WORLD
Chinese are making a killing everywhere but in China
Chinese businesses see a $1 trillion e-commerce market and a US society fed up with inflation and high cost of living. Moreover, entrepreneurship is difficult in China, where one can never sit back, relax and collect dividends from past hard work. Whether politicians like it or not, the Chinese are coming and Americans can finally get some reprieve and value for their money
BUSINESS
Alibaba's Troubles: Who wants to catch Jack Ma’s falling knife?
While Ma is no longer actively involved in Alibaba’s operations, his decision to sell more of his stake is a chilling reminder that the firm doesn’t have a controlling shareholder at the top, just when billions of dollars need to be spent to move into new fields such as generative AI
BUSINESS
China Property: Private Equity's role is the new hot potato
Ping An Real Estate — with 110 billion yuan in assets — held around 10 billion yuan in cash, covering only half of its interest-bearing debt due in the next 12 months. Its business operations and liquidity positions have deteriorated rapidly alongside China’s property slump, with sales falling by more than half from their 2021 high
BUSINESS
Finally, there’s more money than fools in China
The Chinese have been hoarding cash since the pandemic. But this behaviour had started as early as 2018. Their preference for buying investment products, such as stocks, bonds and trusts, has been on a steady decline since the 2015 stock market crash
BUSINESS
Hong Kong’s billionaire debt kings are losing their mojo
Investors are demanding a higher risk premium from the financial center’s tycoons
BUSINESS
Chip designer Arm’s $55 billion IPO smacks of bankers’ desperation
The oversubscription isn't an indication of investor enthusiasm. SoftBank plans to sell only 9 percent of Arm’s shares, and will pledge out a 75 percent stake for margin loans once the stock debuts. With an IPO drought and SoftBank dangling millions of dollars, bankers are willing to tell any story, however stretched it is. Arm's focus on chips for smartphones isn't where the AI market is hot
BUSINESS
Indonesia joins the Golden Visa bandwagon to lure foreign investors
For the first time in two years, its current account fell into a deficit, mainly due to weaker exports from falling commodity prices. Indonesia may offer a great opportunity for tech entrepreneurs who want to be more than passive investors and dabble in fintech and financial inclusion
BUSINESS
A large private wealth manager's crisis exposes another rot in China's financial system
An economic downturn, along with the real estate slump, certainly contributed to the the $137 billion Zhongzhi conglomerate’s woes. China has been cracking down on shadow banking since late 2017. So people naturally ask why this is happening now, and whether there are more blowups coming
BUSINESS
Credit Suisse Bankers, Don’t Despair: A Lehmann lesson for bankers being laid off
UBS plans to cut about two-thirds of Credit Suisse’s dealmakers in Asia. Over half the latter's 45,000-strong workforce worldwide could get pink slips. The experience of Lehman bankers laid off in 2008 suggests this is only a temporary setback: Today they are portfolio managers at top hedge funds, MDs at Tier-I banks, and partners at accounting and consulting firms
BUSINESS
UBS-Credit Suisse union exposes private banker tensions
Drastically different cultures means the two Swiss banks’ integration can’t possibly be smooth or pleasant. With the conservative UBS planning to dispose of billions of dollars in loans Credit Suisse had extended in Asia, there is no guarantee that the latter's bankers who are being retained can shine at UBS
BUSINESS
China Investing: Sequoia revamped to beat Tiger. Now it is doing it again, to dodge US-China tensions
The Biden administration is widely expected to sign an executive order soon that will ban American investments in advanced technologies in China. Breaking itself into three entities is Sequoia’s answer to de-globalisation. In late-2021, Sequoia had similarly reconfigured itself to beat hedge funds crossing over to venture capital
BUSINESS
China Real Estate: Is this property developer China's Evergrande 2.0?
Wanda's liquidity woes dwarf every other indebted builder in the world. If a proposed share sale fails to go public by the year-end, Wanda, China's biggest shopping mall operator, will have to repay its pre-IPO investors, who bought in about two years ago, around $5.6 billion
BUSINESS
Even Cathie Wood can’t spot the next bull market
The meteoric rise in Nvidia’s shares prompted her to defend the decision to cut holdings in the chipmaker in January. Having discovered Nvidia’s AI potential as early as 2014 and bought at $5 a share, why didn’t she capitalise all the way? Did she fail to grasp the popularity and disruptive power of ChatGPT, which was launched last November?
BUSINESS
Can China contain its $8.3 billion fiscal crisis?
For years, China's municipalities relied on off-balance-sheet entities to fund infrastructure and support local economy. As a consequence, local government financing vehicles' debt has risen to $8.3 trillion, or 48 percent of China’s GDP
BUSINESS
China Property Sales: Housing market recovery is lucky for distressed developers
Homebuyers are coming back. The real estate industry, which accounted for as much as one-quarter of China's GDP can breathe a sigh of relief. Of the 70 major cities tracked by the government, 55 had price increases in February, versus only 15 in December
BUSINESS
Worried about shadow banking? Don't look just at China
Lending by Chinese companies without a banking license has reached $7.3 trillion, or about 42 percent of GDP. But the US isn't far behind: the US leveraged finance market — almost held entirely by shadow lenders which typically operate with little or no regulator oversight — has topped $3 trillion
BUSINESS
Who is stuck with Credit Suisse’s worthless AT1 bonds?
Big asset managers hold some of the notes. But the owners of the bulk of the $17 billion of these highly risky instruments remain a mystery
BUSINESS
Credit Suisse AT1 bondholders find out life’s unfair
Market convention went out the window as parties raced to secure a deal for the embattled Swiss lender
BUSINESS
Credit Suisse and the crazy, rich, anxious Asians
The Swiss lender needs to come up with a strategy or risk hemorrhaging more money from a key group of clients
BUSINESS
Venture capital loses its relevance after Silicon Valley Bank fiasco
Have we reached the point where startups will bypass VC firms and just go straight to billionaires for funding?
BUSINESS
Fleeing China? Credit crises lurk everywhere in emerging markets
First it was Chinese developers. Now other markets in Asia are experiencing stress
BUSINESS
Is China done with its market crackdown? Ask Fosun
Investors reading the tea leaves in Beijing are still plenty skittish
BUSINESS
China’s got a big problem, and Xi Jinping can’t solve it
The two-day testing ordeal for a spot at a university is drawing more students but creating a pool of overqualified unemployed graduates
WORLD
Crackdown, then lockdown: China falls out of love with big tech
Locked-down shoppers seek alternatives just as Beijing eases up on the industry
