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IN BRIEF (Page 24)

China Daily Europe | Updated: 2017-04-21 09:08

IN BRIEF (Page 24)

A ROBOT gives a presentation on cyberspace security at a national security education promotion event in Beijing, held on April 15 and 16. Cheng Gong / For China Daily

Bright to sell most of Weetabix stake

Shanghai-based food conglomerate Bright Food Group Co has confirmed it will sell the majority of its stake in UK cereal brand Weetabix to US cereal company Post Holdings, the group's spokesman told China Daily on April 18. The sale is projected to be worth $1.76 billion, according to Reuters. Bright Food will remain as a stakeholder in the brand and continue to help it expand in the Chinese market, according to the company. "The move will help Bright Food better leverage its financial and human resources for its globalization strategy," said Pan Jianjun, spokesman for the State-owned conglomerate, which has made several acquisitions globally in recent years. Bright Food acquired a 60 percent stake in private equity firm Lion Capital in 2012 for £1.2 billion ($1.54 billion; 1.43 billion euros), which at the time was the largest overseas deal made by a Chinese company in the food and beverage sector worldwide.

Milestone IPO set for bike-sharing firm

Changzhou Youon Public Bicycle System is set to become the first bicycle-sharing company to go public in China's domestic market, providing a test case for the country's fast-growing industry. Youon, backed by Ant Financial, has received written approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for a proposed Shanghai IPO of 598 million yuan ($87 million; 81 million euros; £68 million). The company was looking to start premarketing for the float, according to a source familiar with the situation. The move comes amid a fundraising boom in China's bike-sharing companies in the past several months.

Lander scraps plan to buy Southampton stake

Chinese stadium builder Lander Sports said late on April 16 that it was terminating plans to buy a stake in English soccer club Southampton, citing uncertainties wrought by changes in China's securities market and policies. In a statement issued to the stock market, Lander Sports said the process to buy an 80 percent stake in Southampton's holding company, St. Mary's Football Group, also involved having to gain approval from government bodies including China's foreign exchange regulator and the top economic planner. "Whether the company can eventually complete the acquisition of the target firm's shares remains uncertain," it said in the statement. "To keep to the principle of prudence, ensure the company's development remains normal and to safeguard the majority of investors' interests, the company has decided to end this major asset restructuring." The company had said earlier this year that it had struck a deal with Saints' owner, Katharina Liebherr, without disclosing the price.

Lenovo R&D aims for new growth engine

Lenovo Group said it plans to pour $1.2 billion (1.16 billion euros; £935 million) into the research and development of artificial intelligence, the internet of things and big data over the next four years - as the Chinese tech group scrambles to breathe new life into its PC, smartphone and other hardware businesses. Chairman Yang Yuanqing said in an interview that the Beijing-based company aims to find a new growth engine through heavy R&D investment and partnerships with global giants such as Google and Amazon. The company is expected to unveil a new handset that comes with Amazon's voice recognition technology Alexa, and it now sells a smartphone that uses Google's Tango augmented reality computing platform, Lenovo, which controls 20 percent of the global personal computer market, has been struggling to revive its profits amid shrinking demand for PCs and intensified competition with Huawei Technologies Co and Samsung Electronics Co in the smartphone sector.

More coal behemoths on the horizon

China plans to create about 10 mega coal companies by 2020 through mergers and reorganizations, as part of its long-standing efforts to cut overcapacity, said a top official of the National Energy Administration. Wang Xiaolin, deputy director of the NEA, said the country is preparing guidelines to overhaul the bloated sector, and aims to create several new behemoths with annual capacity of 100 million metric tons by 2020. There were six producers in the country reaching such capacity last year, said Zhang Hong, deputy secretary-general of the China National Coal Association. The plan is part of the government's effort to promote industrial upgrading and concentration. Last year, it set a target of reducing the number of coal producers by almost half to 3,000, with those with output capacity of 50 million tons generating 60 percent of industry output.

Regulator approves Syngenta deal

Chinese regulators gave the go-ahead for China National Chemical Corp's planned $43 billion (40.1 billion euros; £33.5 billion) takeover of Syngenta AG, sending shares of the Swiss maker of pesticides and seeds up by as much as 3 percent. Just a nod from Indian authorities is all that is needed for the transaction to go ahead after months of delays. Syngenta expects China's largest foreign acquisition so far to be completed in the second quarter, according to a statement on April 19. ChemChina won European Union antitrust approval for its takeover of the Swiss pesticide maker last week, a day after the US gave its blessing. The takeover, announced more than a year ago, is one of a trio of megadeals that would reshape the global agrochemicals industry.

Pork supplier starting bioscience venture

Smithfield Foods Inc, which slaughters more pigs than any other company, wants to save human lives by using leftover hog parts to grow tissue and organs for transplants. The US pork supplier, which is controlled by China's WH Group Ltd, is creating Smithfield Bioscience, a division that will use byproducts from its meat operations for use in the pharmaceutical and medical industries, it said on April 19 in a statement. It already sells products used in drugs to treat conditions such as indigestion and hypothyroidism.

China Everbright arm planning IPO

China Everbright Greentech plans to raise up to HK$3.3 billion ($424 million; 396 million euros; £331 million) from a Hong Kong IPO, according to an announcement from Hong Kong-listed parent China Everbright International. Everbright Greentech will sell 560 million shares, or 28 percent of the company's enlarged share capital, at an indicative price range of HK$5.18 to $5.90 each. The company is current premarketing the deal. According to the announcement, existing shareholders of Everbright International can subscribe to Everbright Greentech shares on a preferential basis of one reserved share for every integral multiple of 81 Everbright International shares.

Ford's China sales slump in first quarter

Ford Motor Co said its China vehicle sales fell by 21 percent in the first quarter compared with a year ago, after a tax cut on small-engined vehicles was rolled back. Ford trailed many of its competitors in China in the first quarter with Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co and others disclosing sales increases and the automakers' association reporting a 7 percent rise for overall sales. Many in the industry had feared that consumers rushing to buy small-engine cars before a tax increase at the end of 2016 would lead to weaker sales in the first few months of 2017. Roughly 70 to 75 percent of Ford cars sold in China qualified for the tax cut, which applies to vehicles with engine capacity of 1.6 liters or below, Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields told reporters in Shanghai ahead of the release of Ford's March figures.

( China Daily European Weekly 04/21/2017 page24)

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