Hong Kong

HK’s move to promote women in boardroom is overdue

1 Nov 2012

The pro-business city is catching up with financial centres and Asian neighbours in proposing listed companies state their diversity policy. As in many other countries, women are under-represented on boards. Improving awareness of diversity is the least regulators can do.

Hong Kong’s anti-foreigner property tax may spread

29 Oct 2012

Non-resident buyers have been whacked with an extra 15 percent stamp duty as the territory battles the effects of cheap money and capital flight. The political appeal is likely to outweigh the bad side effects. Other urban hot spots, like London, may be tempted to follow suit.

Hong Kong suffers from being small and open

24 Oct 2012

The territory has intervened again to stop its currency rising. But Hong Kong’s peg is only partly to blame for its liquidity glut. Singapore’s more-flexible exchange rate isn’t faring much better. Small, open Asian economies are basically helpless against Western money-printing.

HK art market shines, Beijing enters blue period

11 Oct 2012

Mainland China’s arts auction revenue plunged 67 percent in the first half, having grown to be the world’s largest in 2011. That has driven domestic auction houses across the border to Hong Kong. There, taking on Sotheby’s and Christie’s will be the big challenge.

China changes leaders, but what comes after Hu?

21 Sep 2012

The country’s new top brass will be revealed within weeks. But what does it mean for investors? What do slowing GDP and anti-Japan protests say about China’s future? And what’s the deal with Bo Xilai? Our new book, “Beijing Opera”, explains the geopolitical event of the decade.

Asia’s crowded IPOs keep banks busy but poor

7 Sep 2012

A dearth of listings has forced underwriters to crowd onto new offerings. Banks get league table credit, while companies can claim safety in numbers. But there’s little sense in scrapping over a dwindling fee pool. Banks must justify their existence in other ways - or shrink.

Urban real estate may not be such a safe haven

4 Sep 2012

Investors seeking refuge from economic turmoil are snapping up prime real estate in cities like London and Hong Kong. The flight to safety crowds out local inhabitants. In the absence of a correction, cities may be forced to become less welcoming to foreign buyers.

Noodle king Tingyi bulks up in lean China market

20 Aug 2012

Chinese consumers are becoming more frugal, even over staples like bottled drinks and instant noodles. Yet market leader Tingyi grew sales in a weak market by taking share from rivals. Lower palm oil and sugar prices also helped produce a 24 percent rise in first-half profits.

Occupy movement withers in unequal Hong Kong

14 Aug 2012

After a 10-month sit-in, a rag-bag of Occupy sympathisers face eviction from HSBC’s HQ. Their protest never gained traction - despite the region’s yawning wealth gap and HSBC providing free wifi. It’s not just that Occupy was disorganised: inequality alone doesn’t ensure unrest.

Li & Fung finds dreams don’t always come true

10 Aug 2012

The ambitious Hong Kong listed trading and logistics company sells at an elevated multiple, based on promises of rapid growth from a confident chief executive. The shares dropped 20 percent after a disappointing first half. They still look expensive for this cyclical business.

New Esprit CEO won’t end geographic confusion

8 Aug 2012

The struggling Hong Kong-listed retailer surged after it poached an executive from Spain’s more successful Inditex. Esprit’s Asian headquarters is a poor fit with the business’s European focus. The Eurasian firm needs to find a new brand identity and sharpen its geographic focus.

Macau’s high rollers cut bets as China’s odds dim

26 Jul 2012

Weaker profits at Las Vegas Sands suggest mainland gambling fanatics are taking a breather, including VIPs. There might be more at stake than just gaming profits: in better times, Sands owner Sheldon Adelson offered to wager $100 million on Mitt Romney’s U.S. presidential bid.

Chinese MBO boomlet may take necessary breather

19 Jul 2012

Depressed shares of U.S.-listed Chinese firms had attracted management buyouts from founders - a rare bright spot for bankers. But the troubles of New Oriental Education - an SEC probe, short-seller allegations and 60 percent stock slide - are likely to halt this trend for now. 

Investment banks’ Asian love affair cools rapidly

16 Jul 2012

After the 2008 crisis, it was “Shanghai, Mumbai or goodbye” for the financial industry. But the swingeing decline in Asian equity volumes and commissions has skewered that logic. What was once a growth driver is now an albatross. A second-tier retreat from Asia looks likely.

How to say "soft power" in Chinese

4 Jul 2012

Hong Kong’s new leader CY Leung gave his inaugural speech in the mainland’s Mandarin, not the city’s native Cantonese. The language choice is a sign of who’s boss. Cantonese-speakers may resent the change, but the economic and political forces are probably irresistible.

China samples Hong Kong’s secret sauce

29 Jun 2012

A planned $45 billion financial zone just over the border in Qianhai won’t just allow for experiments with currency conversion. It’s also set to test incorporating Hong Kong legal ideas into China. It shows influence doesn’t only go one way.

Is this the real Hong Kong handover?

28 Jun 2012

With the British gone for 15 years, the prosperous Chinese territory is about to get its first chief executive who wasn’t in the colonial club: CY Leung. Economically, Hong Kong is firmly hitched to China. The trick for Leung will be to set a course that keeps it distinct.

Hong Kong, enjoy your peg while it lasts

27 Jun 2012

Hitching the Hong Kong Dollar to the U.S. greenback brought 30 years of something like stability. Now it brings inflation and high property prices. Yet the alternatives are messy, and the peg has a symbolic value. The status quo is best, until China offers a good replacement.

Time for Hong Kong to kick colonial property habit

26 Jun 2012

Chinese cash - more and more since 1997 - has helped inflate prices at the high end. And scarce cheaper housing is causing social tensions. The SAR’s new chief executive plans to release more land. An end to over-tight supply control, abetted by property tycoons, is overdue.

Evergrande red flags are real, even if fraud isn’t

26 Jun 2012

A short-seller report knocked $1 bln-plus off the Chinese property company’s market value. Some of Citron Research’s maths look duff, and bank analysts have come to Evergrande’s defence. But concern is justified, if only because the firm’s opaque reporting invites confusion.