Asia-Pacific

NEWS       China Nepstar Chain Drugstore, already the largest drugstore in China based on the number of directly operated outlets, plans to vastly increase its size with the proceeds of its initial public offering of American depositary receipts ...

GLOBAL EQUITY/DRS     PetroChina, China’s largest oil and gas producer, added fuel to the fire of Shanghai’s overheated stock market last month with its initial public offering on the mainland. The company’s A-shares surged 163% in their $8.9 billion ...

INDIA       I ndia hopes to boost hydropower capacity Third-quarter earnings releases by UK telecom giant Vodafone Group and by Switzerland-based Holcim, the world’s second-largest cement maker, reflected growing contributions from India’s increasingly assertive domestic market on the ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: COUNTRY GARDEN HOLDINGS/CHINA         Shares of Country Garden Holdings, a leading China-based real estate group, rose 37% in their debut in April on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. More recently, the company postponed a ...

CHINA     PetroChina’s stock soared in initial trading on the Shanghai stock exchange China’s state-owned energy giant PetroChina Co. in early November surpassed ExxonMobil to become the world’s most valuable company. Shares of PetroChina rose from 16.7 yuan to ...

COUNTRY REPORT / CHINA China’s continuing economic expansion may be a bumpy ride, but the country’s prospects still look remarkably good.     Reach for the skies: China’s newfound wealth is reflected in its grand plans for Shanghai and beyond, ...

CHINA     At China’s mid-October National People’s Congress, Hu Jintao kept his position as president and made a clear attempt to further consolidate his power. Premier Wen Jiaobao clung onto his position as well, despite some criticism lately concerning ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: PETRO CHINA/CHINA     Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, who is one of America’s most successful investors, could be sending a message about China’s red-hot stock market by cashing in most of his chips in PetroChina, ...

INDIA     India calling: Global telecom firms muscle in on a fast-growing market. Following the recent acquisition of Indian telecom company Hutchinson Essar by Vodafone Group in May 2007 for $11 billion, Russian telecom company Sistema’s acquisition of a ...

COUNTRY REPORT / CHINA     China’s continuing economic expansion may be a bumpy ride, but the country’s prospects still look remarkably good.   Reach for the skies: China’s newfound wealth is reflected in its grand plans for Shanghai and ...

SOUTH KOREA     Chung: Convicted but free to go. Chung Mong-koo, chairman of Hyundai Motor, is too important to South Korea’s economy to go to jail, despite being convicted of embezzlement and breach of trust, an appeals court ruled ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: LARSEN & TOUBRO/INDIA Engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, one of India’s largest listed companies, has evolved into a multinational corporation with offices in 30 countries, a growing order book in the Middle East, and manufacturing ...

CHINA     On the rise: China's rule changes have boosted Hong Kong's markets. China has further relaxed constraints on the investment industry, saying it will, for the first time, allow private citizens to invest individually in the Hong Kong ...

ANALYSIS / INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING Many Asian countries desperately need to upgrade their infrastructure while cash-rich private equity funds are scouring the region for long-term investments. Is this a match made in heaven?   Nag: We can only meet a small ...

COUNTRY REPORT / PHILIPPINES     Schleimer: The Clean Air Act could be used to regulate greenhouse gases With the May general election safely behind it, the Philippine government hopes to use the next three years of relative political quietude ...

INDIA     Organized retail is growing in India. India’s economic growth continues apace. For the April-June 2007 quarter, which is the first for the Indian fiscal year, GDP growth was 9.3%—up marginally from the previous quarter’s growth, which came ...

CHINA       Feeling the squeeze: Chinas shoppers face swiftly growing prices. China’s central bank increased reserve requirements for the seventh time this year in September in a losing battle to control the growth in bank credit. Outstanding loans ...

China     Cost concerns: Rising food prices are fueling inflation. Investors anxious about overheating in the Chinese market had more cause for concern this month as China’s National Bureau of Statistics revealed that consumer prices rose by 5.6%, year ...

JAPAN     Toyota: Top holding in new ETF.   Tokyo-based Daiwa Asset Management will create an exchange-traded fund based on the newly formed FTSE Shariah Japan 100 index. The ETF, which will be listed on the Singapore Exchange in ...

India     On track: Delhis new subway trains. The metro railway authority in New Delhi placed a record order for 340 subway coaches with Bombardier Transportation, Montreal-based Bombardier’s Indian subsidiary. Worth $590 million, the order is the largest ever ...