China :: Business :: Deals

Xiaofan Zhang submits: Chinese online game company Giant Interactive Group ( GA ) recently reported strong 4Q10 results. In my view, there are two bright spots in the earnings report: Active Paying Accounts (APA) and Dividend. Steady APA expansion has driven healthy revenue growth. As shown in the chart below, Giant's revenue has been growing squentially for four consecutive quarters. The primary driver of the revenue growth is APA, which have risen sequentially for five consecutive quarters. In my opinion, such APA-driven growth is healthier than ARPU-driven growth because Chinese online games' ARPU has already peaked and is lacking further upside momentum. In contrast, the industry's APA base still has plenty of upside because non-paying players still accounted for 43% of the total user base in 2010, according to latest data released by the General Administration of Press and Publication. At the macro level, I believe Giant is on the right track because its current C...

Dutch Trader submits: In a previous article , I talked about the infant formula industry in China. Rising disposable income and the desire to give their children the best of facilities among Chinese "baby boomers" -- those born during or after the 1980s -- are also triggering other baby-product sales. A report by Euromonitor pointed out that the middle-class group in China will increase to 700 million by 2020 and account for 23 percent of the total population. The implementation of family planning policies in China has made young parents born during the '80s spend more on childrens products. Although the babies' and youngsters' products industry is still in its infancy, companies are now moving up the value chain to cash in on China's robust economic growth. The tide started turning after 2005, with nearly 16-18 million new babies being born each year in China. The "fourth baby boom" was at its peak in Complete Story

L.Desjardins submits: All Chinese markets dropped last week on fear that the rise in oil prices would reaccelerate inflation in China and weaken the global economy. Hong Kong was particularly sensitive to the oil market, the Hang Seng Index closing the week down 2.5% while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was down 3.5%, compared to 0.7% for the Shanghai Composite Index. Hong Kong's performance would have been much worse if not for the strong performance on Friday. The HSI is down 5.7% from the January's high and the HSCEI, down 7%. INDICES 1 week 4 weeks YTD Hang Seng Index -2.5% -2.6% -0.1% HS China Enterprises -3.7% -2.3% -3.3% FTSE/Xinhua A50 -1.4% 2.6% 1.6% Shanghai Composite -0.7% 4.6% 2.5% CSI 300 -0.4% 5.3% 2.2% US ETFs EWH -1.2% -3.2% -2.0% FXI -2.1% -0.5% -2.9% PGJ -2.9% 0.4% 1.8% Since the beginning to the year, the main drag on the Hong Complete Story

Jack Lifton submits: On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled External Surpluses Root Cause of China's Inflation Problem . It is a report of a talk by Mr. Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China. The talk included the following comments: "In addition to boosting the flexibility of the yuan exchange rate, China also should adjust resource prices to address imbalances, he said, as many resources are still traded in China at below their natural prices . "China also should boost wages and social benefits to lift consumption, step up its enforcement of environment regulations and undertake other structural reforms to address imbalances. Repeat after me: The selling prices Complete Story

Leland Miller submits: For the past three decades, the Chinese economy has essentially been propped up by a steady stream of state subsidies disguised as commercial bank lending. In 2011, however, two things are becoming clear. First, the amount of lending has risen to levels far beyond what economists previously believed, to a point where the stability of the system may soon be threatened. Second, that even as Beijing begins to recognize the perils of such lending, it may no longer have the power to close the floodgatesnor even have a consensus on how to try. In mid-February, Chinas central bank announced that yuan-denominated lending in China had dropped over 15% to 1.2 trillion yuan Complete Story

MarketPulse FX submits: By Scott Boyd On February 8th, the Peoples Bank of China raised the one-year lending rate twenty-five basis points to 6.06%. This marked the third rate increase in four months and most observers believe more interest rates hikes will be necessary for China to keep a lid on inflation. The latest figures from Chinas Statistics Bureau indicate that consumer prices jumped 4.9% in January compared to the same month one year ago. The actual result was less than the expected 5.3% but Januarys outcome keeps intact a long string of monthly price increases, underscoring the risk of inflation in the Chinese economy. In addition to raising rates further in the coming months, Chinas monetary authority will likely continue the trend of forcing lending institutions to increase the percentage of funds to be held in reserve. This effectively removes liquidity from the money supply, leaving financial institutions with a smaller pool Complete Story

Rumor: CNTV, Tencent to Build Internet TV Venture Donews, 2/25/11 CCTV's online TV station China Network TV (CNTV) and Tencent (0700.HK) will reportedly establish an Internet TV joint venture. CCTV will hold a controlling stake in the joint venture while Tencent and other, smaller companies will be minority shareholders. The joint venture will commence operations with approximately RMB 100 mln in registered capital. Tencent did not comment on the rumor. The joint venture aims to combine the two parent companies' strengths in traditional TV and online platforms.

