A valuation-adjustment mechanism (VAM), also known as a bet-on agreement (Chinese: 对赌协议), is a common clause in many Chinese private equity merger and acquisition deals. In this article, we explain how a valuation-adjustment mechanism works, along with a widely-used example that applies to public share offerings. Click here to subscribe and stay tuned for future […]

Among the many financial markets developments the previous year, Hengda (China Evergrande) Group‘s debt crisis undoubtedly stood out as one of the most concerning to investors. Previously in our Hengda series (here), we analyzed the Evergrande conglomerate’s financials to reveal an extremely highly leveraged and indebted company that only had sufficient liquid assets to cover […]

Red packets traditionally refer to money given by elderly family members to young children during Chinese New Year, where the money is typically given in a red envelope (hence the Chinese name “hong bao”, where “hong” means “red” and “bao” means “packet/envelope”). However, in the digital era, internet platforms such as e-commerce companies give out […]

In the first part of our China e-commerce series (here), we examined the 20-year evolution of China’s e-commerce sector from inception to the present, in addition to discussing key future trends that are expected to shape the country’s e-commerce landscape over the coming years. Next, we explored and analyzed each of China’s three main e-commerce […]

China has made the global financial headlines during the past few months for its development of a digital currency – the digital yuan. In this article, we explain what the digital yuan is and what it is not (e.g. it is NOT a type of cryptocurrency!), in addition to discussing the advantages of having a […]

Supplementary (or after-school) education organizations, often referred to more colloquially as “cram schools”, play a very significant role in the lives of Chinese people. In this article, we provide some background context as to why these organizations are so important, summarize the Chinese education landscape, and present a snapshot of the ten largest and most […]

Tencent is a technology conglomerate that is also one of the largest tech companies in Asia. The company focuses on social media and entertainment, with notable products including WeChat and QQ messenger, in addition to music, video and comic products. Tencent is also the largest video game vendor in the world, with many internationally renowned […]

DiDi (Chinese name: 滴滴), a Chinese equivalent of Uber or Southeast Asia’s Grab, went public on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30th, 2021, as the largest IPO of a Chinese company to go public on an American exchange since the IPO of Alibaba Group. However, two days later, the Cyberspace Administration of China […]

In this series, we explore Tencent Holdings (Chinese: 腾讯) (HKEX: 0700), one of China’s most iconic internet companies and the most valuable Chinese company in terms of market capitalization as of the time of writing. Tencent was initially founded in 1998 with the launch of instant messaging platform QQ, but has since grown into a […]

JD, known fully as Jingdong, is a Chinese e-commerce platform that has built its brand value on the basis of being a provider of premium (and at first primarily electronic) goods with good customer service and extremely fast and efficient delivery. JD has a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce model, and is one of China’s two largest […]

In early November 2020, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation published a draft of new anti-trust guidelines aimed at regulating large internet companies with dominant platforms or ecosystems. The Guidelines were intended to reduce market distortions and promote greater competition in the markets through the use of a dynamic and flexible framework that has been […]

Previously, in Introducing China’s Banking Sector, we explored the history of China’s banking sector over the past 120 years and provided an overview of how the country’s banking system is currently structured. Subsequently, in Introducing China’s Largest Banks, we introduced China’s ten largest banks based on 2022 total assets, including each bank’s history, relative size […]

China is home to the world’s largest banking sector by total assets, while China’s “big four” banks are also the largest four banks globally (see the latest ranking by S&P Global Market Intelligence here). In our China Banking series, we take a closer look at the Chinese banking sector. This article is the first installment […]

A Chinese version of America’s Cyber Monday where online retailers have promotions and sales on November 11th. This date is named “Singles’ Day” because the numeral 1 represents a bare stick, i.e. 光棍 – an internet slang for single men and women who do not add branches to the family tree. Singles’ Day is the […]