Weekly News Wrap: Hong Kong residents raid supermarket shelves; Seven & i urged to focus on 7-Eleven business
And Alibaba-backed Huitongda Network to price its Hong Kong IPO at bottom of range.
From Reuters:
Hong Kong residents have crowded supermarkets and neighbourhood fresh food markets to stock up on vegetables, noodles and other necessities after a record number of COVID-19 infections in the city and transport disruptions at the border with mainland China.
The city of 7.5 million people reported a record 614 coronavirus cases on Monday, in the biggest test yet for the Chinese territory's zero-COVID strategy.
Hong Kong imports 90% of its food supplies, with the mainland its most important source, especially for fresh food. Consumers have already seen a shortage of some foreign imported goods, including premium seafood, due to stringent flight restrictions.
The government tried to assuage worries of a shortage of food from the mainland after some cross-border truck drivers tested positive for the coronavirus.
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From Reuters:
ValueAct Capital is urging 7-Eleven's owner, Seven & i Holdings, to break up its businesses and focus on the convenience-store chain, steps which it says could more than double the company's share price in the coming years.
U.S.-based investment firm ValueAct, which has been urging the Japanese company's board to take bolder action for months, has made its proposal public as investors have become more frustrated with the company's lagging share price.
ValueAct says that if Seven & i narrows its focus to 7-Eleven, it could become a global champion in a growing industry, and warns that if its attention remains "scattered" its results will be poor for many shareholders.
ValueAct, which owns a 4.4% stake in Seven & i, said it is making its presentation public, a rare step for the investment firm, because management's responses to its private discussions have been "indecisive, unclear, and unsatisfactory."
Last month ValueAct first said publicly that Seven & i should explore strategic alternatives and added some pressure to its request by saying that it wanted a public response to its requests soon.
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From Bloomberg:
Huitongda Network, a Chinese e-commerce platform backed by Alibaba Group, is set to price its Hong Kong initial public offering at the bottom of its marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company, which helps retailers in rural parts of the country to sell goods online, is offering 51.6 million new shares and has marketed them at $5.51 (HK$43) to $6.15 (HK$48) each.
The potential pricing was first reported by IFR. Deliberations are ongoing and details may change, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
Huitongda had been considering an IPO that could raise as much as $1b as soon as last year, Bloomberg News reported.
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