Patrick Chovanec submits: Derek Scissors, the resident China expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, has done some yeomans independent research and produced a highly informative report on patterns in Chinas overseas investment over the past several years. (For my friends on the Left, who might be dubious about anything put out by a conservative think tank, be assured that Derek is a widely respected China pro with no particular ideological ax to grind although he has landed himself in a little hot water from time to time for Complete Story

Verigy, Ltd. ( VRGY ) F1Q11 Earnings Call February 24, 2011 4:30 pm ET Executives Judy Davies Vice President of Investor Relations and Marketing Communications. Jorge Titinger President and Chief Executive Officer. Robert J. Nikl Chief Financial Officer. Analysts David Dooley Steelhead Securities LLC Olga Levinson Barclays Capital Simran Drar Cowen and Company, LLC Presentation Operator Good day, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to the First Quarter 2011 Verigy Limited Earnings Conference Call. My name is Erica and I will be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to introduce your host for todays call Ms. Judy Davies, Vice President of Investor Relations and Marketing Communications. Please proceed. Judy Davies Thank you, Erica, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome Complete Story

Paul Goodwin submits: The Halter USX China Index ETF ( PGJ ) tracks the performance of 200 or so Chinese stocks that trade as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on U.S. exchanges, giving us a snapshot of how China stocks are doing. The Halter made a couple of two-month advances in 2010, one in February-March and another in September-October. But much of the year was spent trading sideways. Oil prices are rising, and investor anxiety is running high as the murderous loon in charge of Libya tries to cling to power. Investors hate uncertainty more than anything (except, perhaps, reporting and accounting fraud) and markets have reflected their discouragement. My approach to stock investing has a strong market-timing component, so Im advising my readers to dial back their exposure to the emerging markets. This involves curtailing new purchases and tightening loss limits on all of the recommendations in the Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report. As Complete Story

Stone Fox Capital submits: ChinaCache International Holdings ( CCIH ) was one of the top IPOs of 2010. The company priced above the initial range at $13.9 and eventually ended up over 90% on the opening day closing at $27.15 and hitting as high as $30.70. The stock eventually peaked out at Complete Story

Michael Pettis submits: A large part of my newsletter earlier this week discussed emergent scandals in the railway industry and their implications for the overinvestment debate, and this was even before the Alibaba scandals broke , but I think a lot more interest this week surrounded the inflation numbers. Last week the National Bureau of Statistics released inflation data for the month of January: In January 2011, consumer price index rose by 4.9 percent over the same period of the previous year. Of which, urban area and rural area was up by 4.8 percent and 5.2 percent respectively; the price of foodstuff, non-foodstuff, consumable and services expanded 10.3, 2.6, 5.0 and 4.6 percent respectively. Compared with December 2010, CPI increased 1.0 percent. The price of foodstuff climbed 2.8 percent. The market expected a much higher inflation number, but there was a revision of the CPI basket, which brought down what would have been 5.1% Complete Story

Microcap Speculator submits: NOTE: This is the final installment of a 4 part series. Read part 1 , part 2 and part 3 . Sky-Mobi Holdings (Nasdaq: MOBI ) Like Bona Film Group , MOBI was a busted IPO. It priced far below the $8-10 expected range, and went nowhere but down for the first five weeks of trading. When that downtrend broke MOBI became a very strong risk-reward play. I caught just under $2 of the move, clearly taking profits too quickly. Outlook: after taking profits, I am out of MOBI. No plans to repurchase. Tianli Agritech (Nasdaq: OINK ) You gotta love the symbol for Tianli Agritech ( OINK ) . OINK was a huge winner last fall, and has now returned back to support. OINK just reiterated FY 2010 earnings guidance of $.90-.92 per share, and projected an increase to $1.04-$1.14 per share in FY 2011. Outlook: I just added Tianli Agritech to the China! microca p stock basket. I think Complete Story

Emerging Money submits: Here is your reality on oil prices and the surge of democracy in North Africa and the Middle East ... this feels a little like the fall of communism widespread and domino like. BUT the difference is, we dont know who is going to take over. With the fall of communism, we knew who was taking over and the U.S. had cemented itself as the peace broker in the process. This is very different and while I dont think this will prove horrible to U.S. interests (a different reality for sure) in the region the dust is not going to settle anytime soon. If your worst case scenario is Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Al Queda influences in power, then oil becomes a political weapon for the new power regimes. If you have military transition and uncertain leadership, elections and evolution this will take months if not Complete Story

Download this podcast Length 11:02 Download audio file (20110223_sourcing_alibaba.mp3) Three years ago, while in China, we were on the road with a client to source and manufacture high-end eyeglass frames. My project manager had pre-screened about twenty factories which we vetted and produced a list of ten sites for further evaluation and site visits. I arrived in Wenzhou with the client for the first leg of the tour. Things were going well in terms of finding the right supplier. Some top of the line factories with just the right products and pricing. We had two agreements by the end of day two. On day three my client insisted that we go visit a factory he found on the China suppliers directory website Alibaba.com After finding a potential supplier on his own, the client claimed their website looked great, they had dozens of styles to choose from, they stated they could do any kind of custom work etc, etc. I explained to my client that in my years of experience, it was unlikely we...

Zacks.com submits: JA Solar Holdings Co. ( JASO ) announced adjusted earnings per American Depositary Share (EPADS) of 54 cents in its fourth quarter, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents. Results also comfortably beat the year-ago adjusted earnings per ADS of 14 cents. Quarterly Performance JA Solars revenues in the reported quarter were $584.3 million, comfortably ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $565 million. Revenues also were greater by 6.6% versus $548.3 million reported in the third quarter of 2010 and a 137% rise from $246.5 million in the year-ago quarter. In the reported quarter JA Solars total shipments were 463MW, 11% and 100% hike when compared to the third quarter of 2010 and the year-ago quarter. Proportion of sales to international customers during the reported quarter was 53%. The strong growth of sales to international customers resulted from the companys effort to establish a well diversified global customer base. C...

