Hangzhou Wahaha Group (娃哈哈集團) chairman Zong Qinghou (宗慶后), China’s richest man, said he was considering buying a Japanese yogurt maker.
The Japanese company recently approached Wahaha, China’s third-biggest soft-drinks maker, about acquiring it, Zong said at a briefing in Beijing, where he’s attending the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress. Talks haven’t yet started, he said, without giving more details.
“We’ve learned a lot from Japan’s food and drinks sector in the past because we have similar taste and Japan is more advanced,” Zong said.
Zong, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes at US$8 billion last year, has said he wants to buy foreign companies that make products China lacks and which Wahaha can then sell domestically. The beverage maker, whose name means “laughing child” in Chinese, aims to boost sales 27 percent this year to 70 billion yuan (US$10.6 billion).
“China, in general, is in an era where it has abundant capital and where it needs to find a lot of investment opportunities,” said Zhang Shiyuan, chief economist at Southwester Securities Co. “Good companies and matured markets are a good mark for Chinese companies.”
Wahaha, based in Hangzhou, accounts for 9.7 percent of China’s dairy market, the third--largest share, according to data from Euromonitor International. China Mengniu Dairy Co (中國蒙牛乳業有限公司) has the biggest share with 19.5 percent and Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co (伊利集團) has 15.7 percent, according to Euromonitor. Zong also said that Wahaha has decided not to invest in Taiwan because the country’s market wasn’t large enough.
China’s Bright Dairy & Food Co (光明乳業) submitted a bid for Yoplait, a yogurt maker being sold by PAI partners, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. The government-owned food company is also in talks with other European dairy firms, the newspaper said, citing company chairman, Wang Zongnan (王宗南).
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS