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1. Apple makes Hon Hai accelerate production of iPhone X;
Set micro-grid news, the global iPhone X sales hot, it is understood that Apple ordered the main partner Hon Hai to speed up production, and strive to shorten the delivery of at least a week.Market estimates, Hon Hai to organize large-size aircraft type task, total iPhone manufacturing volume this year Over 150 million, have the opportunity to break through the peak record of manufacturing volume.
Although Hon Hai has always been to comment on a single customer message, Apple did not disclose the proportion of sales of iPhone X and iPhone 8 series, but Hon Hai as Apple's long-term partners, the market is rumored, due to global demand for iPhone X increased steadily, Apple ordered Hon Hai full Increase production.
Apple's official website direct purchase shows, iPhone X direct purchase waiting time gradually reduced from five to six weeks to three to four weeks, in response to manufacturing volume climb.Hunhai Group Fencing iPhone X capacity estimates will be gradually increased 14.2% To 20%, this season's target output of about 35 million, the next quarter target of more than 40 million.
iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X are run by the Hon Hai, iPhone SE India mainly by the Wistron surgeon, as for the iPhone 8, iPhone 7 small size models and approximately 30% share of the iPhone 7 Plus is responsible for Heshuo.
Apple CEO Cook pointed out that the iPhone X orders are quite strong, both in Apple direct purchase or access, in cooperation with partners and suppliers, is increasing production weekly, the target as soon as possible so that consumers get the phone.
On the other hand, iPhone X in the United States, the Greater China market with the telecommunications solution by the market positive response, Apple has asked partners to speed up production.Kuoke stressed to investors that the United States Telecom program can even find a month to pay only 33 US dollars, You can buy iPhone X program, converting only a few cups of coffee a week about the money.
Release from Apple released the latest financial projections, the industry is expected, the total iPhone shipments this season, about 81 million to 82 million range, higher than the market expected average.Industry interpretation, mainly in the iPhone X market demand heat continues to rise, Apple Has asked manufacturers to increase production of new machines and some stockpiles will support the gift-giving needs of the Greater China market in the first quarter of next year.
However, Apple is temporarily unable to predict when the balance of supply and demand for the iPhone X, the market interpretation, the main European telecommunications program is still quite attractive, equal to the annual gift in Greater China, Christmas sales demand will continue to grow, so the fastest next year The month's quarter approached the supply and demand balance.
2. Lei Jun: millet into the world top 500 next year 10 years after the revenue to exceed 1 trillion;
Lei Jun (right), founder and chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, and Lin Bin (left), co-founder and president of Xiaomi,
Sina Technology Zhang Jun
After nearly a year of preparation, the first flagship store that Lei Jun regarded as the new retail model for millet was officially opened in Shenzhen on November 5.
Recently, IDC just released the third quarter of this year's global mobile phone market shipments report, millet shipments of 27.6 million, an increase of 102.6%, ranking the world fifth.
'It's not going to be ravaged in the past two years, we all say we're closing.' 'The clock was back two years ago, when the Lei Jun really was not that easy. After getting the No. 1 spot in China's smartphone in 2014, The successive shipments in 2015 and 2016 have made millet questionable and made Lei Jun anxious.
Personally in charge of the mobile phone supply chain, chaired the chairman of the Quality Committee, President Lin Bin battle to promote millet home, delivery and offline channels to make up classes, millet finally back to the growth track.
After announcing that 70 million units will be shipped at the beginning of the year and the target of exceeding 100 billion in revenue will be fulfilled ahead of schedule, Lei Jun will make another new and small target to the media: 100 million units will be shipped in 2018 and the top 500 in the world. Within 5 years Millet's turnover of 10 billion US dollars, 10 years later, millet revenue reached 1 trillion yuan.
Three difficulties
For the decline of millet in the past two years, Lei Jun summarized the three difficulties it faced.
First, millet as a start-up company, after the rapid growth there is the issue of management upgrades.Xiamen employees from the initial development of more than a dozen to now more than 10,000 people, the organizational structure and management ideas need to be re-adjusted.
