Briefs

FOOD BEVERAGE

Yum! Brands Takes Over Little Sheep

US fast food restaurant group Yum! Brands， owner of KFC and Pizza Hut， plans to pay HKD 4.56 billion (USD 586.7 million) to increase its stake in Little Sheep Group (小肥羊集團有限公司) to 93.2%. The American company had previously owned a 27.2% stake in the Inner Mongolian hot pot chain which is listed in Hong Kong. When the deal goes through the founder of the Chinese company will hold the remaining 6.8% stake in Little Sheep， which had sales revenues of RMB 1.925 billion (USD 296 million) in 2010， a year-on-year increase of 22.6%.

Nestle Takes Stakes in Yinlu

The world’s largest food company， Nestle， has signed an agreement to take a 60% stake in Yinlu Food Group (銀鷺食品集團)， a private food producer based in Xiamen， Fujian Province. Yinlu co-produces Nestle’s Nescafe coffee and manufactures peanut milk and canned rice porridge and had sales revenues of RMB 5.4 billion (USD 831.6 million) in 2010. The deal would help Nestle extend its production line and expand into China’s fast food market， and once it is complete the two companies will concentrate on targeting consumers in the central and western regions of China.

INTERNET

Renren Launches IPO on NYSE

Renren (人人公司)， the largest SNS (Social Networking Services) company in China， has listed on the New York Stock Exchange， raising around USD 740 million， making the deal the largest recent US IPO by a Chinese Internet company. The company owns three websites Renren.com (人人網)， Game.Renren.com (人人游戲)， and Nuomi.com (糯米網)， with a total of 117 million active users. From January through March this year its user base increased by 2 million people each month. The day of Renren’s listing， its market value reached USD 7.07 billion， making it the fifth largest Chinese Internet company listed in US， behind Tencent (騰訊)， Baidu (百度)， Alibaba (阿里巴巴) and Sina (新浪).

Intel Invests in UIT

In an effort to further develop cloud computing in China， Intel Capital， the global investment arm of the world’s top semi-conductor manufacturer Intel， announced an investment in United Information Technology (創新科存儲技術有限公司/UIT)， the leading information storage solution provider based in Shenzhen. Intel Capital has invested more than USD 500 million in over 100 companies in China since 1998 and this investment marks the company’s first move in the country’s data storage industry.

ENERGY AND RESOURCES

China Gezhouba to Build a Hydropower Station in Indonesia

State-owned China Gezhouba (Group) (中國葛洲壩集團公司) plans to invest USD 1 billion to build a hydropower station in Karama on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia’s Sulawesi Selatan Province. Construction on the hydropower station will begin in 2012 and take five years to complete. When it goes online in 2017 it will generate electricity for PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN)， the state-owned electricity monopoly in Indonesia， for 20 to 30 years.

Baosteel Buys Stake in Canada’s Noront Resources

Baosteel Group (寶鋼集團有限公司)， the largest steel producer in China， has agreed to pay CAD 17.4 million (USD 17.84 million) for a 9.9% stake in Noront Resources， an Australian mine headquartered in Toronto. Once the deal closes the Chinese company will have the right to appoint one executive to Noront’s board and can increase its stake to 17.4%. Noront Resources focuses on the exploration of nickel and chromite， raw materials used in stainless steel production.

Sinopec Inks LNG Deal with Australia’s APLNG

China Petroleum Chemical Corporation (中國石油化工集團公司/Sinopec)， the country’s largest oil refiner， has agreed to buy 4.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas from Australia Pacific LNG annually for 20 years beginning in 2015. The deal， valued at USD 85 billion， would be the largest LNG supply contract in Australia to date， and will help Sinopec secure its natural gas supply in order to meet the fast-growing demand for the fuel in China.

