Thursday, December 10, 2009 Issue No.10334     Compiled and presented by: ACN Research a division of ACN Group Limited | Important Notice This is a free publication from ACN Group Limited. Please feel free to forward this to anyone in or outside your company/organization who may find this useful. Contact us by phone or according to the directions on our website to become a subscriber. Thank You. | |||
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| Breaking News | News Summaries | Thursday, December 10, 2009 Issue No.10334 |
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General | ||
| • | China digs in on yuan, holds out hand on climate Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:43am EST By Chris Buckley and Simon Rabinovitch NANJING, China, Nov 30 (Reuters) - China pushed back on Monday against calls to let its currency rise, with Premier Wen Jiabao warning that lifting the yuan could hobble growth, while assuring Europe that his nation is serious about global warming. Speaking to reporters after summit talks with the European Union, Wen said the demands being made of Beijing to push up the yuan's exchange rate were not fair. He reaffirmed China's determination to take its own, gradual steps on the currency front but said that for now the yuan, also known as the renminbi, was being kept broadly steady. "In this international financial crisis of a kind rarely seen in history, maintaining the basic stability of the renminbi exchange rate has benefited China's economic development and benefited world economic recovery," Wen said. "Now some countries, on the one hand, want the renminbi to appreciate but, on the other hand, engage in brazen trade protectionism against China. This is unfair. In fact, it amounts to restricting China's development," he said. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Carbon capture, storage has huge potential: Ambassador By Chen Jia (China Daily) Updated: 2009-11-30 07:45 China has a huge potential for carbon capture and storage (CSS), a mechanism that could prove crucial in the fight against climate change, said Serge Abou, EU ambassador to China. "No projections beyond 2020 give any realistic hope of stopping the climate crisis without applying CCS in the power sector," he told China Daily yesterday. "So it is time now for the European Union (EU) and China to decide on the active promotion of CSS." Abou was speaking following the results of the first phase of the China-EU Near-Zero Emissions Coal project, which is aimed at examining options for CCS in China, as well as the potential capacity and expertise. According to key findings, the mechanism could one day be a low-carbon option for coal-based energy supply, there is potentially significant storage capacity in saline aquifers and oilfields in eastern and northeastern parts of the country. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Can China's Backwaters Save the Global Economy? By Michael Schuman / Xi'an Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 Though he doesn't know it, shop manager Zhu Baohua is on the front lines of the battle to reform the global economy. Zhu's three-floor electronics store, crammed with Sony TVs, Motorola cell phones and HP PCs, is located in a nondescript neighborhood in the western Chinese city of Xi'an. Far from China's dynamic coastal manufacturing and financial centers, Xi'an for decades has been an economic backwater known mainly as the home of China's famed terra-cotta warriors, reminders of the city's glory days as a capital of ancient dynasties. But today, Xi'an is experiencing a renaissance. The locals who frequent Zhu's store have cash - and they're spending it like never before. On a recent Wednesday in late October, hospital worker Hao Jie, 40, is gleeful after dropping $1,200 on a 52-inch LCD TV for her new apartment, the keys to which she received only days earlier. Nearby, a soon-to-be-married young couple, Zhang Guopeng and Luo Xi, sizes up washing machines using a measuring tape. The two engineers are also shopping to fill up a new apartment, their first home together. For Zhu, the busy Wednesday evening is business as usual. His store's sales have surged about 40% this year. "In the past, people only bought the electronics that they needed," Zhu says. "Now people are spending money just to enjoy it." Click here to read further. | |
| • | Can an Eagle Hug a Panda? By Zachary Karabell Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 Having spent a week in Asia and three intense days in China, President Barack Obama set a constructive tone for the future. He welcomed the emergence of China as a new force in the global economy and rebuffed suggestions that its rise should be seen as a sign of American decline. Chinese officials expressed concern about a weak dollar but committed to working with the U.S. to stabilize the global system. Hardly anything concrete was accomplished, but the trip cemented the centrality of the U.S.-China economic relationship and the fact that the two economies are, for now, intertwined. Nonetheless, as Obama returns to pressing domestic issues and international flash points such as Iran and Afghanistan, two awkward numbers linger in the background: 3.5 and 8.9. The first is the rate of growth for the U.S. in the third quarter of 2009; the second is how fast China grew. And while GDP statistics are a flawed indicator, the contrast between the two economies remains stark. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Protectionism, yuan pressure 'unfair': Wen By Li Xiaokun in Nanjing, Cheng Guangjin in Beijing (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-01 07:58 Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday rejected "unfair" calls from European countries for faster reform of China's currency policies, despite lobbying from EU financial chiefs at the weekend. "Some countries demand the yuan's appreciation while practicing various trade protectionism against China. It's unfair and actually limits China's development," Wen told reporters in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, were also at the press conference. Wen's unusually direct response followed a one-and-a-half hour summit between China and the EU, which has 27 member-nations. The summit ended with five agreements mainly on energy and environmental cooperation. Click here to read further. | |
