Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada for approximately US$1 billion to accelerate expansion into the region. Alibaba will buy around US$500 million newly issued shares of Lazada and acquire shares from existing shareholders including Germany’s Rocket Internet and British supermarket giant […]
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Chinese investment in Australia has returned to positive growth, rising very strongly with a record number of deals and a 32.9% year-on-year growth in total deal value to US$11.1 billion for the year, according to KPMG. Seven mega transactions worth AU$500 million or more helped propel the growth to mark the second highest inflow year […]
As China’s capital outflows stabilizes, UBS AG says it will maintain its current USD/CNY forecast of 6.8 by year end, but sees increasing risk that the CNY may not depreciate by as much against the U.S. dollar and may end the year at 6.6 to 6.7. Capital outflow and depreciation pressures have let up visibly […]
China’s foreign exchange reserves rose by US$10 billion in March to US$3.213 trillion, higher than the US$6 billion decrease expected by the market. But the good number may belie bigger concerns underneath, says a research report by BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. Market reaction to the news was limited as the magnitude of the surprise […]
China is reportedly considering merging several financial supervisory bodies with its central bank, in line with global trend and may help the country better manage financial systemic risks, according to a research report by ANZ AG. The proposal to merge the country’s banking, insurance and securities regulatory entities with the People’s Bank of China will […]
Faced with a challenging investment environment, central banks, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and government pensions are adapting their investment models to be more agile, according to a new research report by State Street Corporation. After surveying over 100 central banks, sovereign wealth funds and government pensions globally, State Street says these official institutions are diversifying […]
Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) has agreed to acquire the wealth and investment Management business of Barclays Bank PLC in Singapore and Hong Kong for approximately US$320 million in cash. The deal, which is done through OCBC’s wholly-owned private banking subsidiary Bank of Singapore, is priced at 1.75% of the total assets under management by […]
HSBC Private Bank has appointed Fan Cheuk Wan as managing director and head of investment strategy for Asia responsible for developing regional investment strategies and themes across all asset classes, says a company announcement. In this role, Fan will have management oversight of the bank’s advisory framework and the sales management process to continue to […]
The world is becoming increasingly concerned about China’s high debt leverage and the risk of a full-blown crisis. Despite the current unsustainable debt expansion, the country should be able to avoid a crisis, says a research report by Mizuho Securities Asia. China’s debt-to-GDP ratio increased to 235.7% from 170% over 2008 to 2014. The exposure […]