Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) has agreed to purchase a 49% stake in ABN AMRO TEDA Fund Management Co. for US$156 million in cash. The joint venture will be named Manulife TEDA Fund Management Co. Ltd. It will offer traditional retail and institutional asset management services in the Chinese market. Established in 2002, ABN AMRO TEDA Fund Management currently has assets of US$3.8 billion under management. The 51% stake is owned by Northern International Trust, part of Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co., a company owned by Tianjin city in China. Manulife expects to complete the stake purchase in the first quarter of 2010. The company also expects this transaction to add to its earnings in the first year.  Manulife is also bolstering its capital position with a $2.5 billion common equity raise. The company recently announced that it has agreed to issue common shares to a syndicate of underwriters for ...

Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) is growing its operations in China. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has approved Manulife-Sinochem, Manulife’s joint venture company, to operate in the Province of Tianjin, which is one of the fastest growing provinces in China. Manulife-Sinochem is now licensed in 37 cities across 11 provinces in China. Manulife-Sinochem is a joint venture company between Manulife (International) Limited (51%) and China Foreign Economic and Trade Trust & Investment Company, a member of the Sinochem group (49%). The company currently serves over 450,000 customers across China through approximately 11,500 professionally trained staff and agents. Manulife Financial has confirmed its commitment to China after media reports suggested that foreign insurance companies were intending to leave the country. Many insurers are eyeing the Chinese market for its growth potential. In August Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (FFH) entered the Chinese market by purchasing 15% ...

Chinese fast food chain Youghe King, currently a subsidiary of the Philippine fast food giant Jollibee, has opened its first chain restaurant in Tianjin. Located in Tianjin's Longmen Building in front of the city's railway station, the new Yonghe King restaurant covers an area of 350 square meters. With nearly one hundred seats, the restaurant serves [...]

Organa Gardens International Inc., the sustainable vertical gardens systems company, reports that it has targeted the China market as its first point of entry into the hydroponics organic market. The company is in discussions with a China-based company to manufacture and distribute its Organa Garden Systems-Enterprise (OGS-E).

The domestic Chinese retail market for organic foods was valued at only $195 million in 2004, which is less than 1% of China’s total food market. However, the organic produce sector in China did increase by tenfold during the 1999-2004 period and has continued to be promoted and supported by the Chinese government. The market for organic foods in China is expected to continue on a rapid growth path as consumers’ purchasing power increases.

The company is currently pursuing strategic alliances with existing organic food distributors and hypermarket stores in China, such as LianHua, which is the largest hypermarket chain in China that carries

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Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, and Global Wireless Technologies LLC (GWT), a designer and developer of wireless solutions for the cellular access point market, today announced that they have entered into a CDMA femtocell (including femtocell modules) license agreement.

About Qualcomm Incorporated Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Qualcomm is included in the S&P 100 Index, the S&P 500 Index and is a 2009 FORTUNE 500((R)) company.

About Ener1, Inc. Ener1 develops and manufactures compact, high performance lithium-ion batteries to power the next generation of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles. The publicly traded company (Nasdaq: HEV) is led by an experienced team of engineers and energy system experts at its EnerDel subsidiary located in Indiana.

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California-based CKE Restaurants Inc. has opened its first Carl's Jr. restaurant in Shanghai. According to CKE this is the first of more than 100 Carl's Jr. units planned in the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, and the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu over the next eight years. In China, Carl's Jr. is operated by Star Food [...]

Sinopec (SNP) recently reported results for the six months ended June 30. Net income for the period increased significantly from the year-earlier level to RMB 33.2 billion ($4.87 billion). The positive results reflect a steady growth in oil and gas volumes and profit from the refining business.   Sinopec’s crude oil production during the period rose nearly 1.2% year over year, while natural gas volumes dropped 1.1% from the year-earlier period. The company’s refining business recorded crude oil processing volumes of 86.9 million tons (a 1.8% year over year increase) and production output of refined oil products of 54.0 million tons (a 3.5% increase from the year-ago quarter).   Marketing and Distribution segment’s sales and retail volume of refined oil products decreased 8.4% and 12.8% year over year, respectively. The company’s Chemicals segment output of ethylene and synthetic resins reached 2.97 million and 4.74 million tons, respectively, as ...

Exousia Advanced Materials, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced resins, engineered particles, high-performance coatings and structural products, announced today the introduction of its Power Shield™ Single Pack Primer for marine applications.

Chairman and CEO of Exousia, J. Wayne Rodrigue, stated, “Through our relationship with Bohai Shipbuilding, one of the largest ship builders in Asia, we were able to identify an immediate area of significant cost savings that we could address. The commonly used two pack system requires double the set up time of our single pack solution. This new primer reduces the set up time by 50% for current marine coating applications. Due to the significant labor and setup savings that a single step primer versus a two coat system will provide, we anticipate that the demand for the single packet primer will be high.”

Mr. Rodrigue added, “While the initial focus will be in the marine industry, due to the immediate

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The global consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble has announced that it will invest USD248 million to build a manufacturing base in Tianjin. Zhang Qunxiang, the senior manager of P&G China's external affairs department, told local media that P&G plans to develop its investment project in Tianjin's Xiqing into its largest manufacturing base in Asia Pacific, [...]

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Individual investors who still hold any doubts about Mainland China’s future growth potential should take a long hard look at Airbus SAS, the Pan-European commercial airliner maker that is now building airplanes …