| • | China issues regulation to encourage overseas joint ventures BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council announced Wednesday a regulation to standardize and encourage the establishment of joint venture enterprises by overseas investors. The regulation, which will take effect from March next year, covers both enterprises and individual investors and defines those joint venture enterprises as those set up by more than two overseas investors or by an overseas investor and a Chinese investor. The regulation aims to encourage overseas investors with advanced technology and management experience to set up joint ventures in an effort to promote the development of industries such as the modern servicing sector. It also applies to investors from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Macao SAR and Taiwan. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Europe's China Angst By BJ?RN CONRAD and STEPHAN MERGENTHALER Published: December 2, 2009 BERLIN - Consider this: battalions of People's Liberation Army soldiers in the world's major hot spots - Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon; People's Armed Police officers patrolling the streets of Gaza; Chinese gunboats securing the Strait of Hormuz; ranking Chinese Communist Party members holding strategic high-level posts at the U.N., the World Bank, and the W.T.O.; China's voting power in International Financial Institutions drastically increased; China spearheading regional integration in Asia. All of these scenarios are realistic translations of the demands for China to assume greater global responsibility that are so persistently made by European leaders. This week's China-European Union summit, where the two declared their "determination to face and overcome global challenges together," is a case in point. For all the rhetoric of engaging China and global burden-sharing, however, Europe's China angst - its fear of losing influence by granting real responsibility to China - regularly turns such bilateral encounters into wasted opportunities for taking on global responsibilities. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Economic growth expected for China in 2010: UN report 2009-12-03 07:16:58 UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's economic growth is projected to reach 8.8 percent in 2010, but will still fall short of pace according to pre-economic crisis levels, a new UN economic report said here on Wednesday. A preview of the annual economic report, which was launched here at the UN Headquarters in New York, recognized that the global "economic revival" is a byproduct of the massive fiscal stimulus by governments worldwide toward the end of 2008. According to the report, the world economy is expected to slowly rebound in 2010 where developing Asia would lead the pack in the strongest recovery. India was also listed as another developing country where economic growth would take place, at a projected rate of 6.5 percent. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Venture capitalists funding more bio-pharmaceutical projects By Xiao Ding and Wang Xiaotian (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-03 08:06 Spurred by the healthcare reform launched by the central government, healthcare has now become the hot destination for domestic and foreign venture capital (VC). The buzz has been the most active in the bio-pharmaceutical sector which has raised funds to the tune of nearly $130 million in the first half of the year. The sector accounted for 20 percent of the investment deals signed in China during the same period, according to a report by Zero2IPO, a leading domestic service provider for the venture capital and private equity industry. "The ratio is pretty high. The passion (for bio-pharmaceuticals) has been ignited by the predictable growth potential in China's healthcare industry and the growing demand for biopharmaceuticals," said Zheng Yufen, senior manager for healthcare at the investment banking division of Zero2IPO. "Talks are also on for a slew of other investment deals in the bio-pharmaceutical sector and hopefully they would be sewn up by the end of the year," she said. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Will the Dragon Swat Down the Eagle? By MICHIKO KAKUTANI Published: December 3, 2009 The title of Martin Jacques's new book, "When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order" has a willfully alarmist ring to it, signaling the rise of China as the new global superpower and the coming fall of America and the rest of the West. Mr. Jacques, a columnist for The Guardian of London, argues that "we stand on the eve of a different kind of world," and that common assumptions in the West - China will become increasingly like us, and the international system "will remain broadly as it now is with China acquiescing in the status quo" - are symptoms of Americans' state of denial. China's rapid growth and sheer size, Mr. Jacques contends, mean that it "will exercise a gravitational pull and also have a centrifugal impact on the rest of the world." As countries become hegemonic powers, "they seek to shape the world in light of their own values and priorities," he writes. "It is banal, therefore, to believe that China's impact on the world will be mainly and overwhelmingly economic: on the contrary, its political and cultural effect is likely to be even greater." He asserts that China's "impact on the world will be as great as that of the United States over the last century, probably far greater." Click here to read further. | |