China Distance Education Holdings, Ltd. ( DL ) F1Q2011 Earnings Call February 23, 2011 8:00 AM ET Executives Zhengdong Zhu Chairman and CEO Ping Wei CFO Analysts Mark Marostica Piper Jaffray Ella Ji Oppenheimer Presentation Operator Good evening, and thank you for standing by for the China Distance Education Holdings Limited first quarter fiscal 2011 earnings conference call. Today, you will hear from Mr. Zhengdong Zhu, Chairman and CEO of the company, and Ms. Ping Wei, the CFO. During the prepared remarks, all participants will be in listen-only mode. After that, the companys management will be available to answer your questions. Before we start, we would like to remind the listeners that this conference call contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Among the other things, the Complete Story

Media China Acquires Beijing Luxury Club for HKD 500 Mln PR Newswire Asia, 2/23/11 Television advertising and content production firm Media China (0419.HK) today announced that it has entered into a conditional agreement with an independent party for the acquisition of the entire interest in Smart Title Limited, which indirectly operates Beijing-headquartered membership-based luxury club Bayhood No. 9 Club, at a consideration of HKD 500 mln. Media China expects the transaction will reinforce the group's tourism business in Mainland China. Under the terms of the conditional agreement, Media China will pay HKD 395 mln in cash, with the remaining HKD 105 mln to be settled through the issuance of new shares at an issue price of HKD 0.035 per share, which represents a premium of approximately 2.94% over the closing price of the stock immediately before the suspension of trading. Application has been made by the company for resumption of trading in the shares with effect from 9:30 a.m. o...

Anheuser-Busch InBev has confirmed that it has signed a deal to acquire full control of the Liaoning Dalian Daxue Brewery Co in China. Anheuser-Busch InBev will acquire 100% of of Liaoning Dalian Daxue Brewery for an undisclosed fee, a spokesperson for the Budweiser and Stella Artois brewer told just-drinks today (18 February). The Belgium-based brewer will acquire 25% of the Chinese brewer from Japan's Kirin Holdings and the rest from Dalian Daxue Group Ltd. 'This acquisition is part of A-B InBev’s strategy for expanding its footprint in China,' said A-B InBev. 'It will complement our existing presence in China and bolster our position in Liaoning, China’s fourth largest province in terms of beer consumption.' Daxue brewery, originally established in 2001, is one of the top three breweries in Liaoning province, with sales volumes of around 2m hectolitres in 2010. Following InBev's $52bn takeover of Anheuser-Busch in late 2008, the newly-formed A-B InBev sold of...

Craig Pirrong submits: Et tu, WaPo? Even the Washington Post recognizes that high speed rail is a loser . The paper recounts the Chinese problems I wrote about Saturday, and then shovels more dirt on the coffin: Of course, if the Chinese do finish their system, it is likely to require operating subsidies for many years possibly forever. A recent World Bank report on high-speed rail systems around the world noted that ridership forecasts rarely materialize and warned that governments contemplating the benefit Complete Story

Former flagship in Xujiahui, Shanghai The decision by US electronics retailer BestBuy to close its outlets in China hardly comes as a surprise, says retail analyst Paul French in USA-Today. 'They were ahead of the consumer.' Unlike the warehouse style of top Chinese electronic chains Gome and Suning , where sales personnel push particular brands to earn commission, Best Buy provided 'a much nicer retail environment,' said French, at prices no higher than its competitors. But the perception of the customers was different, they still feared they were paying a price for the better store, used it for window-shopping and rushed to the competitor when they went for a purchase. French wonders whether switching to Five Star, an electronic retailer from Nanjing, purchased by BestBuy, will help: Paul French by Fantake via Flickr As independent shops and plazas, not chains, still dominate electronics sales, "the pie is going to get cut very thinly," French cautioned. ...

Kelvin Schulle submits: In the coming two weeks, we are going to see new development to impact renewable energy industry: rising crude price and China. Over the weekend, crude jumped 6% to over $91 as tensions escalate in northern Africa. Investors are betting on short term supply interruption. This could be a catalyst for renewable energy, especially solar energy, to become more attractive to alternative investors. The high price of crude is likely going to stay and climb further higher as the world economy continues to improve. On the other hand, investors likely pay more attention to China's Eleventh National People's Congress meeting on March 2nd and CPPCC National Commitee meeting on March 3. The NPC meeting will pass the nation's 12th 5-year strategic plan, the Complete Story

John M. Mason submits: From G20 skeptics wait for shift in behavior : Another phenomenon on display (at the G20 conference over the weekend) was Chinas willingness to continue fighting on its own in the G20 if necessary. [...] In the face of determined and often solo opposition from China, the finance ministers did not mention foreign exchange reserves in the list of indicators (to be used in determining economic imbalances in the global economy). Actually, the makeup of the G20 seems to look more like a quadrilateral. At the corners: China, the United States, Germany and the rest. China seems to be holding its own against the others: Eswar Prasad, former head of the IMFs China division stated that "With the rest of the G20 arrayed against it, China still managed to hold its own. China, more and more, is feeling its rising strength in international policy discussions. Then there is the United States. Complete Story

Dutch Trader submits: The global dairy market is likely to remain tight in 2011 , due to an improvement in demand but limited supply , according to Rabobank . The bank said in its Global Dairy Outlook report last December that although consumption rates are set to be strong in the new year , growth in some regions will be constrained by physical limitations of supply . Drought in Russia and floods in Pakistan will heavily impact local milk production in the first half of 2011 , said Rabobank . While these conditions are likely to create increased demand for imports , the bank said that domestic consumption is likely to be restricte! d . Consumption is expected to be supported by improving labour markets in the West , strong economic growth in import regions and strong buying in China . Factors effecting supply levels include higher feed costs , ongoing requireme...

