IN BRIEF (Page 18)

Tmall to boost supermarket sales

Tmall.com, the business-to-customer online marketplace of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, is aggressively boosting its supermarket offerings with a massive national discount campaign, starting in Beijing.

Hangzhou-based Alibaba is offering cash incentives of as much as 1 billion yuan ($161 million) for Beijing consumers who order on Tmall Supermarket between July 23 and 31.

The announcement came as US retail giant Wal-Mart confirmed it had taken full control of China's leading online supermarket, the Shanghai-based yhd.com.

Experts said the Tmall move is expected to pose a major challenge to rivals in the country's nascent online supermarket business.

Alibaba inks software deal with Hecom

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd inked a strategic partnership with one of the largest enterprise software service providers in China on July 28. The e-commerce giant's enterprise messaging platform DingTalk teamed up with Hecom (Beijing) Technology Co Ltd, with the aim of helping enterprises better manage marketing staff and connect with clients. Hecom is the largest "software as a service" company in the Chinese mainland.

LME Clear accepts renminbi as collateral

LME Clear, the clearing house for the London Metal Exchange market, announced on July 28 it can now accept offshore renminbi as eligible cash collateral, effective immediately.

Bank of China London Branch becomes the first Chinese settlement bank for LME Clear. This follows regulatory approval from the Bank of England.

"We welcome LME Clear's renminbi initiative, which marks a milestone in providing tailored clearing services for the global metals industry," said Wang Huabin, deputy general manager at Bank of China London Branch.

"This demonstrates the commitment of BOC to develop itself as a truly global bank," Wang said.

It also shows another step by BOC in helping Chinese commodities companies to expand in global markets and develop global service capability, according to Wang.

Specialist steel from EU, Japan in probe

China is investigating the possible dumping of specialist steel by foreign producers, two months after Europe imposed duties on the same type of steel arriving from China. The government will assess the "extent of damage" caused by imports of a type of electrical steel from the European Union as well as from Japan and South Korea, according to a Ministry of Commerce statement. It did not specify any producers.

Overseas projects must focus on job creation

The nation's top political adviser, Yu Zhengsheng, has urged Chinese enterprises investing overseas to prioritize the creation of more employment opportunities for people in the invested country. Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks while visiting the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone, in east Thailand's Rayong province. It is of paramount importance to create opportunities for local communities, Yu said.

Danone may sell Dumex to Mengniu

Danone plans to sell the Dumex infant formula brand to a unit of China Mengniu Dairy Co amid a downturn in demand for locally made baby food in that market.

Danone has agreed to sell Dumex to Yashili International Holdings Ltd, and will use the proceeds from the sale to take up more shares in Mengniu, a state-linked milk producer, the two Chinese companies said. Paris-based Danone separately said it took an impairment charge of 398 million euros ($437 million) as it revised Dumex's sales prospects lower.

The deal would allow Danone to tap into a company whose revenue almost doubled in the past five years.

Guangdong FTZ to boost currency trade

Guangdong Free Trade Zone will promote development of institutes that are allowed to operate individual currency exchange businesses, foreign currency exchange agencies and the use of bank cards, according to a July 26 statement by Yu Kunming, chief economist of the Guangdong Office of Financial Work. It will also facilitate the exchange of Hong Kong and Macao currencies in the FTZ.

New rules regulate online insurance trade

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued guidelines on July 27 to regulate the rapidly growing online insurance business. The guidelines encourage traditional and online insurers to use the Internet to broaden their client reach. It also removed geographic restrictions on sales of certain life and property insurance, allowing insurers to sell such products through their own Internet sales channels or third-party websites.

More refiners get nod for direct oil imports

More refiners will be allowed to apply for licenses to directly import crude oil, the country's commerce ministry said, as Beijing continues to loosen its grip on a sector long dominated by state-owned enterprises. Companies that meet certain environmental and capacity requirements can now apply for import licenses, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

19,470 firms sign up for new FTZs

Nearly 19,500 companies have been attracted to China's three new pilot free trade zones, many involved in the country's fast-growing services and financial sectors.

A total of 19,470 enterprises started operations in the zones by the end of June, said Tang Wenhong, director-general of the Ministry of Commerce's department of foreign investment administration.

Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian were added to the pilot free trade zone list in April, after the first FTZ, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, was unveiled nearly two years ago. The sites are being created to simplify the often-cumbersome trade approval system and encourage innovation and internationalization.

Hanergy removed from Stock Connect list

Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd has been removed from Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect pending an investigation by Hong Kong regulators.

The move followed the decision by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission to suspend trading in the Chinese solar panel company on July 15.

Hanergy had earlier asked for its shares to be suspended from trading in Hong Kong on May 20 after its stock price plunged by 50 percent, wiping out almost half of the company's $21 billion value within just half an hour.

The SFC later took the unprecedented move of making public the fact it was investigating the company after its chairman, Li Hejun, denied it was under the scrutiny of the Hong Kong regulator. Since then, the FTSE in London has decided to remove Hanergy from three of its indexes, including the FTSE China 50 Index and the FTSE Hong Kong Index.

GSR Capital to expand reach in Europe

The Chinese investment firm buying Royal Philips NV's lighting components arm is targeting more European acquisitions as large as $10 billion. GSR Capital will pursue overseas deals in technology, clean energy and pharmaceuticals, as well as online finance, chairman Sonny Wu said.

(China Daily European Weekly 07/31/2015 page18)