Bottom line: Shanghai Disneyland will suffer from teething problems in its first year, most notably negative publicity due to high prices in the park, but will gradually overcome that resistance to become one of Disney’s most profitable resorts.
Shanghai Disney set for strong opening
Everyone is buzzing about the looming opening of Disney’s first mainland China resort, so I thought I’d weigh in with my own forecast for the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland set to formally open this Thursday. In addition to all the facts and figures flying about, my assessment includes a personal visit to the newest Disneyland over the past weekend for a preview visit ahead of the grand opening. I thought the crowds would be restricted during the preview period to give a good impression to visiting reporters and VIPs, but was slightly surprised to find the place quite packed. But more on that shortly. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A lackluster debut for China Online Education and abrupt end to the bidding war for iKang point to weak investor interest in US-listed Chinese stocks, which is likely to persist through year end.
51Talk operator fizzles in NY trading debut
Chinese IPOs in New York continue to sputter heading into the summer months, with the latest offering by China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE) debuting flat after raising a very modest $46 million. Meantime, one of the most hotly contested privatizations in an exodus of Chinese companies from New York has come to an abrupt and somewhat disappointing end in the case of clinic operator iKang (NYSE: KANG). That development has come with word that 2 groups vying to buy out iKang have suddenly dropped their bids, yielding to a third group associated with e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Jack Ma’s newly stated preference for an Ant Financial IPO in Hong Kong could touch off a new clash that would challenge the local securities regulator to grant an unusual listing exception or risk losing the blockbuster deal to New York.
Ant Financial eyes HK IPO
Just a couple of years after a high-profile tussle that saw e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) ditch Hong Kong to make its record-breaking IPO in New York, talkative founder Jack Ma is gearing up for a similar game of chicken for an upcoming IPO by his company’s affiliated Ant Financial unit. That’s my initial assessment, following media reports that Ma has said his first preference would be a Hong Kong IPO for Ant Financial, China’s leading private financial services company whose prize asset is its Alipay electronic payments service. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on June 9-13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════
Bottom line: A bidding war for iKang could see prices rise above the current highest offer of $25 per ADS, while a buyout bid for TCL Communication will be priced at a slight premium to the current stock price and meet with little resistance.
iKang attracts new buyout offer
The twisted privatization tale of private clinic operator iKang (Nasdaq: KANG) has just taken a new turn, with its receipt of another buyout offer from Yunfeng Capital, the private equity investor with ties to e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). This development makes Yunfeng the third party to bid for iKang, which has easily become the most contested of some 40 US-listed Chinese companies trying to privatize from New York. Meantime, a far less contested buyout offer has just come in Hong Kong, where faded cellphone maker TCL Communications (HKEx: 2618) has just received a buyout offer from its China-listed parent. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Chinese companies need to demonstrate they are trustworthy and won’t steal their business partners’ IP, or risk seeing continued resistance to cross-border deals like Midea’s planned investment in Kuka.
Trust needed to reduce resistance to Midea-Kuka deal
As European opposition rapidly grows towards China’s latest attempt at major global M&A, many are missing the point when they blame cross-border politics for threatening a proposed deal that would see Chinese appliance maker Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) buy 30 percent of German robotics firm Kuka (Frankfurt: KU2). Politics may be partly to blame for the growing alarm signals in Europe over the deal, since many westerners still worry about ties between Beijing and big companies like Midea, which are private but whose major stakeholders often have government backgrounds. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Alibaba’s new self-calculated valuation of $185 billion looks realistic and even possibly low, but the stock will remain under pressure until the intentions of big stakeholders SoftBank and Yahoo become clearer.
Alibaba estimates value at $185 bln
It’s not often that you get to see a major company put a value on itself, but that’s exactly what we’re getting as a result of new information coming from this week’s sale of nearly $8 billion worth of stock in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). I’ll end the suspense right away and say that Alibaba has valued itself at about $185 billion with the latest sale of a big block of its stock held by longtime Japanese backer SoftBank. While that number looks quite impressive, it’s also noteworthy because it values Alibaba quite a bit lower than arch-rival Tencent (HKEx: 700), as the pair jostle for the title of China’s biggest Internet company. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on June 8. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════
Bottom line: A new $300 million investment by Tencent, Baidu, JD.com and a private equity firm in Bituato is aimed at providing major strategic partners to ensure its continued profitability as an independent car trading platform.
Baidu, Tencent, JD invest in Bitauto
China’s non-stop chain of Internet M&A has created some strange bedfellows, including a new investment that will make partners out of search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and social networking giant Tencent (HKEx: 700). The pair, 2 of China’s top 3 Internet companies, are coming together with e-commerce giant JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) and another private equity firm to invest a fresh $300 million in online car listing services firm Bitauto (NYSE: BITA). The investment by each company is relatively small, and has slightly different significance for all 4 parties involved. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: YIngli’s surprise profit announcement could be the result of a government rescue that will result in a sale of the company, while Ming Yang’s quick privatization reflects its profitability and strong longer-term prospects.
Ming Yang shareholders approve buyout
In a huge surprise to new energy stock watchers, nearly insolvent solar panel maker YIngli (NYSE: YGE) has suddenly announced its first quarterly profit since 2011, abruptly reversing years of massive losses. There’s no explanation for this sudden profit announcement, which comes in some preliminary results released ahead of an official conference call set for next week. Meantime, the more solvent wind power equipment specialist Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) is moving closer to New York exit door, with its announcement that shareholders have approved its plan to privatize as part of a broader wave of such de-listings by US-traded Chinese companies. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Micromax’s plan to sell smartphones in China is likely to sputter due to intense competition, while Huawei stands a 50-60 percent chance of becoming one of the world’s top 2 smartphone brands by 2020.
India’s Micromax eyes China smartphone market
It seems the smartphone road connecting China and India isn’t just one-way, with word that leading Indian brand Micromax is planning to enter the intensely cut-throat Chinese market. Meantime, Chinese leader Huawei is looking beyond its home market and to the rest of the globe, with its brash smartphone chief declaring his target of passing Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930) to take the world’s smartphone crown within 5 years. Read Full Post…