Prieur du Plessis submits: Markit released the Flash HSBC China Manufacturing PMI for February based on 85% to 90% of responses this (Monday) morning. The flash estimate came in at 51.5 compared to the final 54.5 in January, as a result of a combination of seasonal factors as well as quantitative tightening. Wow, what a drop! That will surely be negative for equity markets and especially the Shanghai Composite Index? No, not necessarily. The manufacturing PMI reading per the official CFLP survey in January dropped from 53.9 in December to 52.9. Conversely, the HSBC surveys January PMI picked up to 54.5 compared to Decembers 54.4. According to the CFLP survey the drop in January Complete Story

Econ Grapher submits: After a brief (overseas holiday related) absence, the top 5 graphs of the week are back! This week we look at China's inflation numbers, as well as its international trade figures. Then we also review the inflation numbers from the U.S. and U.K., before checking out some of the monetary policy decisions delivered over the past week. 1. China Inflation China recorded inflation of 4.9% year-on-year in January (4.6% in December), at least we think... The National Bureau of Statistics did make some adjustments to the way they calculate inflation e.g. changes to the basket of goods that make up the CPI , but it's not clear what the impact is. Anyway one thing's for sure, inflation is still chugging away thanks to short-term food price spikes, as well as rising energy commodity prices, and, of course, a generally booming economy. (Let's not forget the property market - in spite of Complete Story

Glen Bradford submits: Global Hunter Securities came out with a positive report on China MediaExpress ( CCME ) after visiting the company and pretty much confirming half of CCMEs existing business. You can view that report here . You can also read China Media Expresss Chairmans response to the various negative research reports that are circulating out there here . My estimate for Q4 is $0.81 per share. Normally, a company like this would come at a growth multiple, and that doesn't even take into account the $170-$200M in cash that I believe they have in the bank right now. Below, I have attached my napkin projections that you might want to compare to your own when you try to value this company. I feel that these projections are for the most part understated, because there is a lot of potential upside that I didnt take into account. Considering that the company is growing, and that my Complete Story

Erik Wright submits: Bromine is a halogen chemical element that most have never heard of other than in the periodic table of elements. Although it is quite unfamiliar, it has quite a variety of recognizable uses. Bromine worldwide production has risen sixfold since the 1960s and its price has doubled from 2009 to 2011. The following products all contain bromine: Flame retardants In the production of epoxy for circuit boards Gasoline additives Pesticides In the process of water purification In the drilling fluid and other chemicals used for oil and gas exploration Many pharmaceutical and medical purposes The three major bromine producing areas are the United States, the Dead Sea and China, which account for roughly 96% of the worlds total bromine production. Bromine production per area: The largest publicly listed bromine Complete Story

Rames El Desouki submits: It's that time again! U.S.-listed China stocks have reached new lows and the sentiment couldn't be worse. Most longs have been scared away, sitting on the sidelines, and shorts are looking for new trading ideas on a daily basis. The sector has been demonized by a group of self-proclaimed "research firms" nobody has ever heard of before 2010, including Muddy Waters LLC , J Capital or LM Research . And influential financial media like Barron's, TheStreet.com or CNBC are joining the fun by covering the China sector with an almost exclusively negative bias. This development doesn't come as a surprise, though. As I wrote back in November , the downfall of RINO International ( RINO ) set a precedent of Chinese fraud on the NASDAQ and would likely be exploited to the utmost degree. You can bet your house on the fact that every serious short seller group on the planet spent the month Complete Story

L.Desjardins submits: "H" shares played catch up last week in Hong Kong. Global optimism brought back investors bidding up shares that they had been dumping the previous week. In Shanghai, though most of the gains were made on Monday, the rest of the week saw cautious trading. As on cue after the close on Friday, the PBOC announced another bank reserve increase. INDICES 1 week 4 weeks YTD Hang Seng Index 3.4% -1.2% 2.4% HS China Enterprises 5.5% 0.1% 0.4% FTSE/Xinhua A50 2.4% 5.3% 3.1% Shanghai Composite 2.6% 6.8% 3.3% CSI 300 2.9% 7.7% 2.7% US ETFs EWH 0.4% -4.4% -0.8% FXI 2.5% -1.2% -0.8% PGJ 1.1% 2.3% 4.8% The Monday move was largely 'buy the rumor', in this case a lower CPI, and 'sell the news' for the rest of the week. Volume in Shanghai in the following days was lower while prices consolidated to close basically at the same level Complete Story

Microcap Speculator submits: Almost two months ago, I first wrote about an actively-traded basket of Chinese smallcaps, microcaps and even penny stocks . The China stock trade is currently the largest macro position in my portfolio, and it's off to a rocky start. The basket over all has treaded water, shifting between slightly-above breakeven to slightly below. However, that is largely because I aggressively sold positions as individual stocks spiked. Cashing in on quick, sharp spikes in stocks like AJGH.OB, CCME, XING offset the pall cast over Chinese smallcaps, especially those that involve a variable interest entity (VIE) or that came public via a reverse takeover (RTO). But the macro rebound I thought would materialize just hasn't. Instead, as the Trading China blog describes: "sentiment couldn't be worse, most longs have been scared away, sitting on the sidelines, and shorts are looking for new trading ideas on a daily basis." Trading Ch...

