https://www.scmp.com/rss/15893/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com It is 6.30 on a dewy autumn morning at an isolated Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha retreat in the rolling hills of rural southern Taiwan. Wooden meditation platforms overlook lotus ponds in a landscaped garden, where a wiry, ponytailed Caucasian monk is circling a tree, strumming a guitar and singing a mantra. His long, orange robes flutter in the breeze, his eyes shine with bliss. Repeating the mantra with their arms raised to the sky are 15 or so young people from Taiwan, Hong Kong and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1222059/love-baba?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1222059/love-baba?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Charles Li Xiaojia is on a propaganda offensive. Following an explosion of fraud allegations against Chinese companies listed in the US and Canada, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chief appears keen to prevent local investors questioning whether our bourse could also be riddled with businesses that may be cooking their books. On June 2, short-seller Muddy Waters accused Toronto-listed mainland timberland firm Sino-Forest of exaggerating its land holdings in Yunnan province. Sino-Forest has... https://www.scmp.com/article/971822/movers-and-fakers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/971822/movers-and-fakers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Citic Pacific, the Beijing-backed steelmaker and property developer, yesterday lost a two-year battle to block a Hong Kong police fraud investigation into its failure to disclose a HK$15.5 billion derivatives loss it racked up in September 2008. In the Court of First Instance, Mr Justice Alan Wright ruled that the state-owned enterprise should hand over documents it has been fighting to keep out of police hands. Based on a review of six documents being contested, he said: 'There is a... https://www.scmp.com/article/741326/citic-pacific-loses-fight-block-probe-fraud?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/741326/citic-pacific-loses-fight-block-probe-fraud?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 China MediaExpress Holdings said its auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has resigned, a month after a short seller accused the advertising company of inflating its results. Deloitte, whose Hong Kong office audited the company, said in its resignation letter dated March 11 that it was 'no longer able to rely on the representations of management'. MediaExpress said chief financial officer Jacky Lam resigned two days after Deloitte ended its ties. The company is listed on the Nasdaq market in... https://www.scmp.com/article/741092/deloitte-quits-auditor-outdoor-ad-firm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/741092/deloitte-quits-auditor-outdoor-ad-firm?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong-listed resources investor Regent Pacific has dropped its A$345 million (HK$2.71 billion) bid for BC Iron, sparking sharp criticism from the Australian miner. Regent and BC Iron, which owns iron ore mines in Western Australia's Pilbara region, had looked set to walk up the aisle. But yesterday, Regent blamed its target company's major shareholder, Ukranian billionaire Gennadiy Bogolyubov's Consolidated Minerals, for its decision to leave the bride at the altar. In a statement,... https://www.scmp.com/article/741080/regent-pacific-abandons-bid-bc-iron?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/741080/regent-pacific-abandons-bid-bc-iron?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Chinese IPOs have long proven popular in New York, where investors desperate to diversify their holdings out of the moribund US economy queue up to grab a slice of the mainland's rapid economic growth. But some mainland firms listed in the US are being sent to the sin bin. The problem could be Chinese companies' general reticence to explain themselves, which mixes about as well with New York investors' high standards of corporate disclosure as a combination of chow mein and apple pie. Or it... https://www.scmp.com/article/740991/mainland-firms-leave-bad-taste-big-apple?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/740991/mainland-firms-leave-bad-taste-big-apple?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 A massive 15 to 20 per cent of the loans China's big four banks have made to local governments are likely to go bad, according to data from Barclays Capital. Three of the big four - Agricultural Bank of China, ICBC and China Construction Bank - have sunk 15 per cent of the money they loaned to fund provincial authorities into infrastructure projects that are 'less than 30 per cent covered by cash flows', estimates in a note published by Barclays show. That means the projects have very... https://www.scmp.com/article/740637/barclays-figures-raise-fears-over-four-banks-lending-provinces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/740637/barclays-figures-raise-fears-over-four-banks-lending-provinces?