After failing to meet its 80 million shipments goal in 2015, Lei Jun realized the management problem, "unwittingly, we took anticipation as a task, and all our work is unconsciously carried out around this task. Every day Under the pressure, our action was deformed. "Lei Jun set the strategy for 2016 for millet: happy is enough, go management, go to KPI, go to title. Motivate staff to be motivated and creative.
Second, prior to millet focus on e-commerce, ignoring the offline, while e-commerce only accounts for 10% of the total retail sales, millet is facing the bottleneck from the online to offline.
In fact, millet really began early last year, the pace of offline channels.Once in 2016 to do 50 millet House, millet began to speed up, in addition to self-employed, but also the use of stores and authorized stores and other forms At present, the millet home has opened to 228 in China and more than 100 officially authorized outlets in overseas markets. The Lei Army's plan is to open up to 250 this year, 500 next year and 1,000 the year after.
However, due to the high renovation of 270,000 yuan, the Millet House achieved the revenue coverage without losing money. "When I was planning to do a millet home more than two years ago, I invited many experts who scared me to death. Tell me not to want to make money within five years, huge loss, huge investment, but now we look at almost no shop losing money.This is much stronger than the traditional brand stores, listing the store is impossible to do so Business benefits. '
Lei Jun believes that the millet's millet's significance mainly in two aspects: the strategic value and brand value.In the strategy, let Millet achieve a breakthrough from online to offline, verify the feasibility of the new retail; brand aspects , The crowded shopping district has a natural brand exposure, so that the line did not know the crowd of millet millet at the same time by the offline product experience to dispel doubts, contributed to the purchase.
He said frankly Millet House's contribution to the performance of millet is still limited, but after the next volume will gradually form the sales scale.He also gave Millet House team set a goal: the next 5 years turnover should be 10 billion The U.S. dollar, or 700 billion yuan, is about 6 billion yuan this year.
Third, the problems in the supply chain, quality and delivery Xiaomi had been carrying the label of hunger marketing until now, and the quality under cost-effective mode has also been criticized.
'Why can not we meet the growing needs of the people and are also scolded by everyone? Where is the problem? In fact, the term mobile phone delivery was learned only last year. As a start-up company, we really want to respect the laws of the industry.'
In May last year, Lei Jun personally took over mobile phone development and hardware to promote the integration of production, supply and marketing. The mobile phone industry is a synergistic system. In the research and development, supply chain, production and sales sectors, it needs to be matched with each other. October to achieve a continuous shipment of 10 million units, which is considered as the millet Lei Jun has basically solved the supply chain and capacity issues.
At the same time, Lei Jun personally led the establishment of Quality Committee and served as chairman earlier this year, developed a quality action outline, and set up quality office special supervision. 'Xiaomi users and other different, the phone out of a problem he first Weibo, WeChat all curse You circle .From the Spring Festival this year over, now criticized the quality of millet plummeted. There are several models we did a very low rate of repair, close to 0. '
A few goals
After make-up, millet returned to growth track, and Lei Jun Millet also made new demands.
Earlier this year, Lei Jun shipped millet set a 70 million units, revenue exceeded billions of goals. 'Some people say that I brag, I do not understand.' Lei Jun said the shipment last month, millet achieved 70 million Taiwan and revenue 100 billion yuan goal.
For next year, Lei Jun has set a shipping target of 100 million units. "Next year I have 99% certainty that there will be 100 million units. This is not a very high target of 100 million units, as I said earlier this year."
In addition to the goal of shipments, he also raised the millet goal to enter the world's top 500 next year. "As long as the sky does not fall, I think 99% of the potential to enter the world top 500. This sounds exaggerated, but for millet Today is not that hard to do.
In this year's "Fortune" world's top 500 rankings, the No. 500 AutoNation company revenues of 21.609 billion US dollars, or about 143.4 billion yuan, which means that next year's revenue target for millet may be 1400-1500 billion yuan about.
Before the flagship store in Shenzhen opened, Lei Jun called almost all of the millet executives to Shenzhen to hold a strategic seminar, where he raised a question: In a decade Xiaomi has a chance to make a turnover of 1 trillion yuan. 'We and executives have a thorough and thorough discussion, with a 50% probability that millet will reach 1 trillion turnover in a decade.'
In fact, behind the goal of 1 trillion turnover, it is also the position of Lei Jun in millet's globalization.
