Active Stock ETFs Move Closer to Market After Long Delay

Active Stock ETFs Move Closer to Market After Long Delay

Companies seeking to push exchange-traded funds into the almost $6 trillion U.S. market for actively managed stock funds are starting to gain traction with regulators after a long delay. Guggenheim Partners LLC, Eaton Vance Corp. and Precidian Investments have received formal comments in the past two months from the Securities and Exchange Commission staff on plans for new types of actively managed ETFs, industry lawyers and executives said. Similar proposals, some as old as five years, have been on hold at the SEC. Read more of this post

Home Depot Expands Redbeacon to Add ‘Do-It-for-Me’ Services

Home Depot Expands Redbeacon to Add ‘Do-It-for-Me’ Services

Home Depot Inc. (HD), the world’s largest home improvement retailer, is accelerating the national rollout of its online handyman referral service Redbeacon to tap demand from homeowners who don’t want to do fix-it projects themselves. Redbeacon, which connects consumers with painters, plumbers, carpenters and maids, expanded this week through Home Depot to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Alaska. That puts the service in 11 states as the service pushes nationwide over the next two years, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Rodio said in an interview yesterday. Read more of this post

Rajan is set to use consumer-price inflation as the main guide for monetary policy for the first time, a shift that signals further increases in the benchmark interest rate

Rajan Seen Switching Main RBI Price Gauge in Sign of Rate Rises

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan is set to use consumer-price inflation as the main guide for monetary policy for the first time, a shift that signals further increases in the benchmark interest rate. Rajan, 50, will add to last week’s surprise repurchase-rate boost after specifying a pace of consumer-price gains as the key target, seven of 10 analysts said in a Bloomberg News survey. A panel he set up after becoming governor on Sept. 4 is due to report by December on revising the monetary-policy framework. Read more of this post

Chicken Processed in China Triggers U.S. Food Safety Protests

Chicken Processed in China Triggers U.S. Food Safety Protests

Food-safety advocates are raising alarms over a decision by the Obama administration to permit chicken processed in China to be sold in the U.S. even after several high-profile incidents of food contamination. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in addressing a decade-long trade dispute over farm imports, said it will allow poultry slaughtered in the U.S. and Canada to be processed in China and returned to the U.S. for consumption. Critics are vowing to fight the decision, which they say puts consumers at risk due to lax Chinese factory oversight. Read more of this post

Panasonic Said to Sell 80% of Healthcare Unit to KKR for $1.5 Bln

Panasonic Said to Sell Health Care Unit to KKR for $1.5 Billion

Panasonic Corp. (6752) is poised to agree to sell its health-care unit to KKR & Co. (KKR) for about 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion) today, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese electronics company will sell about 80 percent of Panasonic Healthcare Co. to the U.S. private equity firm and keep 20 percent, the people said, asking not to be named before a statement scheduled for release later today. Panasonic Healthcare, which provides digital medical record systems and makes instruments that measure blood glucose, would be KKR’s biggest acquisition in Japan, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Osaka-based Panasonic is selling control of the unit as it focuses on a 250 billion-yen plan to reverse losses at its electronics business in the next two years. The Nikkei newspaper reported the transaction earlier today. Chieko Gyobu, a spokeswoman for Panasonic in Tokyo, declined to comment on the sale, as did a spokesman for KKR in the Japanese capital. New York-based KKR got preferential negotiating rights after two rounds of bidding for Panasonic Healthcare, three people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mariko Yasu in Tokyo at myasu@bloomberg.net; Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net

South Korea Embraces Craft Beer

September 18, 2013, 10:26 AM

South Korea Embraces Craft Beer

By Andrew Salmon

SEOUL — In a tangle of nondescript alleyways in central Seoul’s Noksapyeong district, a handful of Korean and foreign entrepreneurs are pioneering a new market for homegrown craft beers. Hidden opposite a side exit to the U.S. Army’s giant Yongsan garrison is trend-setting brewpub Craftworks Brewing Co. Defying its shabby surroundings, Craftworks’ interior is upscale. The bar’s eight taps pour artisanal ales, wheat beers, lagers and porters — each branded with a Korean name. Read more of this post

