http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/03/116_176111.html

Updated : 2015-03-29 18:25

Prosecution probes fraud allegations at Keangnam

By Kim Rahn

Prosecutors are investigating allegations of fraudulent accounting at Keangnam Enterprises, a construction company at the center of a probe into the Lee Myung-bak administration’s failed “energy diplomacy.” Prosecutors suspect that the company fabricated its financial situation while it was in the debt workout program. They believe the company did this in order to qualify for the government’s special loans for overseas energy development projects. Continue reading →

http://www.wsj.com/articles/its-time-to-look-under-the-hood-of-chinas-carheard-on-the-street-1426223889

It’s Time to Look Under the Hood of China’s CAR

ABHEEK BHATTACHARYA

Updated March 15, 2015 10:14 p.m. ET

China’s largest car-rental firm has novelty, size and, now, technology on its side. But at the end of the day, it’s still a company that could get weighed down shifting big assets back and forth. Shares in CAR, previously called China Auto Rental, climbed 34% after the company’s Hong Kong initial public offering last September. Investors couldn’t wait to drive away with this rare public play on growing Chinese auto-rental demand. The company, which counts Hertz as a major shareholder, controls a third of the market. Investors again piled into the stock Thursday after CAR announced that it would rent vehicles to an Uber-like Chinese service called UCar. CAR also reported that it swung to a big net profit in 2014 after a loss in 2013.

Before investors start awarding CAR an Uber- or Lyft-like valuation, though, it’s worth remembering the more mundane costs involved in managing a capital-intensive fleet of auto rentals. One key expense is depreciation of aging cars. CAR’s depreciation charges fell last year in absolute terms, dropping to 19% of total revenue from 26% in 2013. Falling depreciation played a part in CAR’s robust 23.4% operating profit margin last year. That’s puzzling because depreciation should have risen as CAR expanded its fleet by 20% last year. Depreciation is equal to 31% of revenue at New York-listed Chinese rental firmeHi Car Services, and about 24% at Avis Budget Group. Unlike Avis, CAR can’t lock in any depreciation expenses because Chinese auto makers don’t promise to buy back cars at predetermined prices as U.S. counterparts do. Continue reading →

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2015/03/488_176054.html

Updated : 2015-03-27 17:40

Ascender loses fight against Infovine CEO

By Kim Jae-won

Ascender Capital, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund, failed to change the corporate governance of Infovine at the local information technology company’s shareholders’ meeting on Friday.
Infovine reappointed its CEO, Kwon Seong-jun, at the meeting despite opposition from Ascender, which has accused Kwon of harming minor shareholders’ interests. Ascender, which owns 3 percent of Infovine, said Kwon had enriched himself at the expense of all other shareholders by issuing bond warrants in August 2013.  Continue reading →

http://www.scmp.com/print/business/china-business/article/1749135/financials-tycoon-li-hejuns-hanergy-remains-mystery

http://www.scmp.com/print/business/china-business/article/1749136/hanergys-top-china-tycoon-boss-li-hejun-promises-more

The financials of tycoon Li Hejun’s Hanergy remains a mystery

Saturday, 28 March, 2015, 4:03am

Eric Ng eric.mpng@scmp.com

Analysts raise doubts over Hanergy’s dubious deals and shaky numbers amid a rally in the stock

It is the brightest spark in the solar industry, but Hanergy Holding Group’s dubious deals and shaky numbers are casting a shadow over its runaway success. The company is behind listed Hanergy Thin Film Power Group (Hanergy TFP), the world’s biggest solar company by market value whose rocketing share price and trading volume pivot on the parent’s giant hydropower project. The shares of this project have been pledged to support the company’s foray into the risky thin-film solar power business.

But it is not entirely clear how unlisted Hanergy, set up in 1994 as a small hydropower plant investor, booked 10 billion yuan (HK$12.6 billion) of sales and 1.77 billion yuan in net profit in 2013, but only 2.72 billion yuan of sales and 674 million yuan in net profit from the Jinanqiao hydro project – its mainstay. The figures are listed in an online sales document issued last month on a trust investment product sold through China Minsheng Trust. Continue reading →

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2015/03/488_175953.html

Updated : 2015-03-26 18:22

Infovine chief accused of harming shareholders’ values

By Kim Jae-won

Edouard Mercier, head of Hong Kong-based hedge fund Ascender Capital, said Thursday that the CEO of a local IT company Infovine harmed the interests of minority shareholders by issuing “needless” bond warrants (BW) in August 2013.
Mercier, investment principal of Ascender, said the mobile certificate storage service company’ shares are trading at about 50 percent of its potential value due to the company’s poor corporate governance.  Continue reading →

http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?year=2015&no=286524

Daewoo E&C plunges on accounting fraud allegation

26 March 2015

Maeil Business Newspaper

Shares in Daewoo Engineering & Construction plunged Thursday morning on concerns that the builder may receive a sanction for possible accounting fraud. The company’s stock price sank 7.43 percent to trade at 7,600 won at 10:55 a.m. Sources said financial authorities found a clue that the builder committed accounting irregularities worth more than 1.4 trillion won ($1.27 billion) and are poised to impose a sanction. A local media reported the Financial Supervisory Service will bring the case to a review committee. Daewoo Engineering & Construction and its accounting firm are declining the accounting fraud allegation.

http://www.moneylife.in/article/stock-manipulation-icvl-chemicals/40837.html

Stock manipulation: ICVL Chemicals

19 March 2015

Moneylife

ICVL Chemicals went up nearly 100 times or 9841% in just over a year with marginal profits

ICVL Chemicals was earlier into trading of chemicals, shares and providing ‘advisory and consultancy services’. Listed in 2012, the company’s management changed hands in May 2014. Ram Alloy Castings became the new promoter. In January 2015, the registered office of ICVL Chemicals was shifted from Mumbai to Delhi and mineral extraction was included as additional business. With almost nil revenues reported in FY12-13 and FY13-14, ICVL Chemicals has begun to report revenues in the past two quarters. For the quarter ended September 2014 and December 2014, revenues were Rs4.09 crore and Rs8.30 crore, respectively. Net profit was just Rs5 lakh and Rs9 lakh, respectively. But does any of this have any bearing on its stock prices? The share price has risen from Rs2.20 on 13 December 2013 to as high as Rs218.70 on 5 March 2015—a rise of nearly 100 times or 9841%. Over the one-year period ended December 2014, the stock averaged just two-three trades a day, most of the time hitting the upper circuit. This is clearly a case of money laundering and tax evasion. At the current price, the stock is valued at a price-to-earnings of about 7,046 times. Will the regulators and tax authorities care to investigate?