| • | 'When China Rules the World' By MARTIN JACQUES Published: December 3, 2009 Chapter 1: The Changing of the Guard Since 1945 the United States has been the world's dominant power. Even during the Cold War its economy was far more advanced than, and more than twice as large as, that of the Soviet Union, while its military capability and technological sophistication were much superior. Following the Second World War, the US was the prime mover in the creation of a range of multinational and global institutions, such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and NATO, which were testament to its new-found global power and authority. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 greatly enhanced America's pre-eminent position, eliminating its main adversary and resulting in the territories and countries of the former Soviet bloc opening their markets and turning in many cases to the US for aid and support. Never before, not even in the heyday of the British Empire, had a nation's power enjoyed such a wide reach. The dollar became the world's preferred currency, with most trade being conducted in it and most reserves held in it. The US dominated all the key global institutions bar the UN, and enjoyed a military presence in every part of the world. Its global position seemed unassailable, and at the turn of the millennium terms like 'hyperpower' and 'unipolarity' were coined to describe what appeared to be a new and unique form of power. Click here to read further. | |
| • | China hints sticking to dollar despite worries Aileen Wang and Chris Buckley Fri Dec 4, 2009 12:52am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China has maintained a consistent allocation of its foreign exchange reserves across different currencies, a senior official said on Friday, suggesting that any diversification away from the dollar has been gradual. Wang Xiaoyi, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages China's $2.3 trillion of currency reserves, also said the weakening of the dollar was a long-term trend, not a near-term worry. China's desire to see a stronger dollar was reinforced by an opinion piece in the People's Daily, the main newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, which said that the slumping greenback was harming the world economy. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Forecasts bright, govt must tread lightly By Si Tingting (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-04 07:31 Economists may have reached a consensus that China's economy will grow at a moderately faster pace next year than this year but some are warning that the government's excessive emphasis on GDP growth will distort an already-tilted economic structure. China's economy will grow 8.8 percent next year and lead the world out of the recession, according to a preview of the United Nation's annual economic forecast, which predicted that the global economy will expand 2.4 percent as compared to this year's 2.2 percent contraction. The nation's 2010 growth estimate is higher than the UN's prediction in June, yet it's still below the double-digit growth from pre-crisis levels. China is expected to experience the world's fastest growth in 2010 because of public and private investments; the US economy, the world's largest, will outpace Japan, the UK and Euro zone countries, the UN report said. The State Information Center, a leading government think tank, released its forecast Thursday, saying China will likely grow by 8.5 percent, with its fiscal deficit maintained at about three percent of the GDP and the growth of new loans to exceed 8 trillion yuan. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Managing inflation expectations smartly By Ma Jun (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-04 07:58 The need to manage inflation expectations as proposed by the State Council, the country's cabinet, suggests that the decision-makers have developed a forward view on the risks of potential inflation, which is a timely and helpful move. To manage inflation expectations, the government should regulate the controllable factors in advance and appropriately guide market views on the trend of these factors, including expectations on domestic monetary policy (especially money supply growth and real interest rate), fiscal policy, the government's intervention in the stock and housing markets, land supply and policies affecting global liquidity conditions. First, the current year-on-year growth rate of M2 surpassed nominal GDP growth rate in the first three quarters by 23 percentage points and credit growth, by 27 percentage points, signaling obvious excessive liquidity. Though the overcapacity of manufacturing and bumper harvests could partly constrain prices of some industrial and agricultural products, consumers cannot believe that excessive liquidity (currency) would not purchase goods or property, given the unprecedented monetary credit growth. Click here to read further. | |
| • | China opens key economic work meeting, policies expected to continue 2009-12-05 10:51:39 BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's decision makers gathered here Saturday to determine economic policies for 2010, aiming to better deal with the impact of the international financial crisis and consolidate the foundation for economic recovery. The Central Economic Work Conference, an annual event initiated more than a decade ago, started days after China said it would continue the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy next year. Analysts with the Development Research Center of the State Council, a government think tank, said coping with further impact of the international financial crisis would remain a major task for China in 2010. To continue the fiscal and monetary policies and implement and enrich the economic stimulus package would help China achieve full economic recovery, the analysts said. Click here to read further. | |
Real Estate | ||
| • | China spends 15 bln yuan on land census 2009-12-01 00:06:59 BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- China has put in nearly 15 billion yuan (2.19 billion U.S. dollars) and dispatched more than 200,000 personnel in its second nationwide land census that started in June, 2007, Xu Shaoshi, minister with the Ministry of Land and Resources, said Monday. The Quickbird satellite, an American earth-imaging satellite, French satellite Spot 5, China's home-brand satellites and aero photography technology were employed to ensure accurate and reliable figures, according to Xu. Local authorities from 20 provinces have conducted double check on the data they reported to the central authority, and more than 10 of them were required to make further examinations, as areas of the arable land and land for construction use did not conform with the approved proportions, said Xu. Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang on November 17 urged efforts to optimize land use in order to save resources and further promote adjustment of the country's economic structure. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Rush to close sees climb in home deals By Cao Qian | 2009-12-1 SHANGHAI recorded a double-digit rise in transactions and supply of existing homes in November from a month earlier as buyers and sellers rushed to conclude deals. Home prices, meanwhile, continued to climb amid robust market sentiment that was primarily driven by a fear that preferential policies introduced a year earlier by the local government to boost the market might expire soon, two of the city's biggest real estate brokerage chains said yesterday. "The transaction volume has increased notably since the second week of November as more buyers and sellers are reaching a consensus," said Huang Hetao, a researcher at Century 21 China Real Estate. "In particular, mid to low-class homes in non-central areas of the city were the most sought after by buyers." Century 21 handled 13 percent more in transaction volume in the first 28 days of November, compared with a month ago while it saw supply soar nearly 20 percent in the same period. Average home prices rose by 4 to 10 percent by districts from the same period a month earlier. Click here to read further. | |
| • | New home sales jump as supply shrinks By Cao Qian | 2009-12-2 NEW home sales jumped to a four-month high in Shanghai last month amid continuously robust sentiment, while average price also rose due to inadequate supply. Sales of new homes, excluding those designated for relocated residents under urban redevelopment projects, rose 19 percent month on month to 1.67 million square meters, the highest since August, Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co said yesterday. Average prices, meanwhile, climbed to 18,686 yuan (US$2,736) per square meter, an increase of 10 percent from October. "The November price was the second-highest monthly figure registered this year, and it won't be surprising to see it exceed the 20,000-yuan barrier in the coming months as far as supply remains insufficient," said Lu Qilin, a researcher at Shanghai Uwin. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Sunac China plans to raise $286 mln in HK IPO Wed Dec 2, 2009 7:59pm EST HONG KONG, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Chinese property firm Sunac China Holdings Co Ltd is set to raise up to HK$2.22 billion ($286 million) in an initial public offering of shares in Hong Kong, according to a term sheet obtained by Reuters on Thursday. Sunac China plans to sell 600 million new shares at HK$2.9-HK$3.7 per share. Pricing will be fixed on Dec 11 and trading in the shares is expected to begin on Dec 18, according to the term sheet. UBS is handling the deal. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Sun Hung Kai cautiously optimistic about 2010 Thu Dec 3, 2009 1:23am EST HONG KONG, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Sun Hung Kai Properties, Asia's largest property developer by market value, is "cautiously optimistic" about the Hong Kong residential market in the coming year, executives said on Thursday. Hong Kong's residential prices have risen by around 30 percent since the beginning of the year, industry figures showed, with analysts expecting prices to trend higher with the global and domestic economies on the mend. "All I can say is we are cautiously optimistic and it's hard to give any figures today," Thomas Kwok, a vice chairman of Sun Hung Kai, told a news conference in Hong Kong. "Hong Kong's market is a little unique as it depends on the global economic recovery. I believe we'll see quite good growth in residential prices," Kwok said after the company held a shareholders' meeting. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Property among best bets for distressed debt in Asia in 2010 Thu Dec 3, 2009 7:11am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - Property, manufacturing, energy and mining will provide the biggest opportunities for distressed debt investors in the Asia-Pacific region in 2010, a survey released on Thursday showed. China, Indonesia and Australia will see significant levels of distressed debt, but China was also seen as the most difficult market for investors to operate in, according to the poll by distressed debt and leverage finance news service Debtwire. The 100 respondents, including hedge fund managers, proprietary trading bankers and private equity investors, were roughly divided over whether there would be more distressed debt opportunities in the region next year than in 2009. Slightly less than half, or 49 percent, of those polled expected an increase in the amount of defaulted debt in the region in 2010, while some others predicted the number of opportunities would decline, perhaps indicating they see a stronger economic recovery. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Lee Plans $2.6 Billion Bet on Hong Kong Home Prices By Le-Min Lim and Kelvin Wong Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Lee Shau-kee, the billionaire chairman of Henderson Land Development Co., is planning a $2.6 billion bet that Hong Kong home prices will keep rising. Lee, 81, said today he plans to spend HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) on property in the next two to three months and another HK$10 billion on government land premiums for its Wu Kai Sha project. Lee predicted that home prices will rise another 10 percent in 2010, following a 30 percent jump this year that's sparked a public outcry and prompted the government to try to rein in the market. The International Monetary Fund has warned of a bubble and said today Hong Kong should tighten lending rules. Prices of Hong Kong real estate are still "reasonable" at 30 percent less than their 1997 peak, Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. Vice Chairman Raymond Kwok said today. Kwok spoke after the annual shareholders' meeting of Sun Hung Kai, Hong Kong's largest developer by market value. Click here to read further. | |
| • | A lesson from the Dubai crisis By Yi Xianrong (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-03 08:00 China should learn lessons from the Dubai crisis and take concrete measures to prevent a similar crisis from happening in its speculation-ridden real estate sector, which could undermine the national economy. The announcement by the Dubai government of the United Arab Emirates last week that it was seeking a rescheduling on debt owed by Dubai World, the emirate's flagship conglomerate, and its real estate subsidiary Nakheel, threw the global financial markets into panic. Worldwide, foreign exchange, gold and stock prices suffered a drastic drop upon the announcement of the news. The debt crisis in the oil-rich Arab country that has witnessed stunning real estate development in recent years has triggered widespread concern over the magnitude of the negative impact it will have on the global financial markets and on the fledgling recovery in the world economy. Unlike the US mortgage crisis, which was triggered by the bursting of the property bubble and whose negative impact led to the collapse of the US financial system and extended to the world's real economy, the Dubai crisis is more about a credit dealing between borrowers and lenders. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Mah Sing plans mixed property project in China Thursday December 3, 2009 PETALING JAYA: Property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd is planning a mixed development project in Wujin, Jiangsu province in China, with an estimated investment cost of US$620mil. The company, via wholly-owned subsidiary Mah Sing International (HK) Ltd, yesterday signed a letter of intent with the Wujin Government to develop the said project. In a statement yesterday, Mah Sing said it would establish a joint-venture (JV) company with China-based developer DanLong Realty (Beijing) Co to jointly develop a 87.31-acre site along Wuyi Road, a major thoroughfare in the central area of the Wujin district. Mah Sing, which would have a 51% stake in the JV company, said the development would comprise "medium- to high-end residential and commercial components." Click here to read further. | |
| • | SouFun plans overseas float next year By Hu Yuanyuan (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-03 08:06 Real estate website SouFun Holdings is planning to list its shares in the US capital markets in the first half of next year, sources close to the matter told China Daily yesterday. "With the property market reviving and sector competition intensifying, a public listing is vital for SouFun. The company will strive to finish the listing process in the first six months of 2010," the source said. SouFun shareholders have already cleared the public float plan. The company had charted IPO plans in 2008, but deferred these due to dismal market conditions. At that time the company had thought of floating its shares on the Hong Kong bourse. "The company will now float its shares in the US instead of Hong Kong." SouFun's largest shareholder Australian telephone firm Telstra Corp Ltd said in a statement late on Tuesday that it intends to sell its stake in the company. Telstra had earlier paid $254 million for a 51 percent stake in the property portal. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Lo's Got Friends In Shanghai Places Vivian Wai-yin Kwok, 12.03.09, 05:45 PM EST HONG KONG -- As Hong Kong tycoon Vincent Lo and his Indonesian-born partner Leo KoGuan continue having problems completing their hotels in Shanghai Xintiandi, China's state-owned HNA Group is said to be prepared to take over the project to prevent the unfinished buildings from embarrassing the city, which is organizing the 2010 World Expo. HNA Group, a conglomerate with businesses across China in hotels, aviation and the logistics sector, is in advanced talks to buy an 85% interest of the twin-hotel project held under Leo KoGuan's Leo Investment for 4 billion yuan ($580 million), or even more. Sources in Shanghai said HNA has to make an offer around mid-December and is expected to clinch a deal before New Year. The two hotels--the HanTang Xintiandi and the Conrad Shanghai--are in Xintiandi, an upmarket and trendy landmark in the downtown Luwan district of Shanghai. The project is owned and developed by Shanghai Li Xing Hotel Limited, a joint venture 85% owned by Leo Investment in the U.S. and 15% held by Hong Kong billionaire Vincent Lo's private flagship, the Shui On Group. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Luxury hotel group planning expansion By Ding Qingfen (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-04 08:05 Luxury hotel group Kempinski Hotels is doubling the number of hotels under its management in China over the next three years to capitalize on the nation's fast economic recovery, said a top company official yesterday. The German firm is also launching a new five-star hotel brand called Nuo exclusively for the Chinese market. "We have 11 hotel properties under operation (in China), and we will add 12 more to our line up over the next three years," said Reto Wittwer, president and chief executive officer of Kempinski. Although China is still "young" in Kempinski's global business, and accounts for just 15 percent in terms of the number of hotels, the market will continue to grow quickly in the years ahead. By 2012, China will account for 20 percent of turnover and profits, said Wittwer. The group also expects its business to blossom in the country after the Nuo brand comes into existence and expands its network. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Vanke Sees China Bubbles DECEMBER 4, 2009 By JASON DEAN BEIJING -- The head of China's biggest property developer warned that real-estate bubbles in some of China's biggest cities could spread elsewhere in the country, with potentially damaging consequences for the market. In an interview, Wang Shi, chairman of China Vanke Co., said government stimulus measures enacted a year ago to keep China's economy from being sucked into the global recession have helped to cause a fundamental turnaround in a property market that was severely ailing before the global financial crisis hit. While the resulting price rises this year haven't been excessive so far in most Chinese cities, Mr. Wang said, the increases in places like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen have been surprisingly sharp. Nationwide, "things haven't risen to a property bubble yet," said Mr. Wang, who founded his company 25 years ago and has built it into the biggest housing developer in one of the world's fastest-growing housing markets. But "in individual cities, and in some of the main cities, there is clearly a bubble. There's no doubt about that ... I'm very concerned." Mr. Wang said he fears the trend could "infect second-tier cities, which would be similar to the nature of the Japanese bubble decade" that imploded in the early 1990s. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Selling China's property to the world Steve Ladurantaye From Friday's Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Dec. 04, 2009 12:00AM EST Last updated on Friday, Dec. 04, 2009 11:24AM EST C.Y. Leung covers a lot of ground as Asia-Pacific chairman of DTZ, but as a key player in the creation of China's private real estate market, he finds the bulk of his time is spent explaining the system to Western investors. "There are many things that are confusing to people," Mr. Leung says. "The market is only 21 years old" - until the late 1980s, all land was owned by the state - "and foreigners are only now expressing a real interest in learning more about Chinese real estate." So far this year, about 450,000 deals have taken place, the vast majority of them land sales, good for $33.8-billion (U.S.). Foreign investors were in on only 8 per cent of the deals, although there are no restrictions on ownership. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Hong Kong Property 'Good Bet,' Hang Lung's Chan Says By Bernard Lo and Chia-Peck Wong Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Hang Lung Properties Ltd. Chairman Ronnie Chan said Hong Kong's home market is a "good bet," joining billionaire Lee Shau-kee in forecasting rising prices. "Hong Kong will have a shortage of supply in residential in the next couple of years," Chan said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. Demand from wealthy mainland Chinese will support the luxury market, he said. Centaline Property Agency Ltd. said today Hong Kong home prices fell 1.3 percent for the week ending Nov. 29 to a nine- week low amid concerns about Dubai debt repayments. Home prices are likely to resume their rise as the "crisis is rapidly fading," said Wong Leung-sing, an associate director at Centaline. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Property market growth not bubble By Hu Yuanyuan (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2009-12-05 17:46 China's property market is not facing big risks in the short term despite a rapid growing real estate price in some key cities this year, industry experts said at a national forum today. "A key indicator to judge the scale of the property bubble is to see the financial leverage of mortgage and property developers' debt ratio," Teng Tai, managing director of China Galaxy Securities Companies Limited, said at the CIHAF 2009, the country's largest professional real estate expo. "In China, the financial leverage of home purchase is still under control and is not likely to trigger a crisis like the ones US and Dubai experienced." The property prices in China's major cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, has seen growth of more than 50 percent this year, thus leading to concerns that the country will have a big bubble in the real estate sector. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Chinese businessmen suffer from Dubai property crunch, but still keep confident 2009-12-06 16:43:38 HANGZHOU, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- When many mega-constructions, including the world's tallest building Dubai Tower, kept on rising from the sands in the Middle East, Chinese investors' confidence had been sky high on Dubai property market as well. But all seem to have become a passing memory, as the confidence was humbled by a debt crunch that pricked the property bubbles in the emirate. "Investing in real estate was quite popular among Chinese businessmen in Dubai for quite a long time. No one expected property market would tumble: the property price rose only to about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a square meter in the emirate favored by global investors," said Chen Zhiyuan, director of Wenzhou Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Dubai. Dubai is the first emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to allow foreigners to buy property. Although Dubai's economy was originally built on the oil industry, the emirate's main revenues are from tourism, property and financial services. Click here to read further. | |
Investment | ||