He disclosed that this year's millet international business growth of about 300%, at present millet has entered the world's 60 countries, of which 12 are the top 5. In India, for example, a year ago millet's market share of 6% And last quarter has grown to 25%, close to Samsung.We also ranked fourth in many markets in Eastern Europe and Central Europe, into the Western European and North American markets in the next year or two.
'I have been abroad more recently and when I look at the neighboring countries, more than half of the handset industry except Apple and Samsung is already our Chinese company.' 'But I hope that in the future there will be more products like mobile phones in the world The emergence of more Chinese brands, the next ten years belong to China.
3 annual flagship for a plus 5T is about to release: full screen + Snapdragon 835 +8 G;
Set micro-grid November 5 comprehensive report
Until October 11, China's smart phone market will usher in the summit.A few days ago, almost all mobile phone manufacturers have released the annual flagship, but as the Internet handset manufacturers plus mobile phones in the second half of the flagship mobile phone has been no news.
Today, a mobile phone CEO Liu Zuhu finally took place, he said, 'a bit unbearable.' Some media analysts suggest that a plus 5T mobile phone is about to be released. There is news that a specific 5T conference time should be in mid-November.
Configuration, plus a 5T may become the flagship handset of the year for the closing .Because GFXBench site has been exposed departmental information.Configuration, plus a 5T with a 6-inch 2160x1080 18: 9 display, Snapdragon 835 chip processor Platform, 6GB / 8GB RAM, 64 / 128GB ROM, front 20 million camera, the rear is actually 16 million +2000 million pixels, dual F / 1.7 aperture, support OIS optical image stabilization, Andrews 7.1.1 system.
In addition, from the appearance of exposure, a plus 5T appearance slender, shaking hands calm atmosphere, his fingerprint recognition function still continues the previous cell phone style on the back.This time, the biggest change is the use of the phone 18 : 9 Samsung AMOLED full screen, so that the overall visual effects of mobile phones become stronger.
In addition to the above information, on November 2, Liu Zuhu published an article titled 'OnePlus 5T Comes in One Plus Community, Let's Talk About 3.5mm Headphone Jack', detailing a plus 5T to keep 3.5mm headphone The reason for the hole
He said we did research and 70% of users said they care about the sound quality, but at the moment, wireless earbuds do not yet provide the same sound quality as wired headsets, so keeping the headphone jack gives users a premium audio choice.
In addition, 3.5mm headphone jack replaced with Type-C does not bring a real significant user experience, and more than 80% of users have a headphone in the hands, so cancel the 3.5mm headphone hole this approach is obviously not worth it.
Finally, Liu Zuhu also expressed his views on wireless audio technology.He said: 'wireless audio technology has great potential for development in the future, maybe one day in the future 3.5mm headphone jack will no longer exist, but now is not the time, so a Plus 5T will retain this interface, and will bring a better experience.
4. Cool self-help: Hundreds of billions of acres of land resources to storm the United States market;
Hundreds of billions of land resources to stimulate the US market = cool self-help?
Each journalist Dong Qingzhi Wang Jingjing edited by Jia Yunke
Hundreds of billions of dollars in land resources, fierce attack on the US mobile phone market, is becoming the shadow of music crisis, cool self-help to open two magic weapon.
In recent days, Coolpad Group announced that it will co-develop the urban renewal project of Coolpad Harbor with Galaxy.In addition, executive vice president and international president Du Jinbiao, who took over the Coolpad mobile phone business, said in an interview recently that starting from September this year, the capital is no longer Cool big problem troubles, while Cool also in various ways to reach out to investors in all directions, he pointed out that it is storming the US market and focusing on quality phones to work, so that all partners to restore confidence in the cool.However, Economic News "reporter on the issue of funding to the Cool Group to prove that the relevant person in charge of cool, this announcement should be subject.
Kufa caught multiple crises
In recent years, affected by the crisis of music, cool days are not good.
Following the huge loss of HK $ 4.2 billion in 2016, Coolpad Group announced on the HKEx on August 15 this year that the Company has not undergone any improvement in its current operations and is still at a sustained loss. Based on the preliminary account of the unaudited consolidated management of the Group, As of 31 July 2017, the Group recorded operating revenue of approximately HK $ 2,716 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of approximately 52%. The Group's current assets have dropped below current liabilities and the pressure on the repayment of debt has increased recently.
