Investor Relations

1. Fashion distributor I.T warns annual loss will more than double to US$90 million as coronavirus hits sales

   Apparel and accessory retailer I.T has become the latest Hong Kong company to issue a profit warning. The company said it expects net loss to more than double from its previous forecast in April, as the city’s economy suffers from one of its worst economic downturns due to the coronavirus pandemic and social unrest.The distributor of European and Japanese brands such as French Connection and A Bathing Ape said net loss will reach at least HK$700 million (US$90.3 million) for the year ended…

2. Japanese beer maker Asahi to borrow US$11 billion to complete purchase of AB InBev’s Australian business

   Asahi Group Holdings plans to borrow 1.19 trillion yen (US$11 billion) from Japanese lender Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to complete its long-brewing purchase of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Australian business.AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, agreed to sell its Australian business for A$16 billion (US$11 billion) to Asahi in July last year, after briefly shelving the Hong Kong initial public offering of its Asia-Pacific arm, Budweiser Brewing Company APAC, amid months of anti-government…

3. How a Hong Kong-based start-up is helping Premier League players and other sports clubs restart fixtures while raising capital

   A Hong Kong start-up is on the frontline of the fight to make professional live sport safe to resume and for the fans to gradually return to watch games, while raising capital from venture capitalists for expansion.Prenetics, which counts former Manchester United and England football captain Rio Ferdinand among its shareholders, sealed a deal with the Premier League in early May to test players and is in talks with other sports associations to help restart live fixtures.In the UK, Prenetics is…

4. Olympic gymnast Li Ning’s Viva China buys Hong Kong’s iconic clothing chain Bossini at massive discount

   Viva China Holdings, the sports talent agency founded by Chinese gymnastics star Li Ning, is to buy a controlling share of famed Hong Kong clothing chain Bossini International Holdings at a knock-down price.A joint venture company, 80 per cent owned by a Viva China subsidiary and 20 per cent by Keystar, an investment company, has offered to buy a 66.6 per cent stake in the clothes retailer for HK$46.62 million (US$6.01 million), Bossini said in a filing to the stock exchange on Friday.That…

5. Credit Suisse out of Tencent-backed WeDoctor’s Hong Kong IPO after Luckin Coffee’s accounting scandal

   Credit Suisse has dropped out as a sponsor of a planned listing by Tencent-backed WeDoctor, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday, allowing more Asia-based investment banks to grab a role in the deal.The Swiss bank’s move is a blow to Hangzhou-based WeDoctor’s plans to raise US$700 million to US$800 million in a Hong Kong listing, the person added. The decision comes as lawyers and regulators scrutinise the bank’s work for the listing of Luckin Coffee in May last year.Shares of the…

6. Hong Kong developers buy US$193.5 million worth of own shares in bid to support market, boost confidence

   The slumping equity market has prompted some Hong Kong developers and their majority owners to step in and shore up support for investors, while increasing their stakes at the same time.At least three companies – New World Development, Wheelock and Co, and a joint venture owned by the father-son duo of Li Ka-shing and Victor Li Tzar-kuoi – have been actively involved in buying shares on the slide.They swooped in on nearly HK$1.5 billion (US$193.5 million) worth of stock last month after prices…

7. Chinese AI unicorn 4Paradigm raises another US$230 million, bringing valuation to US$2 billion

   Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up 4Paradigm raised US$230 million in its latest funding round, bringing its net valuation to about US$2 billion, despite a slowdown in investments in China amid the coronavirus pandemic.The funding round has attracted new strategic investors including American technology conglomerate Cisco Systems and the world’s largest PC maker Lenovo, according to a company statement on Thursday. Sequoia Capital remains the company’s largest external shareholder…

8. Pinduoduo raises US$1.1 billion in private placement to fund new services such as live-streaming

   Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo has raised US$1.1 billion in a private share placement that could fund its expansion despite current market volatility, the company announced on Tuesday.The transaction for the newly issued Class A ordinary shares, which represent about 2.8 per cent of the company’s total outstanding shares, is expected to be closed with “certain long-term investors” in early April, it added in a press release, without naming the investors.The announcement comes at a time…

9. ‘China’s Palantir’ MiningLamp raises US$300 million in funding round co-led by Temasek, Tencent

   Beijing-based big data and artificial intelligence (AI) company MiningLamp Technology, which has been called “China’s Palantir” for its similarities to the US data analytics firm, has closed a US$300 million funding round co-led by Singapore’s state investor Temasek Holdings and Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings.The Chinese company’s Series E funding round has attracted short-video start-up Kuaishou among other backers, it announced in a statement on Friday, adding that the investment…

10. Online education sector could be among biggest beneficiaries of Covid-19, may be worth US$61 billion in China this year

    Online education and educational technology companies could be among the biggest beneficiaries of the Covid-19 pandemic as schools across the world shut, forcing children to learn from home. In China, the sector was expected to grow 12.3 per cent to 435.8 billion yuan (US$61.5 billion) this year.Hurun Report, which on Thursday released its first ever global list of billionaires who made their fortunes in the education business, said the education sector was going through a tectonic shift, as…