from MacroScope:
Is U.S. economic patriotism hurting?
Any Americans believing that their country is being bought up by the Chinese might want to pay heed to a new report from the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment. It says that China is a minimal player in terms of foreign direct investment in the United States and that Washington should in fact be doing a lot more to get it to gear up its buying.
To start with, look at the magic number. In 2010, the last year for which numbers are available, only 0.25 percent of FDI into the Untied States came from China. Switzerland, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Canada were all far bigger. In the U.S. Department of Commerce's report on the year, China, numbers were so small they were lumped into a category simply called "others".
This is not enough, the Vale Columbia report says. Given China's burgeoning economic role across the globe, America can benefit from a lot:
First, FDI provides an influx of capital into the struggling economy, increasing employment at no cost to the taxpayer. Second, jobs in foreign affiliates are typically better remunerated than similar jobs in domestically owned companies. Third, keeping the US open to foreign investment demonstrates a global example for international openness. Finally, Chinese money refused by the U.S. could alternatively be directed to competitors or even the U.S.’s enemies.
(On the latter point, its worth reading our global economic correspondent Alan Wheatley's story on China's influence in Europe)
The Vale Columbia report acknowledges that Chinese FDI is controversial - primarily because a lot of Chinese companies are state-controlled and therefore raise fears that FDI may be more strategic that profit-seeking. There is also the concern about subsidies, piracy and economic espionage.
M & A wrap: Citi scores big with EMI deals
The music industry may have a bit of life left in it after all. At least that’s the impression one is left with this week after Citigroup scored a better-than-expected $4.1 billion from two deals that mark the end of a months-long auction to sell off the parts of 114-year-old British music company EMI Group.
Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and Sony won the auction for EMI’s recorded music and music publishing operations, trumping bids by archrivals Warner Music Group and BMG Music Publishing at the 11th hour, reports Peter Lauria, editor-in-charge of Technology, Media and Telecommunications at Reuters. Universal plans to buy EMI’s recorded-music unit for $1.9 billion, according to a source involved in the process, snagging the rights to music by artists such as Coldplay, the Beatles and Katy Perry in the deal. A consortia led by Sony is expected to buy EMI’s publishing operation for $2.2 billion.
MF Global’s liquidators are struggling to sell the Asian business as one concern because of problems unwinding trading positions, so they may now sell the various country units separately, report Reuters correspondents Rachel Armstrong and Bruce Hextall. The provisional liquidators for the business in Hong Kong said on Friday there had been a number of encouraging bids for the regional business as a whole but the exercise has proved increasingly complex and the focus is now on selling off the various Asian business units individually.
Deals wrap: Doubts grow over BSkyB bid
The British government said it would take the closure of the Rupert Murdoch tabloid, News of the World, into consideration when deciding on the mogul’s bid to buy BSkyB.
Shares in Rupert Murdoch’s bid-target BSkyB slumped as the phone hacking scandal engulfing the media mogul’s empire pushed the controversial deal into uncharted waters .
Private equity firm, Carlyle Group, is in talks to buy Energy Capital Partners, a buyout company focused on power generation, electric transmission, midstream gas and other energy markets, the New York Times said.
Deals wrap: RBC offloads U.S. assets
PNC Financial Services Group will buy Royal Bank of Canada’s U.S. retail bank operations for $3.45 billion in cash and stock, making it the fifth largest bank in the United States. The WSJ gets some early reaction to the deal.
ING said it has put its car leasing business up for sale, in a deal Dutch media reported may be worth $5.7 billion.
Japan’s industrial, healthcare and technology sectors are the main focus for the Carlyle Group, the co-head of its Japanese unit told the Reuters Rebuilding Japan Summit in Tokyo on Monday.
Deals wrap: Goldman buys a Chinese life insurance policy
Goldman Sachs is betting big on the word’s largest insurance market with its purchase of a 12 percent stake in China’s Taikang Life Insurance Co Ltd. Goldman’s deal could pave the way for Taikang’s planned initial public offering next year. Credit Suisse estimates China’s life insurance market –which generated $124 billion premium income in 2009 — will grow more than 20 percent per annum for the next decade.
