Alibaba to fully acquire Ele.me

Hangzhou, 2nd April: Earlier this week, the leading e-commerce company in China, Alibaba Group, announced the company will acquire the outstanding shares of Ele.me, a leading online delivery and local services platform in China.

Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group currently own about 43% of the outstanding voting shares of Ele.me. The transaction will value Ele.me at US$9.5 billion.

After the transaction, Ele.me will continue to operate in its own brand and Alibaba will support it through its infrastructure, product offerings and technology expertise. Founder of Ele.me, Zhang Xuhao, will become Chairman of Ele.me and special advisor to Alibaba’s CEO on new retail strategy. Wang Lei, Vice President of Alibaba Group, will become Chief Executive of Ele.me.

MyCEB supports over 280 events in 2017

Kuala Lumpur, March: Recently, the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) released its annual report covering 2017. In total, the bureau supported 287 events during the year, which generated an economic impact of US$365 million for the country. These events attracted almost 365,000 delegates – including 120,528 international delegates.

Of the 287 events, 192 were corporate meetings & incentive groups, 68 were conventions and 27 were exhibitions. The 192 corporate& incentive events featured over 51,000 delegates. These events generated an economic impact of US$134 million. Conventions generated an impact of US$91 million – attracting 38,000 delegates (including 23,420 international delegates). The exhibitions attracted 275,022 delegates – and of those 46,000 were international. The exhibitions generated an economic impact of US$140 million.

Sanya, China signs MoU with aim of internationalising exhibitions

Sanya, China, 3rd April: The Sanya Exhibition Industry Association, ExpoPromoter and STATA signed a strategic cooperation memorandum on 28th February, aiming to internationalise the exhibition industry in Hainan province in China.

Under the terms of the MoU, the three parties will cooperate to integrate multiple resources and introduce trade show brands with the aim of building international exhibition operations. This will include nurturing a distinctive trade show brand in Hainan as well as training local personnel and attracting international talent.

Baidu’s iQIYI lists on NASDAQ

Beijing, 29th March: Baidu, the leading Chinese-language Internet search provider, has announced the pricing of the initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary, iQIYI, Inc. Shares will begin trading at US$18 per American Depositary Share (ADS).

A total of 125,000,000 ADSs, each representing seven Class A Ordinary Shares of iQIYI will be sold. That results in an offering of US$2.25 billion. The company listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol “IQ”.

12,000+ visitors at MEDICAL FAIR INDIA

Mumbai, 29th March: The Medical Fair India 2018,organised by Messe Düsseldorf India, concluded last month. The event attracted 12,350 trade visitors to the Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) in Mumbai.

The event is positioned as India’s number one trade fair serving hospitals, health centres and clinics. Medical Fair India was held from 16th to 18th March and it featured 551 exhibitors. Products showcased at the three-day show included medical products, the latest medical device technology, laboratory technology and diagnostic equipment, furnishings, etc.

SEEC Media’s loss widens to US$32m

Hong Kong, 29th March: Last week, SEEC Media, a Chinese B2B media group, released its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2017. Total revenues in the year were US$41 million, an increase of 19% year-on-year. However, the company posted a net loss of US$32 million, compared with a net loss of US$2.1 million in recorded in 2016.

Nearly 80% of SEEC’s revenues were generated from its advertising services (US$32 million), representing a year-on-year increase of 14%. The next largest business segment was their securities broking services, generating revenues of US$4.0 million. This accounted for 9.7% of SEEC Media’s total revenues. That segment grew by 30%compared with the previous year.

Share price movement in B2B media companies involved in Asia

Figure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)

Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2018)