Craig Pirrong submits: Those who think that Chinas massive investment in high-speed rail should be emulated here (now who would that be?) should find this report sobering (but probably wont): Chinas Ministry of Railways has racked up more than $200 billion in debt, government auditors say, partly because of aggressive expansion of the countrys high-speed rail network. Experts say high ticket prices mean many of the trains on the new Wuhan-Guangzhou line run empty. Those questions are even more pertinent now with the revelation this week that the railways ministry under Mr. Lius stewardship has run up debts possibly in excess of 2 trillion yuan, or roughly $303 billion.The Global Times, citing a report from the National Audit Office, said in its Wednesday edition that Chinas Ministry of Railways was 1.3 trillion yuan in debt in 2009, with 854.8 billion yuan in short-term debt and 448.6 billion yuan in long-term debt. The paper Complete Story

Kurtis Hemmerling submits: SEC probing into USA listed China small cap stocks is splashed all over the media right now. China Digital Media ( CDGT ) is front row center for a SEC pump-and-dump scandal, and the on-going argument of accounting differences between SEC and the SAIC reports continues to be publicly debated. 20 percent of the China-based, USA listed, stocks (45 out of 227) that show up on FINIZ screener have over 10% of their float short . The top 6 stocks have between 30 60% short which are: China Shen Zhou Mining ( SHZ ), Yingli Green Energy ( YGE ), RINO International ( RINO ), China Dangdang ( DANG ), Telestone Technologies ( TSTC ), and China-Biotics ( CHB ). These 13 stocks have fallen over 20% in the past month: ( CHBT ) China-Biotics, Inc. ( DGW ) Duoyuan Global Water Inc. ( CAGC ) China Agritech Inc. ( XNY ) China Xiniya Fashion Ltd ( AMBO ) Ambow Education Holding Ltd. ( HTHT ) China Lodging Group, Limited ( XRS ) TAL Ed...

Patrick Chovanec submits: On Friday, Chinas central bank raised its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for banks by 50 basis points (0.5%), the second hike this year, in a further move to combat inflation. Just a few hours earlier, CNNs Jaime FlorCruz devoted his weekly column to the challenge inflation is posing to China Complete Story

ChinaBio Today submits: Bayer Healthcare [XETRA: BAY] has announced plans to expand its Beijing pharmaceutical R&D center, even though other big pharmas are scaling back their worldwide R&D operations (see story ). In an interview with Reuters, Chris Lee, head of Bayer China, said the company will increase its headcount at the facility from about 135 researchers currently up to 300 in the next few years. Charles River Labs (NYSE: CRL ) intends to sell its Shanghai pre-clinical drug development lab, saying China hasnt yet developed a market for US-compliant toxicology testing (see story ). The facility remains open and its owners are in talks with interested parties about purchasing the lab, according to executives close to the company. The US-based CRO owns and operates the facility through a JV that it formed with Shanghai BioExplorer. An offshoot of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ((CAS Complete Story

Howard Richman submits: One of President Obama's more inexplicable decisions was his choice of Timonthy Geithner for Treasury Secretary. About the only thing recommending him was the fact that he spoke Chinese, having been partly educated in China. His incompetence was breathtaking: In a January 2007 speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, he did not see the October 2008 financial crisis coming. In fact he said, "Improvements to risk management and to capital cushions are likely to have made the financial system more stable and more resilient." When he was at the New York Fed he was part of the disastrous decision to close Lehman Brothers with Complete Story

What's Happening Fake Liquors Flow as Demand Soars for Chinas Fabled Sorghum Spirit COFCO seals deal with Chateau de Viaud Kirin To Sell Stake In China Beer Affiliate To Anheuser-Busch InBev Moutai prices cut by nearly half in foreign markets Pernod Earnings Growth Misses Estimates on Increased Marketing Expenses Diageo Admits to Chinese Frustration China seeks to calm fears amid new milk safety scandal China Milk Imports Forecast Strong, Dairy Group Says Buyers from the mainland snap up baby milk powder SkyPeople Launches 'Qian Mei Duo(TM)' High-Fiber Fruit Juice Beverages Carrefour likely to close another two outlets McDonald's may raise prices in China

Source : Xinhua PARIS - COFCO, China's leading foodstuffs import and export group, signed a formal agreement Wednesday to purchase the Chateau de Viaud, a French wine producer in the Bordeaux region. With the acquisition, COFCO became the first Chinese wine dealer to buy a Bordeaux winery. The purchase marks a new strategic step to a global market for Great Wall, the Chinese wine brand in COFCO's portfolio, the company said. Chi Jingtao, the vice chairman of COFCO, spoke highly of France for its global prestige in the wine industry, during the signing ceremony. He said his company's purchase was an important measure to reinforce its network in production chains, which will enable the globalization of the COFCO Wines & Spirits branch. Philippe Raoux, former owner of the Chateau de Viaud, said he was happy to let COFCO take over because he believes the Chinese group can well manage and develop the business.

Source : China Daily BEIJING - Retail giant Carrefour SA is likely to shut down another two stores in China, and experts attribute it to the French company's poor knowledge of local markets and the white-hot competition among retailers in second- and third-tier cities. Insiders at a Carrefour store in Changchun, in Northeast China's Jilin province, said it has stopped purchasing and is waiting to hear from the China headquarters when it will close, China Business News reported on Tuesday. The store, the company's second in Changchun, occupies 8,000 square meters. The newspaper reported that the store in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, is also on the list to be shut down. It quoted Carrefour employees as saying that they are still purchasing some goods but they have heard the store will close before May 1. Dai Wei, a Carrefour China representative, did not reply to China Daily's request for comment on Tuesday. Mike Bastin, a visiting professor of brand management at the Chi...

