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Tag: China

  • Alibaba said to buy out Baidu

    Alibaba said to buy out Baidu

    Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to buy out Baidu Inc. and other investors in Chinese startup Ele.me to shore up its delivery network, a person familiar with the matter said, placing its biggest bet yet in online food and local services.

    An acquisition would hand Alibaba the biggest chunk of Chinese online food delivery and pit it directly against Meituan Dianping, backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. Ele.me – which means “hungry yet?”. Meituan runs an army of delivery people on motorbikes across the country that could enhance Alibaba’s last-mile ability to get parcels to customers’ doorsteps and complement its Koubei neighbourhood services business.

    Alibaba, which owned 23 per cent of Ele.me as of May, plans to buy the stock from existing investors including Baidu, the person said, requesting not to be named because the matter is private.

    It is unclear how much Alibaba agreed to pay, but Ele.me was said to have been valued at between US$5.5 billion (S$7.23 billion) to US$6 billion in a May fundraising last year.

    The startup then bought Baidu’s delivery business at a US$500 million valuation in August 2017, a person familiar said at the time. The current talks are ongoing and it’s possible terms may change or the deal may not be completed.

    Alibaba, Ele.me and Baidu declined to comment.

    Alibaba shares rose 0.47 per cent to US$194.19 Monday in New York, the highest in four weeks. Baidu rose 2.2 per cent to US$256.25, the highest in more than a month.

    If the deal goes through, Alibaba and Meituan will dominate a Chinese food delivery market that Analysys estimates reached 67.7 billion yuan (S$14.1 billion) in 2017’s final quarter, up 16.2 per cent from the previous three months.

    For Baidu, it is another exit from a business considered peripheral to its core operations in search and artificial intelligence.

    “With its online traffic and Koubei business, Alibaba could create a lot of synergy with this acquisition,” said Steven Zhu, a Shanghai-based analyst with Pacific Epoch.

    “This would be a drag on the margin, because Alibaba now owns more delivery men and inventory, but it has no choice because long-term wise most consumption still takes place offline.”

    Alibaba has taken steps to shore up its logistics in recent months, taking over longtime delivery affiliate Cainiao and drawing up plans to invest in warehouses.

    Unlike e-commerce rival JD.com Inc. however, which builds and runs its own fleet of delivery people, Alibaba’s last-mile capabilities have been confined mainly to third-party partners. Its investments in so-called “new retail,” such as brick-and-mortar stores and grocery chain Hema, also help shore up the network, by providing delivery points and warehousing for parcels.

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  • POLESTAR Appoints August Wu As President Of Polestar China

    POLESTAR Appoints August Wu As President Of Polestar China

    Polestar, the new electric performance brand, has appointed August Wu as its new President of Polestar China, reporting to Polestar CEO, Thomas Ingenlath.

    August joins Polestar on 1 March 2018 from Volvo Cars in Shanghai where he held the position of Head of Product and Offer for the APAC region. In this role, he was responsible for local product, specification, pricing and vehicle line management of all Volvo products in the APAC region. Prior to this, he worked for Volvo in Sweden as Business Program Leader for the Volvo 60 cluster of cars and before that, held a number of automotive industry-focussed roles within McKinsey and Company.

    As President of Polestar China, August Wu’s responsibilities will include Polestar’s commercial offer in China, the development of the network of Spaces – the Polestar retail environment, as well as increasing Polestar’s brand awareness and consideration in the important Chinese market.

    “The appointment of August Wu as the new President of Polestar China is an important step in the development of our team in China. With China being one of the world’s fastest developing markets for electrified cars, it’s clear that having somebody with a very deep understanding of the market was vitally important. In August Wu, we have found that person,” said Thomas Ingenlath, Chief Executive Officer of Polestar.

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  • Moncler Sales Climb 14% in Nine Months

    Moncler Sales Climb 14% in Nine Months

    Clothing retailer Moncler international had double-digit growth in all key financial indicators last year, with soaring Asian sales playing their part.

    Its revenues for the year reached €1.1 billion (US$1.3 billion), an increase of 17 per cent at constant exchange and 15 per cent at current exchange rates. In the fourth quarter, revenues rose 17 per cent at constant exchange and 14 per cent at current exchange rates.

    Moncler chairman/CEO Remo Ruffini says the growth plus a net sales growth of about €200 million confirm the group’s strength and validated its strategy.

