Product development centers aren’t extremely expensive as investments, but they carry a much higher level of prestige for developing countries due to their status as cutting-edge centers for innovation. Against that backdrop, major new R&D moves by global corporate giants Adobe Systems (Nasdaq: ADBE) and Visa (NYSE: V) certainly don’t look too good for China. In the former case, software giant Adobe has announced it will shutter its China R&D facility, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs. In the latter, financial services giant Visa has also snubbed China by announcing a major new global technology development strategy that includes a new center in neighboring India but not in China. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 29-31. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Citic Group Plans HK Listing By Reversing Into Citic Pacific (HKEx: 267) (English article)
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Defeats US Lawsuit Over Censored Search Results (English article)
Alibaba Listing Underwriters To Get 1 Pct Fee, New Low For Internet IPO (English article)
LDK (NYSE: LDK) Confirms Offshore Restructuring and Interim Financing (PRNewswire)
Camelot Information Systems (NYSE: CIS) Announces Completion of Merger (PRNewswire)
Nearly all of the Chinese companies to list in New York during the current IPO boom have come from the tech sector, but reports of a new candidate that combines tech and finance looks like an interesting one to watch. The company, China Risk Finance, operates a peer-to-peer (P2P) loan platform, and is reportedly talking to investment banks about a potential New York listing later this year. (Chinese article) That could provide investors with an interesting and potentially exciting chance to buy into China’s small but quickly growing private financial services sector. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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ICBC (HKEx: 1398) Cuts Off Alipay, To Phase Out 3rd Party Payment Platforms (Chinese article)
P2P Lending Platform China Risk Finance Weighs US Listing – Source (Chinese article)
Agricultural Bank Of China (HKEx: 1288) Announces Annual 2013 Results (HKEx announcement)
Wanda To Add 780 RealD (NYSE: RLD) 3D Cinema Systems Across China (Businesswire)
Camelot (NYSE: CIS) Announces Shareholder Approval of Merger Agreement (PRNewswire)
It seems appropriate that 2 more longtime-listed Chinese companies are bowing out of New York as we head into the final days of 2013, with word that shareholders have approved plans to privatize telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) and drugmaker Simcere Pharmaceutical (NYSE: SCR). AsiaInfo was the more lively of these 2 de-listing stories, with a narrow majority of shareholders approving a buy-out offer after several months of protest from others who thought the price was too low. Meantime, Simcere’s looming privatization raises the question of what’s next for this neglected company, whose foreign partners include Bristol-Myers Squbb (NYSE: BMY) and Merck (NYSE: MRK). Read Full Post…
Software outsourcing firm Camelot Information Systems (NYSE: CIS) has quietly raised the value of its management-led buyout offer, as it nears its ultimate goal of going private due to lack of interest from Wall Street investors. Even with the increased offer, Camelot is still just worth just under $100 million, a tiny fraction of what it was once worth when investors were much more bullish on the company and China’s software outsourcing sector in general. The looming de-listing also comes just a week after Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT), one of China’s only other major publicly traded IT outsourcing firms, said a group seeking to buy the company had lowered its bid due to weakening outlook. (previous post) Read Full Post…
Smartphone chip maker Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD) has become the latest US-listed Chinese firm to receive a buyout offer, continuing a trend that is making such names an endangered species on New York’s 2 stock exchanges. The process is the result of natural market forces and thus should be allowed to continue without interference, even though it could also cut off an important funding source for some of China’s most dynamic companies. Read Full Post…
The latest earnings and outlook are breathing new life into low-cost smarphone chip maker Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD), but also showing why the market remains difficult for homegrown IT services firms like Camelot Information Systems (NYSE: CIS). Spreadtrum’s newly announced upside surprise could bode well for the broader field of companies that specialize in low-cost smartphones and their components, as China prepares to launch 4G mobile services later this year. Meantime, Camelot’s weak earnings are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, though at least it won’t have to publicly discuss those embarrassing numbers if its current bid to privatize succeeds. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 11-13. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Eyes EU Luxury Cars As Trade Dispute Rages (English article)
Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS 7 Will Play Nice With Tencent, Sina Weibo (English article)
Censorship Lawsuit Against Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), China Gets New Life In US (English article)
China Pulls ‘The Croods’ From Cinemas 2 Weeks Early (English article)
Camelot Information Systems (NYSE: CIS) Announces Unaudited Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
Anyone looking to invest in the China IT outsourcing story will be disappointed to learn that Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT), the sector’s biggest publicly listed player, has just announced a plan to privatize at a nice premium to its last share price. If the privatization succeeds, Pactera would join rival Camelot Information Systems (NYSE: CIS), which is engaged in a similar de-listing, removing what were once 2 of China’s most exciting tech companies from the publicly listed realm for international investors. While the Pactera move reflects a broader privatization trend among US-listed Chinese companies, it also reflects the failure of Chinese IT outsourcing firms to realize the big hopes that many once held for them. Read Full Post…
More than a year after first announcing a potential buyout, telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) has finally reached a deal with a group led by a unit of Chinese financial giant Citic that would see its shares de-listed. Investors were unimpressed by the final announcement, with AsiaInfo shares actually closing down by 0.7 percent at $11.60 after it announced a deal to sell itself for $12 per share to the group led by Citic Capital Partners which also includes Singapore’s Temasek sovereign wealth fund. (company announcement) Read Full Post…
