China :: Business :: Deals

Oriental Morning Post, 5/08/12 Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Lenovo (0992.HK) has announced plans to invest over RMB 5 bln to build a comprehensive industrial base in Wuhan, expected to go online in October 2013. The base will primarily focus on R&D, production and sales of handsets, tablets, and other mobile internet terminal products for both the domestic and overseas markets. Once online, the base is expected to generate RMB 10 bln in sales and create nearly 10,000 local jobs by 2014.

Over the weekend, Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group issued an open letter to the media and its shareholders in which it listed a total of nine online shops previously operating on its B2C and C2C e-commerce subsidiary Taobao that have been permanently shut down due to suspected bribery and other misconduct. Alibaba Group announced that compulsory measures of punishment have been implemented, arrests have taken place, and that an investigation is still underway. The company asserted that this is only the beginning of what will be a strict crack down on the acceptance of bribes from vendors on the part of Taobao staff and staff at other Alibaba subsidiaries. According to an informed source close to Alibaba, internal corruption at the company began as early as 2009, when the conglomerate experienced rapid growth and recruited a large number of new employees. The source reported that Alibaba currently employs over 25,000 people, making management and monitoring increasingly di...

Chinese telecom equipment and terminal manufacturer Huawei has recently hired global consulting firm Jack Morton Worldwide to help the company implement a US marketing campaign. Huawei plans to start investing in the marketing campaign in H2 2012 to improve Huawei's brand awareness. The company is in the midst of a drastic change from a low-end manufacturer to a hopeful leader in innovation. Because Huawei does not have much of a name for itself in the US, it will be hard for it to promote its high-end handsets like the Ascend D Quad. Although packing a quad-core processor, the Ascend D Quad has not elicited much response from American wireless carriers. Chinese telecom equipment and terminal manufacturer ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ) is staying more low key by delaying any branding of its American handset offerings as it prefers to build strong relationships with the carriers themselves.

Source : China Retail News Hero Group, a leading European dairy export company, has announced its formal entry into the Chinese infant formula market. The company will launch its Hero Nutradefense brand products in China and the products will be sold via Suzhou-based Jampoo Union Corp, its exclusive general agency in China including Hong Kong and Macau. Jampoo Union will also be responsible for the sales of Hero Group's other products such as infant nutritional food supplements and jam in China. Peter Amon, chief executive officer of the group, told local media that Hero Nutradefense is one of their finest brands and they are proud to launch this product in the Chinese market. They hope to be able to contribute to the healthy growth of Chinese babies. He also said that the group collects milk source information from all over the world and adjusts the milk formula according to local demands. Their products were produced in the Netherlands and only the purest Dutch milk is used in th...

Qilu Evening News, 5/02/12 At a recent animation conference held in Hangzhou, China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) announced the launch of its animation terminal, "Yi Zhi Yi Ben," an Android tablet PC made especially for Chinese youth under 12. The Yi Zhi Yi Ben is an edutainment tablet, equipped with an interactive "Educational Park" applications platform, animations, and SNS value-added services including games and a microblog. The tablet can be set by parents to filter out inappropriate content, and its social networking platforms will be strictly managed to prevent data leakage, monitor fraud, and limit the time children spend online. China Telecom has produced the entertainment-education tablet in cooperation with Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Hisense (600060.SH), Xiamen-based enterprise e-mail and software provider 35.com (300051.SZ), and Shenzhen-based MP3, tablet and handset maker Shenzhen Thomson Digital Technology, among others.

Netease Tech, 4/28/12 Chengdu-based mobile app developer Pinguo Technology recently received first-round funding led by Gobi Partners for its Camera 360 app. Matrix Partners, which previously provided angel investment for the project, also participated in the investment. Gu Rui, CMO for Camera 360, said that the size of the investment could not be revealed for the time being, adding that all of the funds had arrived in the company's accounts. Pinguo's Camera360 app allows users to add various effects, such as color filters, borders, and other styles to photos they have taken with their handsets. Gu revealed that the Camera 360 app has 30 mln users. A Windows Phone app will be the company's next move, following up on the existing Android app (which has more than 20 mln users) and iOS app (which has roughly 10 mln users). According to an industry source, Camera 360 announced that it had received a USD six-figure angel investment from Matrix Partners only four months aft...

Sohu IT, 4/28/12 According to an internal e-mail reportedly from Gaopeng - the group buy joint venture of Groupon and Tencent (0700.HK) - Tencent is continuing to consolidate its group buy properties. QQ Tuan will phase out group buy offers from other sites, in favor of offers from Gaopeng and FTuan. FTuan and Gaopeng, meanwhile, will connect their backend systems over the next two months. QQ Tuan had previously been operated by the FTuan team. A Gaopeng employee revealed that senior Gaopeng management had orally notified employees recently that Gaopeng would be acquired by FTuan. Gaopeng simultaneously began liquidating assets at its Beijing and Shanghai offices. An industry source told Sohu IT that Tencent will trade its stake in Gaopeng to FTuan in exchange for a share in FTuan of equivalent value, based on Gaopeng's current valuation. Tencent and Gaopeng have also reached an agreement under which Gaopeng will become an investor, and will be replaced by FTuan in the contro...

China's Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation recently announced a series of preferential income tax policies for software and IC enterprises. An industry source said that the new policies were a more highly ramified update to the Policies for the Further Encouragement of Software and IC Industry Development, released in February 2011 by the State Council, and will directly benefit enterprises in the targeted areas. IC manufacturers who produce 0.8-micron or smaller circuitry will have all income taxes waived for two years starting from the first year they become profitable, and will have half of the legally designated 25% income tax waived from the third to fourth years. Manufacturers of integrated circuits smaller than 0.25 microns and enterprises that have invested more than RMB 8 bln in IC manufacturing will be subject to a corporate income tax rate of 15%; companies that have been in business for 15 or more years will have all corporate income taxes waived...

Shanghai Media Group IPTV subsidiary Shanghai BesTV New Media (600637.SH) recently signed a strategic partnership agreement in Beijing with IPTV operator Guo Guang Oriental Network, a subsidiary of China Radio International's online TV platform China International Broadcasting Network (CIBN), marking the launch of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two companies on Internet television. Guo Guang Oriental and BesTV will share international video content and develop a bidirectional system for the exchange of domestic and international cultural content. BesTV will offer its core technology platform and operating experience to Guo Guang Oriental's internet television business, enabling both companies to boost their service capabilities and improve user experience. The two companies will also cooperate on multiple projects, including new media programming production and IPTV platform technology connectivity.