Conglomerates

SoftBank’s next problem: Sprint M&A interference

23 Jan 2020

CEO Masayoshi Son values his group’s stake in the U.S. carrier at $29 billion, a reflection of its original deal with T-Mobile US. Investors rightly take a dimmer view. Courts may block the deal. But even if they don’t, T-Mobile has a strong case to lower its price.

Lotte scion gets chance to inspire Korea Inc

21 Jan 2020

Shares in South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate rallied after the death of founder Shin Kyuk-ho. His son, already in charge of the group, has promised aggressive restructuring. With diplomatic, legal and family spats winding down, he has space to hurry up.

Divorce will test Seoul chaebol’s reform stripes

20 Dec 2019

Chey Tae-won’s wife wants nearly half his $3 bln stake in SK Holdings. That would leave him more reliant on outside support for a mooted corporate rejig to get a tighter grip on a $58 bln chip unit. It’s a potential check on how fast Korea Inc is mending its own awkward past.

Investors will rue their Hong Kong risk appetite

19 Dec 2019

The city’s stocks have lagged the S&P 500 since violent protests started in June. Yet the slide has been less severe than during the Asian financial crisis or the SARS outbreak. Local unrest, trade tensions and a U.S. market reversal should prompt some overdue reconsideration.

Wanted: bold activist to take on Masayoshi Son

10 Dec 2019

The Japanese tycoon’s $82 bln SoftBank might be worth twice that if broken up. Son, who owns 22% of the tech conglomerate, won’t do that without a pushy investor at his back. For an activist with plenty of cash and the stomach for a fight, it could be the trade of a lifetime.

Larry Culp’s mission: be GE’s least memorable CEO

30 Oct 2019

GE is leaner and less indebted. Its jet and health divisions grew in the third quarter and cash flows are improving. Culp’s predecessors specialized in big gestures. If he can just keep GE on a stable path, with fewer one-offs and write-downs, he’ll be its best chief in decades.

Dormant Samsung rouses Seoul’s other giants

28 Oct 2019

The conglomerate is in disarray: scion Jay Y. Lee is off the board of its $288 bln electronics business, and faces more jail time. Bosses at rival SK Group and autos empire Hyundai, meanwhile, are charging ahead in self-driving tech and other ventures. Korea Inc is due a shakeup.

Total’s Indian deal offers only a soft premium

15 Oct 2019

The French energy giant’s bid for part-control of Adani Gas is worth a measly 9% over the pre-deal price. That won’t entice public investors, allowing Total to buy a 37% stake from the namesake family. At least having a foreign partner may provide a governance uplift in value.

India’s richest man tarnishes his telecoms aura

10 Oct 2019

Mukesh Ambani’s promise to keep voice calls free for life helped his startup Jio win 340 mln customers. Now he’s partly reneging, charging for connections to rival networks. It’s a setback for him, and a sign parent Reliance Industries is feeling squeezed by its mega-giveaways.

Indian office towers rise above economic slump

25 Sep 2019

A Blackstone-backed $4 bln real estate investment trust has thrived since going public in April, outpacing local blue-chips and defying a broader slowdown. Developer debt woes and creative startups will open the doors wider to this hard-to-access and higher-yielding market.

Jardine maps a road to younger Asia for its peers

20 Sep 2019

The $41-bln conglomerate turned to the southeast when it moved out of Hong Kong ahead of 1997. It thrived, betting on cars in Indonesia and milk in Vietnam. Those economies have cooled of late but long-term prospects, plus uncertainty up north, will encourage more to follow.

A little sunlight would help India’s shadow banks

13 Sep 2019

Alternative lenders have grown rapidly, providing loans for cars and homes. Now many are struggling to secure funds and share prices have plunged. A central bank-led review to expose the weakest would restore confidence and help reverse India's sharp consumption-led slowdown.

Saudi’s new oil tsar makes a bad reshuffle worse

9 Sep 2019

Khalid al-Falih’s abrupt removal as energy minister follows the appointment of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ally as chairman of oil juggernaut Aramco. The king and MbS call all the shots. But having a royal as the new oil supremo undercuts any gains from the new structure.

China’s real estate cold turkey risks withdrawal

3 Sep 2019

The economy is cooling and the trade war is worsening, yet Beijing refuses to juice housing markets. Stimulus without touching a sector that feeds about 15% of GDP is hard. That officials are trying suggests they are willing to bear a lot of pain to hold home prices down.

Aramco stocks Reliance’s war chest for disruption

12 Aug 2019

Mukesh Ambani says the Saudi giant will buy 20% of his oil-to-chemicals unit at a healthy $75 bln valuation. The billionaire is adding cheap broadband to a revolutionary telecoms offering, and aims to reinvent Indian retail too. The Aramco sale hints at how far he'll go to win.

Victor Li is a half mark up on Hong Kong’s tycoons

1 Aug 2019

Political unrest is a threat to top conglomerates with a big focus on the Fragrant Harbour. Earnings at Li’s CK Hutchison put a spotlight on the group’s shift away from the territory. Global growth is slowing and currencies are volatile, but a diversified bet still looks better.

GE turnaround is barely past stalling speed

31 Jul 2019

CEO Larry Culp upped the $92 bln conglomerate’s earnings outlook a tad. But costs are up, revenue down, the power business looks drained and the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX could deplete cash by $1.4 bln this year. What progress there is doesn’t add up to a convincing recovery.

Corporate activism tastes different in China

23 Jul 2019

Soft drink Pocari Sweat is caught in a firestorm after it pulled TV ads in apparent support of Hong Kong protests. Such statements can pay off for brands that have political influence, or stand to win more friends than enemies. With Beijing involved, neither is usually the case.

Wanda’s Ironman IPO could lose a little weight

4 Jul 2019

The triathlon-to-soccer arm of tycoon Wang Jianlin’s empire plans a $500 mln U.S. listing. China's legions of fans and the prospect of the 2022 Olympics in Beijing will be a draw. But a share sale eases only some of its debt load; less burdened rivals may beat it to the finish.

Washington could set the pace for Chinese property

27 Jun 2019

Home prices are notching up annual increases of nearly 11%, in spite of restrictions and a cooling economy. Real estate, which drives as much as a fifth of GDP, is one of Beijing’s most powerful levers to crank up growth. The trade war will determine how forcefully it is used.