Crumbling keiretsu networks good sign for foreign firms and Japan

Crumbling keiretsu networks good sign for foreign firms and Japan

BY JOCHEN LEGEWIE

SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

OCT 13, 2013

For years and decades, foreign observers have cried foul over various barriers — both existing and perceived — to the Japanese economy. Their main target is usually the keiretsu, the closely knit business networks automakers exclusively maintain with groups of 200 to 300 suppliers. These so-called vertical groupings were regarded as the main hurdle for foreign companies doing business with Toyota & Co. But this seems to be changing. Read more of this post

Firms hide China roots to boost sales

Firms hide China roots to boost sales

Monday, Oct 14, 2013

AFP

BEIJING – In the global contest for business, Chinese brands struggle to compete with big Western and Japanese names, but some are now looking to reinvent their identities to overcome image and political hurdles. The world’s second-largest economy does not have a single one of the world’s top 100 brands, as compiled by marketing consultancy Interbrand. Read more of this post

Chinese want to sell British milk at £3 per litre; British farmers produce some of the highest quality, but lowest priced, milk in the world

Chinese want to sell British milk at £3 per litre

State-owned companies are approaching UK farmers direct asking for millions of litres of milk, at a time when some farmers struggle to make a profit

British farmers produce some of the highest quality, but lowest priced, milk in the world. The best quality UK milk can sell for 90p per litre – in China, that same milk retails for 300p per litre. Photo: Alamy

By John Ficenec

10:00PM BST 13 Oct 2013

Chinese state-owned conglomerates are approaching British dairy farmers to secure millions of litres of UK milk, opening a potentially vast new market. Dairy Crest, the largest dairy company in the UK, has recently invested £40m in a new infant formula facility to access the China market – the world’s biggest consumer of milk. But the latest development has seen Chinese state-owned organisations trying to buy direct from UK dairy farmers. Read more of this post

Forty Years After OPEC Embargo, U.S. Is Energy Giant

Forty Years After OPEC Embargo, U.S. Is Energy Giant

Forty years ago this month, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an embargo on oil exports to the U.S. as retaliation for its support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. It would last only five months, but it haunts U.S. energy policy to this day. The modern global energy market bears scant resemblance to what existed 40 years ago. Today’s market is far more diversified and resilient. Thanks to the shale gas revolution and soaring domestic oil and gas production, the U.S. has reduced the cost of its energy and become a major exporter of refined products. Add in the political and economic tumult within many OPEC member countries, and it’s clear that, by almost any measure, OPEC is far weaker and the U.S. is far stronger than in 1973. Read more of this post

Walmart divorce highlights pitfalls of business in India

Updated: Monday October 14, 2013 MYT 6:50:20 AM

Walmart divorce highlights pitfalls of business in India

NEW DELHI: The divorce between US giant Walmart and its Indian partner, the latest in a string of foreign corporate alliances to founder, will have a further “chill effect” on vitally needed foreign investment, analysts say. Citing restrictive foreign investment rules, the world’s biggest retailer scrapped a partnership last week with Indian telecom heavyweight Bharti Enterprises and suspended plans to open supermarkets which could have tapped a potential market of 1.2 billion shoppers. Read more of this post

In India’s Politics, Jail Time Is a Badge of Honor

October 13, 2013

In India’s Politics, Jail Time Is a Badge of Honor

By ELLEN BARRY

Kameshwar Baitha in Daltenganj, India. He was elected to Parliament despite murder charges.

DALTENGANJ, India — When he decided to run for a parliamentary seat from this impoverished, and mainly low-caste constituency in northeast India, Kameshwar Baitha made no effort to sugarcoat his criminal record. Obediently, he cataloged the serious charges pending against him, all of which he says are false. There were 17 for murder, 22 for attempted murder, 6 for assault with a dangerous weapon, 5 for theft, 2 for extortion, and so on, a legacy from Mr. Baitha’s previous career as a leader of the local Maoist insurgency. On top of that was the fact that he was in jail. Read more of this post

Singapore rig-builders gear up to meet challenges from aggressive Chinese yards

Singapore rig-builders gear up to meet challenges from aggressive Chinese yards

English.news.cn   2013-10-14 18:57:25

Tan Shih Ming

SINGAPORE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) — While Chinese yards have had significant market share gains in global rig construction, Singapore rig-builders like Keppel Corporation and SembCorp Marine are holding on to their competitive edge through consistent improvement of design and localization of rig construction. In the year to date, Chinese yards have secured 44 percent of the 71 rig contracts. The increasing prominence of Chinese yards is reflected particularly in the jack-up rig market, where they have received orders for 29 of the 56 jack-up rigs in 2013, versus the 20 jack-up rigs secured by Singapore yards. Read more of this post

Why is Israeli venture capital so unpopular in its home field?

Why is Israeli venture capital so unpopular in its home field?

Pitango, Israel’s biggest fund, just raised $270 million from backers as far afield as the Far East, but the participation of locals was minimal

By Inbal Orpaz | Oct. 14, 2013 | 8:23 AM

International investors recognize the potential of Israeli high tech, says Rami Kalish, co-founder of Israel’s largest venture capital firm Pitango Venture Capital, but local Israeli investors are not nearly as enthusiastic. “We would be happy if Israel institutions adopt a strategy of more exposure to the field of private equity in general and to its venture capital element,” Kalish says.

Read more of this post

Mouton ’06 Selling for $5,930 Trades Near Seven-Month Liv-Ex Low

Mouton ’06 Selling for $5,930 Trades Near Seven-Month Liv-Ex Low

A case of 2006 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, a Medoc first-growth wine estate, sold for 3,715 pounds ($5,930) on the Liv-ex market in the past week, near a seven-month low amid weakening demand for top Bordeaux vintages. The transaction on Oct. 11 was 0.9 percent down from a trade at 3,750 pounds the previous day, and just 1.8 percent above the 3,650 pounds at which it sold on Oct. 3, the lowest level on Liv-ex for the vintage since February, according to data on the London-based market’s Cellar Watch website. Read more of this post

Europe Prepares To Come Clean On Hidden Bank Losses

Europe Prepares To Come Clean On Hidden Bank Losses

JOHN O’DONNELL AND ROBIN EMMOTT OCT. 13, 2013, 1:00 PM 1,511 3

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Euro zone countries will consider on Monday how to pay for the repair of their broken banks after health checks next year that are expected to uncover problems that have festered since the financial crisis. Nobody knows the true scale of potential losses at Europe’s banks, but the International Monetary Fund hinted at the enormity of the problem this month, saying that Spanish and Italian banks face 230 billion euros ($310 billion) of losses alone on credit to companies in the next two years. Read more of this post

New law to curb Indonesia’s political dynasties

New law to curb Indonesia’s political dynasties

Monday, October 14, 2013 – 14:17

The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

The House of Representatives is deliberating a regulation that would curb the growth of political dynasties in local administrations. House member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Arief Wibowo said the new regulation would disable powerful families in local politics from exercising their control. “Political dynasties compromise democracy. But at the same time, we cannot not limit the constitutional rights of individuals,” Arief said, adding that the new law would strike a balance between the two. Discussion on political dynasties have been rampant following the arrest of Tubagus Chaeri Wardhana, the younger brother of Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah. The arrest has exposed the control of Atut’s family over Banten. Members of the family control at least five regencies and municipalities in the province.

Jakarta plans to control mushrooming street vendors

Jakarta plans to control mushrooming street vendors

Monday, October 14, 2013 – 14:19

Sita W. Dewi

The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

The city administration intends to impose a moratorium on street vendors as part of its efforts to control their rapidly growing presence. The number of street vendors, who mostly occupy streets and public spaces alike, in Jakarta, has grown astoundingly. The city recorded that the number of street vendors in Jakarta had reached 92,751 in 2011. Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said that the city would refer to the 2011 data before starting it began managing the vendors. “We will lock the figures and then we will manage the existing street vendors,” he said at City Hall recently. Read more of this post

