Thai group’s China supermarket deal collapses; Scrapping of CP Lotus’s sale to Wumart highlights sector woes

December 16, 2013 4:42 am

Thai group’s China supermarket deal collapses

By Michael Peel in Bangkok and Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Thai conglomerate CP Group’s $300m planned sale of Chinese supermarkets to Wumart has collapsed, the latest casualty of turning sentiment in China’s powerhouse retail sector. Read more of this post

Shanghai Glut Rises With Tallest Tower: Real Estate

Shanghai Glut Rises With Tallest Tower: Real Estate

When completed in 2015, the Shanghai Tower will be China’s tallest building. The 632-meter (2,074-feet) skyscraper will also deepen a glut of offices in the city, putting pressure on rents. Read more of this post

Several factors explain why Beijing suddenly seems so interested in civil aviation reform. It’s about more than merely enabling Chinese billionaires to be flown around in helicopters and private jets

Chinese Reform Starts to Take Off

CHRISTOPHER JACKSON

Dec. 18, 2013 12:12 p.m. ET

For the most part, businesses and investors are in wait-and-see mode following last month’s Third Plenum meeting of China’s leadership. Beijing has promised reforms, and now the question is whether and how those reforms will be implemented. But in one industry, big changes are already underway: aviation. This offers a case study to examine, both in the extent in which reform is possible, and in how difficult it will be to execute. Read more of this post

PetroChina’s Kunlun Energy Chairman Quits as China Widens Graft Probe

Kunlun Energy Chairman Quits as China Widens Graft Probe

By Aibing Guo – Dec 17, 2013

The Chairman of Kunlun Energy Co., the gas distribution arm of China National Petroleum Corp., resigned amid a widening government anti-corruption campaign that claimed his predecessor four months earlier. Read more of this post

India’s Central Bank Suggests Tighter Rules to Curb Soured Debt

India’s Central Bank Suggests Tighter Rules to Curb Soured Debt

India’s central bank said lenders may boost borrowing costs for defaulters who aren’t cooperating to help recover soured debt, as it steps up efforts to curb rising bad loans in a slowing economy. Banks should form a panel and set timelines to resolve bad debt, the Reserve Bank of India said in a discussion paper released on its website today. The regulator also proposed higher provisions on such debt if the lenders can’t reach an agreement regarding their recovery or sale. Read more of this post

In rural China, teacher upholds Mao Thought to save the world

In rural China, teacher upholds Mao Thought to save the world

2:45am EST

By Carlos Barria

SITONG, China (Reuters) – In a remote part of China, the day starts at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School with a pre-dawn jog, some revolutionary songs and then an activity long-since forgotten at other schools: reciting quotations from Mao Zedong’s “Little Red Book”. Read more of this post

In Beijing housing market, education drives location

In Beijing housing market, education drives location

Sun, Dec 8 2013

By Li Hui and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Zhong Jian and his wife are willing to pay double the going rate for a tiny home in a Beijing neighbourhood so their 18-month-old daughter will be eligible to attend a top primary school nearby. Read more of this post

How Real is China’s Growth? GDP Alternative Sheds Light

December 18, 2013, 4:15 AM

How Real is China’s Growth? GDP Alternative Sheds Light

BOB DAVIS

Perhaps the most common question about China’s phenomenal record of growthis:  Is it real? Even China’s premier, Li Keqiang, has expressed doubts about China’s GDP results. In a 2007 discussion with the U.S. ambassador to China, which both thought was private, Mr. Li called GDP a “man-made and therefore unreliable” statistic. Read more of this post

Hershey is gobbling up Chinese candy maker Shanghai Golden Monkey for $600M

Hershey takes big bite of Chinese sweet seller

An hour ago

Hershey is buying 80 per cent of the somewhat brilliantly named Shanghai Golden Monkey Food, a Chinese confectioner. The iconic US candy company did not reveal the price it is paying for Shanghai Golden Monkey. But it said the Chinese business expects to record net sales of more than $225m in 2013. Shanghai Golden Monkey, according to its website, sells products Hershey fans would probably eat, such as milk chocolate, and some that may only be suitable for the Chinese market, such as its “strawberry cheese” candy.

Hershey to Buy China Candy Maker

Chocolate Giant Seeks a Stronger Hold in the Fast-Growing Chinese Sweets Market.