On one side is the loss continued, the other side is the debt lawsuit entangled in the tension of their own funds in the case, the Cool Group has been Ping An Bank, Bank of Ningbo (16.830, -0.29, -1.69% ) And Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (12.580, 0.05, 0.40%) sued, the three banks to recover a total of 240 million yuan of funds.
The face of a number of banks to recover debt, the performance of huge losses, the group valuation cut 85% of the institutions, the aging cool brand, even if Huawei has personally led the sales of glory 'within a year from 100 million to 3 billion' leap Liu Jiangfeng also seemed 'more than enough.' On the evening of August 31, Coolpad Group announced that Liu Jiangfeng resigned as CEO post, will be replaced by the chairman of the Board Jiang Chao.
In fact, Liu Jiangfeng in the cool just served 1 year and 15 days, and just completed one year in his term of August 16, 2017, Liu Jiangfeng at the new conference on Coolpad had lamented, 'In the cool year, I What I have not encountered in my career for more than 20 years.
With the departure of Liu Jiang Feng and the new manager came to power, how cool self-help become the most immediate and most urgent thing now, in this regard, the first to adjust the management of cool.In mid-September, Jiang Chao one-time re-appointed Cool Group Four vice presidents, and an assistant president cadre at a departmental level.
Ten billion land resources to be revitalized
In spite of the crisis, Cool is not without panic. In fact, there are rumors that Coolpad has 10 billion premium assets (land resources) to work with real estate developers such as Beijing-based and Country Garden.
In August this year, when talking about the idea of resolving the crisis, even Liu Jiangfeng once said: "Coolfields are interested in land resources worth nearly 10 billion yuan. Real estate developers of all sizes are very interested. In addition, banks include syndicated issuance Are also working hard.At present, many investors interested in the Coupe, but no results, all the announcement shall prevail.Has been talked about six months ago (land), but the board can not.
It is worth noting that previously 'too far' 'land for sale' program recently loosening.October 17, Cool Group in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced that it will jointly develop with the Galaxy Galaxy Cool City, urban renewal project.An analysis pointed out , The introduction of Galaxia may be just the first step in activating the resources of the land.
Reporters noted that Du Jinbiao had said in an interview with the media that Cool has accumulated over the years a lot of valuable property resources, will pay close attention to the development and activation of this part of the resources may be cooperation and development.
According to Yan Yuejin, director of research center at E-home Research Institute, the land resources of Coolpad are of great value and the subsequent proper guidance of other funds for joint development is crucial and how to plan a project with high cash flow income is crucial. Business transformation, but also saw a larger real estate investment prospects.It is no problem with similar investment itself, and even its industry has a greater link.However, the courageous transition is not comprehensive, is a 'superficial' .
Zhang Hongwei, director of research and consulting with the same policy, believes that Cool itself does not have the real estate development capabilities, to find other developers, the follow-up to promote the possibility.
For the cool couch in the crisis, the revitalization of the land can solve the immediate needs of the developers can settle into the mobile phone plate? In response, the "Daily Economic News" reporter contact Cool to understand the situation, but as of press time, the other party has not yet responded.
It is noteworthy that September 27 Coolpad Group announcement shows that it signed a settlement agreement with Ping An Bank, and pay all the principal and interest in the petition; at the same time, Bank of Ningbo also withdrew the prosecution.
Recently, Du Jinbiao revealed in an interview with the media that during this period of time, Coolpad contacted investors in various ways and sought ways to raise funds. There are many sources of funds, including investors, realtors, banks, suppliers and channels.
It is worth mentioning that the Cool Group announced on October 18, the company and subscribers Nakasu Enterprise Co., Ltd. entered into a subscription agreement in relation to the issuance of convertible bonds with par value of 581.9 million Hong Kong dollars, a discount of 19.3% per share exchange price, Capital is intended to supplement the company's general working capital.
High hopes for the U.S. cellphone market
Prior to this, Cool executives also had at the press conference is expected to have 50 million to 60 million units shipped in 2016. However, the reality is cruel.In 2016, Liu Jiangfeng revealed in an interview with the media, Cool throughout the year shipments Only 15 million units.
