The month of February could mark the final sunset for solar panel maker Suntech (OTC: STPFQ), with 2 major events on the calendar that look like the swansong for this former solar energy pioneer. If the ending does indeed come, it would be almost a year after Suntech first was forced into bankruptcy in a Chinese court in its home city of Wuxi, kicking off a contentious process that saw many of its top executives and board members leave and rival Shunfeng Photovoltaic (HKEx: 1165) purchase most of its China-based assets. One of the biggest remaining questions will be how much, if anything, holders of the company’s stock get for their shares. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 2-7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Shanda Games (Nasdaq: SNDA) Announces Receipt Privatization Offer (PRNewswire)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat Pushes into US, Promotes Linking to Google (English article)
LightInTheBox (NYSE: LITB) Announces Resignation Of CFO (Businesswire)
TAL Education (NYSE: XRS) Makes Strategic Investment In Babytree (PRNewswire)
Suntech (NYSE: STP) Announces New Acting CFO And Board Member (PRNewswire)
New signals from Beijing hint at a problem I’ve talked about for the last 2 months as China embarks on a major solar energy program, namely that many new plants being built could become useless white elephants. Potential for such a problem is very real, and could end up not only costing enthusiastic builders of new power plants billions of dollars in wasted funds, but could also leave solar panel makers themselves with huge amounts of unpaid bills. Meantime, the latest signals from Suntech (NYSE: STPFQ) and LDK (NYSE: LDK) indicate these 2 former giants are nearing the end of their lives, as each looks set to disappear in an ongoing industry consolidation. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 10. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Mobile To Sell iPhone Next Week, Unicom, China Telecom Cut Prices (Chinese article)
Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) CEO Says Still In Dark On China Antitrust Probe (English article)
Zhou Weiping Resigns As Interim CEO, CFO Of Suntech (NYSE: STPFQ) (PRNewswire)
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Denies In Talks To Sell Stake To Alibaba (Chinese article)
LDK (NYSE: LDK) Enters Further Forbearance Arrangement With Noteholders (PRNewswire)
The year 2013 will go down as a major turning point for China’s solar panel makers, with some names emerging as new sector leaders after a prolonged downturn while others quietly disappeared. The latter category saw former leader Suntech (OTC: STPFQ) go bankrupt and LDK (NYSE: LDK) quietly sell off many of its assets, while the former category has seen Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) and Shunfeng (HKEx: 1165) emerge as names to watch in the future. Canadian Solar in particular has been coming back strong in the second half of this year with a steady stream of good news, including its latest mega-deal to sell panels in China. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Wanda Group‘s Wang Jianlin To Enter E-Commerce (Chinese article)
Walmart’s (NYSE: WMT) Yihaodian Consolidates Under Shanghai FTZ Company (English article)
I haven’t written about LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) for a while, so it seems like the release of its latest quarterly results might be a good chance for a final look before the lights go off permanently at this struggling solar panel maker. Somewhat appropriately, LDK announced its results on the same day it also said it continues to negotiate with international investors who are still waiting for an overdue payment on their bonds. (company announcement) The bondholders have just agreed to extend their talks for another 2 weeks, but there’s always the very real danger that they could force LDK into bankruptcy when this new deadline expires on December 10. Read Full Post…
As the sun rapidly sets on former solar pioneer Suntech (OTC: STPFQ), I thought I’d take a look at the latest reports that show just how closely the company relied on state support. At the same time, another major development has seen Suntech’s shares finally de-list from New York, where they have traded since its 2005 IPO. The de-listing is something that should have happened long ago, even though investors continued to bet that Beijing would rescue Suntech ever since the company was forced into bankruptcy back in March. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 15. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Spy Scandal Weighs On US Tech Firms In China, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) Takes Hit (English article)
Suntech (NYSE: STP) Confirms 9.5 Bln Yuan In Debt, CDB Largest Creditor (English article)
A couple of news bits are showing how a wider range of Chinese investment choices are slowly becoming available to western buyers, including many of riskier quality. Shares of premium Chinese names like top telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and leading Internet company Tencent (HKEx: 700) have been available to western investors for years through their overseas-listed shares, mostly traded in New York and Hong Kong. But now a new group of decidedly lower-tier Chinese companies are coming onto the market with 2 new developments. One those will see Cinda Asset Management, one of Beijing’s main bad debt aggregators, make an IPO in Hong Kong; the other has seen the first exchange traded fund (ETF) that directly buys and sells China-listed A-shares make its debut in New York. Read Full Post…
