McDonald's and its competitor KFC in Shenzhen
“We expect to increase our capital investment by 25 percent over last year,” said Kenneth Chan, McDonald’s China CEO, during the launch of a new marketing campaign on Friday.
“We continue to be extremely bullish about our business in China and will continue to invest in opening new restaurants,” Chan said, but declined to disclose the investment amount for 2009 or 2010.
McDonald’s, which competes with Yum Brands’ KFC in the US and China, was planning to open 150 to 175 restaurants in China in 2010, which would lead to the creation of 10,000 new jobs, he added.
The company said it had 1,135 stores in Chinese mainland as of the end of 2009.
McDonald’s is launching a new brand concept called “Make Room for Happiness” to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of its first restaurant in Shenzhen. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…
A JR Tokai Maglev train
JR Tokai targets 7 U.S. areas to promote bullet, maglev train systems: Central Japan Railway Co. said Monday it has selected seven U.S. areas in which it will concentrate its marketing efforts for its ‘’shinkansen” bullet train and maglev train systems. For shinkansen systems, the Japanese railway operator, known as JR Tokai, said it has picked four areas spearheaded by a possible route linking Tampa, Orlando and Miami in Florida. (Via Kyodo News (Business).)
Bain to buy Japan Domino’s operator Higa: Bain Capital LLC said it will buy Higa Industries Co., which operates Domino’s Pizza stores in Japan. The Boston-based private equity firm will buy the company from Duskin Co., Daiwa SMBC Capital Co. and founder Ernest Higa. The transaction will take place Feb. 1, Bain said in a statement Monday without providing a purchase price. (Via The Japan Times: News & Business.)
UPS plans new Shenzhen air hub: A planned air hub for logistics giant UPS in Shenzhen is expected to intensify competition in international express service among the big players in China. Sources from Shenzhen Airport (Group) Co Ltd said the hub is expected to be operational February 9, and will see 14 round-trip cargo flights between nine countries and regions in its first stage, the National Business Daily reported Saturday. (Via Business – People’s Daily Online.)
China Automotive Systems To Supply Chrysler North America: Wuhan-based China Automotive Systems, a power steering components and systems supplier in China, has announced that its first global OEM customer is the Chrysler Group LLC, which is headquartered in North America. In November 2008, CAAS received its first order from Chrysler to export power steering gears to Chrysler’s North America assembly facility. (Via China Sourcing News.)
Hundreds queue for Dodgers tickets: (ChinaPost.com.tw) – Hundreds of loyal fans queued up yesterday in Taipei and Kaohsiung to purchase the tickets to the exhibition games between the LA Dodgers and Taiwan’s baseball league following the Major League team’s official announcement on Jan. 23. (Via China Post Online – Taiwan , News.)
The GEB board is to be officially launched today at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. (Jiang Ning)
CITIC, together with CITIC China Securities, in which the former holds a 60-percent stake, have earned underwriting fees worth 188.97 million yuan in three initial public offerings (IPOs).
The two brokers’ combined underwriting commission accounted for 26.3 percent of the total made by all the 23 domestic broker participants, with Beijing Ultrapower’s 166.97 million yuan underwriting fee earned by CITIC Securities ranked at the top.
The brokerage firm and its subsidiary have underwritten issues for software developer Beijing Ultrapower, Shenyang-based SIASUN Robot & Automation, and filmmaker Huayi Brothers.
The first batch of 28 companies, which are to be listed on the GEB based in Shenzhen on Oct 30, have raised around 15.5 billion yuan ($2.27 billion) in their IPOs, according to Yao Gang, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
“Large brokerage firms like CITIC Securities have more star underwriters with extensive expertise and good reputation. Therefore, their smaller peers find it hard to compete with them in bargaining with IPO firms,” said Liu Zhiteng, an investment manager at investment consulting firm Blue Ocean Capital.
According to figures compiled by 21st Century Business Herald, the average underwriting commission rate for the 28 cases was 4.83 percent, higher than the small- and medium-sized board’s 3 percent and 2 percent on Shanghai’s main board. CITIC Securities’ underwriting fee for Beijing Ultrapower was 6.6 percent.
Changjiang Securities estimated that 50 firms were likely to be listed on the new board, raising a combined 22.5 billion yuan within the year, which will generate 1.58 billion yuan worth of underwriting fees for securities firms. read more…