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Rusal shares slumped to a one-month low yesterday as investors bet that the company is set to lose a key battle in the feud between the aluminium giant's chairman, Oleg Deripaska, and rival oligarch Vladimir Potanin for control of Norilsk Nickel. Shareholders of the nickel miner met yesterday in Moscow to vote on a Rusal resolution to remove Norilsk's board of directors, led by chairman Vasily Titov, an executive at Russian bank VTB. While a Norilsk spokeswoman said the results were not... https://www.scmp.com/article/740635/rusal-shares-fall-fears-over-norilsk-stake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/740635/rusal-shares-fall-fears-over-norilsk-stake?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong police named the three banks that lent HK$1.75 billion to Citic Pacific, which was at that time concealing massive losses from a disastrous derivatives bet, repeating their earlier accusation of 'conspiracy to defraud'. Police said the Beijing-backed steelmaker and property developer borrowed the money from Bank of China, Industrial Bank of China and Japan's Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in 2008. The loans were made just weeks before Citic Pacific's October 20 admission that it would... https://www.scmp.com/article/740540/citic-pacific-lending-banks-named-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/740540/citic-pacific-lending-banks-named-court?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 When the husband of a husband-and-wife-run business writes in blogs that they are arguing, shareholders can be forgiven for suspecting there is trouble at the top. But Peggy Yuyu, the chairwoman of mainland internet retailer Ecommerce China Dangdang, has insisted that regular internet revelations by her husband, Dangdang chief executive Li Guoqing, about troubles in their marriage do not mean their ability to co-run the newly public company has been compromised. Dangdang, a smaller mainland... https://www.scmp.com/article/740379/business-usual-says-wife-dotcom-power-couples-marital-spat-spills-blogosphere?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/740379/business-usual-says-wife-dotcom-power-couples-marital-spat-spills-blogosphere?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Sunac China Holdings, an indebted mainland property developer whose chairman has a checkered past, has cancelled a planned bond sale, two sources involved in the transaction said. Tianjin-based Sunac joined the Hong Kong stock exchange last October, after at least two previous attempts at an initial public offering dating back to 2004. Sun Hongbin, Sunac's chairman, was jailed for embezzlement in the early 1990s. He served two years of a five-year prison sentence and his conviction was... https://www.scmp.com/article/740368/debt-ridden-sunac-scraps-bond-sale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/740368/debt-ridden-sunac-scraps-bond-sale?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Shares in Sands China dropped 6 per cent after the Macau casino operator revealed that it was being investigated by anti-corruption agencies in the United States. It follows allegations by Sands China's former chief executive Steve Jacobs that the company 'used improper leverage' to manipulate Macau officials and Chinese banks. Its Nevada-based parent, Las Vegas Sands, announced it had received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. It added the... https://www.scmp.com/article/739736/shares-fall-us-investigates-macau-casino-corruption-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/739736/shares-fall-us-investigates-macau-casino-corruption-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Shares in mainland vegetable farmer Chaoda Modern Agriculture tumbled 5 per cent yesterday after analysts raised strong questions about the company's high levels of capital expenditure, with one saying he had no idea where the money was going. Fujian-based Chaoda, which supplies produce to supermarkets and wet markets on the mainland and in Hong Kong, told analysts after its interim results presentation on Monday it will spend 18 billion yuan (HK$21.34 billion) by 2013 on projects, including... https://www.scmp.com/article/739640/chaoda-tumbles-analysts-question-spending-policies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/739640/chaoda-tumbles-analysts-question-spending-policies?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 HSBC's shares received a battering on new chief executive Stuart Gulliver's first annual results announcement, as the bank admitted shareholders returns would fall as it meets the cost of strict new regulations. The bank said it would crimp its long-held return on equity targets to cater for the 'Basel 3' rules, which from 2013 will force banks to set more capital aside for future crises. HSBC also revealed its costs had ballooned partly because it is increasing staff wages in Asia, and that... https://www.scmp.com/article/739462/hsbc-cuts-profitability-target-shares-plunge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/739462/hsbc-cuts-profitability-target-shares-plunge?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The Middle East turmoil has claimed its first high-profile victim on Hong Kong's capital markets. Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's electricity supplier Eurosibenergo has shelved its US$1.2 billon Hong Kong initial public offering after Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds that planned to buy into the deal pulled back at the 11th hour, people involved in the transaction said. 'The problems in the Middle East mean people we are in talks with there may take longer to make a decision,' someone... https://www.scmp.com/article/739251/mideast-turmoil-claims-first-victim-hk-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/739251/mideast-turmoil-claims-first-victim-hk-market?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Alibaba has always claimed that integrity was its core value, yet on Monday the e-commerce giant that matches up international buyers including Wal-Mart Stores and Procter & Gamble with mainland suppliers revealed that 2,325 vendors had used its platform to defraud customers. The company admitted that 100 of its 5,000 sales staff aided the scams, in which bogus merchants created fake shopfronts to win sales but did not deliver any goods. Some analysts believe customers may now lose trust in... https://www.scmp.com/article/739078/scams-vetted-traders-shakes-alibabas-integrity-claim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/739078/scams-vetted-traders-shakes-alibabas-integrity-claim?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The Securities and Futures Commission is suing the chief executive of mainland company China Forestry in an attempt to freeze the proceeds of a questionable share sale he carried out just days before the company admitted its auditors had found possible accounting 'irregularities'. China Forestry, which is one of the mainland's largest logging firms and counts American private equity giant Carlyle Group as its second-biggest investor, said auditors KPMG had queried its accounts on January 26... https://www.scmp.com/article/737680/logging-firms-chief-sued-over-share-sale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/737680/logging-firms-chief-sued-over-share-sale?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Noble Group, the Hong Kong-based commodities trading powerhouse, has snapped up a 10 per cent stake in the ASX-listed Xanadu Mines. The two companies will jointly explore mining opportunities in Mongolia. The landlocked, resource-rich nation between Russia and China 'is an Aladdin's cave for exploration', said Brian Thornton, the chairman of Xanadu, a Mongolia-focused exploration company that listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in December. 'We have identified a couple of opportunities... https://www.scmp.com/article/737466/noble-takes-punt-vast-potential-mongolia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/737466/noble-takes-punt-vast-potential-mongolia?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000 It is hard to tell whether the cause was bad timing or an irresistible temptation to bury bad news. But with share trading halted, many Hongkongers travelling and most newspapers taking a day off, the announcement board of the local stock exchange was littered with profit warnings and other burnt corporate offerings on the eve of the New Year celebrations on Wednesday. While Lunar New Year is traditionally a time to share and celebrate wealth, Ko Yo Ecological Agrotech, a chemical products... https://www.scmp.com/article/737449/burnt-corporate-offerings-litter-hk-exchange?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/737449/burnt-corporate-offerings-litter-hk-exchange?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000 In this trading-obsessed town, almost anyone with a stockbroking account has to be asking: should I buy SJM Holdings? Since January 25, when 89-year-old Macau casino billionaire Stanley Ho Hung-sun accused five of his 17 children and two of his four wives of 'fraudulently misappropriating' the private company that controls most of his wealth, SJM's shares have fallen 5 per cent. They could slip further as the battle for control intensifies. And the stock is already cheap compared with SJM's... https://www.scmp.com/article/737173/could-stanleys-hos-family-misfortunes-add-big-profits-citys-traders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/737173/could-stanleys-hos-family-misfortunes-add-big-profits-citys-traders?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 LK Technology Holdings, a die casting machine supplier to mainland manufacturers, has sold a HK$400 million stake to FountainVest, a China-focused buyout house backed by Singapore's Temasek Holdings. As the machines make everything from cars to mobile phones, the investment in LK Technology was a bet on the Beijing government's efforts to boost domestic consumption, said Frank Tang, a FountainVest partner. Valuations of Chinese machinery companies were also expected to rise, Tang said, as the... https://www.scmp.com/article/736888/lk-technology-sells-stake-fountainvest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/736888/lk-technology-sells-stake-fountainvest?