Meet Yuan Yafei: coming to a high street near you March 31, 2014 HOUSE OF Fraser is set to be snapped up by a former Chinese government employee who developed his £5bn conglomerate Sanpower from humble origins selling computers in the eastern city of Nanjing. Yuan Yafei, who Forbes estimates has a personal fortune of $485m (£291m), is currently the chairman of Sanpower, a Nanjing-based company that owns [...]
Bottom Line: Chinese ambition trumps a market return March 31, 2014 ALMOST 25 years ago, a Hong Kong retail tycoon called Dickson Poon stunned London by taking a chance on Harvey Nichols – a fading department store in dire need of a makeover. Poon was one of the first to spot a trend that now seems obvious; the Asian shopper’s thirst for designer labels that has [...]
Pros and cons of learning Mandarin March 30, 2014 There’s a cost to being lost in translation, but English is still the global language of business ON HIS return from China late last year, David Cameron called on British school pupils to forget about French and German, and to crack on with the scarily difficult business of learning Mandarin. It’ll be a struggle. Fluency [...]
Asian markets head for best week since last April March 28, 2014 Asian stocks are heading for their biggest weekly advance in 11 months, with the MSCI Asia Pacific index gaining 0.7 per cent. Copper's pared a quarterly decline and investor confidence growing on hopes of further economic stimulus from the Chinese authorities. Chinese premier Li Keqiang has stated that the country does have policies in reserve [...]
What you need to know before the open March 26, 2014 The rebound seen in European markets yesterday is expected to continue today, as investors set aside worries over the Ukraine-Russia situation, focusing on some pretty reasonable data from Germany and the US. The upbeat data buoyed Asian shares, which hit two week highs in Wednesday trading. Two further developments yesterday helped give markets a boost. [...]
Asian markets jump after US consumer confidence reaches six-year high March 26, 2014 Asian markets are reacting to positively to data from the US showing consumer confidence at a six year high and house prices rising in January. Investors are still hoping the Chinese government may introduce stimulus measures to boost its sliding economy. Markets were buoyed by easing tensions over Ukraine as Western leaders continued to show [...]
China to guide companies on investing in UK March 25, 2014 THE CHINESE government is promoting a guide to investing in the UK, a move lauded by cabinet minister Oliver Letwin who was at the launch of the guide in Beijing. The Asian country’s National Development and Reform Commission revealed the guide yesterday, as part of a wider push to get Chinese companies to invest abroad. [...]
WPP continues its Chinese push March 25, 2014 Advertising giant WPP bought Chinese marketing agency XMKT Group for an undisclosed sum yesterday. XMKT specialises in customer experience management for a list of clients in the region including Diageo and Uniqlo. Last year XMKT’s 254 staff brought in revenue of 126m yuan (£12.3m). WPP companies in Greater China generated revenues of $1.4bn for WPP [...]
What you need to know before the open March 25, 2014 European bourses are expected to see a positive start this morning, although trading’s still choppy as geopolitical tensions continue. Speculation on further stimulus from China has been growing, which seems to have boosted sentiment. On the other hand, this could be misplaced – the government’s determined to trim recklessness in the banking system, so added [...]
Microsoft’s deal with Nokia hits delays in China March 24, 2014 NOKIA’S sale of its phone business to Microsoft has been delayed until April as the companies await approval from various antitrust regulators in Asia, including China. Microsoft and Nokia said yesterday that while 15 regulators including the US and EU had approved the €5.4bn (£4.5bn) deal that had been scheduled to close by the first [...]