Into 2017, Cool domestic mobile phone market share ranking is even out of the top 10. A research report in July this year, 'Cool Union' in 2500 ~ 2,999 yuan in the midrange market share ignored, totaling less than 3 %, Classified as Others (others).
August 16, Cool held in Shenzhen COOL M7 new channel conference, the new model priced at 2,699 yuan undoubtedly shoulder the task of rejuvenating the Cool. However, "Daily News" reporter visited Shenzhen Huaqiang (24.350, -0.37, -1.50%) North around the major mobile phone stores, mobile and China Unicom business hall found that cool mobile phone online market is hard to find traces.
In fact, the domestic mobile phone market has basically been partitioned by vendors such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei, oppo, vivo, etc. As of the end of September this year, Huawei shipped 112 million handsets and ranked the second in the world in terms of market share, Apple. Cool want to come back here, the difficulty can be imagined.
In this case, Cool seems to be paying more and more attention to the U.S. market.
In Du Jinbiao view, 90% of the United States mobile phone market operators market, more in line with the development of cool.On the one hand, the main research and development of Cool all around the US market to do, in San Diego, also deployed a portion of research and development efforts. On the other hand is With the strongest sales force in front of the United States sales.Furthermore, focus on other resources, focus mainly on the US market.In the first half of this year, Coolpad shipments in the United States increased 60%, is the fastest growing market for Cool now , Is also the largest market in the United States ranked the top shipments of Chinese manufacturers, Cool ranked second.In the next two or three years, Cool to be the first Chinese nationwide brand.
Practice has proved that the United States market is getting better and better, the stability of the whole company to help cool extremely large, especially to ease the difficulties of the current Cool. But Cool never give up the domestic market, in this hard so many years, will do it In the future, Coolpad will be more focused on the domestic market, focusing on high-quality mobile phones and focusing on operators, but in addition to the mobile phone business, we will continue to expand other businesses such as IoT-based smartphones that are not mobile phones. In addition, we are closely planning the development of AI and 5G Team, now worry about the order, and we have to achieve through the cornerstone overtaking technology, to reproduce the glory. "Du Jinbiao further analysis.
In this regard, China Mobile Alliance Secretary Wang Yanhui told reporters that funding is the basis for the cool to live, but the funds can not solve everything, and now Lenovo, ZTE, TCL and other brands in the domestic development are difficult, Cool is the same. With sufficient working capital, the problem of Coolpad also involves channel reconstruction. Now that the mobile phone market is getting more and more concentrated, it is hard for Coolpad to snatch back its share before.
5. Cool mobile phone sales survey: from the store to the operator are hard to find disappeared;
Cool phone line sales survey: from stores to operators Huaqiang North hard to find cool mobile phones
Every time by reporter Wang Jing edited Wei art
Cool mobile phone sales status is now better? Operator market support for the intensity of the cool? In a 'sea of blood' mobile phone battlefield, there is the opportunity for stand up?
With these questions, "Daily Economic News" reporter recently visited the Shenzhen Huaqiang (24.350, -0.37, -1.50%) of the major shopping malls in the North, Cool stores, mobile and Unicom business hall.
Change stores Huaqiang North shopping district hard to find cool camp cell phone
Into the huge Huaqiang North, the reporter found that three months ago still operating normally cool stores have become a clothing store.Although the store's appearance there are cool LOGO, but the store has been filled with a wide range of clothing , In addition to the glass at the entrance of clothing companies 'manufacturers stop big clearance goods' eye-catching posters, there is a 'landlord rent' ads.
Subsequently, the reporter went to cool stores across the country the United States, although the mobile phone store affixed a layer of cool advertising posters, but the store's showcase and no cool mobile phone sales staff told reporters that the cool mobile phones have been out of stock for a long time , Most stores are not selling cool phones now.
Understand cool people know that in the Chinese mobile phone market from the initial functional machine to the transition of intelligent machines, Cool with the joint telecom operators to launch contract machines, custom machines, as well as their own technical advantages, and even once among the top three mobile phone share in China However, since 2014, telecom operators have successively lowered their terminal subsidies in accordance with the requirements of the SASAC, and the disadvantages of over-reliance on operator subsidies have emerged. As a result, the market share has gradually eroded. However, for the Coolpad operators at this stage Not only to protect the shipments, but also get some terminal subsidies.