    In Asia, revenues grew 20 per cent at constant exchange rates with double-digit sales growth for Japan in the fourth quarter.

    Robust performances continued in China, says Moncler, driven by a double-digit organic growth in the fourth quarter, and in Hong Kong, where it opened a flagship store in Canton Road.

    Revenues from the retail distribution channel last year reached €892.4 million, up 19 per cent at constant exchange rates. The group also achieved comparable store sales growth of 14 per cent.

    At the end of December, Moncler’s mono-brand distribution network comprised 201 directly run retail stores, 11 more than the previous year, and 59 wholesale shop-in-shops, up 17. In the fourth quarter, Moncler opened six retail outlets and 11 shop-in-shops.

    For the full year, the consolidated gross margin was €917.5 million, 76.9 per cent of revenues compared to 75.7 per cent the previous year. This is attributed to retail channel growth and higher production efficiency.

    Adjusted EBITDA rose to €411.6 million from €355.1 million, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 34.5 per cent compared to 34.1 per cent.

    Net income was €133.3 million, up 63 per cent.

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  • Tesla made over $2 billion in China in 2017

    Tesla made over $2 billion in China in 2017

    Unlike most foreign automakers in China, Tesla has yet to establish local production and still solely relies on exporting its vehicles from California to the largest auto market in the world.

    Nonetheless, Tesla managed to double its sales in China last year as it is significantly expanding its presence in the country.

    Tesla was off to a tough start in China in 2014 and 2015, but things started to improve for them in the country in 2016 when they managed to triple their sales to over $1 billion during the year.

    The automaker wasn’t able to maintain the insane growth rate in 2017, but the company confirmed today that it still managed to double sales in China to over $2 billion in 2017.

    They don’t confirm the number of cars sold per market, but it has to represent over 20,000 vehicles based on their average sale price.

    Sales were helped in 2017 by China’s surprising demand for Tesla’s Model X. The vehicle has been extremely popular in the country. For example, look at the number of Model X SUVs at this Tesla owners meet-up in Shenzhen, China last month.

  • Nokia 7 Plus Announced In China With 4GB And 6GB Of RAM

    Nokia 7 Plus Announced In China With 4GB And 6GB Of RAM

    The Nokia 7 Plus has been announced in China, and HMD actually decided to announce both 4GB and 6GB RAM variants in China, while only a 4GB RAM variant got announced in Europe. HMD had introduced the Nokia 7 Plus a couple of days ago at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, along with four other Nokia-branded smartphones. This is one of the company’s Android One phones, and it comes with 4GB of RAM, as already mentioned. A 4GB RAM variant of the Nokia 7 Plus which was announced in China is completely identical to the European model, while the 6GB RAM model comes with more RAM, that’s it.

    Now, as the Nokia 7 Plus is an Android One handset, it comes with stock Android out of the box. Android 8.0 Oreo comes pre-installed on the Nokia 7 Plus, but HMD did say that Android 8.1 Oreo will hit the device in the near future. The Nokia 7 Plus is made out of metal, while its display sports rounded corners. All the physical keys sit on the right-hand side of this smartphone, while Nokia’s logo can be found both on its front and back sides. A fingerprint scanner is included on the back of the device, while above it you’ll notice a dual camera setup. This handset also sports somewhat thin bezels, and its spec sheet is nothing to scoff at. The device is fueled by the Snapdragon 660 64-bit octa-core SoC, while it sports a 6-inch fullHD+ display. In addition to 4GB or 6GB of RAM, you’re also getting 64GB of expandable storage.

    A 3,800mAh non-removable battery is included here, and you’re also getting fast charging. Two 12-megapixel snappers are included on the back of the Nokia 7 Plus, while a single 16-megapixel shooter sits on the phone’s front side. The device also offers two SIM card slots, and Bluetooth 5.0. If you’d like to expand this phone’s storage, you will have to utilize its second SIM card slot, which means that you can either use two nano SIMs here, or a nano SIM and a microSD card at the same time. The 4GB RAM variant of the Nokia 7 Plus is priced at 2,299 Yuan ($363) in China, while the 6GB RAM model costs 2,499 Yuan ($395). Both variants of the phone are already available for pre-order, while they will go on sale on March 7 via Tmall, Suning and JingDong Mall (JD.com). The two devices will also be available via a number of retail stores across China.

