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☆ Temasek buys 41% stake in India's Manipal Health for $2 bln- source
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, April 10 (Reuters) - Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund Temasek said on Monday that it is acquiring an additional 41% stake in India's Manipal Health Enterprises from investors including TPG, boosting its stake in one of the country's largest hospital chains to 59%. While Manipal did not specify the deal value, Temasek has paid about $2 billion for the additional stake, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Private equity firm TPG, an investor in Manipal since 2015, will fully exit its stake, though it will reinvest via a new fund. India's sovereign wealth fund, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), will also sell its full stake to Temasek, while Manipal founder Ranjan Pai's family holding will reduce from about 50% to 30%. "By re-investing through our new Asia fund – TPG Asia VIII, we look forward to continuing to support Manipal's mission of bridging the quality healthcare infrastructure gap in the country," said Puneet Bhatia, co-managing partner of TPG Capital Asia.

☆ L'Oreal buys luxury brand Aesop from Brazil's Natura for $2.5 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of French cosmetics group L'Oreal in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, France, February 7, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesSAO PAULO, April 3 (Reuters) - French cosmetics group L'Oreal (OREP.PA) struck a deal with Brazil's Natura & Co (NTCO3.SA) to buy Aesop, its Australian luxury brand, at an enterprise value of $2.53 billion, both firms said on Monday. The deal, L'Oreal's largest ever brand acquisition according to Dealogic data, expands the firm's presence in the luxury cosmetics market, while also providing the Brazilian company with some financial relief amid shrinking margins and heavy debt. The acquisition is also the third largest on record of an Australian company in the consumer products sector, the data showed. "Aesop taps into all of today's ascending currents and L'Oreal will contribute to unleash its massive growth potential, notably in China and travel retail," L'Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said in a statement.

[1/2] Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon speaks during the Goldman Sachs Investor Day at Goldman Sachs Headquarters in New York City, U.S., February 28, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidHONG KONG/SHANGHAI, March 31 (Reuters) - A flurry of top financial executives have visited China for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic as global financial giants seek to cement their relations with Beijing at the start of President Xi Jinping's new term. International financial institutions and investors are welcome to expand in China, the chairman of the country's securities regulator said. Goldman Sachs' Solomon and Blackstone (BX.N) CEO Stephen Schwarzman met Peng Chun, chairman of China Investment Corporation (CIC), this week, according to official social media posts from the $1.35 trillion sovereign wealth fund. Meanwhile, Chip Kaye, Warburg Pincus's CEO, met Beijing's major Yin Yong during his visit to the city last week, according to a municipal statement from Beijing.

☆ Alibaba restructuring to enhance decision-making, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Trader works at the post where Alibaba is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 28, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidSHANGHAI/HONG KONG, March 30 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group's (9988.HK) restructuring will allow all its business units to become more agile and enhance faster decision-making and responses to market changes, the tech conglomerate's chief executive Daniel Zhang said on Thursday. The restructuring also opens up the possibility for each unit to raise funds through its own initial public offering (IPO). Some analysts say Alibaba is currently undervalued as a standalone conglomerate and a breakup would allow investors to value each business division independently. The restructuring could also better protect Alibaba shareholders from regulatory pressures, as penalties levied on one division in theory would not affect the operations of another, analysts says.

☆ Alibaba to decide on control over new business units after IPOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Zhang's comments come two days after Alibaba announced its largest restructuring in the company's history, which will see it change into a holding company structure with six business units, each with their own boards and CEOs. The business units will have their own CEOs and boards, though Alibaba will retain seats on those boards in the short-term, Zhang added. Alibaba began laying the groundwork for the restructuring a few years ago, Zhang told investors during a conference call, adding the business units could pursue public listings on their own in the future. After these units go public, Alibaba "will continue to evaluate the strategic importance of these companies" and "will decide whether or not to continue to retain control," Alibaba CFO Toby Xu said on the call. Alibaba, however, will decide whether the group wants to keep strategic control of each unit after they go public, Xu said.

☆ Alibaba's breakup lifts hopes China's regulatory winter is thawing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The move represented a light at the end of the tunnel for many investors who had seen a wave of regulatory blitzes as a major cloud hanging over China's private sector. Reuters GraphicsAlibaba said on Tuesday it would split into six units - Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics Group, Global Digital Commerce Group and Digital Media and Entertainment Group. He was spotted on Monday in Hangzhou, home to Alibaba, just one day before the company announced the restructuring. Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK), China's largest gaming company, saw shares rise as much as 5.1%. Alibaba's split may pave the way for other Chinese tech giants to undergo similar restructuring, CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said.

☆ Alibaba's breakup plan lifts hopes China's tech crackdown is ending
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The group's Hong Kong-listed shares jumped as much as 16.3%, tracking a 14.3% rally in its U.S.-listed shares overnight . Its e-commerce rival JD.com Inc (9618.HK) rose 7% and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) gained 5%. That compared with a 2.3% jump in benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI) and a 3.2% gain for the Hang Seng Tech Index (.HSTECH). Brian Tycango, who tracks China's tech sector at Stansberry Research, says that in addition to enabling higher valuations, the restructuring better protects individual divisions from future government regulation. "Any new regulations will likely not affect the whole company now - just the particular division that that regulation covers," Tycango told Reuters.