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Troubled China-focused private equity fund London Asia Capital has accused Wuhan industrial tycoon Chen Yilong, the majority owner of its biggest portfolio company, of being the driving force behind a plan to oust its board. London Asia's shareholders will vote at a meeting today on a request by Richpoint, a little-known Singapore-based fund, to topple four of its five directors. The UK fund was one of Britain's most prolific investors in early-stage mainland companies in the first half of... https://www.scmp.com/article/736617/uk-fund-says-tycoon-trying-oust-board?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/736617/uk-fund-says-tycoon-trying-oust-board?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The Mongolian government is pressing ahead with an initial public offering of shares in the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposit, an immense reserve in the Gobi Desert that has an estimated five billion to six billion tonnes of coal, mostly coking and thermal. Bankers said the deal is most likely to take place in Hong Kong, a natural market for Mongolian mining assets given the landlocked country's proximity to mainland China. Investment banks have been asked to pitch for roles advising on the offering... https://www.scmp.com/article/736238/mongol-hoard-hk-battles-london-ipo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/736238/mongol-hoard-hk-battles-london-ipo?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Shares in Chinalco-backed copper and gold prospector China Yunnan Copper Australia roared up 73 per cent yesterday when the Sydney-listed exploration minnow announced it had discovered rare earths at a site in Queensland state. CYC Australia, a loss-making company capitalised at A$45 million (HK$349 million), said it had found an unspecified quantity of various types of yttrium, an element used in colour televisions and to strengthen glass, at its Mount Dorothy project. Jason Beckton, the... https://www.scmp.com/article/735028/chinalco-unit-makes-rare-earth-find-australia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/735028/chinalco-unit-makes-rare-earth-find-australia?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 On a freezing night in early December in Zaisan, an area of luxury apartment blocks at the base of the Bogd Khan mountain, a dozen smartly dressed young professionals are viewing a show flat in the brand new Blue Sky Town. The show flat, in this suburb south of Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, is being marketed by Mongolian entrepreneur U. Ganzorig and his joint venture partner, global hedge fund Cube Capital. It is one of 50 units in the 192-apartment block the developers are selling for up to... https://www.scmp.com/article/734848/illegal-enclave-best-address-ulan-bator?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/734848/illegal-enclave-best-address-ulan-bator?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Credit Suisse has identified a clutch of consumer stocks it believes will benefit from Beijing's 12th five-year plan, which aims to boost domestic consumption in an economy normally driven by exports and infrastructure investment. The bank tipped the top performing stocks in China for the next five years as Air China, China Mobile, Citic Securities, Ping An Insurance, Tencent Holdings, shipping conglomerate China Merchants Holdings, cigarette box printer Amvig, shoe retailer Belle International,... https://www.scmp.com/article/734842/who-watch-consumption-boom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/734842/who-watch-consumption-boom?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Late last year, an intriguing sales leaflet landed in the letterboxes of homes in Mid-Levels, home to cashed-up expatriate bankers. The leaflet, advertising a new real-estate development named 'The Olympic Residence' in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, featured shots of a lavishly decorated luxury apartment. It proclaimed the landlocked country bordering Russia and China a 'new investment frontier' for Hong Kong's property-obsessed investors. As it turns out, the apartment complex in... https://www.scmp.com/article/734852/mongolias-building-boom-brought-halt-debt-pile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/734852/mongolias-building-boom-brought-halt-debt-pile?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Ulan Bator's Central Tower, the Mongolian capital's first upmarket office block and workplace of Battsengel Gotov, chief executive of the Mongolian Mining Corporation, is a snapshot of the wealth inequality being created by the resource-rich, nomadic nation's mining boom. While the impoverished nation has no McDonald's, 7-Eleven or any domestic equivalents, Louis Vuitton opened in Central Tower in October 2009, the same month Mongolia said global miners Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines could develop... https://www.scmp.com/article/734699/mine-chief-digs-deep-economic-answers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/734699/mine-chief-digs-deep-economic-answers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 International miners competing to develop a vast, untapped coal deposit in Mongolia are being selected based on how much money they will pay the poor nation's cash-strapped government to clinch the contract. Bidders vying to operate the massive Tavan Tolgoi resource in the Gobi desert will not get a stake in the project, which is government owned, but will build mines and infrastructure and sell coal in a revenue sharing arrangement with the state. Even though the winner may not see a return... https://www.scmp.com/article/734252/mongolian-contract-hangs-size-upfront-payment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/734252/mongolian-contract-hangs-size-upfront-payment?