  • Beijing maintained steady economic growth in 2017

    Beijing maintained steady economic growth in 2017

    The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics and the Survey Office of the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing released the “2017 Statistical Communique on the Economy and Social Development of Beijing” on Feb. 27. According to the report, Beijing last year kept at a steady momentum of economic development and maintained social harmony and stability. The report lists new achievements made by the capital city in economic development, social progress, urban construction and improvements in people’s livelihood over the past year.

    The city’s annual GDP totaled 2.8 trillion yuan (US$443.6 billion); the per capita GDP of its registered residents reached 129,000 yuan. It added 422,000 more jobs across the urban regions, and registered urban unemployment rate stayed at 1.5 percent. The consumer price index rose modestly, by 2 percent year on year.

    Upgrading economic structure 

    At the end of 2017, Beijing formulated guidelines on accelerating scientific and technological innovation to build a series of industries with high-grade, precision and advanced economic structures. The guidelines emphasized on constructing a national center for scientific discovery and technology innovation with worldwide influence and brought forward accelerating the development of 10 high-grade, precision and advanced industries. One of these emerging industries of strategic importance is driverless vehicles, for which Beijing boasts resources, competitive advantages and development potentials. Earlier this February, the city began field testing driverless cars, developed by companies including Baidu, BAIC BJEV and FOTON, in Haidian district.

    Beijing’s industrial structure continuously improved to be more high-grade, precise and advanced, with the development mode changing from accumulation of resources to phasing-out of non-capital functions. According to the new report, the value added of the high-tech industry accounted for 22.8 percent of the city’s GDP, a 0.1 percentage point increase over the previous year; the value added of the strategic emerging industry contributed to 16.2 percent of the city’s GDP, with a rise of 0.2 percentage points over the previous year. The service sector accounted for over 80 percent of the city’s economy, to which finance, information services, and science and technology services contributed over 50 percent.

    Meanwhile, the city continued to upgrade the makeup of its consumer spending. Spending on services accounted for 51.3 percent of total consumer spending, and contributed to 70 percent of the growth in total spending. Infrastructure investment saw rapid growth, which continued to prioritize on public transportation and people’s living standard. Investment in commercial services and information services as key sectors increased by 120 percent and 42.8 percent respectively. Foreign investment in information services, commercial services, and science and technology services accounted for 54.2 percent, 9.4 percent, and 8.3 percent respectively.

    Improving development quality

    In 2017, Beijing saw more blue skies than previous years as its air quality continued to improve. The annual average concentration of fine particles (PM2.5) reached 58 micrograms per cubic meter, a drop of 20.5 percent over the previous year. Annual average concentration of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide in Beijing reached 46 micrograms per cubic meter and 8 micrograms per cubic meter respectively, down by 4.2 percent and 20 percent over the previous year.

    Better efficiency and more effectiveness from businesses had also led to improvement in residents’ sense of gain. In 2017, the per capita disposable income of Beijing residents was 57,230 yuan, up by 8.9 percent year on year, or 6.9 percent after adjustment to inflation, outperforming economic growth by 0.2 percentage points. Social security also improved, with minimum wage standard for employees and minimum standard for unemployment insurance benefits up by 110 yuan and 80 yuan respectively over the previous year. Basic pension and welfare payment standard for urban and rural residents increased twice in 2017.

    In addition, Beijing maintained effort in accelerating the construction of a livable city with convenient life, bountiful services and beautiful environment. Its subway routes extended 35 kilometers in 2017, reaching a total of 609 kilometers at the end of the year. About 5 percent more households began using natural gas for heating, bringing the total to 9.45 million households. Moreover, the city increased its 100,000-square meter central heating locations to cover 630 million square meters.

    The city built 34 more kindergartens in 2017, bringing the total to 1,604. It added 349 health institutions, totaling 10,986. The book collection of its public libraries grew by 2.9 percent, and it opened one more museum to the public free of charge. The treatment rate of municipal sewage reached 92 percent, up by 2 percentage points, and the per capita green park area reached 16.2 square meters, up by 0.1 percent.

    Seeking innovation

    The value added of the new economy in 2017 accounted for 32.4 percent of Beijing’s GDP with an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the previous year. The added value of the high-tech industry and the strategic emerging industry among industries above a designated scale were both up by double digits, each contributing to over 50 percent of the city’s industrial growth.

    The online retail volume of wholesale and retail enterprises above the designated scale accounted for 20.5 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods, up by 1.9 percentage points over the previous year. The business income of the financial information services and non-financial institutions payment services in the internet financial services sector increased by 35.1 percent and 62.7 percent respectively.

    “Beijing has yielded fruitful results in scientific and technological innovation, laying a foundation for the establishment of a science and technology innovation center with international influence,” said an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics. The R&D expenditure in the city amounted for 5.7 percent of its GDP, staying atop the country.

    According to the report, the enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship was strong owing to Beijing’s favorable policies. The number of various innovative and entrepreneurial service institutions such as shared workspaces, incubators, accelerators and university science parks reached 400 in the city in 2017, with a total area of 6 million square meters, offering services to over 30,000 enterprises and teams.

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  • Alibaba Cloud Expands Europe Offering With Eight New Products

    Alibaba Cloud Expands Europe Offering With Eight New Products

    Alibaba Cloud on Tuesday launched eight of its products in Europe, covering areas from big data and artificial intelligence to infrastructure and security, as it targets new business in an important market for cloud services.

    Announced during the Mobile World Congress, underway in Barcelona, Spain, the products aim to deliver efficiencies in online-offline retail integration, smart manufacturing and smart-city development for European businesses.

    “Alibaba Cloud wants to be an enabler for technology innovation in Europe helping enterprises do business,” said Wang Yeming, general manager of Alibaba Cloud Europe, in a statement. “These advanced solutions will enable organizations in a wide range of sectors and will bring them true connectivity, both locally and globally.”

    Previously, these products were available only to Alibaba Cloud clients in China. The company pointed to three that may prove popular among enterprises, including Image Search, a chatbot called Intelligent Services Robot and Dataphin, a smart data engine used to link businesses working together from different sectors.

    According to Alibaba Cloud, Image Search, which allows for research both online and offline using pictures, is used widely in China, including in sectors such as New Retail. The chatbot for businesses served more than 40 million customers in a single day during last year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, the company said. Dataphin is now managing 95% of Alibaba Group’s data and being used to drive improvements and new applications in retail, finance, logistics, transportation and health.

    In addition, Alibaba Cloud launched the ECS Baremetal Instance; the Super Computer Cluster; its next-generation Cloud Enterprise Network; the Vulnerability Discovery security service; and the Apsara Stack, a cloud-services platform adopted by 120 clients so far in China. These infrastructure and security products are typically used by enterprises undertaking important tasks, such as migrating data and applications to the cloud.

    Alibaba Cloud said the product launches were a sign of continued commitment to the European market that build on other initiatives already underway there. The company opened its first availability zone in Frankfurt Germany in November 2016 and recently began operating a second one in the same region. It has partnered with Vodafone in Germany, as well as the U.K.’s Met Office and Station F, an innovation hub in France.

    “The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is a great opportunity for us refresh our European strategy and consider how we can make an increasing contribution to the digital transformation of enterprises in this market from different sectors with our offerings and expertise,” Wang said.

    Alibaba Cloud, the leading cloud provider in China, services both Alibaba Group’s operations and other enterprise clients. The company has expanded overseas in recent years to Singapore and Malaysia in Southeast Asia, Frankfurt, London and Paris in Europe, New York and San Mateo in the U.S., Dubai in the Middle East, as well as Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney. It currently has over 2.3 million customers worldwide.

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  • Geely makes US$9b Daimler bet against tech ‘invaders’

    Geely makes US$9b Daimler bet against tech ‘invaders’

    Chinese carmaker Geely has built up an almost 10% stake in Daimler in a US$9 billion (RM35 billion) bet by its chairman that he can access the Mercedes-Benz owner’s technology in the growing battle for the future of automotives.

    The purchase by Li Shufu, Geely’s founder and main owner, means China’s largest privately owned automaker is now the biggest shareholder in Germany’s Daimler.

    Geely said on Saturday there were no plans “for the time being” to raise the stake further. Instead, it will seek to forge an alliance with Daimler, which is developing electric and self-driving vehicles, to respond to the challenge from new competitors such as Tesla, Google and Uber.
    “No current car industry player is likely to win this battle against the invaders from outside without friends. To achieve and assert technological leadership, one has to adapt a new way of thinking in terms of sharing and combining strength. My investment in Daimler reflects this vision,” Li said.

    “Daimler is pleased to announce that with Li Shufu it could win another long-term orientated shareholder, which is convinced by Daimler’s innovation strength, strategy and future potential,” the German company said in a statement.

