Family-owned Dr. Martens footwear and clothing brand nears deal to sell for $484 million

OCTOBER 17, 2013, 11:49 AM

Dr. Martens Nears a Deal

By CHAD BRAY

LONDON – The private equity firm Permira is in “advanced negotiations” to possibly acquire the family-owned Dr. Martens footwear and clothing brand, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The R. Griggs Group, the family business that owns Dr. Martens, is in talks for a deal that could be worth roughly £300 million, or $484 million, the person said. It is unclear whether the deal will result in the family selling the brand or just a license for the name. Read more of this post

The Tequila Curse; the Mexican tequilla industry produces 300 million liters of tequila per year, earning revenue of 21 billion pesos ($1.6 billion) in 2012

The Tequila Curse

By Ted Genoways October 17, 2013

Every year on the Day of the Dead, Guillermo Erickson Sauza invites family and friends to join him at the graves of his great-great-grandfather, Don Cenobio Sauza, and great-grandfather, Don Eladio Sauza, in the Panteón de Mezquitán in Guadalajara. The streets outside are packed with vendors selling skull candles, skeleton dolls, and loaves of bread baked into the shape of crossbones. Visitors throng at the wrought iron gates, so Erickson Sauza sprinkles a trail of marigold petals for his guests to follow and drapes his ancestors’ crypts with bright-orange garlands and wreaths arranged to read “Familia Sauza.” Read more of this post

Russia Roofing Billionaires Seen Among Country’s Youngest; “We earned two degrees, one in physics and one in roofing”

Russia Roofing Billionaires Seen Among Country’s Youngest

Sergey Kolesnikov and Igor Rybakov spent their summers in the early 1990s fixing rooftops around Moscow, a job that paid them about $500 a month. The work gave the aspiring scientists, who were roommates at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia’s top research university, a chance to become entrepreneurs after the fall of the Soviet Union. “We earned two degrees, one in physics and one in roofing,” Kolesnikov said in an interview at his central Moscow office. Read more of this post

How China May Lose a Chance for Reform; The top monopolies run by state enterprises may have cost China $311 billion in lost growth since 2010. An overhaul of state companies looks less and less likely

How China May Lose a Chance for Reform

By Dexter Roberts October 11, 2013

In the runup to November’s big Communist Party confab, known officially as the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, expectations among reform advocates are high. At the third plenum in 1978, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping announced gaige kaifang, or reform and opening-up, ending the self-imposed isolation of the Cultural Revolution and exposing China’s economy to market forces. “Thirty-five years after the Communist Party of China lifted the country out of 10 years of chaos and started economic reform and opening up, analysts say the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC has the potential to be a landmark event,” China’s official news agency, Xinhua, wrote on Oct. 9. Read more of this post

Hey China, Stop Laughing at the U.S.; Schadenfreude is easy. Maneuvering and handling the internal politics of reform is hard

Hey China, Stop Laughing at the U.S.

By most accounts, the past few weeks have exposed a drastic maturity gap between the U.S. and Chinese governments. The purported icon of democracy watched its system descend into chaos and petty political gamesmanship, coming within hours of a default that would have sparked global economic disorder. Publicly, Chinese leaders remained statesmanlike and above the fray, withholding comments on the circus in Washington. At the same time, and unsurprisingly, surrogates in the Chinese news media and commentators in the intelligentsia were less restrained. They gleefully piled on with op-ed articles arguing for “de-Americanizing” the world and rapidly reducing China’s purchase of U.S. Treasuries. It is notable that some of these commentaries only appeared in the English-language press, both within China and globally: They were clearly aimed at a Western audience. So was the showy downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt by China’s Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. — a feature of the last debt-ceiling crisis, too. Read more of this post

China set to announce reforms of creaking pension system

China set to announce reforms of creaking pension system: sources

5:13pm EDT

By Natalie Thomas

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is close to announcing long-awaited reforms to its pension system, whose assets are estimated to have already fallen $3 trillion behind projected future payouts, as it seeks to create a sustainable safety net for a rapidly ageing population. The reforms, which may be announced as early as this month, could include merging separate state and private sector employee pension schemes, increasing coverage and broadening the range of assets pension funds are invested in to boost returns and improve efficiency, said sources with knowledge of the discussions. Read more of this post

Chasing the Chinese Tourist Yuan; Countries Including the U.S. and U.K. Look to Ease Visa Headaches for Travelers From China

October 17, 2013, 10:51 a.m. ET

Chasing the Chinese Tourist Yuan

Countries Including the U.S. and U.K. Look to Ease Visa Headaches for Travelers From China

WEI GU

The U.K. is the latest country to relax visa rules for visitors from China. The WSJ’s Wei Gu speaks fund manager Jim Rogers about why investors should look beyond the U.S. debt deal and focus on the opportunity offered by Chinese travelers.