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Palm Springs, the mainland property developer whose boss is at the centre of an ICAC bribes-for-loans case, is being prepared for an initial public offering. Zeng Wei, the low-profile real estate tycoon who owns 80.5 per cent of the company, has been charged by the anti-graft body with bribing two former senior ICBC (Asia) bankers to obtain loans to fund Palm Springs' projects. Palm Springs sold US$200 million of pre-IPO bonds to banks and hedge funds earlier this year. Bank of America-Merrill... https://www.scmp.com/article/733679/palm-springs-set-ipo-despite-bribery-inquiry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/733679/palm-springs-set-ipo-despite-bribery-inquiry?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild wine, Bulgari and Franck Muller watches, HK$9.3 million in cash and a Nokia smartphone - these were among the bribes ICBC (Asia)'s former head of corporate banking Derick Chan Po-fui and former real estate finance chief Chan Yick-yiu allegedly accepted from mainland property developer Zeng Wei, the ICAC says. The anti-graft body arrested the two Chans and Zeng, the majority owner of privately held mainland developer Palm Springs Holdings, in October. It... https://www.scmp.com/article/733632/icac-lays-out-bribes-allegedly-given-bankers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/733632/icac-lays-out-bribes-allegedly-given-bankers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The police are investigating a business set up by three former senior bankers to provide short-term, high-cost cash advances to restaurants, bars and retailers who could not otherwise raise funds from banks. Global Merchant Funding, whose founders include former Barclays Capital senior director Richard Grainger and whose backers have included high-profile Asian hedge fund Artradis Fund Management, is being scrutinised by police on grounds that it may be acting as an unlicensed moneylender. The... https://www.scmp.com/article/733221/police-probe-business-funding?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/733221/police-probe-business-funding?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The price of gold will reach US$2,000 an ounce within the next two years, predicts Owen Hegarty, the chairman of Hong Kong-listed gold miner G-Resources. The outspoken Australian, who is well known for making bold price claims about the yellow metal, added that he was so sure gold's value would hit US$2,000 that his company has not taken out hedging contracts to protect itself from falls in the price of the metal, currently trading around US$1,400. 'We are as long on gold as anyone can... https://www.scmp.com/article/732869/gold-price-gets-bulls-bellowing-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/732869/gold-price-gets-bulls-bellowing-more?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Global miner Rio Tinto has placed a bold bet that Chinese steel demand will remain buoyant for years by pledging to almost triple its spending on new projects. Ahead of an investor presentation in London, chief executive Tom Albanese revealed Rio would invest US$11 billion in its mines next year, up from US$4 billion this year. Much of that cash will be pumped into Rio's iron ore mines. By 2015, it plans to produce 333 million tonnes of the steelmaking material annually from its deposits in... https://www.scmp.com/article/731725/rio-tinto-banks-mainlands-steel-usage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/731725/rio-tinto-banks-mainlands-steel-usage?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 A top British economist says China is 'stealing' Western jobs and that America is 'coming to the end of its tether' over the country's yawning trade gap with China. Roger Bootle, the managing director of London consultancy Capital Economics, also says mainland manufacturers face financial ruin because American politicians could slap punitive tariffs on made-in-China goods. 'Emerging economies with trade surpluses, particularly China, are stealing Western jobs,' Bootle said during a wide-ranging... https://www.scmp.com/article/731511/china-steals-jobs-west-says-economist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/731511/china-steals-jobs-west-says-economist?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The Mongolian government stunned the mining industry around the world with an announcement that it will revoke at least 254 mining licences across the country on environmental grounds. The statement raises concerns over the future of the Mongolian mining sector which has become a hot investment story in Hong Kong due to the landlocked country's vast amount of untapped resources and its proximity to China. It has also highlighted the risks of investing in the immature democracy, which was part... https://www.scmp.com/article/730949/mongolia-revokes-mining-licences?