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. ( YGE ) Q4 2010 Earnings Call February 18, 2011 8:00 AM ET Executives Arthur Chen Legal Counsel Miao Liansheng Chairman and CEO Bryan Li Director and CFO Qing Miao Director of IR Yiyu Wang CSO Analysts Jesse Pichel Piper Jaffray Dan Ries Collins Stewart Vishal Shah Barclays Capital Lu Yeung UBS Satya Kumar Credit Suisse Sanjay Shrestha Lazard Capital Tim Arcuri Citi Nick Xue Goldman Sachs Sunil Gupta Morgan Stanley Presentation Operator Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Tanya. I will be the operator for this conference call. I would like to welcome everyone to Yingli Green Energy Holdings Company Limited fourth quarter and full year 2010 financial results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent background noise. After todays presentation, there Complete Story

China Medical Technologies, Inc. ( CMED ) F3Q2010 (12/31/10) Earnings Conference Call February 18, 2011 8:00 AM EST Executives Winnie Yam IR Charles Zhu SVP of Operations Sam Tsang CFO Xiaodong Wu CEO Analysts Bin Li Morgan Stanley Jack Hu Deutsche Bank Presentation Operator Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the third quarter 2010 China Medical Technologies Incorporated conference call. My name is Peggy and I will be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host for today, Ms. Winnie Yam. Please proceed. Winnie Yam Thank you. Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Im pleased to welcome you to China Medical earnings conference Complete Story

Using its proprietary technologies, China has joined the ranks of the powerhouse elite in high-speed trains, a select list that includes France, Germany and Japan. With up to 30,000 kilometers of high-speed railways expected to be built around the globe by 2020, China recently burnished its chances for a share of the market when it set a world record of 486.1 kilometers an hour in a test run on the new Beijing-Shanghai line on Nov 3. The 1,300-kilometer line is expected to begin full operations in October next year with five times the current passenger capacity. It will shorten the travel time to less than five hours. Chinas international high speed plans already in the works include a high-speed line in neighboring Laos and Thailand and Complete Story

Guardedly Upbeat We remain cautiously upbeat after traveling throughout China for the last seven days. Through our interviews with both public and private solar companies, we return to the U.S. with a very positive near-term outlook for both shipments and pricing, but also have some trepidation due to rising input prices. While our general conviction is that most companies are poised for beat-and-raise scenarios in the upcoming earnings season, we fear that some will also reveal near-term margin pressure as cost declines will be hard-pressed to keep pace with ASP declines. From a very simplistic view, 2011 looks to be another year where the bears make the quantitative argument of over-estimating supply while simultaneously under-estimating demand, and thus call for an implosion to the solar income statement. Our only solace is the qualitative argument that demand always surprises, which perpetually puts the bear argument into hibernation for another six months. Complete Story

New Finance submits: Ive covered China Media Express ( CCME ) in a couple of articles, including my top four most undervalued Chinese stocks . After a short attack last week, I wanted some more clarity before reiterating that buy recommendation, and Global Hunter has provided that by going on the ground and performing the due diligence I am unable to do from an armchair (despite the amazing research capabilities of Google translate). Unlike many of the short attacks over the last three weeks, this was an actual visit to China that yielded information you cant find online. Lets take a look at the recent Global Hunter report. Advertisers One of the things that shorts targeted were the relationships that CCME had with advertisers, or to be more precise, the apparent lack thereof Complete Story

eLong, Inc. ( LONG ) Q4 2010 Earnings Call February 17, 2011 7:00 PM ET Executives Mike Doyle CFO Guangfu Cui CEO Analysts Ming Zhao SIG Fawne Jiang Brean Murry, Carret & Co Adam Krejcik Roth Capital Partners Question-and-Answer Session Operato Complete Story

Carnegie Endowment submits: China ended 2010 with a bang, growing an a Complete Story

Carnegie Endowment submits: China ended 2010 with a bang, growing an a Complete Story

Money Morning submits: By Kerri Shannon China's economic model has long been dependent on exports. Over the past several decades, the country has been the world's manufacturing floor, turning the "Made in China" stamp into a common fixture of goods sold in the United States and Europe. But now China has set a new goal: It will double its imports by 2015, reducing the trade surplus to zero and releasing itself from an export-reliant economy. Beijing this year made this goal a key part of China's 12th Five-Year Plan. This bold new target represents a major shift in the balance of global trade and a new paradigm for which the United States is not prepared, according to Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald. "The West needs to realize that the United States is dangerously close to being completely irrelevant to the Chinese growth model," Fitz-Gerald said in an interview. "China will not Complete S...

Shaun Rein of the China Market Research Group submits: Originally published on CNBC There have been increasing fears about rising protectionism in China, due to Beijings push for innovation that have encouraged the rise of domestic players, arguably at the expense of foreign ones. Several multinational firms have weighed in on the issue: General Electric's ( GE ) CEO Jeffrey Immelt last month said GE was facing the toughest climate for doing business in China in 25 years, and that the firm was being squeezed out of lucrative government contracts. The heads of German firms BASF ( BASFY.PK ) and Siemens ( SI ) have also flagged similar concerns. Are they right? Is China closing the door to foreign firms? The answer lies in reality and perception. The reality is, the country is not becoming more protectionist just that some sectors that have never been open to foreigners, have remained that way. Energy and financial services industries, for example, which h...

