New reports are saying that Dongfeng Motors (HKEx: 489), one of the nation’s top automakers, remains committed to diversifying beyond its 2 core Japanese partnerships by seeking a major new equity tie-up with France’s Peugeout (Paris: PEUP). Dongfeng’s worries are easy to understand, since most of its sales come through its joint ventures with Japanese automakers Honda (Tokyo: 7267) and Nissan (Tokyo: 7201). That dependence has made its sales quite volatile over the past year due to boycotts of Japanese brands by Chinese buyers during a territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo. The pain being felt by the Japanese titans has provided a strong opportunity for US rival Ford (NYSE: F), a longtime laggard which is on track to match or even pass the 2 of Japan’s big 3 automakers in China this year. Read Full Post…
Forever bicycles look for relevance in 21st century
As a longtime foreigner living in China, I’ve always been intrigued by the local fascination with famous brands, or mingpai, and how much weight such names carry among local consumers. Brand names are also important for westerners, but they seem to take on a much bigger importance among Chinese — often to the point where a name becomes more important than the actual product. Read Full Post…
It’s a relatively slow news day as much of China returns to work after the weeklong National Day holiday, so I thought I’d have some fun trying to read between the lines of a low-key announcement about a new Greater China chief at ILFC, the world’s biggest aircraft leasing company owned by US insurance giant AIG (NYSE: AIG). The naming of industry veteran Peter Chang as ILFC’s new Greater China head certainly underscores the importance of the market, which is ILFC’s largest in the world. (company announcement) But more intriguingly, perhaps the announcement hints that a previously announced deal to sell ILFC to a group of Chinese investors may still be alive, despite some major turbulence that saw the buyers miss several deadlines earlier this year. Read Full Post…
I had to look to my dictionary for answers for this week’s Street View, after reading a local report that Shanghai has banned several exotic animals from sale in local markets and restaurants for health reasons. It turns out the ban applies to some seafood varieties that weren’t quite as exotic as I’d expected, including a type of hairy clams and a popular marinated shrimp dish. The reasons for the ban were simple, as these particular creatures, when improperly or even properly prepared, can pose health hazards. Read Full Post…
I want to mark this week’s return to work for most of China with a look at 3 new foreign partnerships announced over the past week, 1 each involving home appliance maker Haier (Shanghai: 600690), the Twitter-like Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo and telecoms equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063). All 3 of the tie-ups are different in nature, but they do look innovative and encouraging and should have positive implications for each company’s future development. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Qingdao Haier (Shanghai: 600690), KKR Form Strategic Partnership (Businesswire)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) Says Is Part Of Consortium Seeking Banking License (HKEx announcement)
Chinese Game Developer Forgame (HKEx: 484) Surges In HK Trading Debut (English article)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Sells 2 Solar Power Plants BlackRock-Managed Fund (PRNewswire)
Socialgist In Deal to Provide Social Data from Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo (PRNewswire)
Agricultural Bank of China (HKEx: 1288; Shanghai: 600188), the last of China’s “big 4” banks to go public, is now becoming the last of the quartet to eye a global expansion, with word that it’s weighing a bid for Hong Kong’s Wing Hang Bank (HKEx: 0302). I’m generally not a huge fan of AgBank, mostly because its history as a lender to farmers and other agricultural enterprises makes it the least market-oriented of China’s biggest 4 national lenders. But that said, this baby step onto the global stage looks like a relatively well conceived plan for perhaps some bigger steps in the next few years. Read Full Post…
I want to use one of my final posts for September to take a look at the IPO outlook for Q4, specifically what we might expect to see for new Chinese offerings in New York in the final 3 months of 2013. When the history books are written, this year will probably go down as one of the weakest in recent memory for New York IPOs by major Chinese firms. But that said, I do still expect to see a small flurry of activity in the fourth quarter, based on recent reports of new listing plans and signs that a 2-year-old purge of dubious Chinese firms from US stock markets may be finally wrapping up. Read Full Post…
I seem to be using the phrase “flavor of the day” quite a bit these days, as quite a few emerging products and sectors like smart TVs and social networking services (SNS) are suddenly drawing interest from a wide range of companies in established industries. The latest sector to get my “flavor of the day” moniker is banking and financial services, with word that Gree (Shenzhen: 000651), one of China’s top appliance makers, is looking to enter the space. I have no particularly strong feelings about Gree, though I have to say that this new move looks ill-conceived and is a telltale sign that the broader rush into banking services is quickly becoming overheated. Read Full Post…
Any semblance of harmony between Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou online search engine and spurned suitor Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) has quickly disappeared with a new series of lawsuits between the 2 sides for unfair competition and defamation. I’m not too surprised by this latest development, since Sohu and Qihoo are headed by 2 of China’s most opinionated and difficult Internet entrepreneurs, Charles Zhang and Zhou Hongyi. But I am somewhat surprised by how quickly relations have soured between these 2 companies, following Zhang’s decision last week to sell a strategic stake in Sogou to leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700). That decision, which came after months of talks, was a sharp rebuke to Qihoo, which had also been aggressively courting Zhang and Sogou. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China’s Top Appliance Maker Gree (Shenzhen: 000651) Eyes Banking Business (English article)
LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) Enters Forbearance Arrangement with Noteholders (PRNewswire)
Alibaba’s TMall Issues Requirements For International Merchants (English article)