In Indonesia, public opinion can condemn you to death

In Indonesia, public opinion can condemn you to death

Sunday, October 13, 2013 – 13:22

Endy Bayuni

The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

INDONESIA – Death to judge Akil Mochtar! The former Constitutional Court chief isn’t going to be condemned to death after he was caught red-handed taking bribe money at his house in Jakarta this month. But public rage, steered by both his predecessors in the court, Jimly Asshiddiqie and Mahfud MD, called for his blood. Since the Corruption Law prescribes life imprisonment as the maximum punishment, the judge can rest in peace that even if the court should find him guilty he would be spared from the gallows, notwithstanding public opinion. Read more of this post

Analysis: Late Fed taper may do more harm than good for emerging nations

Analysis: Late Fed taper may do more harm than good for emerging nations

5:51pm EDT

By Alonso Soto

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Emerging nations heaved a sigh of relief when the Federal Reserve last month decided not to reduce its monetary stimulus. By postponing the inevitable, the U.S. central bank took pressure off emerging markets to implement reforms that could make them more resilient when the Fed does eventually reverse policy. “It’s very easy to get addicted to high global liquidity,” Guillermo Ortiz, chairman of Mexico’s largest locally owned bank, Grupo Financiero Banorte, told Reuters. Read more of this post

FDIC Says China Among Nations Nearing Deals on Bank-Failure Path

FDIC Says China Among Nations Nearing Deals on Bank-Failure Path

China, Japan, Switzerland and Germany are among nations close to reaching arrangements with U.S. regulators to ease the dismantling of failed banks, said Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg. U.S. regulators are working with German and Swiss counterparts on joint white papers similar to agreements already in place with the U.K. for how banks governed by multiple jurisdictions could be unwound by their host nations, Gruenberg said in remarks prepared for a speech today in Washington. The FDIC will secure memorandums of understanding on bank resolutions with China and Japan soon, he said. Read more of this post

Copper Supply Glut Seen Tripling as Prices Sink 10%: Commodities

Copper Supply Glut Seen Tripling as Prices Sink 10%: Commodities

The worldwide glut of copper supply is poised to almost triple in 2014, driving prices to the lowest in at least three years at a time when the International Monetary Fund says economic growth will be weaker than forecast. The surplus will reach a 13-year high of 272,000 metric tons, according to data from Barclays Plc and the International Copper Study Group in Lisbon. Codelco and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the biggest producers, are among those scheduled to add supply next year. The metal will drop as low as $6,450 a ton in 2014, or 10 percent less than last week’s close, the median of 22 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows. Read more of this post

Lenders Adjust in Asia as Investment Banking Disappoints; Instead of Deals, Banks Are Touting Success in Businesses Like Cash Management, Cross-Border Transactions

Lenders Adjust in Asia as Investment Banking Disappoints

Instead of Deals, Banks Are Touting Success in Businesses Like Cash Management, Cross-Border Transactions

ENDA CURRAN

Oct. 13, 2013 2:35 p.m. ET

When Citigroup Inc. C -0.10% won a contract in 2012 from China Petroleum & ChemicalCorp. 600028.SH +0.68% , or Sinopec, to shuffle cash around the world for Asia’s biggest refiner, the agreement generated few headlines. But the U.S. bank says the deal has helped it win key roles on Sinopec’s bumper crop of bond offerings this year, which included the biggest from Asia in a decade. Read more of this post

Volatility Decline Evokes 2010 Kospi Rally of 28%: Korea Markets

Volatility Decline Evokes 2010 Kospi Rally of 28%: Korea Markets

The last time share-price swings in South Korea fell this low versus peers in emerging markets was May 2010, when the Kospi index surged 28 percent in 12 months. Volatility in the nation’s benchmark equity gauge has halved since July, with a measure of 30-day swings falling to 8.6 on Oct. 11 versus 14 for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The International Monetary Fund says South Korea is among nations best placed to weather a cut in U.S. monetary stimulus because policy makers have room to boost government spending and reduce interest rates. Read more of this post

