MERMOUD VISIT: SINOSURE WELCOMES THIRD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIJING 003817 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR E HUGO YON STATE FOR EB/CBA MERMOUD/THOMPSON STATE FOR EAP/CM PARK STATE PASS USTR STRATFORD/WINTER/MAIN USDOC FOR ITA/MAS/GUZMAN/ECHEGARAY/FOWLER STATE PASS US HUD TREASURY FOR TAIYA SMITH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD EINV PREL ENRG EFIN BTIO CH SUBJECT: MERMOUD VISIT: SINOSURE WELCOMES THIRD COUNTRY COOPERATION; HOUSING MINNISTRY PLANS FOR NEXT CONSTRUCTION EXCHANGE THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE USG CHANNELS. ¶1. (SBU) Summary. China's Sinosure told State Department Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs J. Frank Mermoud on September 18 that it would welcome third country cooperation with Ex-Im Bank on a joint project. In meetings with Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MHURD) officials and foreign construction sector companies, Mermoud heard strong support for continuing the Best Practices Exchange (under the US-China Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (ACE) Services Dialogue) and for featuring green building and earthquake- resistant construction at the next BPE meeting (tentatively scheduled by MHURD for April/May 2009.) Companies however did not support MHURD's concept of transferring leadership of the BPE from government to the private sector. Representatives of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms also told Mermoud new regulations on IPO's were overly restrictive. End Summary. SINOSURE WELCOMES THIRD-COUNTRY COOPERATION WITH EX-IM -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In a September 18 meeting with China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) Executive Vice President Liang Zhi Dong, Mermoud raised the possibility of EXIM-SINOSURE joint cooperation in third countries, particularly in the clean/efficient energy and environment sectors. Liang welcomed such cooperation on third country projects, especially in Latin America and, to a lesser extent, in Africa. He rattled off a list of countries in which Sinosure was considering funding major projects, including Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba. China would be open to working with Ex-Im anywhere. As for sectors, he said Sinosure generally focused on infrastructure and energy, noting Chinese construction/engineering companies do more traditional construction projects. While Sinosure is not involved in any specific environmental project, he said one Chinese company is involved in building ethanol/thermal power stations in Columbia. (Note: Liang did not rule out co-financing an environmental project with Ex-Im. End Note.) Liang asked what channels Sinosure should work through to explore cooperation, noting they have had little interaction with Ex-Im recently. Political Risk Insurance Competition? "Bring it On" -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) As for opening up the Political Risk Insurance (PRI) market for U.S. firms, Liang said specific issues would have to be discussed at a higher level (i.e., Vice Premier Wang Qianshan). However, he said, Sinosure would ?welcome the competition." He opined that it was "just a matter of time" before more foreign companies entered the PRI market, and noted that China AIG was the only U.S. company doing PRI business in China today. In addition, Tradia (Dutch), Allianz (German),and Coface (French) were also in this field. Liang said the reason no Chinese bank offered PRI products was the perception that it was too risky. He explained that Sinosure offered several PRI products, including: PRI only, PRI and commercial risk combined, buyer's credit, seller's credit, and full-term products covering non-delivery risks. ¶4. (SBU) On surety bonds, Liang said Sinosure would be interested in attending any future meetings on this subject under the ACE BPE umbrella or another smaller working group. He asked the USG to recommend a U.S. bank with which Sinosure could work. Mermoud explained USG policy did not allow us to identify a particular U.S. bank, but that if Sinosure itself BEIJING 00003817 002 OF 004 identified a bank with which it would like to partner, the USG could facilitate their contact. -------------- --- MHURD: REORGANIZATION EMPHASIZES HOUSING; FOCUS ON EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE IN DIALOGUE WITH U.S. -------------- --- ¶5. (SBU) On September 18, Mermoud met with MHURD Department of Market Administration Director General Wang Suqing to discuss topics for discussion at the next United States-China Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (ACE) Services Dialogue "Best Practices Exchange" (BPE) in China. Wang thought an April/May 2009 timeframe would be optimal for the next BPE. She said the past two BPE's were successful, but she did not think they necessarily should be an annual event. She wanted to see future discussions go into more depth on the topics of: insurance, surety bonds, licensing for engineering services companies and development of the engineering consultancy industry. She welcomed Mermoud's suggestion that topics of discussion include earthquake resistant building and green building, and took on board the request that the discussions last two days (vice one) and include a site visit. Wang suggested that industry associations/private sector host future events with governments in the background, something which she said would save the government "time and resources" and allow the private sector more of a say in the process. Wang also supported Mermoud's suggestion that U.S. nanotech firms be included in future BPE's. ¶6. (SBU) Wang said the ministry was interested in learning more about USG disaster relief methods and financing for post-disaster reconstruction. She welcomed Mermoud's suggestion that perhaps someone from FEMA could meet with MHURD on disaster management. ¶7. (SBU) DDG Wang said recent restructuring at MHURD emphasized the rising importance of the housing sector. Updated State Council guidelines (called "San Ding Fang An") issued on July 10 mandated that MHURD have four housing departments, as opposed to one previously: Housing Policy and Development (macro); Low Income Housing; Housing Provident Fund; and Overall Supervision of Real Estate Department. She said the name change from Ministry of Construction to Ministry of Housing and Urban Reconstruction Department emphasized the importance the State Council places on balancing construction/development between the urban and rural areas. The ministry's mandate on construction remains the same, despite the name change. She also noted that the former Office of Rural Development was upgraded to a full Department, and the former Science and Technology Department was renamed the Science, Energy and Technology Department to emphasize a focus on energy efficient building projects. This department will handle new technologies. ¶8. (SBU) Mermoud encouraged rapid and transparent MHURD consideration of license applications. DG Wang said MHURD is in "constant contact" with both Fluor and Bechtel regarding their license applications. She said Fluor's application had made encouraging progress, passing the preliminary application process in Shanghai. (Note: Wang offered nothing more on Bechtel, but Bechtel reps have told us that they are handling the licensing issues on their own and do not need USG assistance at this time. End Note.) Industry on BPE: Keep Government in Lead -------------- ¶9. (SBU) In a September 18 roundtable with Mermoud, industry members of the BPE said they did not want to see leadership of the BPE switched to the private sector. (Note: Companies represented on September 18 BEIJING 00003817 003 OF 004 were: JonesLangLasalle; Leo Daly; CBRE Research; Jones Day; and HOK. End Note.) They feared such a move would turn the meeting into a run-of-the-mill industry conference that would neither attract heavy hitters among Chinese developers nor prove an effective forum for the airing of their concerns to the Chinese government. The consensus, however, was that if limited financial resources lay behind MHURD's suggestion, it might be feasible to charge a participation fee to U.S. companies. ¶10. (SBU) Companies present were open to an emphasis on green building and earthquake resistant-building at the next BPE. They broached the concept of breaking the discussions down into industry areas such as: healthcare/hospital construction; aviation/airport construction; transportation hubs; science and technology/industrial construction for high tech industries; and master planning. Companies did not want to drop the issue of licensing and surety bonds, but did want the USG to soft-pedal it. They were supportive of a site visit, suggesting Tianjin's EcoCity. Lastly, they noted their willingness to continue alternating meetings between Beijing and the United States, according to MHURD's inclination. Real Estate Research Entrepreneur: Mixed Forecast -------------- -------------- ¶11. (SBU) On September 19, Mermoud met with Vincent Mo, who runs the real estate portal and research group Soufun.com, which dominates the Chinese real estate information and brokerage market. Mo was reluctant to predict the short-term direction of China's real estate market. He thought government monetary policy would stay tight, which would control residential housing prices, and thought the U.S. mortgage situation had served as an object lesson for Chinese policy makers. However, he said, Chinese property development is still highly profitable. Mo observed that the Chinese housing market was still immature: prices were set not by market fundamentals, but by expectations on the part of both buyers and sellers of continually rising prices. Prices