Wall St soaks up China funds...

China learns hard M&A lessons | Special Coverage | Reuters:

By Michael Flaherty

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The unraveling of CITIC Securities' plan to link up with Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) may prove the latest example of a Chinese deal gone bad.

Sitting on a mountain of cash, China's government has sought to diversify its holdings and expand state-run companies by investing more in foreign assets.

But to date, many of the deals have turned out to be duds.

That point was highlighted over the weekend when CITIC's $1 billion venture with Bear was thrown into serious doubt.
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"China Investment Corp. (CIC) formed, setting aside $200 billion to invest.

The fund's entry into dealmaking brought the government face to face with some of the globe's savviest players in the mergers and acquisitions market.

And it led to investments in U.S. firms with significant exposure to what Wall Street hoped was a passing credit mess.

It's only gotten worse."

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don't forget Blackstone !

WallSt soaks China funds...
Snow and GW must be having a chuckle

A Wall Street Domino Theory - New York Times

News Analysis

A Wall Street Domino Theory

By JENNY ANDERSON and VIKAS BAJAJ

Published: March 15, 2008

The Federal Reserve’s unusual decision to provide emergency assistance to Bear Stearns underscores a long-building concern that one failure could spread across the financial system.

A Wall Street Domino Theory - New York Times: "“You get to where people can’t trade with each other,” said James L. Melcher, president of Balestra Capital, a hedge fund based in New York. “If the Fed hadn’t acted this morning and Bear did default on its obligations, then that could have triggered a very widespread panic and potentially a collapse of the financial system.”

Already, investors are considering whether another firm might face financial problems."

FT.com / In depth - Wall Street waits for the next domino to fall

“The most pressing question on investors’ minds: who’s next?” .......

..Wall Street waits for the next domino to fall.....

By Francesco Guerrera and Michael Mackenzie in New York

Published: March 16 2008 20:22 | Last updated: March 17 2008 02:43

FT.com / In depth - Wall Street waits for the next domino to fall:

"“The most pressing question on investors’ minds: who’s next?” said Jeffrey Rosenberg, head of credit strategy at Banc of America Securities. Analysts expect US banks to report some $50bn in additional losses in the first half of this year – in addition to the $100bn-plus in writedowns announced so far – as key markets such as leveraged loans, home equity and real estate continued to deteriorate."

China overtakes U.S. as largest Internet market

China overtakes U.S. as largest Internet market

China is now the world's largest Internet market, surpassing the United States in the number of users, research firm BDA reported.

BDA cited data from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), which placed the total number of users in China at 210 million at the end of 2007; and data from Nielsen/NetRatings, which put the U.S. Internet population for the same period at 216 million.

"Based on these sources and the assumption that these markets have continued to grow in 2008 to date at the same rates that they grew in 2007, we can conclude that China has by now comfortably surpassed the United States as the world's largest Internet population," said Bin Liu, BDA's Beijing-based principal analyst for new media.

"A buoyant economy, massive investments in broadband infrastructure and strong consumer demand for applications including online games, instant messaging and online-music and online-video sharing are fuelling China's rapid Internet growth," said Duncan Clark, BDA chairman.

BDA estimates 2007 revenues from China's online games sector at $1.88 billion. This estimate exceeds the combined estimated revenues from online brand advertising ($930 million) and search ($395 million), according to BDA.

The research firm placed the number of online game players in China at 50.4 million at the end of 2007. On the other hand, the "QQ" instant messaging client from Shenzhen-based Tencent reportedly had 280 million active users by Q3 07.