In yet another troubling sign for China’s growing tendency to interfere with market forces, Chinese media are reporting the state telecoms regulator has stepped in to try and “mediate” an end to an intellectual property lawsuit by Huawei Technologies against crosstown rival ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) in Europe, and a countersuit by ZTE. (Chinese article) If these companies were all part of one big state-run family rather than competitors, this kind of intervention would be completely understandable. But considering that China is trying to convince the world it has become more market-oriented, this move seems completely inappropriate for a government agency that is supposed to regulate and not participate in the market. Surely the regulator wouldn’t step in to mediate another ongoing lawsuit between ZTE and Sweden’s Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb), even though it seems to have exercised some influence by holding up a major merger between Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Motorola’s networking assets until Motorola settled another lawsuit brought by Huawei. This kind of intervention, even if it’s just between two Chinese companies, will hardly help Beijing when it complains to other countries that they unfairly discriminate against its exporters.

Bottom line: Beijing’s moves to mediate a resolution to a dispute between Huawei and ZTE will further convince outsiders that China is a long ways from becoming a market-driven economy.

据中国媒体报导，中国工信部已介入华为技术和同城对手中兴通讯<0763.HK><000063.SZ>之间的专利诉讼事件，希望协调解决此事。如果这两家公司都是一个国企大家庭的成员，而非相互竞争者，那麽监管部门的介入是完全可以理解的。但在中国正试图让世界相信，自己在变得更加以市场为导向的今天，这种行为看起来完全不恰当，因为政府机构本应起到监管而非参与市场的作用。中国监管部门肯定不会调停中兴和爱立信<ERICb.ST>之间的诉讼，尽管它似已通过干预诺基亚西门子收购摩托罗拉网络业务的方式，推动解决了华为和摩托罗拉之间的另一起诉讼。这种干预——即使仅仅是在两家中国企业之间——很难让北京在抱怨其他国家歧视中国出口商的时候获得同情。

一句话：北京插手华为和中兴之争一事，再次说明中国距离成为一个市场主导型经济体还有很长的路要走。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Huawei Pounces on Hapless ZTE With Lawsuit

◙ Troublesome Timing As China Approves NSN-Motorola 中国监管部门批准诺基亚西门子购买摩托罗拉网络业务时机不佳

◙ ZTE Pressures Ericsson With China Suit — NOT 中兴反诉爱立信

Shanda (Nasdaq: SNDA) supremo Chen Tianqiao isn’t wasting any time with his plans to bring his latest offering to market. Chinese media are reporting that just weeks after splitting off its online literature unit into a separate company, Shanda is preparing a listing for the company, called Cloudary, with hopes to raise up to $500 million in the second  half of this year. (English article; Chinese article) Of course we’ll need some financials before we can comment further, but considering this area isn’t really a hot one and Chen’s own cloudy record with spin-offs, I don’t see this offer being particularly attractive. Shanda’s earlier spin-off of its core online game business, Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) has been a total dud since its listing, and its Ku6 Media (Nasdaq: KUTV) was also a dud until  a recent merger rekindled investor interest. I’ve previously said I like Chen’s idea of trying to monetize his different businesses, which appears to be what he’s doing here. But he needs to focus more on creating interesting businesses that can generate investor excitement, or risk ending up with a crop of uninspiring separately-listed companies under the umbrella of an equally uninspired parent.

Bottom line: Shanda’s plan to list its Cloudary online literature unit is bound to be another dud.

盛大互动娱乐<SNDA.O>创始人陈天桥在推动盛大文学上市这件事上，一分钟都没浪费。中国媒体称，将盛大文学剥离成一个单独公司之後仅过了几个星期，盛大就打算让这家已更名为Cloudary的公司今年下半年在美国进行首次公开发行（IPO），募资5亿美元。当然，在作出评价之前，我们需要看看一些财务数据，但考虑到这并不是一个热门领域，陈天桥以前将公司剥离上市的经历也并不出彩，我并不太看好这次IPO。陈天桥此前从盛大网络剥离出来、从事公司核心业务的盛大游戏<GAME.O>上市以来的表现一塌糊涂，盛大旗下的酷6媒体<KUTV.O>也仅仅因为最近的并购举措才重新引起投资者兴趣。我以前说过，我喜欢陈天桥将其不同业务货币化的想法，但他需要做的是更加专注于创造有意思、能够引发投资者兴趣的企业，否则可能落得分拆上市公司和母公司都受冷落的下场。

一句话：盛大文学上市计划注定又是一场悲剧。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Shanda’s New Deal: Spinning Off Literature 盛大文学拟分拆上市