August 16 this year, Cool low-key held in Shenzhen COOL M7 new channel conference, the new machine price of 2699 yuan, cool in the finances of the financial situation, the new product is undoubtedly shouldering the task of rejuvenating the Cool. And Cool Group Vice President of China Zhang Ke said at the meeting, from the brand point of view, Cool brand influence still exists.And through 24 years focused on mobile phone products, Cool business research and development strength and resources are still in a relatively strong position.And, Cool And operators also have the foundation for long-term cooperation.
In addition, according to Du Jinbiao, executive vice president and international president of Coolpad, disclosed, 'the M7 mobile phone launched in August is now sold out every day, the specific supply is not disclosed. This phone lets you see the Coolpad's R & D capabilities and brand strength Let partners of all channels, customers have restored our confidence in us, but also let us restore confidence.
However, the "Daily Economic News" reporter visited the Shenzhen Huaqiang North major mobile phone stores, Huaqiang North Mobile and Unicom around the Office found that Cool mobile phone has long been difficult to find traces of the market online, Unicom Office long ago Cool Phone removed the cabinet, the new COOL M7 release, there is no further cooperation.
Do not buy cool mobile phone operators said few and cool cooperation
Not far from the Unicom business hall mobile business hall, the reporter noted that there is no cool mobile phone exhibition area, through the active inquiry, the clerk found a COOL M7 from the warehouse, the clerk said the purchase of cool people do not So there is no show in the store.And the relevant personnel of China Mobile Terminal Company told reporters, 'There is no cool M7 this Boss system inside the machine, it is estimated that there is no storage, I would like to see the amount should not be too large. 赛诺 TOP 500 There is no such phone in the model.
In addition, the reporter also noted that June 29 China Mobile Terminal Company and 17 handset manufacturers and 7 channel operators at the 2017 World Mobile Congress signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly promote the scale of 4G + products, Cool is not in them .
China Mobile Alliance Secretary Wang Yanhui on the "Daily Economic News" reporter said that now more and more market share, Cool want to get back before the share is difficult.
China Unicom (7.460, -0.19, -2.48%), the relevant person in charge told reporters that the nationwide Unicom Business Office are currently selling Cool old models of mobile phones, and sold out gone.China Telecom Information Center Relevant personnel disclosed that at present there is no tailor-made telecommunications machine, and there is no subsidy accordingly.The cooperation between telecom and handset manufacturers is only as follows: to jointly build a brand, for example: Huawei's Mackenzie, ZTE, etc. In addition, the telecommunications business offices in all provinces will select products based on the needs of consumers, and do not rule out that some telecommunications business offices will continue to sell Cool mobile phones. However, there is relatively little cooperation between telecommunications business offices and Coolpad now.
6. Chinese-owned M & A Deal Drops Bacheng so far this Year US Foreign Investment Review Tighter
Yao Yao reporter reported in Shanghai
Guide
Sun Chuan suggested that evaluation and response to the risk of CFIUS review should be initiated as soon as possible. 'Relevant experts should be invited to conduct an early analysis on the subject matter of the investment, including the portfolio of assets and intellectual property portfolio, whether the trading structure is a holding or an overall acquisition or a minority Equity control, or just acquiring assets, doing these analyzes as early as you can is actually saving you money because the last thing you want is trading to come to a critical stage and you suddenly find yourself facing CFIUS. "
According to Thomson Reuters 21st Century Business Herald data provided show that so far this year, China's scale of mergers and acquisitions to the United States dropped as of November 2, so far this year has disclosed China-US mergers and acquisitions in the United States was 138.8 billion US dollars, while the same period last year At 60.36 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of nearly 80%.
"The reasons behind this are multiple, including the Chinese government's stepping up its supervision of overseas investments and the U.S. scrutiny of foreign investment, which has made both buyers and sellers more cautious, and the combination of many factors led to a drop in trading volume." Morgan Chai Lian, Joint Chief of North Asia M & A Department, said on the telephone of 21st Century Business Herald on October 26.