| • | South Africa's No.1 health insurer buys stakes of China Ping An's subsidiary 2009-12-01 18:08:14 BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- South African health insurance firm Discovery Holdings Ltd buys up to 25 percent of shares of China Ping An's health insurance sector in a move to tap the fast-expanding market in China. Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd said on its website Tuesday that Discovery purchased no more than 24.99 percent of equities of Ping An Health Insurance Company of China, Ltd. The alliance will allow Discovery an easy access to Chinese customers via Ping An's sales network, while Ping An will also learn from South Africa's biggest health insurer about the expertise and experience in health management and risk control, said the company statement. The transaction will be completed after the approval of the industrial regulators of both countries. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Chinese vice premier meets Sony chairman 2009-12-01 23:48:08 BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang met with Sony Corporation's Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer and his party here Tuesday. Zhang said Sony entered the Chinese market since 1978, and it has taken the Chinese market as the top priority for business development in recent years. Sony is also enthusiastic about public service activities in the fields such as education, culture, and environmental protection, Zhang said, adding that he believes Sony will have a larger room for development in China and will make greater achievement. Zhang said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of electronic information industry, and it has made plans to adjust and revitalize this industry. Click here to read further. | |
| • | AkzoNobel Science Award debuts in China By Ma Zhenhuan (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2009-12-02 17:05 Dutch chemical group AkzoNobel, in conjunction with the Chinese Chemistry Society (CCS), will add China to the countries whose scientists are eligible for the AkzoNobel Science Award. The AkzoNobel awards recognize outstanding scientific contributions in the fields of material science, chemistry and measurement science. The awards, to be granted biennially to three distinguished scientists in China, will provide each laureate a prize of 100,000 yuan and a certificate. Since its inception in 1970, the award has only been offered in the Netherlands and Sweden in recognition of ground-breaking interdisciplinary research. China is the third country to which the prize has been extended. Click here to read further. | |
| • | BBVA ups stake in China's Citic Thu Dec 3, 2009 7:58am EST By Jonathan Gleave MADRID, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Spain's second-largest bank BBVA upped its stake in China Citic Bank on Thursday to take advantage of China's growing economy and increasing trade ties with one of its core markets: Latin America. The HK$6.45 per share price at which BBVA exercised an option to buy an extra 4.93 percent of Citic for 1 billion euros ($1.51 billion) was a 3.6 percent discount to Citic's closing price Thursday. While no bargain, the stake hike is a wise move considering China's growth potential, analysts said. "It makes strategic sense to keep boosting presence in China with a local bank there, and paying 12 times earnings for it isn't too much, considering China's spectacular growth potential," BPI analyst Javier Barrio said. Click here to read further. | |
| • | CICC stake catches KKR, Fubon fancy (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-03 08:06 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and Fubon Financial are among the bidders for Morgan Stanley's stake in Chinese investment bank CICC, people familiar with the matter said yesterday, in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion. Fubon, Taiwan's No 5 financial conglomerate, has made no secret about its intention to grow in the mainland, especially now that cross-Straits relations are thawing. When CICC was founded around 14 years ago, Morgan Stanley paid just $37 million for a 34.3 percent piece of the Chinese bank. CICC is now one of the biggest and most successful investment banks in the Chinese mainland. While the stake has been profitable for Morgan Stanley, the New York bank lacks control of management decisions at CICC. In December 2007, Morgan Stanley signed an agreement with China Fortune Securities, in an effort to attain a Chinese joint venture that gave it more control over management. Click here to read further. | |
| • | China vs. Disney: The Battle for Mulan By Ling Woo Liu / Hong Kong Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009 China is moving to take back one of its own - even if it is legend. Mulan is the Middle Kingdom's gender-bending heroine, its Joan of Arc. The character from folktale is a daughter who disguises herself as a male soldier to take her father's place in the conscription army. The problem for the Chinese is that, since 1998, the definitive version of the story has been Disney's. Indeed, because of the animated Disney film, the character Mulan has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Chinese culture worldwide. Baby girls adopted from China have been named Mulan by their American parents. Disney has staged musical versions of the movie Mulan from Mexico to the Philippines. And posing for a photo with Mulan is a must for hordes of tourists at Hong Kong Disneyland. Although it was too American for audiences in China (where it performed abysmally), Disney's Mulan was a smash hit in the rest of the world, where it reeled in $300 million. That didn't sit well with some Chinese, including Guo Shu, executive president of Starlight International Media Group, an entertainment company based in Beijing. "We commit ourselves to be a media with a sense of national responsibility," she told the state-run People's Daily. "Now that foreigners can produce a popular movie out of the story Hua Mulan, why can't we Chinese present its own to the world?" Click here to read further. | |
| • | Two weeks, 5 iPhones sold in Chinese online store Thu Dec 3, 2009 8:59am EST China Unicom has sold just five iPhones through a big online retail site in the two weeks since it opened the virtual store, the latest sign that the handset is suffering in China from its high price and lack of Wi-Fi. An official iPhone store on Taobao.com, the biggest Chinese e-commerce Web site similar to eBay, has sold just two 8GB iPhones and three 16GB iPhones, according to figures on the site. The store launched in the middle of last month, a few weeks after China Unicom began offering the first official iPhones in China. China Unicom is also selling iPhones through its own Web site, which does not list sale figures. But Taobao is China's top online retail site and many users turn to it to buy items like mobile phones and laptops. Click here to read further. | |