LAURIE BURKITT

Updated Dec. 19, 2013 7:44 a.m. ET

BEIJING—Chocolate giant Hershey Co. HSY +1.80% is gobbling up Chinese candy maker Shanghai Golden Monkey Food Joint Stock Co. in a nearly $600 million bid for a stronger hold in China—one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for sweets. Read more of this post

Expected to be China’s biggest, Guangdong carbon market begins briskly

Updated: Thursday December 19, 2013 MYT 2:17:59 PM

Expected to be China’s biggest, Guangdong carbon market begins briskly

GUANGZHOU: The first day’s trading in what will be by far the largest carbon market in China kicked off briskly on Thursday with pricing in line with expectations, as Beijing continues its drive to slow its rapid growth of heat-trapping emissions. Read more of this post

Executive Moving to Shanghai Finds No Escape From China’s Smog

Executive Moving to Shanghai Finds No Escape From China’s Smog

Bill Russo moved more than 700 miles from Beijing to Shanghai on Dec. 1 and thought he’d left the smog behind him. Five days later, he was wheezing again. “What was shocking was how bad it’s been,” said Russo, a vice president at car stereo maker Harman International Industries Inc. (HAR) “Shanghai over the years had a reputation of being better,” said the executive, who had some of the fine-particle masks he left behind in Beijing sent to him. Read more of this post

Ctrip to Sina Raise Record War Chest on Big Three Deal Spree

Ctrip to Sina Raise Record War Chest on Big Three Deal Spree

Chinese Internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Baidu Inc. (BIDU) and Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700) have spent a record $7.4 billion on acquisitions this year. Now their smaller listed peers are raising capital faster than ever to join the technology deal rush. Read more of this post

Coal tycoon’s plight shines light on China trusts; A Chinese mining boss who threw a multimillion-dollar wedding for his daughter last year is now struggling under a pile of debts that threaten to trigger a major default in the country’

Last updated: December 17, 2013 8:26 am

Coal tycoon’s plight shines light on China trusts

By Simon Rabinovitch in Beijing

A Chinese mining boss who threw a multimillion-dollar wedding for his daughter last year is now struggling under a pile of debts that threaten to trigger a major default in the country’s shadow banking industry. Read more of this post

Chinese develop whisky connoisseurship

December 6, 2013 9:00 pm

Chinese develop whisky connoisseurship

By Ben Marino

As dusk settles on a smoggy Beijing Sunday evening, Kamiwase Satoshi quietly prepares to open his tiny whisky bar, hidden in an office building near the capital’s diplomatic area. Read more of this post

China’s Shadow Currency: Bankers acceptance notes (BANs) without underlying trade are used to finance speculation

China’s Shadow Currency

Tyler Durden on 12/14/2013 18:31 -0500

Submitted by Matthew Lowenstein va The Diplomat,

China’s economy is straining to keep up a semblance of its former growth rate. The surest sign is the way a shadow market in bank paper has evolved to substitute the commodity that China is increasingly running short of: cash. Read more of this post

China’s Fuzzy Vision For Greater Beijing

China’s Fuzzy Vision For Greater Beijing

THE ECONOMIST0DEC 14, 2013, 06.23 AM

The spectacular rise of the Pearl and Yangtze River deltas over the past several decades has inspired city leaders around the country to try and emulate their success by building up city clusters of their own. The national capital has proved to be no exception. For years, plans to develop a greater Beijing area were toyed with but never formalised. This may now finally come to pass. According to local media, a plan for the economic integration of Beijing, Tianjin and the surrounding province of Hebei may be announced early next year. The merits of centrally planned regional integration will be tested. Read more of this post

China pushes to urbanise smaller cities

China pushes to urbanise smaller cities

Thursday, December 19, 2013 – 03:00

Esther Teo

The Straits Times

China will relax or remove rigid household registration restrictions in small and medium-sized cities as part of the country’s urbanisation push and to give migrant workers equal access to a range of services in cities. Read more of this post

China CCTV Starbucks report set off storm inside network; journalists in China are still reluctant to challenge editors in a system beholden to the ruling Communist Party

China CCTV Starbucks report set off storm inside network

Thu, Dec 12 2013

By Megha Rajagopalan

BEIJING (Reuters) – A China state television investigative report accusing Starbucks of overcharging local customers for coffee triggered enormous disquiet among journalists at the network and even some soul-searching after it aired. Read more of this post

The resources industry construction workforce is set to collapse over the next four years, plunging 91 per cent and shedding more than 78,000 jobs by 2018

Mining construction jobs to plunge by 78,000, study finds

December 16, 2013

Michael Pascoe

From a peak of 85,819 positions this year, the construction element of the resources boom is expected to dive to just 7700 in 2018. Photo: Erin Jonasson

The resources industry construction workforce is set to collapse over the next four years, plunging 91 per cent and shedding more than 78,000 jobs by 2018, dwarfing the Holden closure job losses. Read more of this post

Cold, hard, unyielding cash: how Australian fund managers for the big four short change you

