The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on March 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Pudong Development Bank (Shanghai: 600000) To Acquire Shanghai Trust (Chinese article)
Central Bank Releases Third-party Payment Draft Regulations (English article)
Alibaba to Invest in Sinopec’s (HKEx: 386) Sales Subsidiary – Sources (English article)
As Giant US IPO Nears, Alibaba’s China E-commerce Crown Slips (English article)
Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) Enters Into Agreement For Privatization (PRNewswire)
The microblog realm has been buzzing loudly this final week of 2013 with stories that are likely to be major themes in the new year, led by a probable IPO by Jingdong, China’s second largest e-commerce firm. Meantime, e-commerce leader Alibaba was showing no signs of slowing down the endless promotion of its recently launched mobile instant messaging (IM) service Laiwang, as it tries to catch up with Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) hugely popular WeChat rival service. Lastly, tweets coming from top e-commerce firms Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) hint that 2014 could see the start of consolidation in the booming but also fiercely competitive parcel delivery sector, perhaps including a few major acquisitions and closures and a long-awaited domestic IPO for China Postal Express, the parcel delivery unit of China’s Post Office. (previous post) Read Full Post…
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…
In an unusual day for overseas traded Chinese firms, we’re getting interesting listing news bits from 3 of the world’s top financial markets, with companies making headlines in New York, London and Hong Kong. In New York, we’re hearing that unappreciated online game operator Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) may be considering a privatization bid; in Hong Kong, Cinda, a manager of non-performing state-run assets, is getting a strong reception in the run-up to its large IPO; and last but not least, visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron has made a person appeal to e-commerce giant Alibaba to make its highly anticipated IPO in London. Read Full Post…
Firms threaten lawsuits over Giant Interactive buyout
It may be quiet in the US during the Thanksgiving holiday, but shareholder lawyers were hard at work scrutinizing the new management-led buyout offer for online game operator Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA), with at least 2 hinting they will file lawsuits to seek a better bid. This is the second time we’ve seen lawyers question a buyout offer for a US-listed Chinese firm, following a similar development for privatizing telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA). Both cases highlight the challenges that such buy-outs can face, especially when buyer groups have strong ties to the companies they are seeking to privatize. Read Full Post…
Neglected online game operator Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) has become the latest Chinese tech firm to launch a privatization bid, leading some to wonder whether other companies in the competitive gaming space may follow. I personally believe that Giant represents a special case, as the company was the source of controversy due to some questionable investments at the height of a recent confidence crisis against US-listed Chinese firms. But that said, China’s massive online gaming sector has become quite overheated over the last few years, with the result that many former high-flyers have seen their sales and stock prices languish. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Regulator To Issue 4G Mobile Licenses On November 28 – Source (Chinese article)
Chinese Bad Loan Manager Cinda Sits On Its Own Debt Mountain (English article)
Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) Buyout May Not Be in Shareholders’ Interests – Law Firm (PRNewswire)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) Faces Antitrust Probe In China (English article)
Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) Receives Buyout Offer At $11.75 Per Share (PRNewswire)
ICBC (HKEx: 1398) Says Approved For Subsidiaries In New Zealand, Peru (HKEx announcement)
Huawei To Market ‘Honor’ As Independent Smartphone Brand (English article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) To Officially Launch Commercial 4G On Dec 18 (Chinese article)
Leading e-commerce firm Alibaba may be heading for a compromise that would allow it to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, in a deal that would come as a victory for minority shareholders of publicly listed firms. Hong Kong securities officials should be praised for sticking to their principles of protecting minority shareholder rights in this case rather than agreeing to Alibaba’s requests to win this mega-IPO likely to raise billions of dollars. Read Full Post…
I had to smile when I read a new report that levels harsh criticism at Chinese firms for their lack of transparency, since anyone who lives and works in China knows that this kind of opaqueness is rampant in China’s secretive corporate culture. It’s interesting to note that the report takes aim at China’s state-run corporate sector, where transparency is almost a dirty word and publicly traded giants like China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and PetroChina (HKEx: 857; Shanghai: 601857; NYSE: PTR) justify their stance by hiding behind their powerful and well-connected state-owned parents. But China’s publicly listed companies that come from the private sector are also often guilty of similar sins, with company founders often using their firms as personal fiefdoms. Read Full Post…
These last few months have seen an interesting friendship chronicled online between 3 major Internet figures, with the top executives from leading web portal Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), e-commerce leader Alibaba and online game operator Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) spending increasing time together. The camaraderie between Alibaba founder and Chairman Jack Ma, Sina CEO and Chairman Charles Chao and Giant Chairman Shi Yuzhu has been chronicled on Sina’s Weibo microblogging service, where the 3 have been seen engaging in an array of activities that often look more like hobbies than the businesses each has become famous for leading. Read Full Post…