SA Editors: The following research report was issued today by Global Hunter Securities : Summary We were in China last week to conduct additional due diligence on China MediaExpress Holdings ( CCME ). We visited CCMEs headquarters again, and reviewed all of its contracts with advertising clients and bus Complete Story

AmateurAnalyst submits: (here Complete Story

Ian Bezek submits: Shares of China Agritech ( CAGC ) plunged an alarming 19% Wednesday to $7.43, hittin Complete Story

PRNewswire SkyPeople Fruit Juice, a producer of fruit juice concentrates, fruit beverages and other fruit products in China, has introduced four new Hedetang juice labels for a 500ml bottle to retail customers and distributors and has now begun shipping to its customer bases in Xi'an and Beijing. The company expects to expand distribution of Hedetang-branded fruit juice beverages to 200 retail locations in multiple cities including Beijing, Tianjian, Wuhan and Xi'an by the end of the second quarter of 2011. SkyPeople Fruit Juice CEO Yongke Xue said the company now sells six flavors of Hedetang juices in 280ml glass bottles, its new 500ml glass bottle and case packs, including apple juice, pear juice, kiwifruit juice, mulberry juice, kiwifruit cider and mulberry cider. Xue noted that the company positions its juices at a premium retail price of JPY4.80 ($0.73) for the 280ml bottle, JPY11.80 ($1.79 US) for the 500ml bottle and JPY78.00 ($11.84) for our 6-pack box. Initial shipmen...

Advertising Age by Normandy Madden and Abbey Klaassen SHANGHAI (AdAge.com) -- Three years can seem like a professional lifetime in fast-moving China. Just ask Richard Lee, PepsiCo's international marketing director for sparkling beverages in New York from 2007 to early 2010, and before that, chief marketing officer of its beverages business unit in Greater China. Mr. Lee returned to Shanghai last summer in a much more powerful role as CMO for Greater China, in charge of marketing and portfolio management of Pepsi's food and beverage brands. Putting control of both its food and beverage brands into the hands of one person was a new approach for China, but success in the mainland requires taking risks, Mr. Lee said. Mr. Lee's return was designed to rejuvenate PepsiCo's operation in China, where he is remembered as a marketing star. During the decade he helped run Pepsi's marketing in China, starting in 1997 as a brand manager, he transformed Pepsi from an underdog to...

StreetAuthority submits: by David Sterman Throughout much of the past year, a variety of financial websites -- including this one -- noted the sharp disconnect between projected growth rates and the price-to-earnings ( P/E ) ratios of many Chinese companies. It was easy to find companies growing 20% or even 30% while sporting only single-digit P/E ratios. For some, that disconnect was based on fears that the Chinese economic juggernaut would soon cool. For others, the inability to really know if these Chinese companies were legitimate was the main reason to avoid Chinese stocks. Increasingly, it's those latter concerns that now rule the roost. An increasing number of Chinese companies are in the sights of short sellers, as they allegedly have little or no actual business underlying the seemingly impressive income statement figures. Case in point: China MediaExpress Holdings (Nasdaq: CCME ). The company operates a massive advertising network on buses that ply Chin...

Debra Fiakas, CFA submits: Sino Clean Energy, Inc. ( SCEI ) is a China-based producer of coal water slurry fuel (CWSF) -- a highly viscous liquid fuel made from pulverized coal particles suspended in water. Expansion in production capacity and the addition of new customers have helped drive sales growth for Sino Clean Energy. The company reported $46.0 million in total sales in the year 2009, compared to $14.3 million in the previous year. The pace accelerated in the first nine months of 2010, with sales reaching $73.6 million, more than 2.5 times over the year-ago period. Profits have followed sales. Profit margins have increased largely on better coverage of fixed costs at the higher sales levels even as raw materials costs have risen. The gross profit margin in the nine months ending September 2010 was 39.5% compared to 34.4% the same period in the previous year and 34.9% in the year 2008. Cash flow from Complete Story

Denis Ouellet submits: On December 6, 2010, News-to-Use.com posted about a diplomatic cable, leaked by Wikileaks, that revealed Li Keqiang, potentially the next premier in China, described Chinas gross domestic product figure as man-made and therefore unreliable." Mr. Li went on to say that China GDP numbers were for reference only," revealing that for more accuracy on the economy he used three ways of evaluating Chinas economic activity, focusing on electricity consumption, the volume of rail cargo and the amount of bank loans disbursed. Absolute Return Partners Neils Jensen went to work and, comparing Chinese GDP growth with electricity output over the past 15 years, found an interesting pattern: During periods of low economic growth (the Asian crisis in the late 1990s, the U.S. recession in 2001 and the global credit crisis in 2008-09), GDP grows much faster than the electricity output. Conversely, during periods of strong economic growth (2002-07 and 2010), GDP C...

Atticvs Research submits: China North East Petroleum ( NEP ) is a low-cost, high-margin, cash-generat Complete Story

Atticvs Research submits: China North East Petroleum ( NEP ) is a low-cost, high-margin, cash-generat Complete Story

Zhong Jin submits: The economic buzz word of this week is inflation. China, the UK, the US, and Canada all will release their January CPI numbers this week. As widely reported, the severe drought in northern China helped push the food cost in China up by 10.3% in January; inflation in China is up to 4.9%, from 4.6% in December. The weights of components of Chinese CPI are changed in January: the weight of housing increased while the weight of everything else decreased modestly, including food. This change should have limited impacts on CPI since prices of both housing and food costs are rising in China. Even though the latest January narrowing trade surplus has boosted the Chinese stock markets as investors saw a sign of more balanced economy and less money inflow into Chinas economy, the threat of spiking food inflation after the Lunar New Year holidays weighed heavily on the stock Complete Story

Ralph Shell submits: It looks like the Chinese have yet to uncover measures that will engineer an orderly slowdown of their economy. A byproduct of the stimulus and the massive increase in liquidity is inflation. The yearly increased in the CPI was 4.9%, up from last month's 4.6% increase but not quite as big as had been anticipated. The PPI came in bigger than the guesses, a 6.6% y/y increase, higher than the expected 6.1% and the previous period's 5.9%. Government bureaucrats seem to be the same, regardless of the country. The yearly increase in Chinese food prices has exceeded 10%, so to reduce the impact on the inflation numbers, the food percentage in the basket of consumer purchases was reduced by 2%, and the importance given to housing was increased by 4.22%. Will this sleight of hand fool the Chinese? The problem with food costs is that it is a lagging indicator Complete Story

