Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2012

choi

(1) Alison Tudor and Prudence Ho, Chinese Government to Run Brokeage 'Asylum;' CLSA is the 'insane asylum for people that can't work in the mainstream industry.'
Quote:


"The chief execuive of CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets once called the brokeage firm 'an insane asylum' populated by a group of iconoclastic analysts. Soon the crew will work for the Chinese government.

"overnment-backed Citic Securities Co said Friday it will acquire Hong Kong-based CLSA in two stages from France's Credit Agricole SA for $1.25 billion. The sale is the latest step in a global retrenchment at Credit Agricole, driven by the euro crisis and the cloudy outlook for giant Western banks.

"The takeover is a bold move for Citic, China's biggest brokeage by market value, to use global economic unrest to its advantage * * * But making the tie-up work won't be easy. Chinese investments in Western financial firms haven't done well, and Citic is paying a premium fpr a companythat has struggled

(2) Loretta Chao and Laurie Burkitt, How China's Olympic Powerhouse Ran Out of Steam; As investment slows, would-be athletes see opportunities outside the gym; 'we lacked freedom as athletes.'

My comment:
(a) The "investment" in the subtitle is Beijing'sinvestment in athletics or training of athletes for Olympics.
(b) The essence of the report, of London's summer Olympics: "this year, China looks to suffer declines in several sports ehere long-term domination appeared inevitable, including gymnastics, shooting and judo. * * * Top Chinese sports officials aren't boasting about their medal chances in London * * * Chinese seems to have slowed its investments in facilities andtraining, with some exceptions like a $100 million investment in a state-of-the-art pentathlon training facility in Chendu. Another big factor at work: China's changing population has more economic options these days--and the state's rigorous Olympic training doesn't look as appealing as it used to.