Cold, hard, unyielding cash: how fund managers for the big four short change you

December 18, 2013

Michael West

Imagine if the fund manager was BT and its only investment was a bunch of shares in Westpac, which is BT’s parent. Or imagine it was MLC, with its only assets being shares in National Australia Bank; or Colonial only invested in Commonwealth Bank stock, or ANZ with a holding in ANZ shares and nothing more. Read more of this post

Australia staring at “debt mountain” as economy slows

Updated: Tuesday December 17, 2013 MYT 12:32:17 PM

Australia staring at “debt mountain” as economy slows

SYDNEY/CANBERRA: Just three months in power, Australia’s Liberal National government has abandoned all thought of returning to a budget surplus and predicted deficits for the next decade without spending cuts, heralding sober times ahead for the resource-rich country. Read more of this post

Plenty of drama from mega deals in Asia

Plenty of drama from mega deals

Wednesday, Dec 18, 2013

Anita Gabriel Senior Correspondent

The Straits Times

THERE is little in the corporate sector that can match the nail-biting suspense of giants tussling for a vaunted asset, timing their tactical moves with precision, and the sense of triumph – or disappointment – when a winner emerges. Read more of this post

From Xi’s rise to Abenomics, six events that shook Asia

December 18, 2013 3:34 pm

From Xi’s rise to Abenomics, six events that shook Asia

By David Pilling

As one nation strives to revive its economy, others struggle with poverty and calamity

What are the six most significant things to have happened in Asia this year? The question is entirely arbitrary. Why six? What counts as significant? And, while we’re at it, what on earth do we mean by Asia, a term that has been used to refer to the “lands east of Europe” since Herodotus? But it’s nearly Christmas, so let’s press on. We’ll define Asia in the way the Financial Times does, broadly the region from the Indian subcontinent to Australia. That is a set of nations containing almost 4bn people, more than half the world’s population. “Significant” for our purposes means something that will affect a large number of people for many years, a definition that excludes interesting developments in small countries. Read more of this post

Asia’s budget airlines seek collaboration

December 16, 2013 8:54 am

Asia’s budget airlines seek collaboration

By Jeremy Grant in Singapore

Four low-cost Asian airlines have unveiled a range of deals in a sign that intense competition and overcapacity is forcing the pace of industry collaboration on the region’s busiest routes. Read more of this post

Asia Investors Suffer a Bruising Year; Stocks, Bonds and Currencies in the Region Posted a Lackluster 2013

Asia Investors Suffer a Bruising Year

Stocks, Bonds and Currencies in the Region Posted a Lackluster 2013

ANJANI TRIVEDI And FIONA LAW

Dec. 17, 2013 12:13 a.m. ET

HONG KONG—After years of hefty gains, investors in Asia have suffered a lousy 2013, with bonds headed for their first slump in over a decade, almost every currency in the region tumbling and stocks underperforming the rest of the world. Read more of this post

Southeast Asia faces a perfect storm

December 16, 2013 7:42 am

Southeast Asia faces a perfect storm

By Josh Noble in Hong Kong

Rising interest rates, slowing economic growth, political uncertainty and a stronger US dollar – any one of these factors could spell trouble for the small, volatile markets of southeast Asia. But in 2014, the region looks set for the perfect storm of all four. Read more of this post

Vietnamese Shipping Executives Sentenced to Death in Corruption Crackdown

Vietnamese Shipping Executives Sentenced to Death in Corruption Crackdown

Two Former Vinalines Executives Convicted on Embezzlement Charges

VU TRONG KHANH

Dec. 16, 2013 8:28 a.m. ET

HANOI—A court in northern Vietnam Monday sentenced two former executives of a state-owned shipping company to death after they were convicted of embezzlement, as part of the country’s crackdown on corruption. Read more of this post

Thailand’s military refuses to intervene

Thailand’s military refuses to intervene

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 – 03:00

Nirmal Ghosh

The Straits Times

Thailand’s supreme commander has dismissed an opposition rally leader’s call to intervene in support of efforts by protesters to oust the government and replace it with an unelected “people’s council”. Read more of this post

Thaksin factor all over again

Updated: Monday December 16, 2013 MYT 7:37:44 AM

Thaksin factor all over again

BY PHILIP GOLINGAI

Coups and elections have become a routine fixture in Thailand. And this time around, will it be the pro- or anti-Thaksin forces who will prevail.

ON Monday, in a televised address, Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced she would dissolve parliament and hold a snap election. “Wah, another election in Thailand,” said a colleague at Menara Star in the Petaling Jaya office. Read more of this post

Rice boils over as Thai election issue as subsidies dried up since Oct

December 19, 2013 5:04 am

Rice boils over as Thai election issue

By Michael Peel in Bangkok

Mana Nutchyoo has already paid down half a $30,000 purchase of ploughing and pumping equipment for his paddy fields, thanks toThailand’s official rice subsidy

– but the cash has dried up since October. Read more of this post