Intel, The Santa Clara chip giant has invested $26 Million in 6 mobile startups, including two from Silicon Valley. The startups that received the funding are CloudMade Inc., InVisage Technologies Inc., Borqs Ltd., Kaltura Inc., Secure Key Technologies Inc., and Vision OSS Solutions. These startups work in business verticals like mobile phone hardware, software and application companies. The decision to invest in startups was announced by the company on Monday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Even though they did not disclose the specific amount invested in each startup. CloudMade Inc. and InVisage Technologies Inc. are both based in Menlo Park. Borqs is China-based, Kaltura is based out of New York, SecureKey is located in Toronto, and VisionOSS in the U.K. knuton

New Finance submits: Welcome to the latest battle between longs and shorts, a brand new frontier where evidence is tough to come by and rumor is the currency of debate: China small caps. Ive never encountered such vociferous and passionate discussion with so little actual evidence. Shorts attack companies based on assumptions, deductions and lies. Longs exaggerate growth, divinate business relationships and say theyve been on the ground when they havent. All in all, the fight is far from fair and both sides have significant skin in the game. So, who should you, as an individual investor, choose to believe? It isnt an easy decision to make. After all, there isnt the security blanket of apparent regulation by the SEC to keep you warm at night. If you go out on a limb here, there is a chance it will break. However, keep in mind that you are investing in a country with Complete Story

Michael Michaud submits: Kung Hei Fat Choi! Millions Go Traveling! China holds the record for the worlds largest mass migration of people during a national holiday. Last week they celebrated Chinese New Year of the Rabbit by traveling back to their hometowns to visit with Family which most only get to do once a year. As I read, the Year of the Rabbit should be a good year for many. I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous Chinese New Year of the Complete Story

Ctrip.com Interna Complete Story

Tyler Peglow submits: Making mon Complete Story

Ian Bezek submits: Between all the unreal growth rates, adventures in auditing and spectacular blow-ups, it has been hard to find China-based corporations with shares that represent good bargains in the current investing environment. However, there are a few Chinese companies with shares that represent the sort of deep discounts that investors typically think of when they hear the phrase value investing. One of these opportunities comes in the shares of the left-for-dead Actions Semiconductor ( ACTS ). Brought to market in a traditional IPO in late 2005, the Chinese semiconductor maker almost immediately faced troubles, both legal and operational, as the formerly hot portable electronics sector faced oversupply and bitter competition. Though many competitors merged or folded under the waves of heavy price cuts and lawsuits that flooded the semiconductor industry in the past couple years, Actions survived, though it has taken a dramatic haircut from its $8 IPO price. Now the bruised ...

Felix Salmon submits: The advantage of being pseudonymous is that you can be honest. Heres TED : The most egregious example was the time I had to fly 18 hours, on short notice, from a mid-sized European city to Beijing for a two-hour pitch and fly right back to London for business the next day. In terms of cost-effectiveness, best use of senior bankers time, and sheer expense, this was pretty ludicrous. And heres James Gorman , showing what bankers have to say if theyre speaking on the record: I pitched for 450 client meetings last year. I flew to China for a 20-minute meeting and then got on a plane and flew back. It was right for me to do it, and we got the deal. Its conceivable that both are true. Im pretty sure that TED was flying commercial while Gorman was flying privately. That makes a huge difference in terms of productivity, Complete Story

Glen Bradford submits: In the movie 28 Days Later , cycle courier Jim awakes from a coma in the deserted intensive care unit of a London hospital. The rage virus has caused zombies to take over London. I thought it would be fun to take a look at where I believe well be roughly 28 (businesss) days from now, when it comes to China MediaExpress Holdings ( CCME ). 28 days later CCME will have announced a new IR firm. CCME will have paid its first dividend per its dividend policy . Deloitte will have finished auditing the 10-K for 2011. My opinion is that if Deloitte was having issues with the audit, wed be hearing about it already, as CCME is an accelerated filer and my understanding is that the audit has been underway for over a month now. Q4 2010 will have beat its understated guidance. CCME's latest guidance, given in early November, was Complete Story

Russ Winter submits: At long last the mainstream media and Chinese advisories are picking up on the China export bust story that I have warned about for months. The New York Times ran this economic story of the decade last week, while infomercial commentators like CNBC and Bloomberg are sleeping through this bust. The twist on the sto Complete Story

L.Desjardins submits: Last week's stocks performance in Hong Kong is a vote of non confidence in the short term direction of markets. Hong Kong was down 4.5% on the week but Shanghai took the rate hike in stride and closed up for the third week in a row. The Hang Seng Index had it worst week in more than nine months with all sectors down. Its weakness may be an indication of investors, especially foreigners, wariness in regards to Chinese stocks. INDICES 1 week 4 weeks YTD Hang Seng Index -4.5% -6.0% -0.9% HS China Enterprises -4.9% -8.1% -4.8% FTSE/Xinhua A50 0.7% 0.0% 0.7% Shanghai Composite 1.0% 1.3% 0.7% CSI 300 1.4% 0.9% -0.2% US ETFs EWH -4.7% -6.3% -1.3% FXI -2.8% -6.4% -3.3% PGJ -0.6% -0.6% 3.7% On Thursday for instance, stocks that were up in Shanghai were down in Hong Kong. On the same day Petrochina ( PTR ) announced it was Complete Story