| • | AMD says China is expected to be its largest single market by 2012 2009-12-03 10:45:14 BEIJING, Dec. 3 -- Global innovative technology leader Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said yesterday that China could become the company's largest single market within the next two years, boosted by the country's booming rural market and increasing demand for notebooks. The observation came from AMD President and Chief Executive Officer Dirk Meyer, whose company now stands as the world's second largest chipmaker. "There are speculations that China will become the world's largest PC market by 2012, but for us, China could become our largest market sooner than that, as we have a higher market share in the country," he said. China's PC market has showed signs of recovery during the past few months, as the government's economic stimulus package and efforts to subsidize rural computer buyers took effect. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Shell exits planned China refinery joint venture Fri Dec 4, 2009 5:28am EST By Tom Bergin LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell dashed hopes that China's booming energy demand would offer vast opportunities for oil refiners, by withdrawing from a joint venture with Sinopec to build a plant in China. Shell signed a preliminary deal with Chinese state-controlled Sinopec, state-owned Kuwait Petroleum International and U.S.-based Dow Chemical in 2007 to build an integrated refinery and chemical plant. However, the company has now decided to exit the project. "Due to strategic and commercial considerations we have decided not to pursue the downstream opportunity," a spokesman said on Friday. He declined to elaborate further on the reasons for the decision. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Burger King steps up pace with six more outlets in Beijing By Andrew Moody (China Daily) Updated: 2009-12-04 08:05 Fast food chain Burger King is planning to open six more restaurants in Beijing by June next year, as part of a major expansion in China. The company, which has 25 outlets in the country, officially opened its first restaurant in downtown Beijing this week in Joy City in the Xidan area. John Chidsey, chairman and chief executive of Burger King Holdings (BKC), who was in Beijing for the opening of what was the company's 12,000th restaurant worldwide, said the group was aiming for fast growth. "We intend to be on a similar scale to our competitors. Certainly a heck of a lot bigger than we are today, " he said. Burger King was a relative late entrant to China, not opening its first store until 2005. Click here to read further. | |
| • | 21st Century Tai-Pan Robyn Meredith, 12.04.09, 03:40 PM EST Commodities trader Richard Elman was forming his own firm 22 years ago and needed a name. Because he was himself nicknamed after the hero of a James Clavell novel set a century earlier in Hong Kong, he thought, "If I'm a Tai-Pan, I need a Noble House." With a wink, he called his Hong Kong company Noble Group. Elman need only turn his head away from the flat-panel computer screens on his desk today for a panoramic view of the Hong Kong harbor, where global trade has flourished since the days of his company's fictional namesake. But only 20 miles north, beyond Hong Kong's skyscrapers, lies much of Noble Group's future: mainland China. Noble has grown from a small-time metals trader to a commodities merchant and supply-chain manager with revenue last year of $36 billion, up 54% from 2007. Its return on equity reached 34% last year, far above its lofty 20% annual goal. For most companies 2008 was wrenching. Noble made it look easy and is sailing through 2009's choppy seas, too. Click here to read further. | |
| • | GM cedes control of China venture By Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai, John Reed in London and Joe Leahy in Mumbai Published: December 4 2009 09:28 | Last updated: December 4 2009 18:56 General Motors is to cede majority control of its thriving Chinese passenger car venture to its state-owned Chinese partner, SAIC, as part of a deal that will also take the Shanghai-Detroit partnership into a new $650m joint venture selling low-cost vehicles in India. The deal, announced on Friday in Shanghai, underlines the aggressive overseas ambitions of Chinese carmakers and could mark a symbolically important shift in the balance of power between carmakers in the US and China, now the world's largest and fastest growing car market. And in a sign that another large state-owned Chinese carmaker, Beijing Automotive Industry Corp , might be keen to buy GM's Saab unit, Bank of China said it had arranged a Rmb20bn ($2.9bn) line of credit for BAIC, enough to finance a potential bid. Click here to read further. | |
| • | Manulife Says China's Confidence in Canada Helps Expansion By Rob Delaney Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Manulife Financial Corp., North America's largest insurer by market value, said China's confidence in the stability of Canadian financial institutions will help the company expand in Asia's second-biggest economy. Manulife aims to double or triple revenue in China over the next five years by winning licenses to operate in about 100 cities, from 38 now, Marc Sterling, the company's country head, said in a telephone interview from Shanghai. A visit by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney in August prompted "a lot of questions" from their hosts in China, Sterling said. "They were taken aback by all the failures in the U.S. and Europe while in Canada there wasn't the same kind of damage. They're more comfortable that the Canadian companies are well run." Flaherty met with Vice Premier Li Keqiang, Chinese central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, his counterpart Xie Xuren, as well as financial industry regulators and municipal government officials. Click here to read further. | |
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