◙ Don’t Gamble on Shanda, Says CCTV 盛大被曝光

◙ Ku6 Media Bulks Up, Heats Up Online Video 酷6扩张版图

With all the hype surrounding Renren’s overpriced IPO in New York, it’s easy to lose sight of other offerings coming out of China that look a bit more stable, especially in fast-evolving areas like pharmaceuticals. With China trying hard to create a sustainable healthcare system to replace an older one that died with the end of its state-run work units, the upcoming $2 billion-plus Hong Kong listing of Shanghai Pharma looks particularly attractive. (English article) This company has a number of strong selling points, including its base in China’s commercial hub, strong positions in both drugmaking and distributing, and partnerships with the likes of Roche (Zurich: RO.SW). It also counts Singapore’s Temasek and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) among its investors, and with the capital raising should be in a strong position to help lead an industry consolidation being heavily promoted by Beijing. Its main drawback — which some might also see as an asset — is its background as a state-run company, which could make it move more slowly than privately funded smaller rivals. Look for big things from companies in this space going forward, which will be able to feed off their mass home market to fuel growth and eventually export low-cost generic drugs overseas.

Bottom line: Shanghai Pharma’s upcoming IPO looks like a strong bet on the future of China’s health care industry.

就在大家都关注人人网在纽约高估值上市的时候，人们很容易忽视另一家看起来更为稳健的企业上市的消息。中国正努力打造一个可持续的医疗体系，在此背景下，上海医药<601607.SH>拟赴港IPO募集20多亿美元的消息尤其值得关注。这家公司有许多强大卖点，如坐落于中国商业中心，在制药和分销领域实力强劲，与罗氏等跨国制药巨头<ROG.VX>有合作，其投资方还包括新加坡的淡马锡和辉瑞公司<PFE.N>。随着此次境外融资，上海制药应能在帮助引领中国医药行业整合方面占据有利位置。其主要的弱点——有些人则认为是优势——是：这是一家国营企业，可能不如规模较小的私营企业动作敏捷。未来可以期待这个行业的公司能够大展宏图，借助国内庞大的市场来促进自身成长，并最终向海外出口低成本非专利药品。

一句话：上海医药的IPO看来像是对中国医疗产业未来的强有力压注。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Fosun Pharma Offers Window to China Healthcare Reform

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

◙ Renren Seeks Twice Facebook Valuation in Social-Media IPO (English article)

◙ Shanghai Pharma Share Sale to Raise $2.2 Billion as Temasek, Pfizer Invest (English article)

◙ SunBorne and Suntech (NYSE: STP) to Partner on 100MW of Solar Projects in India (PRNewswire)

◙ Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Schedules 1Q11 Results Conference Call (PRNewswire)

◙ AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP) to Announce First Quarter 2011 Results on May 19th (Globenewswire)

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), in the unfamiliar position of being a constant runner-up in China to rival KFC (NYSE: YUM), is preparing an unusual campaign to try to narrow the gap. The new strategy involves opening more drive-through restaurants to tap the growing number of mobile Chinese with the new cars and not enough places to drive them. According to a Chinese media report, McDonald’s plans to open 700 new stores in the next two years — increasing its current count by 50 percent — with about half of those offering drive-through service. (English article) It all sounds a bit like America in the 1950s, when a newly mobile generation of post-war youth were eager to test out their new cars any way they could, leading to a boom in drive-through restaurants at that time. The comparison seems particularly appropriate for China, where many young city dwellers now own cars and are looking for inexpensive ways to use them. If McDonalds executes its plans well, its drive-through dream could very well help it to gain ground on or even pass KFC in China’s competitive fast food market.

Bottom line: McDonalds plan to open 350 drive-thru restaurants over the next 2 years looks like a smart move aimed at courting the country’s growing legions of young, newly mobile consumers.

麦当劳<MCD.N>在中国市场一直落後于肯德基<YUM.N>，如今麦当劳打算一项不同寻常的举动奋起直追。麦当劳打算通过开设更多汽车餐厅，吸引中国日益增长的有车族。据中国媒体报导，麦当劳准备在未来两年开设700家新店，其中一半店铺提供“得来速”(drive-through)服务。这都听起来有点像上世纪50年代的美国，当时战後的年轻人不愿错过任何一个驾驶新车的机会，这导致美国的“得来速”餐厅遍地开花。这一比较与中国当前情况颇为贴切，很多城市的年轻人买了车，希望以方便价廉的方式开车。如果麦当劳的计划执行良好，那麽“得来速”汽车餐厅将帮助麦当劳从肯德基手中抢夺更多中国市场份额，甚至帮助麦当劳在中国的快餐市场超过肯德基。

一句话：麦当劳打算在未来两年开设350家“得来速”汽车餐厅，吸引中国年轻的有车一族之举看起来是明智之举。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ YUM and Little Sheep – A Sweet Match If China Approves 美国百胜购小肥羊：甜蜜姻缘还靠中国政府成全