    Geely officials plan to travel to Stuttgart to meet Daimler executives early this week and also hope to meet top German government officials in Berlin, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

    The Chinese firm plans to use the meetings to underline that it intends to be a supportive long-term investor, they said.

    Daimler had no immediate comment on any meetings. Geely and the German economy ministry declined to comment.

    Chinese investors in German technology companies have tended to take a consensual approach, buying incremental stakes in companies such as robotics firms Kuka and Kion, typically after long consultation with management and other stakeholders.

    In November, Geely asked Daimler to issue new shares so it could buy a stake, as a way to access Mercedes-Benz technology for electric cars and trucks, including battery technology, to help Geely comply with a Chinese crackdown on pollution.

    But the German company turned down the offer saying it did not want to dilute existing shareholders, sources at the time told Reuters.

    Li changed tactics, and quietly amassed a stake of 9.69% worth US$9 billion at Daimler’s current share price.

    The sources said former Morgan Stanley Germany CEO Dirk Notheis was the architect of amassing the Daimler stake, working with former Morgan Stanley China executive Yi Bao.
    Notheis declined to comment, while Bao was not reachable.

    German state secretary at the economy ministry, Matthias Machnig, said separately that EU trade ministers meeting this week in Sofia would discuss how better to protect strategically important European companies from unwanted investors.

    “It is important that Europe keeps a close eye on which key European technologies foreign strategic investors are setting their sights on,” he said.

    Machnig did not comment specifically on Daimler.

    Only two or three auto manufacturers will likely survive, a source familiar with Li’s thinking told Reuters, prompting Geely to seek access to carmakers with a technological edge.

    Daimler is also the only one of Germany’s three carmakers not to be controlled by a family. Volkswagen is majority-owned by the Porsche-Piech clan, while BMW is 47% owned by Susanne Klatten, Germany’s richest woman, and her brother Stefan Quandt.

    Geely’s move poses a challenge to the German carmaker, since Mercedes-Benz already has an industrial alliance to develop cars and trucks with Renault-Nissan, which owns a 3.1% stake in Daimler, and has announced plans to build electric cars with existing Chinese joint-venture partner BAIC Motor Corporation.

    Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton said: “It’s not clear what Geely wants and how it’s going to work, but we view this move as part of a broader Chinese move to gain involvement in the European automotive industry.”

    “China wants a payback after spending a decade gifting the European auto industry super-normal growth and profits. Now it wants more direct access to technology, brands and profits,” he wrote in a note shortly after the stake was disclosed.

    Zhejiang Geely Holding owns Volvo Cars, LEVC, the maker of London’s black cabs, and last year took a majority stake in sports car maker Lotus, a 49.9% stake in Malaysian automaker Proton, a US$3.3 billion stake in Volvo Trucks and control of flying car start-up Terrafugia.

    Geely sees potential in Daimler because it is developing high-speed connectivity for autonomous cars at a time when Li believes satellite-based internet connections could become more important, the source familiar with his thinking said.

    The source said Daimler and Geely had not held concrete talks about how to structure a potential joint venture, adding: “You know we have to become a stakeholder in order to engage.”

    Swedish truck maker AB Volvo, one of Geely’s other investments, has objected to the Chinese firm’s stake-building in Daimler, citing anti-trust concerns, the source added.
    “We will protect interests of both companies by abiding laws in the country and the company’s governance structure. We are not seeking to have a controlling power in Daimler,” the source added

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  • Singapore’s Orchard Road gets its own Korean-style store opened

    Singapore’s Orchard Road gets its own Korean-style store opened

    South Korean fashion brand Twee has opened a flagship store at 313@Somerset on Orchard Road.

    The  4030sqft (374sqm) Twee Singapore store offers an exclusive collection of party dresses as well as Superface beauty products. The store promises to bring in more than 400 new styles for women and men every month.

    Twee has more than 40 stores in South Korea and 11 overseas, including nine in China and one in Malaysia. The brand plans to launch stores in Tokyo and Shanghai this year.

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  • Sapinda takes over La Perla

    Sapinda takes over La Perla

    After negotiations with Chinese conglomerate Fosun International faltered, Italian luxury lingerie label La Perla has a new owner, Amsterdam-based investment company Sapinda Holding.

    Two months ago, La Perla announced it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Fosun, which this month took control of Parisian fashion label Lanvin.

    La Perla has been owned since 2013 by Italian businessman Silvio Scaglia via Pacific Global Management holding company. He restructured the brand’s organisation before seeking a buyer.