The companies are in talks with financial advisors to explore a sale of Selangor, Malaysia-based Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care to strategic investors, three sources said. "Sime Darby Berhad continues to review strategic growth options for our healthcare segment," a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. Ramsay Sime Darby did not immediately respond to comment. IHH, one of Asia's biggest private hospital operators, had submitted an indicative proposal in March 2022 to buy Ramsay Sime Darby Healthcare. Ramsay Sime Darby was established in 2013 via an equal joint venture of Ramsay and Sime Darby to expand their healthcare business in Southeast Asia.

☆ Alibaba to split into six units
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 28 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) said it plans split its business into six main units covering e-commerce, media and the cloud, adding that each of the units will explore fundraising or initial public offerings. STUART COLE, HEAD MACRO ECONOMIST AT EQUITI CAPITAL, LONDON"I am not sure how quickly Alibaba could be broken up. To me, it suggests something that Alibaba has been wanting to do for some time, but has been waiting for the opportunity to do so." With this expectation, investors will be more positive on Alibaba. It may reflect a new round of development for the business and reduce worries of regulatory issues."

Other investors who have held Toshiba longer may not be so lucky: the offer price represents a 15% discount from a December 2014 high. Some were introduced to JIP by Toshiba's management, some of the people said, declining to be identified because the information is not public. Toshiba's management, including CEO Taro Shimada, will stay on, while the government keeps Toshiba's sensitive defence and nuclear technologies in Japanese hands. Toshiba felt stable shareholders were desirable to end the tumult, unlike current shareholders "with many differing views", it said. JIP does not see the need for big strategy adjustments, Toshiba said.

☆ Toshiba board accepts Japan Industrial Partners' $15 bln buyout proposal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TOKYO, March 23 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) board has accepted a buyout offer from a group led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners, valuing the company at 2 trillion yen ($15.2 billion), the company said on Thursday. [1/2] The logo of Toshiba Corp is seen at the company's facility in Kawasaki, Japan June 10, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo 1 2The fallout from that debacle eventually led to the strategic review and the buyout proposal. Toshiba started an auction process about a year ago, receiving eight initial buyout proposals as well as two offers for capital alliances. The JIP consortium last month submitted a binding buyout proposal backed by $10.6 billion in loan commitments from major banks.

HONG KONG, March 17 (Reuters) - Chinese private equity firm DCP Capital aims to sell its Singaporean portfolio firm MFS Technology, which makes flexible printed circuit boards, for at least $550 million, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The sale is targeting primarily financial sponsors, but also strategic buyers, according to the two sources and a separate person with knowledge of the transaction. BDA Partners and Jefferies are advising DCP on the sale, the sources said. The Chinese firm bought a controlling stake in MFS in 2018 from Navis Capital Partners and Novo Tellus Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Additional reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong; Editing by Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In early February, sources said CATL aimed to go ahead with the listing as early as May. PRIVATE PLACEMENTThe sources said the Chinese regulator has concerns over the vast scale of CATL's GDR offering. At $5 billion, the GDR deal would easily be the largest such listing by a Chinese company in Switzerland, according to Refinitiv data. With much better liquidity on the domestic market, investors can exit more easily. Such practices have also made Chinese regulators less keen to wave through mega-GDR offerings, two of the sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Chinese start-ups and fund managers said they are still looking to move their money out of SVB once they can. Such banks have offered account services similar to those of SVB, but found it hard to crack the U.S. bank's dominance among early-stage start-ups in China, where SVB has operated for more than two decades and has a local joint venture. STILL HUNTINGSome venture funds said they were in a quandary as SVB had certain advantages and was especially friendly to early-stage start ups. "Not a lot of banks are friendly to venture capital." "But the market space left by SVB will be filled by the next bank, which is an opportunity," said Chen, whose company counts Sequoia Capital China and Wu Capital among its investors and banks with SVB.

The move comes as global infrastructure funds are pouring huge sums of money to acquire capital-intensive telecom infrastructure assets in Southeast Asia, seeing strong growth opportunities. The sources said discussions are taking place for a minority stake to be sold in the decade-old Edotco, which is 63% owned by Axiata. However, three of the sources said there was a possibility that Axiata could even consider giving majority control in order to secure a deal. The sources said the bulk of the proceeds from the share sales will likely fund Edotco's business expansion. While broader dealmaking activity has fallen sharply over the past year due to weak equity markets and rising interest rates, telecom tower assets have been a bright spot.

A CHINESE COMPANY? Those rules followed a regulatory crackdown that has slowed U.S. listings by Chinese companies to a trickle. Chinese companies raised only around $230 million in U.S. listings last year, a massive drop from $12.9 billion in 2021, according to Refinitiv data. It was not immediately clear if SHEIN is planning to officially seek Chinese regulatory approval for its IPO. The moves were designed so that SHEIN could bypass seeking Chinese regulatory approval for the listing, sources have previously said.

☆ China to set up new financial regulator in sweeping reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The new financial regulator will replace the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and bring supervision of the industry, excluding the securities sector, into a body directly under the State Council, or cabinet. The proposal for setting up the new regulator, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, was presented to China's parliament during its annual meeting on Tuesday. China's financial sector is overseen by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the CBIRC, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), with the cabinet's Financial Stability and Development Committee having overall responsibility. The setting up of the new financial regulatory body comes as Beijing seeks to rein in large corporate and financial institutions that may bring systemic risks via regulatory arbitrage among multiple authorities. 'STRENGTHEN SUPERVISION'The new administration will "strengthen institutional supervision, supervision of behaviours and supervision of functions", according to the plan.

HONG KONG, March 3 (Reuters) - Bank of America (BAC.N) and Citigroup (C.N) have cut some investment banking jobs in Asia, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, joining global peers in paring headcount as China dealmaking slows. Citi on Thursday trimmed four jobs from its China investment banking team, said one of the two people and a separate person. BofA and Citi both declined to comment on layoffs involving investment bankers in Asia. JPMorgan (JPM.N) has also cut around 20 investment banking jobs, mostly mid-level bankers focused on China deals, according to two separate sources. Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T) has cut 18 Asian banking jobs, most of them China-focused investment banking roles, sources have said.

Warburg has approached a number of Chinese investors including local government-backed entities and state-backed financial institutions for the new yuan fund, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The U.S. private equity (PE) firm plans to primarily focus on the healthcare and industrial technology sectors in China with the yuan fund, one of the people said. "RMB (yuan) funds are relatively independent and self-sustainable," he said. Sensitive sectors will remain closed to global private equity groups even if they raise yuan funds, she added. Emerging markets-focused Affirma Capital is also targeting a 2 billion yuan raising in its debut fund and reached first close at 1.5 billion yuan by end-2022, a person close to the situation said.

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Chinese dealmaker Bao Fan, founder of investment bank China Renaissance Holdings Ltd (1911.HK), has gone missing in the latest disappearance of a top business executive, unnerving investors and sending its stock down as much as 50% on Friday. A China Renaissance spokesperson referred Reuters request for comment on Friday to the investment bank's public filing. The firm earned $20.6 million in Chinese related investment banking fees in 2022, down from $43.13 million a year earlier, the data showed. Bao started China Renaissance in 2005 as a two-person team, seeking to match capital-hungry startups with venture capitalist and private equity investors. China Renaissance is also an active investor in the tech sector.

SYDNEY, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Shares of boutique investment bank China Renaissance Holdings Ltd (1911.HK) fell by as much as 50% on Friday after the firm said it had been unable to contact Chairman and Chief Executive Bao Fan. China Renaissance shares slid by 50% in early trade to hit a record low of HK$5 each. He started China Renaissance in 2005 and the exchange filing showed he is its controlling shareholder. China Renaissance was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2018 after it raised $346 million. China Renaissance is also an active investor in the tech sector.

Arm technology powers most global smartphones and the company counts Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) as customers. The China business is the exclusive distributor of Arm chip technology in China and develops and sells its own chip designs based on Arm. In 2021, the China business paid Arm about $500 million, the two sources said. “The Arm Ltd IP business part of Arm China is performing very well and we are positioned for continued growth going forward. SoftBank and Arm China did not respond to requests for comment.

Arm technology powers most global smartphones and the company counts Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) as customers. The China business is the exclusive distributor of Arm chip technology in China and develops and sells its own chip designs based on Arm. “The Arm Ltd IP business part of Arm China is performing very well and we are positioned for continued growth going forward. SoftBank and Arm China did not respond to requests for comment. Wu is credited with expanding the China business, according to two sources familiar with the company.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Chinese chip design company Unisoc (Shanghai) Technologies Co is seeking to raise 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in a new funding round that will value the firm at about 70 billion yuan ($10.3 billion), three people with knowledge of the deal told Reuters. Unisoc has approached several state-backed investment funds for the round, tapping increased local investor interest in China's domestic chip industry, which is gearing up to be more self-sufficient in the face of U.S. pressure, the people said. Unisoc is controlled by private equity firm Wise Road Capital, which took over the company in 2022 after Tsinghua Unigroup, its former parent company, faced bankruptcy. In its statement from Feb. 8, it added it had reached revenue of 14 billion yuan in 2022. A statement in July 2022 said it had revenue of 11.7 billion yuan in 2021.

☆ In COVID China, a hospital bed can hinge on who you know, red packets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Engen Tham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

After hours of frantic calls, Steven was taken to a packed hospital and given oxygen and a bed in a children’s ward. If you know the head of the hospital, then there won’t be trouble getting a bed," a Shanghai doctor said. Although China has tried to crack down on doctor bribery, the regulatory focus has been on payments from pharmaceutical companies rather than patients. Doctors and experts said the use of red packets and "guanxi", or connections, to gain access persists. "Many of those rural patients, COVID patients, that had severe symptoms would choose not to proactively seek care; instead they just die at home," Huang said.

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