China Global M&A Push, 2005 ~ Nowadays

[TaiShang]

China's YY Takes Over Singapore's Bigo for USD1.5 Billion to Get Hands on Video App Like

DOU SHICONG

DATE : MAR 05 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China's YY Takes Over Singapore's Bigo for USD1.5 Billion to Get Hands on Video App Like

(Yicai Global) March 5 -- Chinese live-streaming giant YY has acquired Singapore's Bigo Technology, which owns video platforms Bigo Live and Like, to expand its influence overseas.

YY has paid USD1.5 billion, including USD343 million in cash and the rest in share swap, to purchase over 68 percent of Bigo's equity, the Guangzhou-based buyer said in a statement. YY already owned the remainder after participating in Bigo's fourth funding round last June.

The move is an important milestone for YY in its globalisation strategy, Chief Executive Li Xueling said. "The combination of YY's and Bigo's unparalleled businesses and services in both China and overseas will enable us to create enhanced live streaming content, expand our global footprint, and offer world-class user experiences for our global user community."

Founded in 2014, Bigo has 69 million monthly active users globally, including the regions of Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

YY's stock price [NASDAQ: YY] rose 1.64 percent to USD72.04 yesterday.

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/ch...-usd15-billion-to-get-hands-on-video-app-like

China's YY Takes Over Singapore's Bigo for USD1.5 Billion to Get Hands on Video App Like

DOU SHICONG

DATE : MAR 05 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China's YY Takes Over Singapore's Bigo for USD1.5 Billion to Get Hands on Video App Like

(Yicai Global) March 5 -- Chinese live-streaming giant YY has acquired Singapore's Bigo Technology, which owns video platforms Bigo Live and Like, to expand its influence overseas.

YY has paid USD1.5 billion, including USD343 million in cash and the rest in share swap, to purchase over 68 percent of Bigo's equity, the Guangzhou-based buyer said in a statement. YY already owned the remainder after participating in Bigo's fourth funding round last June.

The move is an important milestone for YY in its globalisation strategy, Chief Executive Li Xueling said. "The combination of YY's and Bigo's unparalleled businesses and services in both China and overseas will enable us to create enhanced live streaming content, expand our global footprint, and offer world-class user experiences for our global user community."

Founded in 2014, Bigo has 69 million monthly active users globally, including the regions of Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

YY's stock price [NASDAQ: YY] rose 1.64 percent to USD72.04 yesterday.

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/ch...-usd15-billion-to-get-hands-on-video-app-like

 

[TaiShang]

Yili Group expected to take full control of NZ dairy company

By Wang Zhuoqiong | China Daily | Updated: 2019-03-20

A customer shops for cartons of Yili pire milk at a supermarket in Shanghai, on Dec 20, 2018. [Photo/IC]

The Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group is expected to acquire a 100 percent stake in New Zealand's second largest dairy producer - Westland Cooperative Dairy Company Ltd - for about $168.95 million to secure quality and stable supply of raw milk.

The Westland Cooperative Dairy Company Ltd has signed an agreement on March 18 to sell the West Coast dairy cooperative to Hong Kong Jingang Trade Holding Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group for $3.41 per share, representing an enterprise valuation of NZ$588 million ($403 million).

Chief Executive Officer of Yili Group Zhang Jianqiu said in the statement that the offer, if accepted by shareholders, would result in an immediate cash windfall, to farmers, as well as a competitive milk payout.

Westland and Yili would also be able to share the expertise each entity has developed over many years in the industry, which will lead to increased innovation, Zhang said.

"We believe we are offering farmer shareholders a stronger financial future, and greater access to international markets. In return, we are asking to become the custodians of one of New Zealand's most trusted brands - Westland Milk - with all the knowledge, history and expertise that comes along with that," Zhang said.

Zhang said Yili had already demonstrated its commitment to local dairy farmers and its determination to be a good corporate partner with New Zealand dairy farmers.

Yili - with an estimated 22 percent market share - is the largest dairy producer in China and Asia and has a strategy to grow both its domestic and global businesses.

Yili acquired Oceania Dairy Ltd in 2013 and since that time it has invested 3 billion yuan ($446 million) in establishing milk powder, infant formula and UHT (Ultra High Temperature) production lines for Oceania.

