China stock news

Ping An Acquires Stake In Shenzhen Development Bank

Thursday, 02 September 2010 07:26 Todd Shriber

September 2, 2010 (Chinavestor) Ping An Insurance (HKG:2318), China's second-largest insurance company, will pay $4.3 billion to acquire a stake in Shenzhen Development Bank (CH:000001) which Ping An (HKG:2318) will use to strengthen its own banking business. Ping An (HK:2318) will acquire more than 22% of Shenzhen Development Bank (CH:000001), which brings its stake in the bank to almost 52.4%.

Ping An (HKG:2318) gets a publicly traded lender with 855 billion yuan of assets and a network of more than 300 outlets, advancing Chairman Peter Ma's plan of building a financial conglomerate, Bloomberg News reported. Ping An (HKG:2318) had to combine its Ping An Bank with its Shenzhen Development Bank (CH:000001) stake earlier this year to avoid violating Chinese laws that forbid an insurance company from controlling two banks.

Shenzhen-based Ping An (HKG:2318) serves 51 million retail customers and 2 million corporate clients nationwide, Bloomberg reported. The company earned 1.1 billion yuan from banking operations in the first half of this year.

Lenovo To Enter Video Game Market

Monday, 30 August 2010 05:02 Todd Shriber

August 30, 2010 (Chinavesstor) Lenovo (HKG:0992), China's largest computer maker, will enter the video game fray by introducing a new console aimed at competing with Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT) XBox 360 and Sony's (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 3. Lenovo (HKG:0992) plans to introduce the console later this year.

Interview: CEU Ringing the NYSE Opening Bell

Thursday, 26 August 2010 10:38 Blaze Fabry

August 26, 2010 (Chinavestor) I have just departed from the NYSE after the Opening Bell ceremony, conducting an interview one-one-one with Mr. Xiqun Yu, Chief Executive Officer of China Education Alliance (NYSE:CEU) and Zack Pan, Chief Financial Officer of the Company. The Opening Bell ceremony is all fun, walking on the trading floor and such, but it's the financials that is the most interesting for the investor community.

China Life: No Recent Talks With AIG

Thursday, 26 August 2010 03:07 Todd Shriber

August 26, 2010 (Chinavestor) China Life Insurance (NYSE:LFC), China's largest and the world's most valuable life insurance firm, has not held any recent talks with AIG (NYSE:AIG) regarding a purchase of the American company's AIA Asian life insurance unit. The two companies have twice held discussions about China Life (NYSE:LFC) purchasing AIG (NYSE:AIG) assets, but nothing panned out and the companies have not talked assets sales since March.

Sources had said that AIG (NYSE:AIG) is expected to decide by early next week whether to enter formal negotiations with strategic investors for AIA, Reuters reported. AIG (NYSE:AIG), whose largest shareholder is the U.S. government, has been looking to sell assets to raise cash in an effort to repay its debt to U.S. taxpayers.

China Life (NYSE:LFC) said it has not yet decided whether or not it will invest in AIA. Separately, China Life (NYSE:LFC) said its first-half profit jumped 7.4% to 18 billion yuan 16.8 billion yuan a year earlier. Revenue surged 10% to 215 billion yuan.

Chalco Looking To Diversify Into Coal

Wednesday, 25 August 2010 04:48 Todd Shriber

August 25, 2010 (Chinavestor) Aluminum Corp. of China (NYSE:ACH), China's top producer of that metal, is looking to broaden its horizons by investing in coal, iron ore and power producers in an effort to reduce costs and boost profits. High input costs and aluminum overcapacity in China have hampered the company's profit margins recently. The company posted a second-quarter loss earlier this week.