The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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- Bank of China (HKEx: 3988) Announces Q3 Results (HKEx announcement)
- China Telecom (HKEx: 728) Wins Online Video, IPTV Transmission Licenses (English article)
- Unicom (HKEx: 762) Removes Some Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) Gear Over Security Concerns (Chinese article)
- CITIC Securities (HKEx: 6030) Says to Buy Remainder of CLSA (English article)
- Xunlei CEO Says Reports of Bids for Company By Baidu, Qihoo Are Media Guesses (Chinese article)
- Latest calendar for Q3 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)
I’m probably beginning to sound a bit redundant by writing about Apple’s (Nasdaq: APPL) latest China snub, but it does seem worth noting that yet another major new product from the world’s biggest tech company won’t be coming to Chinese consumers anytime soon. Meantime, Chinese media are noting that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is seeking to exploit this latest Apple snub by selecting China as one of the launch markets for its new tablet PC. Unfortunately for Microsoft, I don’t think Chinese consumers will really care very much.
Oil major CNOOC (HKEx: 883; NYSE: CEO) has just released its latest quarter results that look generally upbeat, but media have predictably focused instead on the company’s pending $15 billion bid for Nexen (Toronto: NXY) which is still awaiting approval by the Canadian government. Since everyone else is guessing on whether Ottawa will ultimately approve this deal, I’ll go ahead and add my name to the list and predict the deal will get approved when Canada announces its decision next month. But there’s one caveat to my prediction, namely that Beijing will need to give some kind of signal — the more openly, the better — that it is willing to give Canadian companies similar access to the Chinese market where state-run firms currently dominate the resources sector.
Let’s take a break today from all the background noise in cyberspace and trade wars and look instead at an interesting new deal from HNA Group, whose latest equity tie-up in France reflects its ongoing ambition to become one of China’s leading global investors. Despite its ties to the Hainan provincial government, HNA, whose partners include billionaire investor George Soros, has emerged in the last few years as one of China’s most entrepreneurial global investors with a string of interesting deals in strategic areas. Accordingly, this could well become a company to watch as it tries to mimic big global private equity names like Carlyle and TPG, while also building up its own businesses.
Solar panel maker LDK (NYSE: LDK) started its long march to a takeover by the state with a major stake sale this week, but the equally cash-starved Suntech (NYSE: STP) looks like it may put up a bigger fight to maintain its independence. What’s happening at Suntech comes down to a single word: Pride. The latest twist at Suntech also has broader implications, as the kind of pride we’re seeing from founder Shi Zhengrong could foreshadow similar resistance we’re likely to see at many of the nation’s other solar panel makers.
New signs of consolidation are appearing in the overheated in e-commerce and group buying spaces, with Suning.com (Shenzhen: 002024) again emerging as a potential major consolidator in e-commerce as a mid-sized group buying site named 24Quan closes up shop. The e-commerce news is easily the more interesting of these 2 bits, as China’s group buying sector has largely run out of cash by now and most players are tottering on the brink of insolvency. By comparison, the e-commerce field is backed by a big number of cash-rich companies like Suning, Alibaba and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), which have indicated they are prepared to lose big money for a long time to defend and build their positions in a country likely to become the world’s biggest e-commerce market in the next 5-10 years.
A recent flurry of new reports is hinting that a state-led consolidation of China’s fragmented cable TV industry is moving ahead, but also that the campaign may be meeting with some resistance from provincial governments reluctant to cede assets to a Beijing-based national operator. Despite that resistance, I suspect that this consolidation will probably succeed in the end since Beijing really wants it to happen. But the new operator may have to cede a lot of autonomy to its various provincial level units, meaning it could have difficulty competing with China’s 3 major telcos which have stronger central coordination.
