From the Caves of the Vatican where they launder money, I got a message in a communion wafer from an editor about the latest scandal involving the IOR Bank. André Gide writes:
“Papa Baruch [Pope Benedict] is surrounded by Italian cardinals who control the purse-strings, and who cannot easily be challenged because they sit on rocks under which no-one wants to look.” I wish the red socks’ top clergy had either wives or nuns to help expain simple economics to them.
Fidel Castro thinks the Cuban revolution doesn’t work for Cuba any more, as he told Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations last month.
Then in full uniform, Castro followed with a half-hour speech Sept. 3 to U of Havana students. Castro said he was “accurately quoted but misinterpreted” and suggesting that the economic model indeed doesn’t work anymore. As for the Cuban Revolution: ¡Venceremos!
Castro, 84, may have been signalling a policy shift to be implemented by his successor and brother Raoul, 77. For our way to play Cuba on the stock market, read the paid subscriber section below.
Too many Chinese are coming to Wall St.
CCIH ChinaCache International Hldgs of Chaoyang sells Internet content and application delivery services. The Cayman Islands firm mostly operates in China, where it claims it has more than half the market for its carrier-neutral platform consisting of a network, servers, and software. It gives corporate and govt advertisers and hosts enhanced access and speed for websites, online services, and applications. It also supports downloads and transfers of music, videos, games, and software, plus rich streaming video and audio. It registered to come public in the USA this week.
I got a fortune cookie last week which told me that dian nao is computer in Mandarin. The symbols look like a cloud open on the bottom over a pounds sterling sign for dian, and then a very steep ladder with the steps on the right followed by a 1 over a horizonal line with a topless box with an x in it beneath the line; if there are two x’s in the open box it means net.
The CCIH underwriter is Merrill Lynch, also bringing to market Country Style Cooking Restaurant Chainof Chongquing (where I have been), CCSC. I think there is no hope at all for Chinese fast food chains as they have it down to perfection already.
Both of these Merrill ipo’s will have to confront Morgan Stanley‘s larger offering for NYSE-listed MY, Ming Yang Wind Power Group Ltd. Of Zhongshan.
Also crowding the trading floor, China Unicom of Hong Kong is raising $1.8 bn in a 5-yr convertible bond offering, according to a term sheet seen by Dow Jones yesterday. Unicom provides mobile, fixed-line, and broadband services in China. It is selling bonds with an annual coupon of 0.5%-1.0%, and an initial conversion price of HK$15.56-16.15/sh. It also trades on the NYSE as CHU.
An assessment from Fei Chen, our Chinese Internet tech expert and more for paid subscribers below includes a recommendate from Frida Ghitis.