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730949/mongolia-revokes-mining-licences?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong-listed China Telecom 'hijacked' North American government and military internet traffic, potentially to grab encrypted data, a damning US government report claimed. In an 18-minute exercise in April that affected 15 per cent of the world's internet traffic, China Telecom re-routed traffic from American internet servers to servers on the mainland, the report claimed. US government agencies including the Senate, the military, the office of the secretary of defence and the commerce... https://www.scmp.com/article/730837/china-telecom-hijacked-traffic-us-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730837/china-telecom-hijacked-traffic-us-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Indebted Russian aluminium giant Rusal has insisted it will not sell its 25 per cent stake in domestic metals group Norilsk Nickel. The nickel firm, which Rusal bought into in early 2008, has campaigned vehemently to end its relationship with oligarch Oleg Deripaska's aluminium producer. Rival oligarch Vladimir Potanin, who also owns a quarter of Norilsk, told Russian media last month he had formed a consortium to buy Rusal's stake, valued at US$9.3 billion in Moscow, for US$9 billion. While... https://www.scmp.com/article/730318/rusal-says-it-wont-sell-nickel-stake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730318/rusal-says-it-wont-sell-nickel-stake?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Mongolia-based coal miner SouthGobi Energy Resources, which dismayed investors in August by admitting the quality of the coal it was mining at its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi project was much lower than previously forecast, has attempted to reassure that the problem is under control. Shares in SouthGobi, which is based in Vancouver, have plunged 29 per cent since the miner raised HK$2.87 billion in a Hong Kong IPO in January. The company, which is only part-way through drilling at Ovoot Tolgoi,... https://www.scmp.com/article/730228/southgobi-tries-allay-fears-quality-coal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730228/southgobi-tries-allay-fears-quality-coal?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 London is set to become an offshore yuan trading centre, according to the United Kingdom's Chancellor of the Exchequer. In a speech in Hong Kong yesterday, Chancellor George Osborne said London 'as a partner of Hong Kong, is developing new businesses, including the internationalisation of the renminbi'. He did not give further details, but added: 'This is something I definitely want London to be part of.' Traders questioned Osborne's comments, particularly because the mainland currency is... https://www.scmp.com/article/730117/london-eyes-slice-offshore-yuan-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730117/london-eyes-slice-offshore-yuan-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The Hong Kong stock exchange is rushing to turn itself into a hub for international mining stocks, and global miners are lining up - lured by the current investor zeal for stocks on the local market. Since January, nine mining companies from outside China have either tapped the market or disclosed details of planned share sales, mostly initial public offerings. The latest two hopefuls are LontohCoal, a South Africa-headquartered coal miner whose main asset is in neighbouring Zimbabwe and which... https://www.scmp.com/article/730018/foreign-miners-struggle-tap-hk-listing-capital?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730018/foreign-miners-struggle-tap-hk-listing-capital?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The chairman of bailed-out British bank Royal Bank of Scotland expressed regret at the lender's decision to sell its 4.3 per cent stake in Bank of China, and said Beijing was 'right to be disappointed' at the move. The British high street lender's chairman, Philip Hampton, said of the BOC stake sale: 'I think they [the Beijing government] were disappointed. And they were right to be disappointed. It was supposed to be a long-term deal.' RBS bought its Bank of China stake in 2005, in a deal that... https://www.scmp.com/article/730012/rbs-chief-regrets-sale-43pc-stake-bank-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730012/rbs-chief-regrets-sale-43pc-stake-bank-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 China's restriction of rare earth exports is the result of a 'bureaucratic mess' in Beijing rather than a mainland plot to wield power over foreign governments, a senior consultant to the industry has claimed. Beijing has halted shipments of rare earths, which are used in hi-tech applications from iPods to hybrid cars, to reorganise the industry, which is blighted by pollution and illegal production, said Jack Lifton, a 48-year veteran of the rare earth sector and head of US-based Technology... https://www.scmp.com/article/728961/rare-earth-exports-mess-veteran-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/728961/rare-earth-exports-mess-veteran-says?