"At our Oceania processing plant at Glenavy, we have increased the average price to local dairy farmers because we believe that supporting our farmers and their families is the best way to achieve our business goals.

"This proven track record is what Westland farmer shareholders and suppliers can expect from us if they accept our offer," Zhang said.

Westland's raw milk supply takes up about 4 percent of the raw milk supplies in New Zealand and sells its products in more than 40 countries and regions in the world.

Yili said the acquisition will further consolidate its leading dairy producer position in the country and improve its competence.

"The deal can have an impact on global market and expand the company's overseas businesses, lift up its brand influence," according to Yili.

Song Liang, an independent dairy analyst, said the deal will further complete the supply chain of Yili. "Yili needs to reduce its costs in raw materials to increase its profitability."

He added this deal is only a beginning of Yili's large-scale acquisitions in the next one or two years.

In fiscal year 2018, Yili reached about 80 billion yuan gross revenue - an increase of 16.89 percent from the previous year. Net profit was 6.452 billion yuan, an increase of 10.32 percent.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201903/20/WS5c919064a310484226Yili Group expected to take full control of NZ dairy company0b17f6.html

 

[TaiShang]

Haisco Pharma Buys Into US New Drug Startup for USD6 Million

TANG SHIHUA
DATE : APR 02 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

Haisco Pharma Buys Into US New Drug Startup for USD6 Million

(Yicai Global) April 2 -- Sichuan Haisco Pharmaceutical will spend USD6 million to buy into US-based new drug development startup eXithera Pharmaceuticals and gain the exclusive rights in China for a new anticoagulant it is developing.

Haisco has penned a share purchase and exclusive license agreements with Westborough, Massachusetts-based eXithera, Haisco's parent Haisco Pharmaceutical Group said in a statement yesterday.

The company will buy 2,787,068 newly issued eXithera common shares to hold 12.5 percent and become the target's third-largest shareholder, per the statement. Haisco will not seek a seat on the target firm's board or participate in its daily management.

The Chengdu-based firm will assume development, trials, registration and production in China, and pay future royalties to eXithera, which is a unit of the Israeli Clal Biotechnology Industries. The Chinese firm earlier invested in several other Israel-based medical device companies, including Endospan, MST and Sensible, life sciences news and market analytics firm ChinaBio Group reported on its website.

Haisco's exclusive license to EP-7041 will enable it to engage in clinical research, registration and applications, as well as production and sales in China.

The company will give 8 percent of the new drug's sales in the Chinese market to eXithera as patent royalties over the next decade or until the patents expire, per the statement.

The drug treats thromboembolism, and no similar ones have been approved in China, the statement said.

The new medication is expected to have the lowest risk of bleeding in the anticoagulant market. It is highly likely it will replace existing treatments to become the mainstream anticoagulant and antithrombotic medicine with promising sales prospects once it successfully launches.

It has completed Phase I clinical trials in Australia and will also apply in the US, the statement added.

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/haisco-pharma-buys-into-us-new-drug-startup-for-usd6-million

 

[Stranagor]

Listed Chinese Firms Spent USD18 Billion on Overseas M&As Last Year

ZHANG YUSHUO
DATE : JAN 13 2020/SOURCE : YICAI

Listed Chinese Firms Spent USD18 Billion on Overseas M&As Last Year

(Yicai Global) Jan. 13 -- Companies listed on the Chinese mainland conducted CNY124.5 billion (USD18 billion) worth of overseas mergers and acquisitions last year, with an increasing focus on Belt and Road countries.

The firms spent the money in 117 transactions, Yan Qingmin, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at the China Capital Market Forum 2020 on Jan. 11. The regulator endorses domestic- and foreign-listed leveraging technology to undertake overseas M&As, he added.

Some of the Chinese firms major acquisitions included the country's second-biggest dairy firm China Mengniu Dairy paying AUD1.5 billion (USD1 billion) for milk powder maker Bellamy's Australia and USD407 million for Lion Dairy; and property giant Evergrande Group's foray into new-energy vehicles. Evergrande acquired Netherlands-based in-wheel motor maker TeT Drive Technology, a majority stake in National Electric Vehicle Sweden, which bought bankrupt carmaker Saab Automobile, and 20 percent of Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg Automotive.

China's overseas M&As have historically been to acquire upstream raw materials, expand buyers' international market share or to diversify their operations, Securities Daily cited economist Chen Shiyuan as saying. Now, the Belt and Road Initiative is leading to more outbound investment in infrastructure and cross-border capacity cooperation, he added.

The Belt and Road is China's 30- to 40-year grand plan for a multi-continent infrastructure and trade route. President Xi Jinping devised the scheme in 2013.

Expanding overseas via M&As is a fast, safe approach that gives buyers technology, talent and market share, and helps them quickly sell products via local sales networks, the Securities Times cited Wu Yongzu, deputy director of the industrial department at Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for Finance Studies, as saying. This can accelerate their learning in the countries' legal, cultural and political environments, he added.

https://yicaiglobal.com/news/listed-chinese-firms-spent-usd18-billion-on-overseas-mas-last-year

 

[Stranagor]

Chinese Auto Parts Maker Weichai Power to Take Control of Austria's VDS

TANG SHIHUA
DATE : JAN 15 2020/SOURCE : YICAI

Chinese Auto Parts Maker Weichai Power to Take Control of Austria's VDS


(Yicai Global) Jan. 15 -- Weichai Power, China's major supplier of automotive power systems, will take a 51 percent stake in Austrian vehicle drive system developer VDS to become its controlling shareholder.

The acquisition will make up for the Weifang, eastern Shandong province-based company's technical shortfalls.

The pair inked a corresponding agreement in the provincial capital of Jinan today, local media Dazhong Daily reported, but without relating the deal's financial details.

VDS develops automotive drive systems. Its hydraulic gearboxes and power diverters are used in tractors, loaders, government vehicles, new energy buses and many other applications.

The Upper Austria-based firm also boasts great capability in product design, development and testing and it offers one-stop research and development consulting services that range from designing plans to sample item manufacturing.

This restructuring will help the Chinese engine system maker compensate for its technical shortcomings in hydraulic transmission gearbox products and in mastering the key and core technologies of the continuously variable transmission powertrains used in agriculture, the report also noted.

Founded in 2002, Weichai Power has the highest sales volume of any auto parts supplier in China. It mainly provides power systems for various commercial vehicles.

https://yicaiglobal.com/news/chinese-auto-parts-maker-weichai-power-to-take-control-of-austria-vds

 

[Stranagor]

Tencent Offers 27% Premium to Buy Norway's Funcom Ahead of Dune Game

ZHANG YUSHUO
DATE : JAN 23 2020/SOURCE : YICAI

Tencent Offers 27% Premium to Buy Norway's Funcom Ahead of Dune Game

(Yicai Global) Jan. 23 -- China's Tencent Holdings has proposed to pay a 27 percent premium to purchase Norway's Funcom which is currently developing an open-world multiplayer survival game based on Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune.

Tencent, which is already Funcom's largest shareholder, would pay NOK17 (USD1.89) apiece, the Netherlands-headquartered firm said in a statement yesterday. That results in a NOK1.33 billion (USD148 million) valuation. The shares [XOSL: FUNCOM] climbed close to the offer price yesterday.

Founded in 1993, Funcom is known for its online games Conan Exiles, Secret World Legends, Age of Conan, and Anarchy Online.

"We are impressed by Funcom's strengths as a developer of open-world multiplayer, action and survival games," said Steven Ma, senior vice president of the Shenzhen-based buyer.

The Chinese gaming giant purchased nearly 29 percent of the target firm's equity last October after acquiring stakes in global game developers such as Supercell, Ubisoft Entertainment, and Epic Games.

"Tencent will provide Funcom with operational leverage and insights from its vast knowledge as the leading company in the game space," said the latter's Chief Executive Rui Casais.

The deal is not expected to result in changes in Funcom's management or staff.

 

[TaiShang]

M&A deals by Chinese companies grow 30% to $733.8 billion in 2020 - CnTechPost

The deal value of merge and acquisitions by Chinese companies rose 30% to $733.8 billion in 2020, the highest level since 2016, and the number of M&A deals increased 11% from the previous year, according to a new report.

cntechpost.com

The deal value of merge and acquisitions by Chinese companies rose 30% to $733.8 billion in 2020, the highest level since 2016, and the number of M&A deals increased 11% from the previous year, according to a new report.

According to the PwC report, the volume of cross-border deals by Chinese companies decreases in 2020, and private equity fund activity rises sharply.