are now under pressure, with transaction volumes halved and prices in a few markets falling. Mo thought demand from first-time homebuyers was still stable, but those looking to trade up or invest were taking a wait-and- see attitude. He saw strong demand for commercial real estate. ¶12. (SBU) Mo thought Chinese buyers, despite the earthquake, were not especially interested in questions of construction quality. He said buyers rarely ask about such issues, and it was difficult to spark their interest. He was interested in potentially participating in a construction best practices dialogue. P/E VC Market Roundtable: New Regs Chafe -------------- ¶13. (SBU) In a roundtable with Mermoud on September 19, representatives of Chinese private equity/venture capital companies discussed recent changes in China's regulatory environment. They noted the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had taken the lead in shaping the regulatory environment, and that the China Securities Regulatory Commission and (CSRC) the China Bank Regulatory Commission (CBRC) also played roles in areas that cut across their mandates. Zhang Fan of Sequoia Capital said that the new Circular 10 had put an end to the "Red Chip" model, under which existing profitable companies could set up an offshore shell structure, after which they would transfer the company's China-based assets to the shell company for a possible overseas listing. Zhang said China viewed this practice as a loss of high-quality IPO-ready resources and as a loss of potential tax BEIJING 00003817 004 OF 004 revenue. The new Circular 75 permits only newly established companies (with no assets or sales, as yet) to use the "Red Chip" model. ¶14. (SBU) Furthermore, Zhang thought the China A-share IPO route is too cumbersome a process, as CSRC set up artificial barriers that prevented private companies from raising capital in China's securities market. He believed the government still favors State-owned Enterprises (SOE's) over private companies during the approval process. He noted the change from a three- year lock-up period for financial investors to a one- year period was positive, but said that strategic investors still had to stay in for three years. Another ball in play is the Partnership Law for Foreign Investors, now being drafted. Interlocutors noted some regional variations in this area. For example, Tianjin's government was more flexible about providing tax incentives to partnership PE firms, which was attracting them to establish operations there. ¶15. (SBU) On labor issues, lawyer Jun Hu, partner in Han Yi Law offices, said the new Labor Law was favorable to employers in that it had expanded to 14 the number of clauses under which employers might terminate employee contracts. However, Wang Jiansheng, Managing Director of Cerberus Beijing Advisors Ltd., thought the new Labor Law had increased the operation costs of enterprises, especially in the coastal provinces. Mergers and Acquisitions: Rising Government Interest -------------- -------------- ¶16. (SBU) Mr. Wei Wang, Chairman of the China M&A Group, observed a trend in which international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) cases were being evaluated more and more formally. Wang noted that in the Xugong- Carlyle deal, the Chinese government had initially stayed on the sidelines. In the later Wahaha-Danone deal, the government required both parties to pass through a regulatory review. By the time Coca-Cola's proposed acquisition of Huiyuan had come about, China had instituted a full, formal review procedure. Wang also noted the top 10 M&A deals in 2007 primarily involved SOE's. Signs of government involvement in these deals were clearly visible. Wang assessed that the new structures put in place to evaluate foreign M&A may transactions reflected increased government sensitivity to populist criticism of foreign acquisitions. ¶17. (SBU) Mr. Kainan Tang, Executive Director of Hina Group, told Mermoud that VC firms' focus was evolving. When VC groups first appeared in China, they were mostly foreign, and focused on technology, media and telecoms and early-stage projects. As more and larger foreign PE firms entered the market, more traditional business projects drew their attention. Now, Chinese domestic VC and PE firms were becoming quite active, and were real competitors to foreign companies. Tang pointed to green energy as a particularly hot sector. Economy Diagnosis: SMEs Suffering -------------- ¶18. (SBU) Jiansheng Wang of Cerberus observed that SMEs are experiencing hard times, especially those in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. He named familiar factors -- soft overseas demand, rising labor costs, RMB appreciation and a cut in the VAT rebate. However, Wang shared his belief that a big chunk of PE investors in China still viewed economic fundamentals as basically unchanged and sound. Piccuta