At H&M, 3,000 Stores and Counting; The Swedish retailer is growing faster in China than it has in any other market in its 66-year history

Updated September 26, 2013, 12:26 p.m. ET

At H&M, 3,000 Stores and Counting

Shares Hit High as Profit Rises; China Expansion Continues

JENS HANSEGARD and LAURIE BURKITT

STOCKHOLM—The laid back Chinese city of Chengdu, famous for its spicy Chuan style food, became the home of Hennes & Mauritz‘s HM-B.SK -0.35% 3,000th store earlier this month, underscoring an ambitious commitment by Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson to expand the company on the back of Asian consumers with rising incomes and heightened demand for style. The Swedish retailer is growing faster in China than it has in any other market in its 66-year history. On Thursday, investors drove H&M shares to a record high as third-quarter earnings indicated that its aggressive store-opening strategy is paying off. Read more of this post

China Seen to Wait Until 2016 to Scrap Cap on Bank Deposit Rates

China Seen to Wait Until 2016 to Scrap Cap on Bank Deposit Rates

China will probably wait at least two years before requiring banks to pay market rates on deposits as officials seek to avoid disrupting the banking system while the economy is slowing. Policy makers will remove all restrictions on deposit rates in 2016 or later, according to seven of 12 economists and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News from Sept. 9 to 13. Most respondents said such a move could cut net interest margins, a measure of loan profitability, by at least 50 basis points and smaller banks will be the hardest hit. Read more of this post

In the hunt for luxury hotel management companies in America, China’s richest man may set his sights on Four Seasons, or several smaller boutique chains

Four Seasons Seen Drawing China’s Richest Man: Real M&A

In the hunt for luxury hotel management companies in America, China’s richest man may set his sights on Four Seasons, or several smaller boutique chains. Wang Jianlin, owner of commercial land developer Dalian Wanda Group, said this month he hired two investment banks to buy hotel management companies, mostly in the U.S., where a recovery in travel is boosting lodging demand. Closely held Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, operator of the namesake properties in Manhattan and around the world, would give Wang a high-end, globally recognized brand, said Robert W. Baird & Co. Read more of this post

Huishan Dairy, the milk producer backed by billionaire Cheng Yu-tung, fell in its trading debut after the company and investors sold at least HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) in shares in an IPO

Huishan Dairy Falls in Trading Debut After $1.3 Billion IPO

China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co. (6863), the milk producer backed by billionaire Cheng Yu-tung, fell in its trading debut after the company and investors sold at least HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) in shares in an initial public offering. The stock declined 5.2 percent to HK$2.53 as of 9.35 a.m. in Hong Kong trading. The benchmark Hang Seng Index advanced 0.34 percent. Huishan Dairy and its investors sold a total of 3.8 billion shares at HK$2.67 apiece, with the company raising HK$7.52 billion after deducting underwriting fees, it said yesterday. The price was at the top end of a marketed range. Read more of this post

BlackRock’s Hambro Sees CEO Exits as Gold Miners Book Writedowns

BlackRock’s Hambro Sees CEO Exits as Gold Miners Book Writedowns

BlackRock Inc. (BLK)’s Evy Hambro, who manages the $8 billion World Mining Fund, expects more heads of gold producers to exit as companies book further writedowns after the metal’s biggest quarterly drop in more than 90 years. “It’s very clear to us that there will be further writedowns as we go into the full year, or the results season at the beginning of next year,” Hambro said in an interview, declining to name any companies. “I would be very surprised if we didn’t see more change in CEOs across the gold industry.” Read more of this post

China banks face daunting money squeeze

September 26, 2013 9:19 am

China banks face daunting money squeeze

By Henny Sender

Fears banks lack risk management skills for brave new world

The path of financial reform in China is becoming ever more tortuous. Bankers gathered at a Singapore summit last weekend say the next step on the path is interest rate deregulation, which could come in the next 18 months, bringing in its wake myriad headaches both for the banks and for many of their customers. It is a logical next step. By deregulating rates, Beijing hopes to stem the growth of the shadow banking system, which has been largely driven by the desire of those with excess cash to earn more interesting amounts on their savings while borrowers who cannot get loans at the artificially low rates at the banks currently hope to attract funds by paying more for them unofficially. Read more of this post

