Midea lifts stake in Kuka to 76.38%

    MIDEA Group Co., which lists shares in Shenzhen, said Friday that acceptances received in its 4.5 billion euros (US$5 billion) takeover offer for Germany’s Kuka would lift its holding in the robotics firm to 76.38 percent.

    In a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the home appliance maker said Kuka shareholders had tendered 25.01 million shares in response to the offer by 1600 GMT Thursday, or about 62.88 percent of the issued share capital. Midea launched the offer in May. Together with the 13.51 percent stake already owned by Midea, the Chinese firm would hold a total of 76.38 percent of Kuka.

    Zoomlion loss to more than double

    ZOOMLION Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. warned Friday that its first-half net loss would more than double due to weak demand for construction machinery and unfavorable currency rates.

    Chinese heavy equipment makers are battling an historic glut of unsold equipment following a massive construction boom initiated by a US$644 billion government stimulus package announced in 2008. Zoomlion estimated its net loss for the January-June period at 800 million yuan to 870 million yuan.

    Tencent to merge QQ Music with China Music

    TENCENT Holdings Ltd. has agreed to merge QQ Music, its digital music service, with rival China Music Corp. in a bid to create a dominant player in the nation’s online music market.

    Tencent, China’s biggest social networking and online games company, said Friday that the strategic merger will combine QQ Music with China Music to form a new company, with Tencent becoming the majority shareholder of the merged entity. It didn’t disclose the consideration and the valuation of the deal.

    Leshi Internet expects profit to rise 10-20%

    LESHI Internet Information Technology Corp., China’s leading online streaming site, said Friday that it expected its net profit for the first half of 2016 to rise 10-20 percent from a year ago.

    The Shenzhen-listed firm said its profit during the first half of the year could come to between about 280 million yuan (US$41.9 million) and 306 million yuan. The firm, also known as LeTV, said its profit growth came due to strong sales of its smart TVs, high-definition products installed with an LeTV operating system, app store and streaming video platform.