GSK Expands China Footprint; NWTN’s Cold Feet; Disney Coup Attempt.

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GSK Expands Footprint in China

Pharma behemoth GSK [GSK.L] has finalised a partnership with China’s Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products [300122.SZ]. The agreement will see GSK sell £2.5bn-worth of its Shingrix shingles shots to Chongqing Zhifei, which will place them at 30,000 vaccination points across China. GSK’s goal is to double revenue from Shingrix to over $4bn by 2026. “With US Shingrix sales slowing, China therefore becomes a critical growth market,” John Murphy, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote in a note.

NWTN: Cold Feet on Evergrande Auto

Nasdaq-listed, Dubai-based electric vehicle (EV) firm NWTN [NWTN] has not yet moved ahead with a proposed deal to invest some $500m into Evergrande Group’s EV business. Evergrande Auto [0708.HK] shares began trading in Hong Kong on Monday, after being suspended in late September; the company’s market cap is approximately $706m, down from $80bn in 2021. Meanwhile, Tesla [TSLA] sold 74,073 China-made EVs last month, a 10.9% year-over-year drop. Rival BYD [1211.HK] saw 42.8% growth in deliveries over the same period.

Chip Firms’ Green Light to Supply China

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics [005930.KS] and SK Hynix [000660.KS] announced on Monday that they will be allowed to provide US chip equipment to their facilities in China going forward, after US authorities extended a temporary waiver. “Uncertainties about South Korean semiconductor firms’ operations and investments in China have been greatly eased; they will be able to calmly seek long term global management strategies,” Choi Sang-mok, Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs, told Reuters.

Peltz Attempts Magic Kingdom Coup

Activist investor Nelson Peltz has resumed his efforts to secure board seats — including one for himself — at Disney [DIS], as the entertainment giant’s share price continues its nosedive. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management now has a stake of some $2.5bn in the company, making it one of its largest investors. If the company refuses, then Trian could nominate directors to be voted at Disney’s AGM next spring. Peltz thinks Disney shares are undervalued, and that the company needs a board that is more aligned with shareholders.

JPMorgan Initiates Arm Coverage

JPMorgan has begun coverage of Arm Holdings [ARM] following the latter’s IPO last month, giving it an ‘overweight’ rating and a $70 per share target. This would imply an upside of nearly 30% on Friday’s close. “We see Arm driving an 18%+ revenue CAGR… for the next three years on higher IP content (driving higher royalty rates), market share gains against proprietary/legacy compute architectures, and ARM’s growing market penetration into the highest growth segments of the market…” wrote analyst Harlan Sur in a note seen by CNBC.