Bamboo Innovator

In Fracking, Sand Is the New Gold; Energy Boom Fuels Demand for Key Ingredient Used in Drilling Wells; 100 Sand Mines in Wisconsin

In Fracking, Sand Is the New Gold

Energy Boom Fuels Demand for Key Ingredient Used in Drilling Wells; 100 Sand Mines in Wisconsin

ALISON SIDER and KRISTIN JONES

Dec. 2, 2013 7:49 p.m. ET

The race to drill for oil in the U.S. is creating another boom—in sand, a key ingredient in fracking. Energy companies are expected to use 56.3 billion pounds of sand this year, blasting it down oil and natural gas wells to help crack rocks and allow fuel to flow out. Sand use has increased 25% since 2011, according to the consulting firm PacWest, which expects a further 20% rise over the next two years. Read more of this post

Versace Valuation May Be as Over the Top as Its Clothes

DECEMBER 3, 2013, 2:09 PM

Versace Valuation May Be as Over the Top as Its Clothes

By QUENTIN WEBB

Versace’s valuation looks as aggressive as its outfits. The Italian fashion house, which is sizing up buyout firms and sovereign wealth funds to finance a capital increase, believes it is worth more than 1 billion euros, or $1.36 billion, and could triple in value in three years. There is real potential, because Versace has fallen behind industry trends. But a big price tag for a skimpy minority stake next to a powerful family? That’s hard to pull off. Read more of this post

Heavy Inventories Threaten to Squeeze Clothing Stores

Heavy Inventories Threaten to Squeeze Clothing Stores

Retailers’ Weak Thanksgiving Showing Could Force Tough Markdowns

SUZANNE KAPNER

Dec. 3, 2013 9:58 p.m. ET

It isn’t just Americans who need to go on a diet after Thanksgiving. Apparel retailers need to slim down, too. Chains including Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF +5.79% , Chico’s FAS Inc., Gap Inc.GPS -1.13% and Victoria’s Secret came into the fourth quarter with heavy inventory loads. The concern now is the retail industry’s weak showing over Thanksgiving weekend will force them to take bigger markdowns that could hurt their fourth-quarter profits. Read more of this post

Adidas chief admits mistakes have taken toll

December 3, 2013 1:29 pm

Adidas chief admits mistakes have taken toll

By Alice Ross in Frankfurt

The chief executive of Adidas has admitted that the German sports equipment company has made mistakes and not performed as well as senior executives had hoped. Speaking to investors at its Bavarian headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Herbert Hainer, head of the world’s second-largest sportswear company by sales, said that the environment “had served up a constant stream of challenges”, including cost pressures, currency swings and a “persistently weaker” European market. Read more of this post

Worst Raw-Material Slump Since ’08 Seen Deepening

Worst Raw-Material Slump Since ’08 Seen Deepening

By Elizabeth Campbell – Dec 2, 2013

The commodity slump that spurred bear markets in everything from gold to corn to sugar this year will deepen by the end of December as prices head for their first annual loss since 2008, if history is any guide. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials fell in December 83 percent of the time since 1971 when the benchmark gauge was posting losses for the year through November, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The average December loss was 3.9 percent, which if it happened this time would mean a 7.8 percent drop for the year. Read more of this post

Raw Sugar Extends Longest Slump Since August 2012 on Supply Glut

Sugar Reaches Three-Year Low as Indian Dispute Ends; Cocoa Drops

Sugar fell to a three-year low in London on speculation exports from India will speed up after the end of a cane-price dispute that delayed processing in the world’s second-biggest producer. Cocoa retreated in London. All mills in Uttar Pradesh state will start processing cane by Dec. 12 after ending a shutdown, C.B. Patodia, president of Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association, said in an interview yesterday. India is returning to the export market and may ship out as much as 3 million metric tons of sugar, Abinash Verma, director general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, said in an interview in London last week. Read more of this post

Commodity trackers flee for surging stocks

December 4, 2013 8:59 am

Commodity trackers flee for surging stocks

By Gregory Meyer in New York

Index-tracking commodity investors are fleeing the strategy at a record pace as surging stock markets leave raw materials in the dust. New estimates from Citi show $36bn was redeemed from passive commodities investments in the year to November, a “massive retrenchment” from net inflows of $27.5bn in all of 2012. Read more of this post

Tingyi Considers Food Deals With $1.6 Billion War Chest

Tingyi Considers Food Acquisitions With $1.6 Billion War Chest

Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp. (322), PepsiCo Inc.’s Chinese partner, is considering buying instant food businesses to boost growth after annual sales expanded at the slowest pace in eight years. The maker of Master Kong brand ready-to-drink teas and snacks is seeking acquisitions, and will likely form a new strategic alliance next year, Chief Financial Officer Frank Lin said in an interview in Taipei on Nov. 29, declining to provide details. It’s considering both domestic and overseas brands for deals and cooperations, he said. Read more of this post

Robin Li Passes Wang Jianlin as China’s Wealthiest Man

Robin Li Passes Wang Jianlin as China’s Wealthiest Man

Robin Li passed Wang Jianlin as the richest man in China today by just $64 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

