Bottom line: ICBC is likely to ultimately get approval to buy 20 percent of Taiwan’s SinoPac Financial, while Bright Food’s newly closed purchase of Israel’s Tnuva should boost its bid to become China’s first global food group.
Bright Food closes Tnuva buy
I got a sense of deja vu on reading the latest announcement from ICBC (HKEx: 1398), saying China’s leading lender has extended a deadline to buy 20 percent of Taiwan’s SinoPac Financial (Taipei: 2890), 2 years after the tie-up was first disclosed. That’s because this deal looks strikingly similar to another proposed tie-up between leading Chinese telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and one of its Taiwan peers, which ultimately crumbled after repeated extensions. In both cases political sensitivities undermined the deals, though such sensitives could play less of a role in the ICBC-SinoPac deal.
At the same time, I’ll also admit my surprise to read that another sensitive deal has closed that will see Shanghai-based food giant Bright Food Group buy Tnuva, Israel’s largest dairy. That deal was first announced about a year ago, but concerns were quickly raised that Israel might veto it over national security concerns. But the latest reports say the purchase has finally closed, handing Bright a major victory in its quest to become China’s first global food giant. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Bright Food’s overseas IPO plans for its British Weetabix and Australian Manassen brands could get lukewarm response due to investor skepticism about their growth prospects.
Bright eyes offshore IPOs for Weetabix, Manassen
I’ve watched with interest over the last 2 years as Shanghai-based Bright Food has quietly gobbled up a stream of high-profile global investments, positioning the company to potentially become one of China’s first international consumer brands to rival giants like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Kraft Foods (Nasdaq: KRFT). Now we’re getting further details of Bright’s growing global aspirations, with word that it’s planning a series of international IPOs including potential major listings in Hong Kong and London. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Bright Food Targets Listing Cereal-Maker Weetabix By 2016 (English article)
The national string of investigations against executives at major Chinese firms appears to be going local, with word that a man associated with some of Shanghai’s biggest companies is being probed for corruption. In this case the person under investigation is Wang Zongnan, whose name is tied to such Shanghai giants as the Lianhua (HKEx: 980) supermarket chain, as well as food products giant Bright Food. This latest case has several major potential implications, showing local investigators may be joining Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign that began a year ago. At the same time, the investigation could also ultimately cast doubt on several major recent cross-border acquisitions by Bright Food. Read Full Post…
Two new deals in the food and beverage space are casting a spotlight on China’s growing hunger and thirst for foreign products, and also its desire to import better practices to combat a nonstop stream of domestic food safety scandals. The bigger of the deals will see Hony Capital, one of China’s largest and oldest private equity firms, pay $1.6 billion for British fast-food chain PizzaExpress, which is in the process of expanding in China. The other deal will see the owner of the Red Bull brand of energy drinks for China buy a stake in the parent of Vita Coco, and bring the US company’s flagship coconut flavored drinks to China. Read Full Post…
China’s campaign to clean up its fragmented and scandal-plagued food industry has gotten a boost on the meat front, with word of a new tie-up between national grains giant COFCO and global private equity giants KKR and Baring Private Equity Asia. This latest move is part of Beijing’s growing effort to bring in foreign expertise to create a handful of major food groups that can ensure product quality and food safety. Unfortunately, nearly all the major giants now emerging are big state-run companies, meaning most of these firms are likely to be quite bureaucratic and most won’t be available to foreign stock buyers. Read Full Post…
More than 8 months after word of a potential tie-up first emerged, China’s Bright Food and leading Israeli dairy Tnuva have finally reached a deal that would see the former buy control of the latter. It’s not too surprising a deal of this magnitude took so long to conclude, and strategically such a move should be a positive development for Bright as it seeks to improve its internal management and global reach. But that said, I honestly can’t see this deal getting approved by security-obsessed Israel in its current form, which would put control of one of the country’s biggest food companies into Chinese hands. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) Gains In Debut After Larger-Than-Planned IPO (English article)
China’s Bright Food To Buy Control Of Israel’s Tnuva To Boost Dairy Sales (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Bright Food Plan Advances To Buy Israel’s Tnuva For Up To 14 Bln Yuan (Chinese article)
Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) Offers 2.6 Mln Shares, $100 Mln Convertible Notes (PRNewswire)
Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) Confirms Use Of Chemical Food Additive In China (English article)
We’re in that brief window of time each year between the western and Chinese new years, so perhaps it’s appropriate that we’re getting reports of new looks at fast-rising food maker Shuanghui International and online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Shuanghui has just released an announcement saying it will officially change its name to WH Group as part of a new globalization campaign. Meantime, separate media reports are saying that Baidu is experimenting with adjustments to its signature home page, in a revamp that would be its first in 7 years. Read Full Post…
Just days after making headlines for being selected to buy Portugal’s top insurer, Chinese investment firm Fosun International (HKEx: 656) is back in the news as a finalist in the bidding for Forbes Media, publisher of Forbes magazine. The deal is just the latest in a recent series of major purchases for Fosun, and more broadly kicks off a year that could see record overseas M&A by a rising group of Chinese investment firms. Fosun’s evolving strategy seems to target companies that are profitable but also laggards in their areas, which is relatively common among such investors. But in this case, I have serious doubts about its pursuit of Forbes due to the global rapid decline of the traditional media industry. Read Full Post…
