Mark Solomons

Blackstone has offered 275.8 billion yen ($1.74 billion) to buy Japanese digital comic distributor Infocom. The tender offer is for 6,060 yen per share, totaling 141.4 billion yen. Teijin, Infocom's parent company, will sell its 58% stake for 134.4 billion yen after the buyout. Infocom runs Mecha Comic, one of Japan's largest digital comic sites. Global interest in Japanese companies has increased due to a weak yen and corporate governance changes. M&A in Japan hit a record $35.5 billion in 2023. This Infocom deal is the largest private equity transaction in Japan this year. Infocom's share price has more than doubled since the buyout news. Teijin expects a 105 billion yen profit from the sale in the financial year ending March 2025. #banks #financialmarkets

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As noted in PEI's #infrastructure investor series in #seoul/ #tokyo, Japan's Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), a ~USD 70 billion entity recently created by the Japanese government as a master public university endowment (public #endowments in Japan have been quite limited on investment capabilities and capital due to limited inbound contributions) will be making more investments in funds/co-investments with fund manager relationships as they continue to build the team and reduce reliance on advisors. Initially heavily dependent upon asset #consultants / #gatekeepers, this group is on pace to becoming a highly sophisticated institutional investor in Japan. Definitely a group to track. Separately, on the endowment topic in Japan, private universities such as Keio University, Waseda University, Tokyo University of Science, Sophia University, Ritsumeikan University, Meiji University, International Christian University all have capabilities (varying degrees of sophistication and capital) to invest in alternatives, often, but not always, using international and local gatekeepers / consultants. Of the nearly 800 public and private universities, I have tracked 15-20, mostly private, universities that invest in alternative assets and private markets. For the public university endowments, the capital is mostly concentrated with Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). #japanesemarket #japan #asiapacific #universities #capitalmarkets #privatemarkets #alternativeassets #infrastructure

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Indeed another example where paper bills of lading increased the likelihood of catastrophic losses for a lender. eBL usage would have probably mitigated the possibility of such unfortunate outcome by enabling tight control over the original, limiting in first place the ability to perpetrate double financing, making the use of financial LoIs unecessarily

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Subsidies provided by countries to develop semiconductor industry, as % of GDP Japan 0.7% US 0.2% Germany 0.4% France 0.2% So India’s PLI scheme for semiconductors, at USD 10 billion is hardly an outlier. In fact, given that we are just starting and competing against well established countries we may need to do much more https://lnkd.in/dwVch-zP

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A very good read! The China model is failing Excerpt: And yet, despite the CCP’s belief in the China model, the Chinese market is losing its dynamism. The combined market value of private companies, which peaked at US$4.745 trillion in 2021, had fallen below US$2 trillion by the end of 2023. Foreign direct #investment was a mere US$33 billion in 2023, less than 10 percent of the $344 billion reached in 2021 and the lowest level since 1993. Due to the decline in domestic consumption and investment, the youth #unemployment rate has exceeded a critical 15 percent since 2022, and the International Monetary Fund forecasts China’s annual GDP growth will be just 4.6 percent in 2024 and fall to around 3.5 percent by 2028. The West’s efforts to de-risk their economies, reducing exposure to China in manufacturing and strategic technologies, are exacerbating China’s prospects. China’s rise is losing momentum. It is clear that the key to China’s rise was not the China model. In fact, the China model disrupts normal social behaviour, sows uncertainty for investment, #consumption and #governance and undermines collective #confidence in its systems. This affects domestic and #international perceptions of the Chinese market and its long-term stability.

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I beg for enlightenment. There is an effort among the Chinese netizens very recently to dispel the true origins of the phrase "垃圾时间”. Suddenly, every Tom Dick Harry blogger in China is using it to express a certain dissatisfaction over the current plight. Probably on the business downturn cycle. Netizens who used it were quick to say that it's a quote from the Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises, as though it will carry more weight and "glam" Either they translated it wrongly or willfully copied it. I would literally translate it to "trash of time" or "garbage of time". Keen to search the truth, I actually stumbled over all these phrases " "ash heap of history", also called "dustbin of history" or "garbage heap of history" or "landfill of history" from wiki. Guess what, these actual phrases and remotely close, originated since the Russian revolution. Politics. But not one netizen wants to get near there. And Reagan actually used it guess during rallying? Please enlighten me, all the economists and academics. Anyone. I studied economics in Singapore varsity, but in a v v narrow way. Friedman. No Austrian or socialist economics then! Thank you in advance.