The founder of China’s largest Internet search engine Baidu Inc., has become the wealthiest individual in the world’s second-biggest economy, 14 days after he took the No. 2 spot. Li’s net worth has climbed by $4.8 billion, or 65 percent, to $12.231 billion so far this year as Baidu shares rallied. Wang, chairman of closely-held Dalian Wanda Group, has seen his fortune rise by $2.9 billion to $12.167 billion in 2013. Four of China’s top billionaires are worth about $12 billion. Read more of this post

Inside China’s Version of Silicon Valley; Entrepreneurs, Investors Rub Elbows in Beijing’s Zhongguancun District

Inside China’s Version of Silicon Valley

Entrepreneurs, Investors Rub Elbows in Beijing’s Zhongguancun District

PAUL MOZUR

Updated Dec. 3, 2013 8:11 p.m. ET

BEIJING—On the outside, China’s answer to Silicon Valley doesn’t look the part: It’s a crowded mass of electronics malls, fast-food joints and office buildings in northwest Beijing, bisected by congested highways. But in these nondescript offices China is nurturing a growing class of tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, whose promising startups are challenging the long-held idea that China’s Internet companies merely copy the products of the West. Read more of this post

Disney rethinks its China strategy

December 2, 2013 4:00 pm

Disney rethinks its China strategy

By Howard Yu and Stefan Michel

The story. When China lifted a ban on Walt Disney characters in 1978 and joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, the US entertainment company saw a huge potential new market for sales and distribution of film, television content and DVDs in an increasingly liberalising economy. Read more of this post

China’s Top 100 Brands: Private Companies Gaining Ground

Dec 3, 2013

China’s Top 100 Brands: Private Companies Gaining Ground

China Mobile ranked as the country’s No. 1 brand in 2013, according to research from Millward Brown and WPP. China’s homegrown private brands are gaining ground against their state-backed peers, reflecting progress, experts say, in the country’s push to rebalance the economy. Read more of this post

China’s Latest IPO Investment: Death

Dec 2, 2013

China’s Latest IPO Investment: Death

ISABELLA STEGER

If childbirth was the investment theme for November in China, then this month investors will have the chance to invest in something quite the opposite — a funeral services provider. Shanghai-based Fu Shou Yuan Group Ltd. is set to become the first such company in the country to go public. The biggest operator of cemeteries and provider of funeral services in China is looking to raise around $200 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, a person with knowledge of the matter said Tuesday. Read more of this post

A Profitable Trade: Illicitly Shipping BMWs to China; Lucrative Re-Sales of Luxury Cars Targeted by Federal U.S. Investigators

A Profitable Trade: Illicitly Shipping BMWs to China

Lucrative Re-Sales of Luxury Cars Targeted by Federal U.S. Investigators

ANDREW GROSSMAN

Dec. 2, 2013 6:57 p.m. ET

In the U.S., the sticker price for a BMW BMW.XE -1.77% X5 sport-utility vehicle is just over $56,000. In China, BMW advertises the same car for nearly three times that, creating an opening for arbitragers to buy the vehicles in the U.S. and ship them to China for a quick profit. Read more of this post

Uncovering the market’s hidden blue chip stocks in Australia

Uncovering the market’s hidden blue chip stocks

December 4, 2013 – 2:20PM

Most investors know Woolworths and Commonwealth Bank of Australia are some of the most reliable earners listed on the ASX. That’s a big reason why they are considered the bluest of blue-chip stocks. But if a steady earnings profile makes a blue-chip stock, then the list would extend beyond the top 50 to include other names – some better known than others – such as Carsales.com, Mermaid Marine, Silver Chef and Corporate Travel Management. What most investors want when they buy shares in a company is exposure to a business that’s on a firm financial footing, a history of steady earnings growth, and decent prospects – all at a reasonable price. Sounds simple, really – except we all know it’s not. But we’ve tried to make things a little bit easier for you by measuring the stability of earnings, operating income and dividends paid of each and every one of the biggest 300 listed companies by market capitalisation, to come up with a short list of the businesses that have had the steadiest earnings profile over the past 10 years.

Read more of this post

Shareholder Activism Rises Down Under; The Most Recent Target Is Seen as a Test of Activism Efficacy for Larger Companies

Shareholder Activism Rises Down Under

The Most Recent Target Is Seen as a Test of Activism Efficacy for Larger Companies

ROSS KELLY

Dec. 2, 2013 6:35 a.m. ET

Shareholder activism, made popular in the U.S. by the likes of Carl Icahn and Dan Loeb, is taking root in Australia as investors bristle over years of poor returns and conservative capital management. Washington H. Soul Pattinson SOL.AU -1.03% & Co., Australia’s second-oldest listed company, is the latest to find itself in the cross hairs of investors who think management isn’t doing enough to generate value. In October, the 110-year-old company, which has interests in businesses ranging from pharmaceutical retailing to coal mining, became the subject of an assault by two of its largest shareholders: Australian fund manager PerpetualLtd. PPT.AU -1.21% and investment banker Mark Carnegie. Read more of this post

Australia Food-Bowl Dream Seen at Risk as Foreign Cash Shunned

Australia Food-Bowl Dream Seen at Risk as Foreign Cash Shunned

Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s election pledge to turn Australia’s remote north into a food bowl for Asia has set him on a collision course with his own government over foreign ownership of agricultural land. Local farmers and officials have warned Abbott’s vision for the sparsely populated region will fail unless he allows greater investment from countries such as China and Indonesia. The government’s decision last week to block a U.S.-led $2 billion purchase of crop handler GrainCorp Ltd. has put a cloud over Abbott’s vow after his Sept. 7 election win that Australia is “open for business.” Read more of this post

Taubman’s Bet on Asia Shakes Investors’ Faith; Investors Worry the Company Is Too Tied Up in Asia Projects

Taubman’s Bet on Asia Shakes Investors’ Faith

Investors Worry the Company Is Too Tied Up in Asia Projects

ROBBIE WHELAN

Dec. 3, 2013 7:57 p.m. ET

In late October, executives from Taubman Centers Inc., TCO +0.32% the luxury retail real-estate empire built by the Taubman family of Michigan, gathered with local officials and business leaders in Hanam City, South Korea, to celebrate the groundbreaking of a massive mall the company is building there. Read more of this post

Lessons from Asia’s reversal of fortunes; Myanmar’s emergence on the international stage is stealing some of Thailand’s thunder

December 2, 2013 5:55 pm

Lessons from Asia’s reversal of fortunes

By Gwen Robinson

Myanmar’s emergence on the international stage is stealing some of Thailand’s thunder, writes Gwen Robinson

The short flight from Bangkok to Yangon on Sunday took the usual 55 minutes and transported passengers from Thailand’s thriving metropolis to the more surreal world of Myanmar’s former capital. But this time, the “tale of two cities” – one just emerging from the shadows, the other on a rapid development track – had reversed, like a movie in which the actors suddenly swap roles. Read more of this post

China Bond Trading Dives; Cheapening Bond Prices Fail to Whet Investors’ Appetite

China Bond Trading Dives

Cheapening Bond Prices Fail to Whet Investors’ Appetite

SHEN HONG

Dec. 2, 2013 4:31 a.m. ET

SHANGHAI—Trading volume in China’s bond market has plummeted in recent months, in another reminder of how the country’s shifting interest-rate environment has taken a toll on a once fast-expanding financial sector. Read more of this post

Hong Kong Confirms City’s First Human Case of Bird Flu

Hong Kong Confirms City’s First Human Case of Bird Flu

Hong Kong has reported its first confirmed human infection of H7N9 avian influenza, the strain of the virus that has killed 45 people in China this year. The victim is a 36-year-old Indonesian domestic helper, who had traveled to the neighboring mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen, where she bought and slaughtered a chicken, Hong Kong’s government said yesterday in statement. Read more of this post

Billionaire Seeks to Double Cairn Oil Output: Corporate India

Billionaire Seeks to Double Cairn Oil Output: Corporate India

Billionaire Anil Agarwal has asked Cairn India Ltd. (CAIR), which enjoys the highest profit margin among the top Asian oil companies, to explore ways to double output as his mining business in the South Asian nation founders. Cairn India “has a mission” to accelerate its target to 400,000 barrels a day from about 200,000 barrels, Chief Executive Officer P. Elango said. The company, which possesses about $3 billion of cash, plans to drill 450 new wells in its fields in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, he said. Read more of this post

Delhi’s rubble-strewn Connaught Place mirrors Congress’ election struggle

Delhi’s rubble-strewn Connaught Place mirrors Congress’ election struggle

Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit gestures as she shows her ink-marked finger after casting her vote at a polling station during the state assembly elections in New Delhi December 4, 2013.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013 – 18:11

Reuters

NEW DELHI – The broken paving stones and exposed cables that mar the neo-Georgian grandeur of India’s prime shopping precinct give a glimpse into why the ruling Congress party might struggle to hold on to the capital Delhi in a local election on Wednesday. Read more of this post

High-End Motorcycles Rev Up Sales in India; Harley, Yamaha, Ducati See Untapped Market Among Affluent Indians

High-End Motorcycles Rev Up Sales in India

Harley, Yamaha, Ducati See Untapped Market Among Affluent Indians

SANTANU CHOUDHURY

Dec. 3, 2013 7:17 p.m. ET

Indian roads have been getting a little bit louder these days as affluent Indians, longtime fans of designer watches and the Mercedes-Benz DAI.XE -2.12% sedan, are starting to snap up high-end motorcycles. Despite a nationwide slowdown, more Indians are mounting large, noisy motorcycles asHarley-Davidson Inc., HOG -0.48% Yamaha Motor Co. 7272.TO -1.74% , Ducati Motor Holding SpA and others set up shop in the subcontinent, hoping to capture its first generation of elite easy riders. Read more of this post