Mortgage Trouble in Chinese City; Borrowers Walk Away From Homes in Wenzhou

Updated September 26, 2013, 7:42 p.m. ET

Mortgage Trouble in Chinese City

Borrowers Walk Away From Homes in Wenzhou

ESTHER FUNG

SHANGHAI—Tighter credit and falling housing prices in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou have led to a wave of mortgage defaults and abandoned properties in the city, where persistent property-price drops have flown in the face of a national upturn in prices. Homeowners in the city have abandoned 580 homes and there are another 15 cases of mortgages in default, according to a national state-radio broadcast citing a local official in charge of investigating mortgage defaults. The broadcast, which followed local-media reports of more widespread defaults, didn’t give a timeframe for the cases cited, and the official numbers are hardly staggering. Read more of this post

Shanghai’s new zone: lots of hype, little detail

September 26, 2013 10:58 am

Shanghai’s new zone: lots of hype, little detail

By Simon Rabinovitch in Shanghai

The anticipation for China’s new free trade zone, set to be launched this weekend, is at fever pitch. Homes next to the zone in Shanghai’s far-flung suburbs are sold out. The stocks of companies expected to benefit have surged, some rising by more than 300 per cent over the past month. Economists have hailed it as China’s most significant reform push in more than a decade. Read more of this post

Shanghai Free-Trade Zone Splits Analysts on Benefits to Economy

Shanghai Free-Trade Zone Splits Analysts on Benefits to Economy

By Bloomberg News – Sep 25, 2013

China’s plan to set up a test zone in Shanghai with reduced state control over policies from interest rates to foreign investment has split analysts over whether it will boost the economy across the nation. Eight of 17 respondents to a Bloomberg News survey said the so-called free trade zone will have no effect or a negligible impact on growth, while eight said it will boost annual expansion by 0.1 percentage point to 0.5 point over the next five years. One economist in the survey, conducted from Sept. 18 through yesterday, said growth would increase by 0.5 point to 0.9 point. Read more of this post

Shandong Shipyard’s Lesson: Don’t Rock a Bank; A shipbuilder stung by European clients has spent years fighting a major bank, so far in vain

09.26.2013 19:33

Shandong Shipyard’s Lesson: Don’t Rock a Bank

A shipbuilder stung by European clients has spent years fighting a major bank, so far in vain

By staff reporters Pang Jiaoming and Wu Jing

(Beijing) — What was initially billed as a lucrative order from a European customer has pushed a Shandong Province shipbuilding company to the brink of bankruptcy and ruined its relationship with one of China’s biggest banks. Rushan City Shipbuilding Co. is fighting for survival after filing a lawsuit recently against the Rushan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) – the latest in a series of ugly legal battles involving the bank and shipping companies that began in 2010. Read more of this post

Population Control Is Called Big Revenue Source in China; Nineteen province-level governments in China collected a total of $2.7 billion in fines last year from parents who had violated family planning laws

September 26, 2013

Population Control Is Called Big Revenue Source in China

By EDWARD WONG

BEIJING — Nineteen province-level governments in China collected a total of $2.7 billion in fines last year from parents who had violated family planning laws, which usually limit couples to one child, a lawyer who had requested the data said Thursday. The lawyer, Wu Youshui of Zhejiang Province, sent letters in July to 31 provincial governments asking officials to disclose how much they had collected in 2012 in family planning fines, referred to as “social support fees.” He said he suspected that the fines were a substantial source of revenue for governments in poor parts of China. Read more of this post

NDRC Lets Firms Pay for Shantytown Work with Bonds

09.26.2013 14:53

NDRC Lets Firms Pay for Shantytown Work with Bonds

Cabinet says companies can pay up to 70 percent of the costs for the renovations through debt financing