Taifeng Takes Stake in Australia’s FWL

Taifeng Group (泰豐集團)， a private conglomerate based in Sichuan Province， has agreed to buy a 19.9% stake in Australia’s mining company Ferrowest Limited (FWL)， making it the largest shareholder of the latter. The deal will give the Chinese company access to 50% of Ferrowest’s Yalgoo iron ore project and its Western magnetite project. The Yogi tenement package of the Australian miner’s Yalgoo project currently has reserves of 572.5 million tons of iron ore with the grade of 27.51%.

RETAILING

Wal-Mart Buys Stakes in Yihaodian

Wal-mart， the world’s largest retailer， has acquired a minority stake in the holding company of Yihaodian (1號店)， a fast-growing B2C e-commerce company based in Shanghai. The transaction is expected to be completed in 60 days and will help the Chinese e-commerce retailer strengthen its competitiveness by giving it access to Wal-Mart’s supply chain. Yihaodian， founded in 2008， operates an online supermarket selling more than 75，000 types of goods， including food， general merchandise， electronic products and garments.

Fosun to Take Stakes in Folli Follie

Fosun International (復星國際)， a leading privately-owned conglomerate in China， intends to pay EURO 84.588 million (USD 119.3 million) for a 9.5% stake in Greece’s luxury jewelry retailer Folli Follie. The deal is expected to help the brand expand into China， the world’s fastest-growing luxury goods market， where the consumption of luxury goods reached USD 12 billion in 2010. Folli Follie， entered in China in 2002， has opened around 90 stores in 27 cities across the country.

AUTOMOTIVE

BYD Launches A-Share IPO

BYD (比亞迪)， the largest rechargeable battery maker and a leading auto manufacturer in China， has gotten the green light from China Securities Regulatory Commission to be listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The auto maker was to issue no more than 79 million shares and raise RMB 2.192 billion (USD 336.94 million). The funds will be used to expand BYD’s projects for lithium-ion batteries， automobile research and development and auto parts. The company had sales revenues of RMB 48.4 billion (USD 7.44 billion) in 2010， a year-on-year increase of 17.84%.

Beijing Hainachuan to Acquire Holland’s INALFA

Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts (北京海納川汽車部件股份有限公司)， the auto parts unit of Beijing Automotive Group (北京汽車集團)， plans to acquire a 100% stake in Inalfa Roof Systems Group BV， the second largest vehicle roof systems provider in the world. The Dutch company develops and assembles innovative car and truck roof systems for the world’s major auto companies such as BMW， Daimler， Chrysler， Ford， General Motors， Volkswagen and Audi. The deal would help the Chinese company improve its industry supply chain and become the leading auto parts maker in the country.

TOURISM

HNA Group to Acquire Stakes in Spain’s NH Hoteles

HNA Group (海航集團)， the parent of China’s fourth largest carrier Hainan Airlines (海南航空)， has agreed to pay 430 million Euros (USD 620 million) for a 20% stake in NH Hoteles， one of the largest hotel companies in Spain. The two companies also plan to set up a joint venture to open new hotels in China. Last year 90，000 Chinese tourists traveled to Spain， and that number is expected to increase by 1 million annually until 2020. NH Hoteles operates 400 hotels in 25 countries in Europe， Latin America and Africa.

Hello Kitty Coming to China

Shanghai Insight Holdings (上海銀潤控股(集團)有限公司) has gotten authorization to build a Hello Kitty theme park in Anji， Zhejiang Province， with an initial investment of USD 200 million. The park， which will open in 2014， is the first Hello Kitty theme park outside of Japan and it is hoped that it will attract 1 million tourists per year.

PHARMACEUTICALS

Shanghai Pharma Launches H-Share IPO

Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding (上海醫藥集團股份有限公司)， the second largest medicine company in China， listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange， offering 763.9 million shares in expectation of raising up to USD 2.26 billion. The deal， which will make Shanghai Pharmaceuticals the first medicine company on the Chinese Mainland that has listings on both the A-Share and H-Share exchanges， is the largest IPO by any pharmaceutical company worldwide in the past five years and is also the largest IPO in Asia’s pharmaceutical sector.