A couple of smaller deals are in the headlines today, with smartphone sensation Xiaomi dipping its toe into the financial services market and online news portal Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG) eying the news feed business. Both deals are relatively small in terms of size, but each provides some interesting insight on the thinking at these 2 different companies in the tech and new media space. The first deal has Xiaomi joining a group of investors betting on a peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending platform called Jimu Box. The second has Phoenix investing in Particle Inc, maker of an app that lets users design personalized feeds to receive news over their mobile phones. Read Full Post…
Investors may be giving a cold shoulder to many new Chinese companies lining up to list overseas, but one name that’s not having any such troubles is Citic Group, one of China’s oldest and most entrepreneurial financial services conglomerates. Ironically, Citic isn’t even making a formal IPO as it seeks to list in Hong Kong, but instead is making a massive back-door offering using its Citic Pacific (HKEx: 267) unit as the vehicle. The latest reports say a group of top-tier global and domestic investors are lining up to buy into the new back-door listing, reflecting Citic’s attraction as an alternative for buyers looking to gain exposure to China’s financial services sector. Read Full Post…
Two new stories in the consumer space are offering an interesting look at the difficulty of taking over Hong Kong-listed companies, providing headaches for potential acquirers but also interesting opportunities for minority investors. The 2 cases involve dairy giant Mengniu (HKEx: 2319) and Swedish paper products company SCA (Stockholm: SCAA), which have each bought a controlling stake of their Hong Kong-listed targets rather than the taking outright ownership that both probably would have preferred. In the former case, Mengniu was aiming to buy raw milk supplier Yashili (HKEx: 1230), while SCA was aiming to buy tissue products maker Vinda (HKEx: 3331) Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 12. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Alibaba Transaction Volume Reaches 35 Bln Yuan On Nov 11 Singles Day (Chinese article)
Temasek, Hopu Buy $213 Mln Stake In Chinese Dairy Maker (English article)
Blackstone, Temasek give thumbs down to Pactera, Youku
Two Chinese tech leaders are feeling the effects of fickle western institutional investors, with word that one big name has lowered its buyout offer for IT outsourcing firm Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT) , while another has dumped its sizable stake in video sharing site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU). In the former case, it’s private equity giant Blackstone that’s lowered its offer for Pactera, while in the latter its Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek dumping its Youku Tudou stake. Both cases are due to company specific factors; but they also show that big-name investors may carry a certain level of prestige for companies that attract them, but they also bring a certain level of risk. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 14-16. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Blackstone-Led Buyout Group Lowers Bid For Pactera (Nasdaq: PACT) (English article)
Suntech (NYSE: STP) Announces Management Change, Appoints New CEO (PRNewswire)
China’s top bank got a boost from its second biggest shareholder last week when Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek boosted its stake in ICBC (HKEx: 1398; Shanghai: 601398), helping to support the lender’s share price as Chinese banks faced an unprecedented liquidity crisis. This kind of buying is exactly the kind of market-oriented support that China’s banks should be getting during this ongoing crisis, as the government tries to wean them from the free handouts they traditionally depended on during the socialist era. Read Full Post…
Investors are still pondering Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE: GS) sale this week of its remaining stake in Chinese banking giant ICBC (HKEx: 1398; NYSE: 601398), trying to figure out if the move is a positive or negative for China’s wobbly banking sector. My view is that the move is indeed positive, which is being supported by the latest word that a big portion of Goldman’s stake was purchased by Temasek, the massive Singaporean sovereign wealth fund. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
China’s MIIT to Issue TD-LTE Licenses to All 3 Telcos – Source (English article)
Temasek Buys 280 Mln ICBC (HKEx: 939) Shares, Owns 7.04 Pct of Bank (Chinese article)
No ‘Active’ US-EU-China Solar Talks Under Way: USTR (English article)
Bob Lutz, Chinese In Bid To Buy Fisker Automotive – Sources(English article)
Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) Announces Preliminary Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
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…
Financial markets have given their verdict on the future growth prospects for e-commerce leader Alibaba, and frankly speaking the long-awaited assessment doesn’t look too exciting or promising. I said last week when word first emerged that Alibaba was near a deal to buy back 20 percent of its shares held by Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) that the most interesting elements would be the valuation Alibaba got from the transaction, as well as the name list of investors. (previous post) For starters, the valuation that Alibaba got from the deal is a bit disappointing for a company whose value rocketed from just $2.5 billion when Yahoo first purchased its stake in 2005 to more than $30 billion last year on the explosion of China’s e-commerce market.