By staff reporter Yang Na

(Beijing) – The government’s top planning agency beefed up financing for companies involved in rebuilding shantytowns by allowing them to cover nearly three-quarters of the cost via bonds. Rebuilding shantytowns is a major part of the government’s urbanization plans. A notice published on the website of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on September 25 said that companies involved in shantytown projects can issue corporate bonds. Read more of this post

Chinese TV show “Legend of Zhen Huan” gets ready for US market

Chinese TV show gets ready for US market

(CNTV)    12:42, September 23, 2013

The “Legend of Zhen Huan”, a Chinese TV drama which depicts the power strugglebetween the concubines of an emperor, has already been a success in Asian countries. Now,it’s about to land in the US, a positive sign that Chinese TV is increasingly ready to moveinto the international arena. The desperate housewives are about to get some competition from the “desperateconcubines”. As the most popular Chinese TV series of 2012, the Legend of Zhen Huan has charmedboth domestic and foreign viewers. The “Legend of Zhen Huan”, a Chinese TV drama which depicts the power struggle between the concubines of an emperor, has already been a success in Asian countries. Read more of this post

China: Culture crash; Apollo Tyres’ $2.5bn bid for Cooper Tire is being held back by an unusual obstacle

September 26, 2013 6:35 pm

China: Culture crash

By Tom Mitchell, James Crabtree and Robert Wright

Apollo Tyres’ $2.5bn bid for Cooper Tire is being held back by an unusual obstacle

The Cooper Chengshan Tire factory in eastern China has the feel of a place that is slowly coming back to life after a long siege. Three months after the factory’s 5,000-strong workforce first downed tools to protest about the proposed acquisition of their US parent by an Indian rival, employees in dark blue uniforms go about their tasks. But evidence of their continuing industrial action is festooned across the compound. Read more of this post

China state sector a honey pot for corrupt officials

China state sector a honey pot for corrupt officials

Filed 10 hours ago

By Charlie Zhu

HONG KONG – In March last year, after getting government approval to go ahead with a $900 million refinery expansion in China’s southeastern Fujian province, state-run oil giant Sinopec Corp warned the team handling the project against taking bribes. “Project engineering and construction has been a main area for corruption at Sinopec,” the Fujian unit of Asia’s largest refiner said in a blunt memo, according to a Sinopec source who read it to Reuters. “All members, especially those in key posts, must treasure their positions, stay guarded and resist temptation.” Read more of this post

China Seeks to Repeat Deng’s Shenzhen Success in Shanghai Zone

China Seeks to Repeat Deng’s Shenzhen Success in Shanghai Zone

Three decades after Deng Xiaoping’s experiments with capitalism in the southern city of Shenzhen began lifting millions from poverty, his successors are applying that same strategy to the tougher task of making China rich. Playing the role of Shenzhen is 11 square miles of low-rise office buildings, white warehouses and concrete parking lots on the outskirts of Shanghai. The zone, set to open in two days, will test policies that reduce state controls on interest rates, the currency and investment. By giving markets and the private sector a bigger economic role, China may become a high-income nation by 2030, according to the World Bank. Read more of this post

China policy bank sells first asset-backed securities to strong demand; 32 billion yuan in securitised products were outstanding end June; 4.2 trillion yuan in trust loans are often packaged into wealth management products

China policy bank sells first asset-backed securities to strong demand

Wed, Sep 25 2013

SHANGHAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Agricultural Development Bank of China completed its first-ever sale of asset-backed securities (ABS) on Wednesday, as regulators push securitisation as a tool to enable banks to support the economy with new credit. ADB, one of China’s three policy banks devoted to non-commercial lending, sold 1.27 billion yuan ($207.5 million) worth of ABS, with each of the three tranches attracting strong demand from investors, official media reported on Thursday. Read more of this post

LM boss Peter Drake’s assets frozen; Latest blow for embattled Gold Coast businessman Peter Drake in the investigation into the collapse of his LM Investment Management empire