◙ Starbucks China Expansion: New Brew Needed to Serve Up Success

◙ What’s in a Name? Plenty for Best Buy in China

In what I can only describe as a stroke of brilliant PR by China’s top two oil companies, both PetroChina (NYSE: PTR; HKEx: 857) and Sinopec (NYSE: SNP; HKEx: 386) have posted very strong first quarter numbers but also managed to draw attention to how much they’ve suffered due to high oil prices. (English article) Sinopec in particular was very creative, saying it kept down its refining losses during the quarter by relying on crude oil stockpiles it accumulated when oil prices were lower. PetroChina, meantime, relied on its crude oil business to offset its own massive refining losses. The PR blitz underscoring the problems they face comes as Chinese consumers express growing frustration with high gas prices, and as Beijing grows increasingly worried about inflation. Analysts are saying to look for Beijing to grant another price increase in the not-too-distant future, and such an increase may indeed be coming. But with crude oil prices unlikely to go much higher and perhaps even come down as the Libya situation plays out, don’t look for an inflation-worried Beijing to approve any major hikes in gas prices anytime soon.

Bottom line: PetroChina and Sinopec have launched an effective PR campaign to highlight losses from their refining operations, but don’t look for any major gasoline price hikes from Beijing.

中石油<0857.HK><601857. SS>和中石化<0386.HK> <SNP.N>一季度财报喜人，但却成功地让大家注意到他们的炼油业务是如何饱受油价飙升之苦的。我只能说，这是一个高明的公关策略。中石化尤其有创意，称其一季度控制住炼油业务亏损原因靠的是在油价较低时囤积的原油库存。中石油则同时宣称，依赖原油业务抵消了炼油业务的大幅亏损。在中国消费者对高油价日益不满，中国政府对通货膨胀日益担心之际，这两家公司的公关策略凸显了两家公司所面临的问题。分析人士表示，估计在不久的将来，中国政府将批准燃料油再次涨价。但实际上在原油价格不大可能变得更高，而且随着利比亚动荡的局势趋向平稳，甚至可能会下跌。因此别指望中国政府允许油价大幅度提升。

一句话：中石油和中石化的公关策略卓有成效，强调了其炼油业务的亏损，但别指望中国政府会允许油价大幅上涨。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Sinopec Fights Back With Feeble PR Blitz 中石化公关仍不到位

◙ Sinopec Scandal Points to Big Oil Crackdown 中石化：“天价酒”事件实为敲山震虎？

◙ PetroChina Gets in Bed wtih Saudis to Secure Oil Supplies 中石油的沙特“情缘”

In the brief but colorful race to market between China’s top two social networking sites, both often called the Facebook of China, early leader Renren seems determined to take the prize despite a number of scandals surrounding its bid. In the latest of those, the chairman of its auditing committee, a foreigner with bountiful experience in Chinese start-ups, has resigned due to an unrelated accounting scandal at another company, Longtop Financial (NYSE: LFT), where he is now CFO. (English article; Chinese article) The resignation follows other smaller scandals, including a downward revision of Renren’s new user numbers in the first quarter (previous post) and a lawsuit by rival Kaixin, now being heard by China’s high court, over a disputed domain name. (previous post) All the noise doesn’t seem to have deterred investors hungry for the latest China Internet play, with Renren actually raising the size of its offering to nearly $700 million from a previous $500 million due to strong demand. Barring any last-minute disasters, it does seem like Renren will win this race as it plans to make its IPO on Tuesday in New York. But even if it wins, look for plenty of quick profit taking after the debut and lots of volatility in Renren’s stock in the months ahead until all the issues are resolved.

Bottom line: Renren may win the race to market with rival Kaixin, but its stock will be very volatile in its first few months as it resolves a number of outstanding issues.

在中国的两家最大的社交网站——人人网和开心网竞相追求IPO的过程中，人人网看起来心意已决要赢得这场赛跑。人人网审计委员会主席德雷克·帕拉舒克，一个在中国初创企业拥有经验丰富的外国人，因其在Longtop金融科技公司担任首席财务官期间的一个不相干的会计丑闻，而宣布辞去在人人网的职务，成为困扰该网站的最新一波丑闻。此前还有一些小的丑闻，例如人人网下调一季度新用户数，开心网就争议域名状告人人网正在接受中国最高法院审理等等。所有这些，都没有打消投资者对中国最新一波互联网上市狂潮的胃口。因需求量巨大，人人网实际上将筹集资金规模从5亿美元扩大到7亿。人人网打算周二在纽约IPO，很可能会如愿以偿。但即使如此，未来几个月估计会有很多快速获利了结现象，股价也会大幅波动，直至所有问题都得到解决。

一句话：人人网可能会在IPO一役中胜过开心网，但其股价可能会在首次公开招股後的前几个月出现大幅波动。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Renren Admits to Population Inflation; More to Come?

