Alibaba, Unilever announce partnership

    ALIBABA Group Holdings Ltd. announced yesterday that it had signed a strategic partnership agreement with Unilever NV to help the consumer products group reach more Chinese shoppers.

    The British-Dutch maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream opened a store on Alibaba’s online marketplace Tmall in 2011. The partnership will allow Unilever to expand its distribution channels to reach rural consumers in China and use data from Alibaba’s online marketing unit, Alimama, and its cloud business to improve its digital advertising strategy.

    China Railway Signal seeks HK listing

    CHINA Railway Signal & Communication Corp., which makes the signals used by China’s train network, plans to start taking orders for an up to US$2 billion Hong Kong initial public offering next week, in the biggest float by a mainland company since that country’s stock market rout in June.

    The Beijing-based firm, which makes rail transit communication and signal systems, plans to take orders from institutional investors next Monday and to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange Aug. 7, a person who has direct knowledge of the deal said yesterday.

    Haitong Securities’ first-half profit surges

    HONG KONG and Shanghai-listed brokerage Haitong Securities Co. yesterday said its first-half net profit and operating income more than tripled, thanks to a bull market in the January to June period.

    The company said net profit surged 254.6 percent from a year earlier to 11 billion yuan (US$1.61 billion) and operating income rose by 228.5 percent to 22 billion yuan.

    Hedge fund sees gains tumble on stock rout

    ONE of the world’s top-performing hedge funds though the first few months of this year has seen its gains sharply eroded by China’s recent stock market tumble.

    Quam Asset Management Ltd.’s China Focus fund had gained as much as 60 percent this year by the end of May. But a sharp downturn in Chinese markets in recent months has taken gains down to 35 percent after it lost around 6 percent in June and more than 10 percent in the opening days of July. In comparison, hedge funds on average were up 3.9 percent by the end of May, but after losses in June are now up 2.5 percent, according to Hedge Fund Research.