    Founded in the1950s, La Perla diversified under Scaglia to focus on women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and become a fully fledged lifestyle label. It has been under the creative leadership of Julia Haart for nearly two years, and has 150 monobrand stores worldwide, mainly through retail expansion in Asia in the past few years. “We are delighted Sapinda has bought La Perla,” says Scaglia. “I have known Sapinda and its CEO Lars Windhorst for many years, and have worked with him several times. I know Sapinda has the resources necessary to bring La Perla to the next level and continue my vision of creating a worldwide luxury brand while keeping its production in Europe.”

    Windhorst says Sapinda is ready to invest more into the brand. “We have been trying to invest in the luxury industry for some time, and after assessing opportunities over the past few months we are happy to have been able to strike a deal with La Perla.”

    Sapinda Holding is a Dutch investment company with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin and London.

    Meanwhile, La Perla is facing eviction from its Causeway Bay flagship in Hong Kong following a claim of HK$9.2 million in outstanding rent.

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  • Tencent and JD.com each take minority stakes in Chinese retail group Better Life

    Tencent Holdings and JD.com are buying minority stakes in Chinese retailer Better Life Commercial Chain Share.

    A Tencent subsidiary is paying RMB886.9 million (US$140 million) for a 6 per cent shareholding, while a JD.com subsidiary is paying RMB739.1 million for a 5 per cent stake, according to a Better Life filing with the Shenzhen stock exchange.

    Also known as Bubugao, Hunan-based Better Life announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Tencent at the beginning of this month, Reuters reports. The three companies and shareholders agreed to the transactions on February 14, according to the filing.

  • Mr. Ruffini’s Moncler Genius Building unveiled

    Mr. Ruffini’s Moncler Genius Building unveiled

    Moncler Genius Building is finally unveiled.

    During the opening of Milan Fashion Week, Moncler finally revealed the highly anticipated Moncler Genius Building—a conceptual space that housing the Moncler Genius collections designed in collaboration with Hiroshi Fujiwara, Francesco Ragazzi of Palm Angels, Craig Green, and other well-known names.

    Moncler packed out the Palazzo Delle Scintille—a 15,500 square meter exhibition space—with an international crowd excited to finally discover what Moncler had been hiding and shrouding with mystery for weeks.

    Upon entering the Palazzo Delle Scintille, the mystery continued. The space was filled with large tent-like shapes of all sizes shrouded with silver fabric, surrounded by smoke and glittering under bright spotlights.

    It looked like the silver shrouds would at once fall away for a big reveal but instead, following a long wait and a sudden countdown, curtains within the silver fabric opened and guests were invited inside the designers’ minds one at a time.

    None of the spaces featured a traditional runway presentation. Instead, the capsule collections were displayed on mannequins in a humid jungle; in an eerily dark room; hung from the ceiling; and on models performing a snow angel dance routine reflect in an enormous mirror.

    Francesco Ragazzi of Palm Angels took the most unorthodox approach, hosting two booths advertised by the slogans “Make It Rain” and “I’m So High.” Ragazzi and his team simply handed out free t-shirts periodically to keen attendees throughout the two-hour event.

    In the build-up, Moncler explained that with this new project it would “let creativity run wild,” and it certainly backed up its claim. Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino put together a monastic collection disturbingly reminiscent of the women’s uniforms in The Handmaid’s Tale and surrounded by the work of artist and monk Sidival Fila.

    Craig Greens’ collection was typically conceptual and utilitarian, denoting inflatable life jackets. Hiroshi Fujiwara of Fragment brought preppy, and in places grungy, vibes to the table with a sense Americana and mountaineering.

    Moncler did not stop at human clothes either. Happy pooches clad in tiny Moncler outfits ran joyfully around a doggy obstacle course as the brand showcased its animal jackets.

    The Moncler Genius Building acts as the project’s central hub. Within the space, each designer’s individualized cell represents a different facet of the brand’s identity and alludes to its unique vision for the future of fashion and design. The result is a grand composite of extraordinary minds united by the desire to innovate and create the new.

    Moncler’s President and Creative Director Remo Ruffini hopes these monthly capsule collections will disrupt the traditional, biannual fashion schedule. They will release in a similar fashion to the routine “drops” employed by some streetwear brand and provide consumers with newness far more regularly.

    Moncler will launch a collection once a month starting June. Clothes and accessories from its collaborative lines will be available in cities around the world at boutiques, selected stores and pop-ups.