LM boss Peter Drake’s assets frozen

September 27, 2013 – 5:22PM

Georgia Wilkins

Slim pickings for LM investors

Embattled Gold Coast businessman Peter Drake has had his passport revoked and assets frozen during an ongoing investigation into the collapse of his LM Investment Management empire. The Supreme Court of Queensland ordered Mr Drake to surrender his passport on Friday, following an application by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The court orders also prevent Mr Drake from selling any assets he holds, excluding his Mermaid Beach, Queensland home, which is expected to be sold this weekend, the regulator said. Read more of this post

Blame negative gearing for property bubble, not us: SMSF lobby

Michael Bailey Deputy editor

Blame negative gearing for property bubble, not us: SMSF lobby

Published 26 September 2013 11:28, Updated 26 September 2013 12:03

Self-managed super funds hold just 3.4 per cent of their $495 billion assets in residential property, and are being unfairly blamed for stoking a new bubble, claims the chief lobby group for the sector. Gearing within SMSFs is also not the problem that critics of the sector allege, says the director of technical and professional standards at the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA), Graeme Colley. Read more of this post

Australian government faces housing bubble challenge

Australian government faces housing bubble challenge

Bubble risk, limits on home loans mulled

Banking regulator shows signs of concern over lenders’ increasing exposure to property

Xinhua | Agencies
Published on September 26, 2013 13:32

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which regulates banks, has hinted it is concerned about the industry’s rising exposure to property. APRA has opened the door to imposing limits for the first time in a decade on how much can be lent to home buyers. Australian central bank (RBA) board members are likely to have mixed feelings about property industry. They are probably glad that a housing upswing is under way, supporting growth, but may get nervous about overinflating housing prices. Read more of this post

With Tastes Growing Healthier, McDonald’s Aims to Adapt Its Menu; fast-food chain said it would increase its offerings of fruits and vegetables and promote more nutritional options to children

September 26, 2013

With Tastes Growing Healthier, McDonald’s Aims to Adapt Its Menu

By STEPHANIE STROM

The company is working with its supply chains to ensure access to enough produce. The chain said it would use its arsenal of marketing tools to help customers understand the nutritional choices available. Under pressure to provide healthier meals, McDonald’s announced on Thursday that it would no longer market some of its less nutritional options to children and said it also planned to include offerings of fruits and vegetables in many of its adult menu combinations. Read more of this post

Don’t Even Think About Returning That Dress: Return fraud costs America’s merchants almost $9 billion annually. Now they’re fighting back

Don’t Even Think About Returning That Dress

By Cotten Timberlake September 26, 2013

High-end retailers such as Bloomingdale’s are always happy to sell a glitzy party or bridesmaid dress that can cost hundreds of dollars. The return of a pricey frock after it’s been worn is a less jubilant event. If a garment comes back obviously used—sweat-stained, for example—a retailer can refuse to refund it, but that conversation can be “awkward,” says Richard Mellor, vice president of loss prevention at the National Retail Federation. So some retailers simply look the other way. Read more of this post

An Ugly Dilemma for Beauty Companies: China, whose cosmetics market is forecast to grow to $34.8 billion this year, requires animal testing for new products

An Ugly Dilemma for Beauty Companies

By Liza Lin September 26, 2013

Executives of Western cosmetics makers are ecstatic about the prospect of continued growth in China’s $32 billion beauty market. Animal rights activists, not so much. That’s because hundreds of thousands of animals are believed killed each year in tests mandated for all new cosmetics and personal-care products to win approval on the mainland. China is the only major market where companies must test their mascaras and lotions on animals. Rabbits, for instance, have ingredients dripped into their eyes or are killed after skin irritation tests, according to animal-rights group Cruelty Free International. That’s created a dilemma for companies like L’Oréal (OR:FP) and Procter & Gamble(PG) that want to sell in the giant market without alienating consumers in countries where public sentiment frowns on such animal treatment. U.S. regulators discourage, but don’t bar, animal tests. India in June banned animal testing for beauty products. And the European Union, which has long barred such trials within its borders, in March tightened regulations to also prohibit the sale of newly developed products tested on animals elsewhere. (Existing products that previously underwent testing in China are exempt.) Unless companies can get Chinese regulators to ease their mandate, they may need to devise separate formulations for China and Europe or produce China-only items. Read more of this post