Money trumps politics. That rule is being proved again as more Chinese venture abroad—and countries seek to capture that tourist spending by making the visa process easier. So for China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, the formalities ahead of a trip to the U.K. earlier this year didn’t include lining up at the U.K. Embassy in Beijing. Instead, the U.K. visa service went to him with the equipment to take his application, fingerprints and photograph. The visa service’s efforts paid off: Mr. Wang, the chairman of China’s largest commercial property developer, Dalian Wanda Group, went on a shopping spree. He bought British yacht builder Sunseeker for £300 million ($478 million), and plowed another £700 million into a London site to build Western Europe’s tallest residential tower. Read more of this post

Can Wuhan Become the Detroit of China?

October 17, 2013, 5:02 PM

Can Wuhan Become the Detroit of China?

Colum Murphy for The Wall Street Journal

Wuhan is a city with attitude, known for its hot weather and hot-and-dry noodles. It’s also famous as the birthplace of modern China. The 1911 Xinhai Revolution that brought an end to the Qing Dynasty and led to the establishment of the Republic of China took place here. Today Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, harbors another aspiration for greatness: It wants to become the Detroit of China (minus the bankruptcy, of course). Read more of this post

StanChart’s Private Bank Assets Stagnate in Wealthier Asian Hunt

StanChart’s Private Bank Assets Stagnate in Wealthier Asian Hunt

Standard Chartered Plc (STAN)’s Asian private-bank asset growth has stagnated this year as the lender focused on wealthier clients and investment returns were curtailed by volatility in regional financial markets. Assets managed in Asia excluding the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East have stayed at about $35 billion, the same as at the end of 2012, said Rajesh Malkani, the private bank’s head of Northeast and Southeast Asia. Globally, Standard Chartered started increasing from late last year the investment threshold for private-bank clients to $2 million, double the previous level, he said. Read more of this post

How U.S. Debt Per Capita Has Changed Under Every President Since JFK

How U.S. Debt Per Capita Has Changed Under Every President Since JFK

By Giovanni Salzano October 17, 2013

The national debt has not always been the hot-button issue it is today. In the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Carter administrations, inflation-adjusted debt per capita dropped.

Deep Divide Lingers After Impasse Ends; Pessimism Greets Lawmakers as They Start Negotiations on Broad Budget Deal

Deep Divide Lingers After Impasse Ends

Pessimism Greets Lawmakers as They Start Negotiations on Broad Budget Deal

DAMIAN PALETTA

Updated Oct. 17, 2013 8:01 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—Eight hours after President Barack Obama signed a bill to reopen the federal government, top congressional budget leaders from both parties gathered over breakfast to try to find common ground in coming weeks. But differences between the two sides remain stark, and a number of congressional aides said the chances of devising a budget that both parties can live with are low. The conference committee the lawmakers head faces a Dec. 13 deadline under the package Congress approved late Wednesday. Read more of this post

Shutdown Hit Boehner’s Favorite Diner as $24 Billion Lost; money lost during shutdown can’t be easily recovered, creating a long-term ripple effect that will be difficult to forget

Shutdown Hit Boehner’s Favorite Diner as $24 Billion Lost

Gum Tong owns a diner in Washington, D.C., and Matt Bellinger charters fishing boats in the Florida Everglades. They have this in common: The shutdown of the U.S. government cost them money they will never get back. Pete’s Diner & Carryout, a 50-year-old Capitol Hill eatery frequented by House Speaker John Boehner, lost about 80 percent of its usual business, said Tong, surrounded by empty seats and Halloween decorations. Bellinger missed out on $1,000 a day in canceled charters because Everglades National Park was closed. Read more of this post

Restarting U.S. Government Seen as Harder Than Shutdown

Restarting U.S. Government Seen as Harder Than Shutdown

Starting up the government will be harder than it was to shut it. The legislation passed by Congress last night to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government into 2014 will bring hundreds of thousands of federal workers back to their jobs and reopen national parks and museums. Yet it may be weeks or even months before the government resumes issuing loans, payments and contracts at a normal pace. Read more of this post

Ikea Keeps Lid on Billy Prices in Europe as Inflation Weakens; The Billy index calculates the cost across 43 countries of Ikea’s white bookcase

Ikea Keeps Lid on Billy Prices in Europe as Inflation Weakens

Ikea will keep a lid on prices of its Billy bookshelves in most euro-area countries next year, underscoring a lack of inflation in the 17-member currency bloc. The signature bookcase remains cheapest in Europe, according to the 2014 catalog on the website of the world’s biggest home-furnishings retailer, compiled in Bloomberg’s annual global index. The shelves are least expensive in Slovakia and the Netherlands, with a price of 34.95 euros ($46.48). Read more of this post

Fed’s Fisher warns of potential U.S. housing bubble, MBS buys

Fed’s Fisher warns of potential U.S. housing bubble, MBS buys

11:14am EDT

By Jonathan Spicer

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday he is seeing fresh signs of a U.S. “housing bubble” and warned about the central bank’s ongoing purchases of mortgage-based bonds. “I’m beginning to see signs not just in my district but across the country that we are entering, once again, a housing bubble,” Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told reporters after a speech in New York. “So that leads me … to be very cautious about our mortgage-backed securities purchase program.” Read more of this post