Saturday, 10 October 2009

Patriotic capitalist’s son demands restitution

But almost all of the Kang family’s fortune was lost in the Communist Party’s nationalisation drive that targeted the “bourgeois” - mainly capitalists in the cities and landlords in rural areas - shortly after it took power on October 1, 1949.

Searches rise for all the tea in China

In a rebuff to the national drink of coffee, buyers in the United States have increased their online searches for Chinese tea to meet growing demand for the beverage, according to new data from Alibaba.com.

Whose recovery is it anyway?

Most Americans view the current recovery to be more statistical or technical than real

One ad, but 500 apply for private bank job

RBS Coutts Asia chief surprised by volatility in private banking market

Remisier king Peter Lim wins defamation suit


Billionaire investor Peter Lim has won a defamation suit against the main shareholders of Raffles Town Club (RTC), after the Court of Appeal ruled in his favour yesterday.

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Wynn debut may deal investors dud hand


Investors going all-in on Wynn Macau’s pricey HK$12.6 billion initial share offering could be left holding a busted hand unless the casino operator can beat the recent trend of disappointing trading debuts, analysts said.

SDP five cleared of illegal march

Three leaders and two supporters of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) were acquitted in court yesterday of the charge of taking part in an illegal march in 2007.

If merger boom is imminent, we have learned nothing

Wondering what the next bubble might be? How about a merger boom? All the signs are that the global capital markets are gearing up for the next big thing: a wave of mergers and takeover bids.

Private banks yet to learn lessons from crisis: PwC

Private banks in Asia have not learnt the lessons from last year’s financial crisis, risking an even worse performance if the same mistakes are made ahead of the next economic downturn, PricewaterhouseCoopers said yesterday.

Smooth sailing or rough ride for CAC?

China Auto Corporation (CAC) has spent the past few years caught between a rock and a hard place - several hard places, in fact.

Wary Hong Kong gets ready for more IPOs

Three more firms will list on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday, but analysts warned that cooling economic optimism and overpricing has been responsible for a series of disappointing debuts.

Oil states deny secret talks on dollar

Big oil-producing nations have denied a British newspaper report that Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the US dollar with a basket of currencies in trading oil.

No sense in report of plot to engineer US dollar’s demise

That’s not to say the US currency won’t be deposed one day. But it is a safe bet it won’t be replaced any time soon by anything resembling Fisk’s basket. He might be an acknowledged expert on the conflicts of the Middle East, but it looks like Fisk’s lost the plot on this one.

New listings face up to harsh realities


More initial public offerings (IPO) are on their way to charm the stock market, but they may get the cold shoulder from investors if a recent trend is any guide.

Hong Kong luxury home sales soar on mainland deals

Hong Kong’s luxury home sales almost tripled in September from a month earlier, as mainland Chinese residents flocked to buy flats in the city.

Fine-tuning the board and its processes

SGX doesn’t look specifically for directors with speciality expertise, but with experience in running and managing a firm

China leads global IPO rebound

The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) rebounded sharply across the globe in the third quarter, led by mega-deals in China, as companies capitalised on rallying stock markets and growing optimism among investors.

China at 60: Still not a normal country

But the celebrations also succeeded in highlighting, perhaps inadvertently, the fact that China is still not a normal country.

Part of the reason the Communist Party refuses to transform the PLA into the state’s armed forces is that the party puts itself above the state. But it should understand that China cannot be a normal country as long as the party is above the state. There is no reason for the state to be subservient to the party forever.

The top 5 restaurants in China

This list of top 5 restaurants in China, where the gourmet scene continues to develop and innovate at a rapid pace, and is not endorsed by Reuters.

Infertility epidemic stalks the mainland’s one-child generation


They are one of an estimated 40 million infertile couples on the mainland, where the problem is seen as a serious threat to the nation’s population structure and social stability.