http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=2&art_id=153909&sid=43813822&con_type=1&d_str=20150203&fc=2

Bleak restart for Chaoda Modern shares
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Shares of Chaoda Modern Agriculture (0682) slumped 45.45 percent to HK$0.60 yesterday after it resumed trading after being suspended for more than three years.The stock had a turnover of HK$241.39 million. The Fujian-based food maker said it lost HK$1.94 billion in the year ended June 30 of 2014, much less than the HK$3.22 billion lost in 2013. Annual revenue fell 36.05 percent to HK$1.46 billion. It expects to record 20 to 30 percent of year-on-year loss for the six months ended December 31 of 2014, due to low demand for the products and the writing off of prepaid premium for certain land leases. On September 26 of 2011, the financial secretary said the government was investigating its chairman Kwok Ho, chief financial officer Andy Chan Chi-po and another individual on market misconduct, including insider trading. At the same time, research firm Anonymous Analytics published a 38-page report alleging Chaoda’s management transferred US$400 million (HK$3.12 billion) capital from the firm through exaggerating the capital expenses or forging transaction records. The firm did not fight back against the accusation until July 2013, saying that the allegations were untrue. JENNIFER LI

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2015/02/01/would-you-still-buy-alibaba-if-it-were-two-thirds-smaller/print/

Gordon G. ChangContributor

WORLD AFFAIRS 2/01/2015 @ 3:22PM 52,877 views

Would You Still Buy Alibaba If It Were Two-Thirds Smaller?

On Friday, the State Administration for Industry & Commerce, through a spokesman, tried to minimize a damning report it had issued on Wednesday on Taobao Marketplace, one of the main sites of Hangzhou-based Alibaba Group. The Wednesday report created legal exposure for the Chinese Internet giant and, more significantly, highlights the ultimate unsustainability of its business model. Continue reading →

http://www.chinatechnews.com/2015/02/02/21382-possible-class-action-suit-against-alibaba-for-disclosure-failures

Possible Class Action Suit Against Alibaba For Disclosure Failures

February 2, 2015

Alibaba and its executives may feel the sting of American jurisprudence as law firms line up for possible class action lawsuits in the United States against the Chinese e-commerce company. At least five law firms so far have expressed intentions to commence class actions against Alibaba.

For example, a complaint from Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP charges Alibaba and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that during the class period, Defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the soundness of company’s business operations, the strength of its financial prospects and concealing substantial ongoing regulatory scrutiny. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Alibaba failed to disclose that company executives had met with China’s State Administration of Industry and Commerce in July 2014, just two months before Alibaba’s initial public offering in the United States, and that regulators had then brought to Alibaba’s attention a variety of highly dubious — and possibly illegal — business practices such as the selling of counterfeit goods.

In the IPO, Alibaba and certain “selling shareholders” sold more than 368 million ADSs at USD68 each. The complaint alleges that selling shareholders included two of Alibaba’s co-founders, Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai, each of whom sold millions of shares. The complaint also alleges that Alibaba’s ADSs continued trading at ever-increasing, artificially inflated prices.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/hanergy-seeks-to-reassure-investors-on-soundness-of-finances

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150130000119&cid=1602

Earlier postings:

(1) Breakneck growth of Hanergy raises questions; The Financial Times, in analysing recent financial statements of the company, has found some unconventional practices behind Hanergy Group’s soaring fortunes; Hanergy has been racking up enviable revenues largely through sales between its listed subsidiary, HTF, and itself (Link)

A little-known Hong Kong-listed firm has come out of nowhere to become the world’s largest solar-power company by market value. A tight relationship with its parent company should give investors reason to worry whether its time in the sun will last (Link)

(2) Short sellers feel the heat from Chinese solar group Hanergy (Link)

(3) The Convoy Financial-Finsoft-Hanergy connection and aggressive accounting (Link)

Hanergy Seeks to Reassure Investors on Soundness of Finances

byEhren Goossens

February 2, 2015

(Bloomberg) — Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd., the Chinese solar equipment manufacturer whose market value surged to $19 billion within a two-month period, downplayed a report in the Financial Times that questioned how it reports sales. Continue reading →