992), for his company’s latest quarterly results that look quite solid, but even more for his ability to stay on message. Just a year ago, Yang took every opportunity to talk about his desire to overtake US rival Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to become the world’s biggest PC brand. That message has clearly become yesterday’s news, replaced by the latest mantra that China’s consumer tech giant is setting its sights on smartphone leaders Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930) as its next targets. Read Full Post…