China's merge and acquisition deal value held steady after a dip in February 2020 due to lockdown measures and rebounded strongly in subsequent months, significantly outpacing the same period of the previous year in the latter half of the year, according to the report.

There were 93 mega merge and acquisition deals ($1 billion or more in a single deal) in 2020, with private equity funds posting a record $332.4 billion in merge and acquisition deal value.

The COVID-19 epidemic raged abroad in 2020, severely dampening overseas merge and acquisition activity by Chinese companies and making cross-border deals in developed nations such as the US and Europe exceptionally difficult.

The value of overseas merge and acquisition deals by Chinese companies fell to $42 billion, the lowest since 2010. The number of merge and acquisition deals fell to 403, the lowest since 2015. China accounts for about 15% of the global merge and acquisition market by volume and deal value and is playing an increasingly important role in the global market.


Overall mergers and acquisition driven by private equity funds and financial investors, including state-owned funds, will see some growth in 2021, and private equity deal volumes will continue to grow, according to the report's forecast.

PwC expects that the overall level of overseas investment is likely to increase from 2021 onwards. However, it will take time for overseas economies to recover, and it is not certain for now whether the overseas investment in 2021 will surpass that of 2019.

 

[TaiShang]

(Yicai Global) March 2 -- Anhui Aikelan Environmental Protection, a Chinese developer of exhaust after-treatment equipment, has announced plans to acquire a French auto exhaust firm to boost its push into overseas markets.

Aikelan will spend EUR18.3 million (USD22.2 million) to acquire Vitesco Technologies Faulquemont, and CNY6.1 million (USD943,445) to buy its parent company’s related assets in Germany and China, the Anhui province-based company said in a statement. The acquisition will spur its expansion in Europe and North America, it added.

Aikelan will also repay the debts of Vitesco Technologies Faulquemont to gain the entirety of its equity, as well as acquiring parent company Vitesco Technologies’ production lines for related items, which are located in Germany, and in Changchun and Wuhu in China, gaining both the fixed assets and the intellectual property rights, according to the statement.

The announcement did not specify the scale of the French company’s debts.

Founded in 2003, Vitesco Technologies Faulquemont is engaged in the research, development, manufacturing and sales of injection systems and urea pumps to control diesel engine emissions. Its parent was created from the former powertrain department of German auto parts maker Continental AG, the statement said.

Aikelan is a listed firm focusing on R&D and production of after-treatment products for the exhaust gases from gasoline, diesel and natural gas engines. It also provides professional services related to emissions testing and calibration technologies.

Aikelan [SHE: 300816] closed up about 3.2 percent at CNY75.7 (USD11.7).

China’s Aikelan Environmental to Acquire French Auto Exhaust Firm

www.yicaiglobal.com

 

[TaiShang]

(Yicai Global) March 3 -- Chinese make-up retailer Perfect Diary’s parent has acquired Hong Kong-based skincare brand Eve Lom four months after buying French skincare products maker Galenic.

Yatsen Holding expects to purchase Eve Lom from London-based Manzanita Capital within the next few weeks, the Guangzhou-headquartered buyer said in a statement today, without disclosing financial details. The target firm will continue research and production after the transaction and the former parent will keep on holding some stock.

Founded in 1985 by facials Eve Lom, the company has hundreds of thousands of followers on microblogging platform Weibo and social shopping application Little Red Book.

"It is not easy for Chinese beauty companies to enter the high-end skincare sector," said Yatsen founder and Chief Executive David Huang, adding that the company's next challenge is to make high-end skincare products.

Eve Lom has been growing under the VC firm. “We are proud to have watched Eve Lom’s development from a niche brand into a global business with a presence across North America, Europe, and Asia,” said Andras Szirtes, managing partner at Manzanita.

"We are convinced that Yatsen’s strong roots with Asian consumers, exceptional e-commerce capabilities, and proven track record of innovation will further accelerate Eve Lom’s growth," Szirtes added.

Yatsen [NYSE:YSG] climbed 3.2 percent higher to USD19.29 yesterday. Last November, the firm raised USD616.9 million by going public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Perfect Diary’s Owner Buys Skincare Brand Eve Lom Four Months After Acquiring France’s Galenic

www.yicaiglobal.com