The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on July 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Greater China Loses Status as Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) Second Largest Region (Chinese article)
Wanda Buys Movie Portal Mtime for $280 Mln (Chinese article)
Sale of Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) China Franchise at a Standstill (English article)
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Bids for East Europe’s Top Online Auction Site Allegro (Chinese article)
Xiaomi Launches Notebook Computer With Starting Price of 3499 Yuan (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Wanda may need to raise its offer price again to buy Carmike, while a plan to privatize its property unit stands a good chance of winning shareholder approval.
Wanda ups Carmike bid
Conglomerate Wanda Group is in a couple of a major headlines, one involving its traditional real estate business and the other for the newer entertainment unit it’s building up as part of a diversification drive. The real estate headline centers on Hong Kong-listed property developer Dalian Wanda (HKEx: 3699), which has just received an endorsement from a major shareholder in its bid to go private. The second item centers on Wanda’s fast-growing cinema business, and has the company boosting its offer for US theater operator Carmike (Nasdaq: CKEC) after minority stakeholders complained a previous bid was too low. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on July 26. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Says Group Withdraws Offer to Acquire iQiyi (PRNewswire)
Wanda’s AMC (NYSE: AMC) Raises Bid for Carmike (Nasdaq: CKEC) to $1.2 Bln (Chinese article)
Chinese Dealmaker Sonny Wu Said to Lead Takeover of AC Milan (English article)
Bottom line: Baidu’s Robin Li could announce a deal later this week to buy 40 percent of soccer club AC Milan, while his company’s pursuit of Paramount was likely killed by internal fighting at the Hollywood studio.
Paramount spurns Baidu, Wanda
Internet search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is in a couple of major entertainment headlines as the new week begins, led by word that it could finally announce a highly anticipated deal that would see it buy a major stake of European football club AC Milan. At the same time, separate new reports are saying that the company was rejected in a recent bid for a strategic stake in Hollywood giant Paramount, the studio arm of Viacom (NYSE: VIAb). Those same reports are saying Wanda Group, another Chinese entertainment aspirant, was also rejected in pursuit of a similar deal. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on July 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Singapore’s GIC Buys 5 Pct of China Telecom’s (HKEx: 728) H-Shares (HKEx announcement)
Inspur, Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb) Form Tie-Up in Cloud, Internet of Things (Chinese article)
Yum (NYSE: YUM) Shares Rise After CEO Signals China Momentum (English article)
Wanda to Bring First International Soccer Tournament to China (company announcement)
Tishman Teams With Lenovo (HKEx: 992) on South China Real Estate Development (English article)
Bottom line: Wanda will use AMC as its flagship for building a global entertainment empire, which will include its newly purchased European Odeon theater chain and could also include a revised higher bid for US operator Carmike.
Wanda’s AMC in deal to buy UK’s Odeon
The acquisitive Wanda Group is in a couple of major headlines in its quest to build a global movie theaters empire, led by a new blockbuster acquisition that will see it buy Britain’s Odeon and UCI CinemasGroup for about $1.2 billion. But while it advances in Europe, the company is hitting more resistance in the US, where Wanda already owns top player AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC). Wanda is trying to expand its US base by buying smaller operator Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), but now new reports are saying the company is unlikely to raise its bid to a level that investors are demanding. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on July 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China’s Wanda Buys Britain’s Odeon Cinema Group for $1.2 Bln (English article)
BYD (HKEx: 1211) Loses Bulk of $270 Mln Electric Bus Order in China (English article)
Huawei, Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) Team Up in Smart Home Devices (Chinese article)
Ku6 Media (Nasdaq: KUTV) Announces Completion of Merger (PRNewswire)
Aluminum Distributor Fubang Jingye to Buy Mobile Game Firms Crimoon, Skymoons (English article)
Bottom line: European alarmism could soon start to grow over a sudden Chinese buying spree of local soccer clubs, including the latest purchase of Inter Milan by Suning and a looming purchase of AC Milan by a Chinese buyer.
Suning bounces into Milan
The new week is kicking off with a couple of China soccer deals in Europe, led by the purchase of a majority of Italy’s Inter Milan by consumer giant Suning (Shenzhen: 002024), and buzz that another deal is near that would see crosstown rival AC Milan sold to a Chinese buyer. This kind of news is becoming quite common these days, following other recent deals that have seen Chinese companies buy or purchase stakes in soccer clubs and other sporting assets in Spain, Britain, Switzerland and even New York. All of which raises the question of if and when Europeans might start to feel uneasy about this sudden buying binge of so many assets from their favorite past-time. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Wanda’s intellectual property clash with Disney is a minor glitch in its big theme park aspirations, but highlights the many difficulties the multibillion-dollar initiative will face.
Wanda, Disney tussle over IP infringement
After days of trash-talking global theme park giant Disney (NYSE: DIS), Chinese entertainment aspirant Wanda is suddenly on the defensive after a Disney character was spotted greeting visitors in its newly launched Wanda City mega-entertainment complex in the interior city of Nanchang. The bigger context to this story is that Wanda desperately wants to attract attention to its new plans to build more than a dozen theme parks, many costing more than $1 billion, in its bid to become China’s own homegrown Disney. But Wanda has discovered that publicizing its plans isn’t quite as easy as it thought, even as media feast on the grand opening in 2 weeks of China’s first Disneyland resort in Shanghai. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Dalian Wanda’s de-listing plan from Hong Kong is likely to succeed, while eLong could re-list in China and become the travel services provider for WeChat following its New York privatization.
Dalian Wanda joins homeward migration
A trio of new headlines are part of the recent homeward migration of offshore-listed Chinese companies, led by a highly anticipated $4.4 billion offer to privatize property giant Dalian Wanda (HKEx: 3699). Also making news is faded online travel agent eLong (Nasdaq: LONG), whose shareholders have just approved a privatization that will soon end its 12-year-old listing in New York. Finally there’s film production house Yongle Film and Television, which would have been a strong New York IPO candidate in a earlier era but is now in the process of making a backdoor listing in Shenzhen. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Privatization plans by Autohome and iKang will face long delays due to shareholder resistance and rival bids, while Wanda Commercial’s similar buyout will proceed soon after some technical issues are resolved.
Autohome, iKang take buyout clashes to court
Three of the larger privatization bids by offshore-listed Chinese firms are running into snags, hinting at a growing wave of resistance to such offers considered by many as too low and opportunistic. Two of the most colorful tales involve online car site Autohome (NYSE: ATHM) and private clinic operator iKang (Nasdaq: KANG), whose management-led buyout deals both hit snags due to unexpected third-party developments. In the latest twist to those stories, Autohome is now taking legal action to prevent a separate share sale that could kill its own management-led buyout bid; while iKang is playing legal games with a rival bidder that trumped an original management-led buyout plan. Read Full Post…
