The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 15. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Chinese Charge British Former Head Of GSK (London: GSK) China With Bribery (English article)
A couple of restaurant deals are in the news this week, reflecting the big potential of China’s dining-out market as consumer tastes broaden beyond fast-food. One deal has an investment arm of luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton buying a Singaporean restaurant chain with a big China presence, while the other has leading restaurant ratings site Dianping buying an online take-out dining platform. But China’s growing taste for wine could be starting to slow, with word of another major deal involving the struggling Dynasty Fine Wines (HKEx: 828), one of the country’s leading domestic producers. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 6. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Cheetah Mobile Makes Additional IPO Filing, Discloses Q1 Results (Chinese article)
Baosteel, Aurizon (Sydney: AZJ) Bid For Aquila In $1.3 Bln Iron Deal (English article)
Tencent Buys 11.28 Pct Of NavInfo (Shenzhen: 002405) For 1.1.7 Bln Yuan (Chinese article)
Dianping Invests in Food Ordering Site Ele.me (English article)
Xunlei and 55tuan have emerged as 2 of the biggest orphans in the rapidly consolidating online video and group buying spaces, respectively, putting pressure on both to find partners to boost their chances for long-term survival. The pair were in separate headlines this week in their search for new tie-ups, with Xunlei selling a major stake of itself to software maker Kingsoft (HKEx: 3888) and 55tuan reportedly in talks to sell some or all of itself to security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). Read Full Post…
After a 4 year cycle that saw China’s group buying sector first boom and then crash spectacularly, we could finally see an IPO soon from Meituan, which has emerged as the industry’s leader and a true survivor. Media are reporting that Meituan is close to getting $100 million in new funding — an admirable feat in the current climate that has seen investors largely shun the group of former high flyers. That investment would come just weeks after leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) purchased 20 percent of Dianping, another strong player that has emerged in the group buying space. (previous post) Read Full Post…
UPDATE: Since originally writing this post, Tencent has announced it will purchase 20 percent of Dianping for an undisclosed amount. (company announcement)
Talk involving major new investments in online clothier Vancl and restaurant ratings site Dianping was buzzing through the blogosphere this past week, reflecting the many new partnerships that are quickly forming amid intense competition plaguing the overheated Internet space.
Vancl has been racing to find profits before it runs out of cash, and recently received a lifeline in the form of $100 million in new funding from a group led by Lei Jun, the marketing-savvy co-founder of trendy smartphone maker Xiaomi. Lei Jun and Vancl CEO Chen Nian engaged in a round of online banter this week on their microblogs that could hint at some of the new directions and tactics that Vancl will take as it searches for the elusive business model that can move it into the black. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 20. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tencent (HKEx: 700) To Buy 20 Percent Of Restaurant Ratings Site Dianping (HKEx announcement)
Dongfeng (HKEx: 489) To Pay 800 Mln Euros For 18 Pct Of Peugeot (Paris: PEUP) (English article)
MIIT: China’s 4G User Base To Reach 30-50 Mln In 2014 (English article)
Xiaomi Enters Singapore To Kick Off Global Expansion (Chinese article)
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) To Introducing Free Security Services To The World (PRNewswire)
A couple of Internet M&A deals are in the news as we head into the final days before the Lunar New Year, with word that leading search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has purchased more of group buying site Nuomi, while top Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700) may be eying restaurant ratings site Dianping. The first deal could reflect a new pattern for Baidu, which has mostly bought controlling stakes but made few outright acquisitions in its recent spree of major purchases. Meantime, the latter deal would look good for Tencent if it was really happening, though I have major doubts about whether it is. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 25-27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Renren (NYSE: RENN) Sells Remaining Stake In Nuomi to Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) (PRNewswire)
The microblogging space was buzzing with a bit of the past, the present and the future last week, with executives from some of China’s top gadget and Internet companies all hyping their various agendas in cyberspace. In a blast from the past, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak was all over the place in microblog postings from a number of tech companies executives he visited on a trip to China.
In the present, meanwhile, TCL (HKEx: 1070; Shenzhen: 000100) Chairman Li Dongsheng was at the CES trade show in Las Vegas and also attended a board meeting of Imax (NYSE: IMAX), using both opportunities to hype a new home theater tie-up with the US-based large screen movie format specialist. In the future, Long Wei, the low-key founder of leading online restaurant critic site Dianping, was hyping his company’s recent global expansion, perhaps hinting at more to come. Read Full Post…
Some new figures are showing just how dramatically China’s group buying sector has contracted over the past year, with word that another major player Wanzhong has folded due to lack of funds. Wangzhong’s closure comes as the number of group buying casualties finally starts to slow, simply because so many have now left the space. I do expect we’ll see at least one or two more major closures or mergers this year, and previously predicted that former high-flyer LaShou could be one of those. But that said, the year could also see 2 or 3 major players finally emerge that have the potential to make IPOs and post strong long-term growth, similar to what we’ve seen recently from global sector leader Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN). Read Full Post…
