SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Coca-Cola Co (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s largest soft-drink company, has made its first “billion dollar brand” from an emerging market , the company said on Tuesday, highlighting a strategy for growth with sales flattening in developed markets.

Minute Maid Pulpy, a juice drink dense with pulp, joins Coke’s lineup of 13 other brands that have achieved sales of at least $1 billion, which include Coke Zero and Diet Coke.

SAN FRANCISCO/SHANGHAI, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Baidu Inc
beat fourth quarter estimates and painted a bright
near-term outlook as it bets on large advertiser spending and
new Chinese Internet trends, such as social networking, to spur
growth.

Shares of Baidu, a favourite pick of hedge funds, rose 7.7
percent in after-hours trade following the upbeat earnings
report on Monday. Options traders predicted before the results
that the stock might break out of its recent five-month trading
range

SHANGHAI, Jan 31 (Reuters) – China will permit designated
banks to trade yuan/foreign currency swaps on behalf of their
clients from March 1, the country’s foreign exchange regulator
said.

Non-bank clients will be allowed to sign agreements now and
exchange yuan and foreign currencies, and their
interest rates, at a future time, the State Administration of
Foreign Exchange said late on Sunday. Currently only banks can
trade yuan/foreign currencies swaps.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top Internet search engine Baidu Inc (BIDU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which beat profit expectations in the past four quarters, is unlikely to repeat that for the fourth quarter as margins slipped and new customer additions slowed.

Baidu, a favorite pick of hedge funds, has already flagged that 2011 will be different, telling Reuters in December it expects growth this year to moderate due to a higher comparison base and as the unique factors that spurred rapid growth in 2010 won’t be repeated.

SHANGHAI, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Alibaba.com’s shares
have surged 20 percent this year to nine-month highs on
expectations that investments by its parent may fuel growth
outside its core business.

Shares of Alibaba.com, the unit of China’s largest
e-commerce firm Alibaba Group, are now trading at 50 times their
estimated 2010 earnings. That compares with a price to earnings
multiple of 38 for China’s largest Internet firm Tencent
Holdings .

BEIJING, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Alibaba Group and its financing
partners will invest $3 billion-$4.5 billion over the medium term
to set up a warehouse network in China, where the e-commerce
market is booming, it said on Wednesday.

Sources told Reuters in October that Alibaba Group is
planning to expand its logistics network to reach 52 cities in
two years from 20 cities currently. [ID:nTOE69J06L]

SHANGHAI, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Daimler AG’s (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) sees
China sales exceeding the 10 percent overall growth of the car
market this year, a senior company executive said on Saturday.

Global luxury car makers, from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
or BMW to Audi AG , have racked up
eye-popping sales in China, where a growing army of the
super-rich is fuelling demand for luxury items, from Gucci
handbags to Rolls-Royces.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Google (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is reloading its guns in China to focus on display advertisements and the booming export sector a year after a blowout with Beijing over censorship and hacking all but ensured its demise in the country.

The road to recovery will certainly be a bumpy one, but the Internet giant looks to have enough in place to rebuild its presence in the world’s biggest Internet market with more than 400 million users.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Google is reloading its guns in China to focus on display advertisements and the booming export sector a year after a blowout with Beijing over censorship and hacking all but ensured its demise in the country.

The road to recovery will certainly be a bumpy one, but the Internet giant looks to have enough in place to rebuild its presence in the world’s biggest Internet market with more than 400 million users.

SHANGHAI/AMSTERDAM, Dec 21 (Reuters) – China’s Xinmao is
pursuing a 1 billion euro ($1.3 billion) bid for Dutch cable
maker Draka (DRAK.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), but has yet to win its support over an
earlier but lower offer from Italy’s Prysmian (PRY.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Xinmao said on Monday it would submit an offer request to
the Dutch stock market regulator by Feb. 14, adding it was
convinced it would get the backing of key Draka investor Flint
Beheer, a family-controlled fund with a 48.5 percent stake.
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