U.S. Risks Joining 1933 Germany in Pantheon of Deadbeat Defaults

U.S. Risks Joining 1933 Germany in Pantheon of Deadbeat Defaults

Reneging on its debt obligations would make the U.S. the first major Western government to default since Nazi Germany 80 years ago. Germany unilaterally ceased payments on long-term borrowings on May 6, 1933, three months after Adolf Hitler was installed as Chancellor. The default helped cement Hitler’s power base following years of political instability as the Weimar Republic struggled with its crushing debts. “These are generally catastrophic economic events,” said Professor Eugene N. White, an economics historian at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “There is no happy ending.” Read more of this post

Najib Sees Malaysia Escaping Fitch Rating Cut: Southeast Asia

Najib Sees Malaysia Escaping Fitch Rating Cut: Southeast Asia

Prime Minister Najib Razak said he believes that Malaysia can avoid a cut to its credit rating while the government will try its “level best” to prevent a breach of its self-imposed sovereign debt ceiling. “We will manage it,” Najib said in an Oct. 11 interview in Putrajaya, the country’s administrative center near Kuala Lumpur. “We’re very closely monitoring how we manage our macro position as well as our fiscal and debt to make sure that we will not be downgraded.” Read more of this post

China Dairy Demand Drives Warrnambool Bid War; Australian dairy producers are attractive targets because the country’s mild winters reduce feeding costs for dairy herds

China Dairy Demand Drives Warrnambool Bid War: Real M&A

The race to sate Asia’s increasing appetite for dairy foods has made even the worst-performing producer in the region into the target of a bidding war.

Saputo Inc. (SAP), Canada’s largest dairy processor, agreed to pay $372 million for Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Co. (WCB), topping a bid from Bega Cheese Ltd. (BGA) Warrnambool, which exports most of its produce to nations including China and Japan, is trading above Saputo’s Oct. 8 offer of A$7 a share. That shows some investors expect a higher proposal for Australia’s oldest dairy producer, said Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. Read more of this post

Singapore Exchange, south-east Asia’s biggest, plans to add circuit-breakers by early next year after a plunge in shares of three commodity companies erased $US6.9 billion ($7.3 billion) in market value over three days

Hard-hit Singapore Exchange to implement ‘safeguards’

October 14, 2013

Singapore Exchange, south-east Asia’s biggest, plans to add circuit-breakers by early next year after a plunge in shares of three commodity companies erased $US6.9 billion ($7.3 billion) in market value over three days. Under the proposal, trading of a stock will be halted for five minutes if it moves 10 per cent in either direction, the exchange said. It had sought public feedback on the plan in June. Read more of this post

Buyout Shops Gear Up to Spend in Asia; Private-Equity Firms Have Mountain of Cash to Spend but May Lack Attractive Targets

Buyout Shops Gear Up to Spend in Asia

Private-Equity Firms Have Mountain of Cash to Spend but May Lack Attractive Targets

CYNTHIA KOONS and ISABELLA STEGER

Oct. 13, 2013 3:27 p.m. ET

Private-equity firms are sitting on $120 billion in funds to be invested in Asia, the most cash they have ever had on hand. But the region’s small markets, tough governments and fierce competition for deals could make it hard for firms to invest all that money profitably, industry watchers say. Drawn by the promise of strong economic growth, investors have been pouring money into Asia for years, even though returns have lagged behind those in North America. Private-equity firms operating in Asia returned 6.5% in the year ended in March, compared with 12.7% in North America, according to data provider Preqin. In the five years ended in March, Asia funds had internal rates of return—a private-equity benchmark for the profitability of a deal—of just 3.9%, compared with 6.8% in North America. Read more of this post

Mississippi Plant Shows the Cost of ‘Clean Coal’; Mississippi Power, meant to showcase technology for generating clean electricity from low-quality coal, ranks as one of the most-expensive U.S. fossil-fuel projects ever

Mississippi Plant Shows the Cost of ‘Clean Coal’