◙ Kaixin Fights Back in Race With Renren to Market 人人、开心上市大PK：开心扳回一局

◙ Renren Takes Lead Over Kaixin With Blockbuster Filing 人人网：风风火火IPO 气势盖过开心

Former high-flying car maker BYD (HKEx: 1211) has come out with an interesting strategy to try to win over skeptics of its grand electric car dreams: bury them with numbers. At least that’s the impression one gets from reading a new press release from the company, which updates investors on the many pilot EV projects it is now running. (Company announcement) Granted, the company’s various EV pilot programs do seem to have logged a lot of miles, showing they are moving forward. But nowhere in the pile of numbers is there any mention of issues that have cropped up in the course of all that driving; and there’s only one mention of additional orders in its home city of Shenzhen, where BYD is well connected, that might start to validate all this effort. You have to give them credit for placing such a big bet on EVs, and I do like their recent tie-up with Daimler to further develop EV technology. (English article) But I’m still not convinced that BYD — despite backing from Wall Street guru Warren Buffett — has what it takes just yet to become a leader in this area, and this update certainly doesn’t help to bridge the credibility gap.

Bottom line: BYD is trying hard to validate its massive electric car initiative, but has yet to produce any compelling results that show its efforts are bearing fruit.

一度风光无限的汽车制造商比亚迪<1211.HK>祭出了一个有趣的战略，试图打消人们对其电动车宏伟构想的怀疑：那就是用数字狂轰滥炸。至少有关其电动车项目的新闻稿给人这样的印象。虽然比亚迪试验的多款电动车听起来确实录得了不错的续航里程，说明这些项目的确在取得进展，但在这麽多数字里，我们找不到电动车试驾中出现的任何技术问题，而且只有一处提到了来自本土城市深圳的新增订单。比亚迪对电动车的大举压注值得称道，我也确实喜欢他们最近与戴姆勒合作开发电动车技术的举措。但我仍不能相信，得到股神巴菲特青睐的比亚迪真正具备成为该领域领先者的素质，公司最近发布的这一连串数字显然也无助於人们建立对它的信心。

一句话：比亚迪在努力试图证实其大规模电动车计划值得信赖，但迄今并未拿出任何具有说服力的具体成果。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ China’s Green Auto Dream: A Road Paved with Problems 中国的绿色汽车之梦：前途荆棘密布

◙ It’s Good News, But More Is Needed To Jump-Start BYD 比亚迪：需要更多好消息

◙ BYD: Jump-Starting Stalled Sales With Auto Finance 比亚迪：试水汽车金融

It’s May in Shanghai and spring is finally in the air, which can only mean one thing: it’s time for Lenovo (HKEx: 992) to get into yet another new product area. First it was cellphones, then smartphones, then tablet PCs, and now the company is officially releasing its first gaming console. (Chinese article) I previously wrote that Lenovo’s new tablet PC, the LePad, could stand a good chance of success (previous post), given the company’s strong position in China which accounts for half of its sales. But I see very little to be gained from this latest gaming console plan, though admittedly details have been scarce so far. There’s a reason that Sony (Tokyo: 6758) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) have all largely avoided the China gaming console market so far. In a nutshell, rampant piracy makes selling legitimate gaming titles — the main profit source for the console business — virtually impossible in China. Perhaps Lenovo has found a way to beat the pirates as it’s certainly very familiar with the China market. But if it hasn’t, which I suspect will be the case, this could become yet another failure for the company and also a major distraction from products it should be pursuing.

Bottom line: Lenovo is showing a worrisome tendency to chase too many products outside its core PC business, which could prove both distracting and resource-wasting over the longer term.

到了五月份，上海终於有春天的气息了，不过它还可以有另外一层含义：联想<0992.HK>又要试水新产品了。先是手机、接着智能手机、再接着是平板电脑，现在联想正式发布首款游戏机了。此前我曾写道，鉴於联想在中国市场的地位，乐Pad应有成功机会。但是对於联想最近的游戏机计划，我实难看到多大好处，虽说迄今计划细节寥寥。目前为止，索尼<6758.T>、微软<MSFT.O>基本避开中国游戏主机市场，这麽做必定有其中的道理。简单说，中国市场盗版盛行，销售正版游戏非常困难，而卖游戏又是主机业务的主要收入来源。联想深知中国市场情况，也许有办法打击盗版。如果不是这样，联想可能又要失败收场了，而且还会对公司应该推行的产品造成重大干扰。

一句话：联想似乎出现核心PC业务外全线出击的忧心趋势，长远而言可能不仅干扰主业、而且浪费资源。

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Apple Takes A Second Look at China for iPad 2 苹果重新考虑中国市场

◙ Lenovo’s LePad: Finally a Game Plan That Could Work 联想乐Pad：终於拿出了像样的东西

◙ Motorola Comes Xooming Into China 摩托罗拉平板电脑偏重中国市场