The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
- China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Announces Q3 Results (HKEx announcement)
- CNOOC (HKEx: 883) Says Sued in US Over False Statements on Penglai Spill (HKEx announcement)
- LDK (NYSE: LDK) Solar Signs Share Purchase Agreement with Heng Rui Xin Energy (PRNewswire)
- Vancl Sets Up Shop on Suning.com (Shenzhen: 002024) Website (Chinese article)
- Group Buying Site 24Quan Temporarily Halts Business (Chinese article)
- Latest calendar for Q3 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
The China retail scene is buzzing with conflicting signals from these last few weeks, as established names like Tesco (London: TSCO) sound negative notes amid a rapid economic slowdown, even as newcomers like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Forever 21 open massive new stores. In fact, there really aren’t too many contradictions in this latest news, since these new mega-stores were probably in the planning stages before China’s economic slowdown began. Thus these newer stores are more indicators of investments for the future rather than bets on the present.
After a flurry of capital raising in the beginning of the year, China’s banks have been silent over the last 6 months despite my previous predictions that 2012 would see a big flurry of money raising by these financially-challenged companies. But now that silence has abruptly ended with word that Bank of China (HKEx: 3988; Shanghai: 601988), one of the nation’s top 4 lenders, is preparing to raise about 23 billion yuan, or around $3.7 billion, through a subordinated bond offering. (
A new Chinese media report shows that after more than a year of talk, Beijing is finally turning its aggressive talk on solar energy into action by more than doubling its approval of new solar power plants this year. The main question now is: Will any of its struggling solar panel makers survive long enough to enjoy the expected boom in business when some of these new plants start to get built. Of course industry watchers will know the answer is probably “yes”, as Beijing and local governments get set to hand out generous rescue packages to support these companies through a massive supply glut that has sent prices plunging and left everyone reporting big losses. (
The brief but colorful tale of one of China’s better-executed overseas M&A deals appears to be nearing a happy ending, with word that home appliance giant Haier’s (HKEx: 1169) slightly sweetened takeover bid for Fisher & Paykel (NZ: FPA) has finally won approval from the New Zealand company’s board. Haier’s raised bid of NZ$1.28 per share appears to be just the right amount it needed to convince F&P’s board to approve the deal, marking a 7 percent increase over an initial offer of NZ$1.20 per share. (
The national security excuse has become the flavor of the day in Washington, with a wind farm funded by an affiliate of heavy machinery giant Sany (Shanghai: 600031) making headlines as the latest US-based Chinese project to be vetoed on grounds it could compromise US security. (
It wouldn’t be proper if I went for more than a day or 2 without examining the latest news bits from the embattled telecoms equipment duo of Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), which have suffered a non-stop stream of setbacks in the last few months. Of course most readers will know that the pair received their biggest blow just a couple of weeks ago when a US Congressional panel ruled that their networking equipment posed a national security threat and thus should be blocked from sale in the country. (
Homegrown smartphone sensation Xiaomi is looking more and more like a Chinese version of global tech giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) these days, following the latest reports that the company is preparing to launch an Internet TV product. I’m sure that Xiaomi’s marketing-savvy founder Lei Jun loves the comparisons his company is getting to the world’s biggest tech company, which of course would include the inevitable comparisons to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Perhaps Lei will even change his company’s English name to “Little Rice”, which is what Xiaomi means in Chinese, to play on Apple’s own food-related associations.
