UBS Downgrades China GDP Growth
UBS Securities has downgraded its projections for China's economy, to
9.6 per cent for 2008 and 8 per cent for 2009. Earlier forecasts by the
Swiss bank projected China's GDP to grow by 10 per cent in 2008, and
8.8 per cent in 2009. "Even amid global recession, we expect China's
real GDP growth to stay above 8 per cent, achieving a soft landing,"
Forbes quotes a UBS report. Inflation is predicted to drop to 4 per
cent by December, and remain stable around 2.6 per cent in 2009.
China's Rich See Their Wealth Fall 1/3
The global financial crisis has led to a decrease in the wealth of
China's richest people, data compiled by the Shanghai-based Hurun
Report shows. Average wealth fell by one-third from its level in 2007,
with the 50 richest people on Hurun's 2008 China Rich List sharing
USD2.43 bn of personal wealth on average, down from USD3.61 bn in 2007.
Gome's Chairman Huang Guangyu was named as the richest person this year, with total assets of USD6.3 bn.
Alibaba Spends RMB5 bn on Taobao
The Alibaba Group will invest RMB5 bn in its online auction company
Taobao over the next five years, Reuters reports. Most of the money
will be spent on enhancing the Taobao platform. "Given the rapid growth
of Internet use in China, we expect online shopping will become a
mainstream Internet application in the near future," Jonathan Lu,
President of the online auction company, said. In July, Alibaba
announced an investment of RMB2 bn.
Ping'An Faces RMB15.7 bn Write Down
China's second largest insurance company Ping An has been reportedly
hit to the tune of RMB15.7 bn after the collapse of Belgian-Dutch bank
Fortis. "The extent of the impact will be announced to investors in a
timely manner once the preparation of the Group's third quarterly
financial statement is basically completed. It is expected that this
accounting treatment will only affect the profit of the Group for 2008
and will not impact on the net asset value per share and the cash flow
position of the Group," Ping An revealed in a statement filed to the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Covance And WuXi Pharma Drop JV Plans
U.S.-based drug
development company Covance has dropped plans to enter into a joint
venture with WuXi Pharmatech, the company said in a statement. Covance
will build its own research facility in China. It has been widely
reported that the two companies disagreed about the speed and
development of joint operations. Covance originally agreed to create a
Suzhou-based JV with New York-listed WuXi Pharmatech, and agreed to
invest USD30m.
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