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000 A Beijing official has insisted China will not use rare-earth exports as a bargaining tool to gain political leverage with other countries. Zhu Hongren, a spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information, admitted China had cut exports of rare-earth minerals, which are used in hi-tech products from iPods to hybrid cars, but said this was to reduce waste and pollution, and that the measures were 'in line' with World Trade Organisation rules. China accounts for 90 per cent of the world's... https://www.scmp.com/article/728786/beijing-denies-rare-earths-being-used-political-tool?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/728786/beijing-denies-rare-earths-being-used-political-tool?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The insolvency of Pioneer Iron & Steel Group, owned by mainland billionaire Diana Chen Ningning, took a new twist yesterday when six companies from the British Virgin Islands, claiming to be creditors of the bankrupt iron ore trader, attempted to stop the provisional liquidation proceeding in Hong Kong. Chen, who, according to the Hurun Rich List, is worth US$1.7 billion, voluntarily wound up Pioneer Iron in the British Virgin Islands, where it is incorporated, in June. The company, which has... https://www.scmp.com/article/728583/pioneer-iron-creditors-seek-stop-winding?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/728583/pioneer-iron-creditors-seek-stop-winding?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The Hong Kong stock exchange faces a potential challenger for regional listings following reports that the Singapore and Sydney stock markets are in merger talks to create a giant pan-Asian bourse. The Singapore and Sydney exchange operators, both listed in their own markets, had their shares suspended from trading yesterday after local media reports said the two were in talks about a potential-tie up. The exchanges declined to comment. Sydney's bourse told the Australian market regulator it was... https://www.scmp.com/article/728274/singapore-and-sydney-pose-threat-hkex?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/728274/singapore-and-sydney-pose-threat-hkex?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000 In what may be the most optimistic Hong Kong initial public offering plan by an international firm so far, Lontoh Coal, a South African miner whose main project is in heavily sanctioned Zimbabwe, is planning a US$300 million to US$500 million share sale. 'We are planning an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the first half of 2011,' Tshebo Kgadima, Lontoh's chief executive, told the South China Morning Post. 'We are looking to raise US$300 million to US$500 million. Our advisers say the... https://www.scmp.com/article/728140/zimbabwe-linked-firm-plans-hk-stock-offering?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/728140/zimbabwe-linked-firm-plans-hk-stock-offering?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Industry insiders have dubbed Diana Chen Ningning the 'steel princess' but she could just as easily be called the 'miner's matchmaker'. At 40 years old, she's one of the mainland's richest citizens. She presides over a corporate empire built on important connections and the ability to parlay them into a business marrying mainland government-owned companies, including Baosteel and Angang Steel, to some of the world's biggest suppliers of iron ore, taking a fee for her services. Today, part of... https://www.scmp.com/article/727742/saga-mainlands-steel-princess?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/727742/saga-mainlands-steel-princess?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Kazakhstan's prime minister has signalled that ENRC, one of Central Asia's largest miners, will seek a Hong Kong initial public offering. Karim Masimov said ENRC, a FTSE 100-listed company whose shares are valued at GBP12.12 billion (HK$150.89 billion) in London, would be part of a wave of planned Hong Kong listings by major Kazakh companies. Kazakhmys, the Kazakh copper miner whose shares are also traded on London's FTSE 100, announced earlier this month that it was considering a Hong... https://www.scmp.com/article/727640/miner-lead-wave-kazakh-ipos-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/727640/miner-lead-wave-kazakh-ipos-city?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Loss-making Russian iron ore miner IRC has more than halved the size of its initial public offering and delayed the deal. IRC said yesterday it would raise HK$1.8 billion in the Hong Kong deal, having initially targeted up to HK$3.98 billion. The company owns a collection of early-stage Russian iron ore projects that its parent, London-listed gold miner Petropavlovsk, has come under pressure from investors to sell off. 'I'm not too surprised that they've had to reduce [the deal size], given the... https://www.scmp.com/article/726928/loss-making-irc-halves-size-ipo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/726928/loss-making-irc-halves-size-ipo?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000