BP’s proposed $16 billion share swap with Rosneft received a stay of execution when an arbitration panel gave it time to try to extend its April 14 deadline for the deal. The co-owners of BP’s Russian venture TNK-BP are trying to block the deal with Rosneft arguing that it violates TNK-BP’s shareholder agreement. By not killing the deal outright, the panel has given BP time to either persuade TNK-BP to drop its case or cut them in on the deal.
U.S. securities regulators may ease constraints on share issues by private companies, making it easier for start-ups like Facebook, Twitter and Zynga to raise money, the Wall Street Journal reported.
from MediaFile:
Tencent, De Wolfe among interested buyers for Myspace
De Wolfe and Murdoch in happier times (Photo: Reuters)
Chinese Internet holding company Tencent, Myspace founder Chris De Wolfe and Myspace's current management team are among the 20 odd names kicking the tires at the once might social network to see whether it's worth buying outright or partnering in some sort of spin-out with current owner News Corp.
Deals wrap: Betting big on gas
BHP Billiton struck a deal to buy shale gas reserves from Chesapeake Energy for $4.75 billion, pitting itself against oil giants and China in the battle for the fast-growing energy source in North America.
China should account for 8-9 percent of global mergers and acquisition activity this year, continuing close to its strong levels in 2009 and 2010, JPMorgan’s head of China M&A said Tuesday.
Europe is braced for a flurry of stock market listings in the next two months as firms use annual results as launching pads for share sales — and hope to complete deals before investors disappear for the Easter break.
Deals wrap: Rare air brings deal
It took the rarefied air of the Swiss Alps to bring together the chief executives of Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme and pave the way for a $20.1 billion deal.
As the cream of the telecoms industry debates how best to make money from mobile data,Vimpelcom’s Alexander Izosimov is alone in betting his balance sheet on it in unfashionable western Europe.
Chinese oil majors are set to accelerate their overseas buying spree in unconventional oil and gas assets, with an eye on technology key to help shift China’s reliance on coal to lower-carbon fuel over the next decade.
Deals wrap: GM back in the driver’s seat?
General Motors Co posted a $2 billion third-quarter profit on Wednesday, driven by an accelerating turnaround in North America as it rushes to complete an initial public offering of stock set for next week.
The quarterly profit was the largest for GM since it emerged from bankruptcy in July 2009 and provides the last piece of financial data for investors evaluating the automaker’s $13 billion IPO.
The Sanofi-Aventis hostile bid for Genzyme is likely an anomaly in the pharmaceutical M & A scene, according to Reuters’ Jessica Hall. “Barring Sanofi’s overture for Genzyme, few large-scale mergers above $20 billion are likely afterward,” writes Hall.
from Breakingviews:
China IPO frenzy returns — but not in China
China is no longer blindly in love with new stocks, as seen in this week's flop of Ningbo Port. But other markets have caught the fever. Four Chinese companies rose on average around 50 percent on their debut in New York and Hong Kong in the past week. Cash-rich global investors are hungry for China's high rates of growth. A flood of new supply may test their appetite.
The excitement over the latest crop of overseas-listed China stocks is reminiscent of recent years' booms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets. Children's clothing maker Boshiwa <1698.HK>, and restaurant chain Country Style Cooking , rose by 41 percent and 47 percent respectively on their debuts. On domestic markets, the story is very different. China's third-largest port operator fell 4 percent on September 28, its first day of trading.
Global investors are chasing Asian growth. Asian equity funds, excluding Japan, had their best week of inflows in more than 15 months for the week ended September 22, according to fund tracker EPFR Global. Consumer-focused stocks, like Boshiwa, are particularly hot, as Chinese politicians air their promises to rebalance the export-led economy toward consumption.