In recent years, the discussion on the tightening of foreign investment in the United States has long been under discussion and this trend has become even more pronounced since this year. In September, the U.S. government stopped the Chinese-backed private equity fund Canyon Bridge ) Acquisition of US Semiconductor Manufacturer Lattice Deal, the news release, 21st Century Business Herald reporter received a number of international law firm's comments on the incident, the legal advisers have said that the uncertainty of the United States is monitoring the rise In addition, 21st Century Business Herald recently discovered in some open discussions on cross - border mergers and acquisitions that the insiders are also worried about this issue.
At the end of last year, China tightened the regulation of foreign investment, but there have been some signs of easing in the near future. On the contrary, it is the regulation of the United States (there are signs of tightening), especially the discussion on the tightening of CFIUS (U.S. Foreign Investment Commission) More. "An international law firm partner told 21st Century Business Herald.
Trend: CFIUS Review Unpredictability Significantly Increases Sensitive Area Expansion
CFIUS is the Foreign Investment Commission of the United States. It is an inter-departmental organization of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Department of Defense, and other departments. It examines whether a foreign-funded M & A deal that constitutes foreign control of U.S. companies leads to potential national security risk.
CFIUS review is a voluntary reporting system. Generally speaking, CFIUS will confirm the materials within 5 days after filing the application and complete the review period. In the first stage, 30 days, more than half of the cases will be approved. In the 45-day review phase of Phase 2, some of the cases that failed to pass were required to submit remedial measures, and after this phase, CFIUS basically completed the review of 99% of the cases. In general, remedies submitted at the notifying party While it may be possible but not within the statutory deadline, CFIUS will agree to withdraw and resubmit the filing but will review the 75-day review deadline.
In the case of Lattice, after the two parties announced the deal in November 2016, CFIUS failed to make any progress after a eight-month review.
According to a statement released in September by International Law Firm Friedrich, the unpredictability of the CFIUS review process in terms of censorship and review results has increased significantly, with CFIUS up to a maximum of six weeks in the past year to verify that the filing is complete and, within 30 days Only 20% of cases were approved during the first instance, which means CFIUS routinely conducts more scrutiny of cases with relatively less impact; it also claims more deals will be submitted to the U.S. president unless the claimant agrees to withdraw and re-declare it.
'The CFIUS review is voluntary, and if you declare it without filing it, once it is found, it will be reinstated and reviewed, even if the transaction is completed.' 'In general, there is no problem in the first phase after 30 days The second phase of 45 days is a stage of investigation, the buyer and the seller will go through the lawyers and CFIUS communication, to understand what CFIUS concerns, but this is often no template to follow, the specific circumstances of the specific analysis, and then make the appropriate mediation program. Said that foreign investment targets a real estate in the United States, but a military base within 75 miles of the subject mark or a subsidiary of the subject company is a semiconductor company. Foreign investors will then need to take remedial measures such as divesting sensitive assets, Weakened our control rights and agreed to undergo continuous monitoring by independent third parties after the delivery of the project, etc. What is happening now is that in some cases, CFIUS may, on a few occasions, allow the claimant to withdraw its application voluntarily, submit the supplementary documents before submitting the application, Re-enter the review for the Chinese buyer, the first stage before the pass is a high probability event, but there have been significant changes, especially when you have a government Capital background, it can be said that the second phase is almost a nail board. 'US rich law firm partner Sun Chuan October 25 in an interview with 21st Century Business Herald said.
In addition to making the review process more unpredictable, the sensitive areas of inward investment are expanding further. 'Previously, the most critical infrastructure and export-restricted technologies were extended to areas involving a wide range of personal information, including health insurance, payments, etc., Regulation of foreign investment is indeed a closely regulated trend, but not only for China but for the overall tightening of foreign investment, Lian Lian said.
The CFIUS annual report for 2015, released in September, also said that deals involving holdings or access to personal or business-sensitive data in the United States are subject to close scrutiny by the organization, according to which the sectors that may hold the aforementioned data include insurance, Medical services and technology services, which have never been mentioned in previous annual reports.
"Semiconductor companies have always been sensitive targets. Recently, some data-related targets have also become sensitive.For example, the acquisition of the subject of the bank or insurance company, which often involves a lot of personal information; there is GPS information, such as driverless Of the subject, the above subject more or less subject to the CFIUS review. 'Sun Chuan said.