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  • Hong Kong luxury watch imports reached its peak

    Hong Kong luxury watch imports reached its peak

    Hong Kong luxury watch imports posted their highest monthly increase for more than five years in January.

    According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, exports to Hong Kong rose by 21.3 per cent in January, leading a broader Asian rebound which saw China overtake Japan into second place as a destination with 44.3 per cent growth. Exports to the US fell 1.9 per cent, dropping that market into third. Japan was also strong, up 12.9 per cent.

    January’s improvement followed the dynamic performance of previous months and a favourable base effect, the federation reported.

    Swiss watch exports for the month were worth CHF1.6 billion (US$1.7 billion), equivalent to 12.6 per cent growth.

    The value of all the main groups of materials increased. Steel and bimetal watches made the biggest contribution. Total volumes were 2.5 per cent higher, boosted by timepieces in steel and the other metals category.

    Against the trend, the ‘other materials’ category reported another substantial fall.

    After declining for more than two years, watches costing less than CHF200 (export price) continued to lose ground last month. All the other segments had sustained growth, especially in the CHF500 to CHF3000 price range which improved by about 20 per cent.

    Many markets saw strong growth for the month.

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  • FAO Schwarz Sets Its Sights on China

    FAO Schwarz Sets Its Sights on China

    As it continues its revival, US retail toy giant FAO Schwarz has set its sights on China.

    It plans to open stores in Beijing and Shanghai this year through a collaboration with China toy distributor Kidsland.

    Kidsland will also open 30 FAO Schwarz shops in 200 department stores across China over the next five years.

    “With customers looking for authentic brands and memorable encounters, we believe the brand will become a game changer in China’s toy industry,” says Kidsland International chairman/CEO Lee Ching Yiu.

    Founded in 1862, FAO Schwarz was the oldest toy store in the US when its sole remaining outlet, a flagship on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, closed in 2015. But its branded products continued to live on at Toys R Us, which bought the brand in 2009. In October 2016, Toys R Us sold FAO Schwarz to ThreeSixty Group, which designs, makes and distributes toys and other consumer products under a portfolio of owned and licensed brands.

    Meanwhile, FAO Schwarz has signed a licence agreement with Wild and Wolf, which designs and makes wooden toys, puzzles and games.

  • Arabesque eyes pension funds as it looks to expand in Asia

    Arabesque eyes pension funds as it looks to expand in Asia

    Arabesque Asset Management (Arabesque), a London-based boutique money manager, is looking to expand its presence in Asia, and is setting its sights on pension funds in the region.

    The company, which specialises in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments, had assets under management (AUM) of US$150 million as at end-2017. Most of its customers are family offices.

    Arabesque Chairman Georg Kell says the company is looking at “securing mandates from Asian pension funds”.

    “As an asset management firm that is very focused on ESG, we are in good position to capture the growth and demand for ESG investment by institutional investors and pension funds,” Mr. Kell said on the sidelines of a recent capital market conference in Kuala Lumpur.

    He declined to disclose which Asian pension funds Arabesque is in discussions with.

    A growing number of pension funds in Asia have begun to take ESG investments more seriously in recent years.

    Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, which had AUM of $1.5 trillion at the end of 2017, said last year it plans to allocate 1 trillion yen ($9 billion) or 3% of its equities portfolio into companies that practice ESG.

    In Malaysia, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan, the country’s second largest pension fund, hopes to have 70% of its AUM be ESG-compliant by an undisclosed timeline, up from the current 50%. The fund had AUM of over 137 billion ringgit ($35.22 billion) as at end-September 2017.

    Mr. Kell says Arabesque, which was founded in 2013, needed a few years to build its track record before moving to expand aggressively.

    “In this industry, you are pretty much non-existent until the third or fourth year onwards,” he says.

    According to Mr. Kell, Arabesque will also be looking to grow its retail investor business. This will be done via partnerships with local players because it can be costly to set up a distribution network to reach out to retail investors.

    “In Malaysia, we have a partnership with BIMB Investment Management. We are looking for similar partnerships in the region,” he says.

    But he believes it’s important to educate retail investors about ESG products in order to boost demand.

    “In Asia, their (retail investors) mindset is not open enough… Of course, we know that building something new is never easy. It takes time,” Mr. Kell says. “Nevertheless, I am confident that sustainable investing is here to stay and will become a new normal.”

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