Qatar’s Rosneft stake is pricey insurance policy 5 May 2018 The Gulf state will take back 14 pct of the Russian state oil group after a $9 bln sale to China’s CEFC collapsed. That helps Qatar-backed Glencore keep a supply agreement with Rosneft. Firmer links with Moscow also give Saudi Arabia another reason to ease up on Doha.
Review: China experts enter their own “New Era” 27 Apr 2018 Two new books from respected scholars try to make sense of the country under Xi Jinping. Both see it fast moving toward a more centralised political regime, with messy and probably unpredictable consequences. As interesting is the shifting mood among China analysts themselves.
Cox: Aramco and Amazon encourage bad behavior 15 Mar 2018 Global financial capitals are prostituting themselves to accommodate the Saudi oil giant's IPO. Amazon's competition for a second HQ is provoking U.S. municipalities to similarly ingratiate themselves. This "Aramazon" effect exemplifies how races to the bottom get started.
Chile can set copper behemoth on market trajectory 8 Mar 2018 Codelco needs cash - and plenty of it. Attempting to privatise the world’s biggest copper producer would be politically toxic. Still, there is plenty Chile's incoming President Sebastian Piñera can do, starting with handing the group more control over its finances.
Viewsroom: Fraud puts India’s lenders on edge 28 Feb 2018 A $1.8 bln scam at Punjab National Bank comes just months after the government injected $32 bln to bail out 20-odd state-run financial institutions. The scandal may increase calls for them to be privatized. Elsewhere: Will Sky be the limit for Comcast, Disney or Fox?
Google offers Aramco unlikely route to IPO heaven 1 Feb 2018 The Saudi oil producer is in talks with the search engine’s owner to create a tech hub in the kingdom, says the WSJ. There could be a secondary benefit. If investors valued Aramco the way they do Alphabet, the $2 trln valuation Riyadh wants from a future IPO would be a shoo-in.
Air India fix would give Modi reform miles 21 Jul 2017 The carrier is a travelling advertisement for India's inefficiencies. It has made losses for nine years and turnaround efforts have failed. A sale may push a multi-billion dollar writedown on lenders, but would validate Prime Minister Modi's reform credentials.
China web giants stuck with telco reform bill 22 Jun 2017 Alibaba and Tencent will join a group investing $10 bln in struggling China Unicom, Reuters reported. It’s part of Beijing's plan to increase private investment in state-owned firms. Unicom is the clear beneficiary of the boost. How the internet giants will profit is unclear.
Saudi Aramco IPO is exercise in reverse valuation 22 Jun 2017 The oil producer is worth $2 trillion, say its owners. The question might not be whether that valuation is right, but what Aramco’s owners and bankers will have to do to get it. A Breakingviews calculator suggests this will be a stretch of reason.
Epic rally leaves China Evergrande on shaky ground 12 Jun 2017 The Hong Kong-listed developer is 2017’s best-performing major stock, up roughly 240 pct. Business is brisk, costly debt is being repaid, and a bold mainland listing is on track. It has also quit a distracting battle over rival Vanke. A $28 bln market cap still looks overdone.
Revived chemical megadeal fits China’s new formula 9 May 2017 Now ChemChina's $43 billion takeover of Syngenta is concluding, a merger with rival Sinochem is back on, according to a media report. Beijing wants fewer and bigger centrally run state-owned enterprises. Scale and financial strength matter more than Western-style cost cutting.
Stars align for Vietnam’s privatisation push 20 Mar 2017 Hanoi's desire to tame the budget deficit and boost efficiency bodes well for the sale of state assets, including big brewers. A buoyant stock market helps. But in the rush to secure fat listing valuations, Vietnam risks driving away the foreign buyers it needs.
China SOE merger is tiny step dressed as a big one 23 Aug 2016 Construction giants Sinoma and CNBM are being crunched together, following similar mergers in moribund sectors like steel and shipping. It’s unlikely to create job cuts and closures on the scale an investor might want, but streamlining the bureaucracy could generate small gains.
Mixed messages will hamper China’s SOE mergers 5 Aug 2016 Consolidation is picking up amongst state-owned enterprises. Executives running enlarged companies have to meet a plethora of contradictory goals to keep their Communist Party bosses sweet. The confusion means China's state-run giants could end up pleasing no one.