REBECCA SMITH and CAMERON MCWHIRTER

Oct. 13, 2013 7:23 p.m. ET

DE KALB, Miss.—For decades, the federal government has touted a bright future for nonpolluting power plants fueled by coal. But in this rural corner of eastern Mississippi, the reality of so-called clean coal isn’t pretty. Mississippi Power Co.’s Kemper County plant here, meant to showcase technology for generating clean electricity from low-quality coal, ranks as one of the most-expensive U.S. fossil-fuel projects ever—at $4.7 billion and rising. Mississippi Power’s 186,000 customers, who live in one of the poorest regions of the country, are reeling at double-digit rate increases. And even Mississippi Power’s parent, Atlanta-based Southern Co.SO +0.29% , has said Kemper shouldn’t be used as a nationwide model. Read more of this post

Rediscovering Europe’s Charms in IPO Market

Updated October 13, 2013, 4:31 p.m. ET

Rediscovering Europe’s Charms in IPO Market

JOHN JANNARONE

These days, investors seeking the boldest menu of initial public offerings need a taste for the Old World. After a dry spell in 2012, Europe’s IPO market has bounced back. Some $20 billion in deals have priced so far this year, almost triple the amount from the same period last year, according to Dealogic. While the U.S. still leads with almost $40 billion of new issues, that is virtually unchanged from a year earlier. Furthermore, this year’s European issues have made buyers happy, rising an average of 19% since listing. Some sought-after issues like the U.K.’s Royal MailRMG.LN +37.88% have been screamers: the stock jumped 38% on its first day of trading Friday. Read more of this post

Decaying Bridges, Highways Raise Costs for Truckers, Manufacturers; America’s road to recovery may face a costly detour due to a fraying transportation network

A Slowdown on the Road to Recovery

Decaying Bridges, Highways Raise Costs for Truckers, Manufacturers

BOB TITA

Oct. 13, 2013 4:42 p.m. ET

America’s road to recovery may face a costly detour due to a fraying transportation network. One in nine of the country’s 607,380 bridges are structurally deficient and 42% of the country’s major urban highways are congested, according to an American Society of Civil Engineers estimate, the result of years of inadequate funding and deferred maintenance. Trucks ship the bulk of the country’s goods. But trucking companies and their customers complain those shipments are being rerouted—sometimes by hundreds of miles—or traveling at lower speeds over deteriorating or traffic-clogged highways. That causes higher costs for fuel, maintenance and other expenses, including drivers. Read more of this post

Debt Markets Don’t Drink from Stocks’ Half-Full Glass; Stocks Have Jumped on Debt-Deal Hopes, but Funding Markets Are on the Edge of Their Seat

October 11, 2013, 5:14 p.m. ET

Debt Markets Don’t Drink from Stocks’ Half-Full Glass

Stocks Have Jumped on Debt-Deal Hopes, but Funding Markets Are on the Edge of Their Seat

JUSTIN LAHART

While stock markets have jumped for joy over a possible debt-ceiling deal, short-term funding markets are still on the edge of their seat. Signs of a thaw in Washington’s budget standoff have sent the stock market into paroxysms of joy. But with the clock still ticking on the U.S. hitting its debt ceiling, short-term credit markets remain wary. Until an actual deal is struck, they could get warier still. Read more of this post

Indonesia seeks to get back its manufacturing mojo

Indonesia seeks to get back its manufacturing mojo

5:19pm EDT

By Randy Fabi and Jonathan Thatcher

BANDUNG, Indonesia (Reuters) – In PT Trisula International’s (TRIS.JK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) hangar-sized factory outside the western Indonesian city of Bandung, hundreds of workers stitch together clothes for some of the world’s top brands. Amid the clatter and hum of their machines are hopes for a renaissance that can restore Indonesia’s place among Asia’s big manufacturing economies, a status it lost in the mid-1990s. Read more of this post

Start-Ups Fill Void Left by Spain’s 26% Unemployment Rate

Start-Ups Fill Void Left by Spain’s 26% Unemployment Rate

The rush starts at about 8 p.m. at La Infinito. That’s when Antonio Rojas Fernandez and Paloma Perez Rodriguez’s Madrid cafe usually fills up, typically keeping them busy until midnight. While they have two part-timers to help prepare food and bus the dozen tables a few times a week, the couple hasn’t taken more than a day off each since opening in May 2012, five months after they lost their jobs. She was a teacher, while he installed television antennas. Read more of this post