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#Singapore Singapore led Southeast Asia in private capital investment last year, with US$3.7bn secured, comprising 41.1% of the region’s private equity deal value in 2023, a new report has found. Singapore also topped the region in transaction volume, completing 62 out of the 109 deals made across Southeast Asia, The Straits Times reported, citing global management consultancy Bain & Company’s South-east Asia Private Equity Report 2024. Indonesia, the region’s largest economy, ranked second. https://lnkd.in/dsSa2gN3

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Hong Kong must turn Greater Bay Area integration challenges into opportunities The tireless efforts the government is making to reboot Hong Kong’s economy will be futile if the city’s leaders fail to grasp the challenge of integration within the Greater Bay Area and come up with strategies to turn the challenges into opportunities. A framework agreement for deepening cooperation between Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau was signed on July 1, 2017. Almost seven years on, development in the bay area plan is bringing about profound changes to Hongkongers’ lifestyle and the economy. Soon after the reopening of mainland China early last year, Hongkongers discovered that cities in the Greater Bay Area have made giant strides in urban planning and the service economy. As a result, they have been flocking to the bay area to spend their consumption dollars. Between March 28 and April 8, which includes the extended Easter weekend and Ching Ming Festival, a staggering 3.6 million Hong Kong residents went north via land control points, compared to about 860,000 mainland residents who visited Hong Kong. Other cities in the Greater Bay Area have become Hongkongers’ go-to playground in the same way that mainland residents poured into Hong Kong after the Individual Visit Scheme was launched 21 years ago. The economic impact of this reversed travel pattern being felt across the Greater Bay Area. Last year, Shenzhen authorities announced that “social consumption and retail spending” rose by 7.8 per cent while its gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6 per cent, exceeding Hong Kong’s and other first-tier cities on the mainland. In comparison, tourist arrivals from the mainland that have failed to reach pre-pandemic levels, plus weaker spending, as well as the “leakage” of our consumption dollars to the mainland, means our economic recovery crawled to an anaemic 3.2 per cent last year, from a low base in 2022. Restaurant and shop closures forced the government to organise the “Night Vibes Hong Kong” campaign to stimulate local consumption. Yet, the downtrend is likely to continue until and unless Hong Kong’s restaurant and retail services are able to catch up to Greater Bay Area standards of value and service quality. full version : https://lnkd.in/ggPsB2xy

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#Xi made recommendations three years ago relating Communism -vs- Socialism. Our #Envoy of Country follows China actions and offer this link , demonstrating subtle changes from within CCP. The ruling Communist Party was planning and implementing "major" reforms, ahead of a closely watched political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Our belief is China will move towards opening Commerce channels in keeping with Socialist direction. Millions of Chinese want their own businesses, know about the Western World and seek better times. If Xi fails to move progressively his term will cease faster than he came into power. https://lnkd.in/eV8kguHK

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Very important. One reason it is so difficult to force China’s hand is that the longer the Ukraine was goes on, the weaker Russia gets, which is in China’s long term interests. The ultimate collapse of Putin’s government will give China the opportunity to take back much of Siberia and create a one-time opportunity for China to stock up on Russia’s massive stockpile of nuclear warheads.

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Japan launches $6bn-plus space fund to bolster private ventures Japan has launched a 1 trillion yen ($6.43 billion) fund for private space development, planning to subsidize as much as 100% of R&D costs by startups and universities in order to bolster domestic technological innovation in the field.　(...) The fund is being established at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with the Cabinet Office and various ministries. Funding of around 1 trillion yen will be provided to companies and universities over 10 years. #Japan���🇵🇪🇺 European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) EU Trade EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation #public #procurement https://lnkd.in/eDjedrfc

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Japan and the Philippines signed a key defense pact that allows for joint military exercises, including live-fire drills, as they face concerns over China's assertiveness. Japan has been boosting its security and defensive capabilities, with a focus on counterstrike capabilities. The Philippines, with limited military capabilities, is forming alliances to bolster its ability to defend territorial interests in the South China Sea, a key global trade route contested by multiple countries. The United States, Japan, and the Philippines are strengthening their military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to counter China's actions in the region. #AsiaRisk #GeopoliticalConflictandDisputes #Japan Follow us for daily updates on risk and operations in Asia! https://lnkd.in/g_ir94Rz

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Competition to attract customers using point cards has intensified in Japan. A number of companies offer point cards, including Rakuten Points, T Points, D Points, and others. In a market where there are many competing companies, the Sumitomo Mitsui Group has partnered with T Point and entered the new market as V Point. The strength of V Points is that it is based on the Visa card, which has over 100 million merchants around the world. In Japan, it has become commonplace to present a point card at each store and accumulate points when shopping. It is the customer's choice which point card to use. The purpose of each point card business is to attract shoppers by having them carry their own point cards. #pointcard #vpointcard #visajapan #shoppingcard #competitionmarket #pointcardmarket #sumitomocard #newpointcard #shoppingjapan

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Corbenic Capital raising estimate of the change in Real Effective Trade Weighted CNY through April 2025 from -3.6% to 0.3%, largely due to government fx defense with the highest currency reserves in the world. The CNY has been trading inside the long term normal range of exchange since June 2023, and trending somewhat lower, defended by the world's largest currency reserves. Trade weights: Euro Area 18.5% USA 18.5% Japan 11.5% South Korea 8.8% Taiwan 6.2% Rest of World 36.5% #pboc #cny #China #fx #trade

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