China will reach an important milestone in the week ahead when it becomes included for the first time in the global launch for Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) newest smartphone, the iPhone 5S. The move reflects the growing importance of China to Apple, which now counts the market as its second largest. China’s inclusion in the global launch also reflects an effort by Apple to try and win back local consumers, many of whom have recently abandoned the US tech giant due to long waits to get the latest iPhones and a series of negative media reports. Read Full Post…
Many things have changed quite a lot in China since my first visit to the country in 1987, but one of the most subtle and yet also quite profound is the vast transformation of Chinese eating habits. The China I first encountered in the 1980s was one where local flavors dominated the eating scene everywhere, from major cities like Beijing down to the smallest villages in Guizhou province.
Today that picture has changed dramatically, with cities like Shanghai boasting a wide range of domestic and foreign cuisines that can rival any other top city in Asia. Even mid-sized cities often host a wide range of non-native regional Chinese cuisines, as well as the occasional restaurant cooking up famous foreign cuisines like Italian or Japanese. Read Full Post…
Anyone who believes in a bright future for security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) will probably say that buyers of $600 million worth of newly issued company convertible bonds got a great deal based on the conversion price. The bonds may indeed be a good bargain if Qihoo can come even close to realizing some of the hopes that many investors are holding for the company following its rapid gains into the lucrative online search space formerly dominated by Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). The closing of this bond sale looks equally interesting to me, as it could indicate that Qihoo may finally sign a deal to buy Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou search engine, significantly boosting its search presence after months of protracted negotiations. Read Full Post…
I’d like to finish out this week by taking a look at 2 business personalities in the news these last few days, namely tech guru Lee Kai-Fu and tech financier and industry pundit Charles Xue, more commonly known by his self-given moniker Xue Manzi. Lee has just disclosed over his microblog that he has been diagnosed with cancer, while Xue’s arrest for soliciting prostitutes stems from own personal fondness for beautiful women. Read Full Post…
There are some interesting news bits at opposite ends of the listing spectrum today, with word that e-commerce giant Alibaba has received a setback in its plans for a Hong Kong IPO, while chipmaker Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD) is on the cusp of de-listing from the Nasdaq. In the middle of the spectrum is newly listed e-commerce firm LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB), whose honeymoon after its June IPO has abruptly ended with a rapid tumble in its share price which has resulted in a newly filed shareholder lawsuit. Read Full Post…
I’m giving kudos today to China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) for finally doing what no other company has ever done before: getting China included in the upcoming global launch for Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) newest iPhone. Meantime, China’s homegrown Apple wannabe Xiaomi is taking another page from its role model, with media reporting the fast-rising smartphone maker is preparing to launch its first tablet PC right around the same time of the global iPhone debut. Read Full Post…
In a somewhat ironic development, the latest application for a New York IPO by a Chinese firm is coming from one of the biggest US theater chains, AMC Entertainment, which was purchased by Chinese real estate giant Wanda Group last year for $2.6 billion. I’m calling the move ironic because most China watchers have been waiting for more than a year for the resumption of IPOs by Chinese firms in New York, following a 2 year winter that saw only a handful of companies list due to frigid investor sentiment. This latest development by Wanda and AMC may show that it’s still too early to say the recent IPO winter has finally ended, since AMC is really a US-based asset despite its Chinese ownership. Read Full Post…
A chapter in the courtship of China’s top 4 banks by western rivals is finally about to close, with word that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is looking to sell its remaining stake in China Construction Bank (HKEx: 939; Shanghai: 601939), China’s second largest lender. This looming divorce shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, as it’s really just the final break-up between big western banks that once held out big hopes of entering China’s banking market through tie-ups with major state-run lenders. In an interesting twist to the story, we’re actually seeing some of the big Chinese banks make their own recent international tie-ups as they look to perhaps someday challenge the big western lenders on the global stage. Read Full Post…
Two major acquisitions of western food firms by Chinese buyers are in the news today, with more bad signs for Shuanghui’s pending purchase of pork maker Smithfield (NSYE: SFD), and word that Shanghai-based Bright Food is seeking a large deal in Israel. Perhaps I’m being a bit pessimistic, but I see both of these deals ultimately failing due to the increasingly sensitive nature of cross-border food acquisitions. Western governments seem prepared to let Chinese firms purchase locally-based makers of individual food products, such as wines or cookies. But those same governments will be far more wary about purchases lower down in their food chains, which have the potential to affect much larger segments of broader food supplies. Read Full Post…
Let’s start the day with a look at the latest Internet TV tie-up between leading TV maker TCL Multimedia (HKEx: 1070) and online search leader Baidu, the latter of which has suddenly discovered a huge appetite for similar new partnerships. I need to start off by saying that anyone who didn’t see this latest tie-up coming must be living in a cave, as media previously reported on it a few weeks ago and TCL chief Li Dongsheng has been talking about it non-stop on his microblog these last few days. I’ve previously said that I like this deal for reasons I’ll recap shortly (previous post); but now that the deal is official, what’s more intriguing is the potential for a stronger tie-up in the future, including a potential equity swap or even a purchase of TCL Multimedia by Baidu. Read Full Post…
Embattled food processor China Minzhong Food (Singapore: CMFC) is discovering that private ownership is sometimes preferable to the perils of being a publicly listed firm, following a short-seller attack last week that has now been followed by a new buy-out offer. Minzhong has just been listed for just 3 years now, but received a big lesson last week when its stock lost half of its value in a single day after short seller Glaucus Research issued a report implying some of its financials were false or overstated. Now the company has received a generous buyout offer from Indonesia’s Indofood, in what’s likely to become the beginning of the end of Mingzhong’s short life as a publicly listed company. Read Full Post…
