Asia-Pacific

Corona Capital: U.S. college football

6 January 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: U.S. college football programs are in a talent arms race for coaches, a bit like companies' quest for top-ranked CEOs, despite the pandemic's impact on revenue.

Hong Kong puts business on notice with roundup

6 January 2021

Police arrested over 50 opposition candidates and a U.S. lawyer in dawn raids linked to an unofficial primary race. Banks and brokerages can mostly shrug it off, but for media and tech firms that host or transmit any exchange of ideas in the city it’s the dawn of a riskier era.

China takes clumsy swipe at sloppy credit ratings

6 January 2021

Dagong Global has been ordered to help repay bondholders in a construction company that defaulted on over $200 mln. Courts are understandably getting tough with so much unpaid debt by top-rated issuers. This sort of punishment, however, will lead to fewer not better assessments.

Li Ka-shing buybacks would rebuild value

6 January 2021

Cash is rolling in from $28 bln CK Hutchison’s restructuring of European and Canadian assets. The Hong Kong billionaire’s ports-to-pharmacies group plans to repurchase stock. With deal-making curtailed by geopolitics, shareholders will appreciate the gesture.

Dixon: How to make COP26 climate summit a success

5 January 2021

Politicians and markets increasingly get the danger of climate change. And technology is advancing fast. But the climate is also deteriorating rapidly. Here are six things that can be done at this year’s summit to make sure the planet doesn’t lose the race against time.

China delisting reversal calls for consistency

5 January 2021

The NYSE abruptly aborted plans to toss three state-backed telecom companies worth a combined $164 bln off the bourse because of their deemed military ties. Wild swings in the stock prices left investors as confused as Washington seems to be. Clear policy can’t come soon enough.

Bank capital rules are only half fixed

5 January 2021

Big shock absorbers allowed American and European lenders to survive the pandemic. Even so, they required state guarantees and supervisory relief to support lending. Though post-2008 reforms made banks safer, their instinct to preserve capital can make an economic crisis worse.

Corona Capital: Commercial real estate, IBM

5 January 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Commercial office real estate is Zoom’s mirror image; IBM taps former Goldman-exec Gary Cohn.

Tokopedia neatly channels Indonesia’s potential

5 January 2021

The online shopping site, valued at $7.5 bln, lags Singapore’s Sea in the country. But the smaller company stands out for its single focus on one of the world’s fastest rebounding and digitalising economies. No wonder everyone from Gojek to Peter Thiel sees it as a hot target.

Jack Ma’s absence feeds into China Inc fears

5 January 2021

The Ant and Alibaba founder has not been seen in public for two months. Amid Beijing’s crackdown on both the fintech and e-commerce empires, keeping a low profile seems prudent. A history of Chinese tycoons mysteriously disappearing, though, is enough to warrant some concern.

Urge to purge 2020 from memory should be resisted

4 January 2021

Nearly everything that could go wrong did. The pandemic threw plans – and predictions – out the window. As the world emerges and maybe slingshots into a Roaring Twenties rebound, old appetites will return. But the divisions Covid-19 exposed in our societies can't be forgotten.

Corona Capital: Icahn, Productivity, Natixis

4 January 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Carl Icahn sells half his Herbalife Nutrition stake; an ECB survey suggests Covid-19 will make big firms more productive, but that may not be all good news; and Natixis fast-tracks its overhaul.

2020 hindsight: Our best-read stories of the year

31 December 2020

The virus and U.S. politics were the focus for readers on Reuters.com. But Refinitiv terminal and Breakingviews’ website subscribers displayed more eclectic tastes. Their top picks included stories on India’s richest man, triathlons, Swedish oat milk, and big data.

Viewsroom: Predictions and prescriptions (Part 2)

31 December 2020

A Joe Biden-Xi Jinping reset will be unsatisfying; China’s economic revival will frustrate critics; Southeast Asia will be the next tech hot spot; HSBC will retreat from America; and Hong Kong’s exchange will rethink deals. Pete Sweeney, Jennifer Hughes and Robyn Mak discuss.

China’s gravy train will bypass Wall Street

31 December 2020

Foreign banks pocketed about a third of the $6.5 bln in fees paid by Chinese companies to sell shares in 2020. U.S. animosity will lead to fewer New York listings, however. And even as Goldman and others push further onto the mainland, the work there is tougher and reaps less.

Corona Capital: Spanish banks, British houses

30 December 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Unicaja and Liberbank become the latest Spanish lenders to announce a merger; Britain’s housing market continues to defy the country’s dire economic prospects.

Generational wealth gap warrants post-Covid reset

30 December 2020

Young people had a shrinking share of housing and equity riches even before the pandemic, which hurt them further by boosting unemployment and state debt. Shifting the tax burden to wealth, rather than income, would help. So would the radical option of millennial cash handouts.

UK’s duty-free golden goose will become albatross

30 December 2020

The government’s plan to end tax rebates for inbound tourists was part of its EU horse-trading. But it’s a needless hit to ailing retailers’ Asian custom. Instead of raising revenue in 2021, it will just become a symbol of the UK’s Brexit-era capacity for reckless self-harm.

Moody’s seal of approval comes unstuck in China

30 December 2020

Beijing suspended CCXI’s credit rating business after a top-marked miner defaulted soon after selling new debt. A 30% stake held by Moody’s suggests foreign influence didn’t upgrade the industry. Rising state issuance has made pricing risk even more political than financial.

HSBC breakup will turbocharge CEO’s Asian pivot

30 December 2020

Noel Quinn's plan to cut costs and shift assets away from America and Europe has failed to boost the bank’s shares. In 2021 he’ll have to opt for more radical moves, like selling the U.S. retail network and spinning off HSBC’s $15 bln UK arm. A higher valuation should follow.