'In fact, most Chinese investment in the United States M & A, CFIUS are unconditionally approved, but sensitive areas, will face the case of failing to pass or conditional, at this time, the more important point is to be prepared in advance On the whole, there are still some uncertainties in the bilateral relations between China and the United States. As the internal protectionism in the United States has become increasingly powerful and the Trump administration has taken power, CFIUS is in a situation of internal manpower shortage. In order to raise the uncertainty of the examination results, the examination time will be relatively long, and it is suggested that China should make the relevant psychological preparations. "Even Lian said.
In addition to macro-protectionist tendencies, problems within the CFIUS are also a contributing factor.
'It is a regrettable change that CFIUS currently lacks veteran government officials to review the work of committee agencies and make difficult decisions when needed, and sometimes risks are identified if the companies involved in the transaction are able to respond flexibly May ease, the transaction can continue, but for career-minded officials it is difficult to make such a difficult decision.In addition, the annual submission of CFIUS censorship cases continue to increase, but the US Department of Treasury resources Has not kept up. "Miriam Sapiro, Finsbury's partner in communications consultancy Finsbury, wrote in a written statement on 21st Century Business Intelligence on October 27th that Sapiro was a deputy trade representative of the Obama administration and a CFIUS committee member.
CFIUS is scheduled to release its 2015 annual report for the first quarter of 2016, but delayed the release of the report until September of this year, and the analysis attributed this to the vacancy of senior officials within the organization.
Although the report presents the situation in FY 2015, it also reflects the trend in recent years. Specifically, the number of CFIUS filings increased significantly in FY2015, while the transaction in the second stage, that is, the investigation phase, increased markedly and the withdrawal of returns also increased slightly , The proportion of transaction filings involving Chinese-controlled transactions increased, the proportion of filings related to semiconductor products increased, and most of the filings involved major U.S. technology companies.
Strategy: Evaluate the appropriate solution to the CFIUS Risk Plan as soon as possible
In response to the tightening of US regulation, industry insiders suggest that if it involves sensitive areas, it is necessary to fully assess the risks as soon as possible and plan corresponding solutions.
'In the United States regulatory, we recommend that customers do not need to worry too much, to distinguish the specific projects of the industry, business, technology to approve the possibility of specific projects may not approve the risk of approval.Semiconductor is indeed a sensitive area, whether Obama stopped the love Struggling (December 2016, the Obama administration pressured China Fujian Hongxin Investment Fund to acquire Alzheimer's, a German manufacturer of semiconductor devices) or Lattice, which Trump halted, and China interested in U.S. projects if The project has sensitive business or technology, first of all to do due diligence, to fully understand the situation.Next, to find a good solution, in many cases, CFIUS will not be a one-sided rejection of the transaction, buyers and sellers have the opportunity to joint They submit the solution, "Lian Lian said.
Sun Chuan suggested that evaluation and response to the risk of CFIUS review should be initiated as soon as possible. 'Relevant experts should be invited to conduct an early analysis on the subject matter of the investment, including the portfolio of assets and intellectual property portfolio, whether the trading structure is a holding or an overall acquisition or a minority Equity control, or just acquiring assets, doing these analyzes as early as you can is actually saving you money because the last thing you want is trading to come to a critical stage and you suddenly find yourself facing CFIUS. "
'My advice to Chinese investors is to keep a bright eye on the investment environment and to know that if the transaction involves national security issues, especially foreign SOEs, they will face the dilemma of approval. In addition to worrying about the national security factor, Many U.S. lawmakers and government officials are even more worried about the corresponding market access problems in China. A recent U.S. legislative provision states that if the transactions involving foreign state-owned enterprises exceed 50 million U.S. dollars and all other transactions exceeding 1 billion U.S. dollars, U.S. Secretary of Commerce has the right to assess their economic impact, "suggested Sapiro.
'At present, it does bring some challenges to those who do our practical work, but I have not seen a cliff-like decline. In the medium and long term, it is a general trend that China and the United States should strengthen economic exchanges. The United States is a key investor in the world's investors. China, the long-standing interest of Chinese investors in the U.S. bid, and I am still very optimistic about China's investment in the United States. "Lian Lian said. 21st Century Business Herald