Coca-Cola Co, the world’s largest soft-drink maker, is in discussions with the Chinese government as it considers a listing on Shanghai’s stock exchange, the company’s Asia-Pacific spokesman said.
“We are interested in exploring the opportunity of listing our stock on the Shanghai stock exchange,” Geoff Walsh, Coca-Cola’s Hong Kong-based public affairs and communications director for Asia, said in an e-mailed reply to queries.
POSITIVE TALKS
“We need to better understand the regulatory framework and listing requirements,” he said. “We continue to have positive discussions with Chinese government officials as we look at this opportunity.”
Coca-Cola, whose Sprite is China’s top-selling soft drink, will probably increase spending in the world’s most populous nation as it invests a planned US$2 billion faster than anticipated, chief executive officer Muhtar Kent said in November.
The maker of Minute Maid juice is building plants in China at a faster pace than it expected as it jostles for market share with rivals, including PepsiCo Inc.
About 14 percent of Coca-Cola’s US$35 billion in sales last year were made in the Pacific region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
OCTOBER
While overseas companies can sell their shares in Hong Kong, they are barred from doing so in China. The government may approve a board for the listing of overseas companies on the mainland by the end of this month, Caixin Century magazine reported on Monday, citing an unidentified investment banker.
The first listing on the board may happen as soon as October, the report said, citing the banker.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained