Beat Holdings Limited (, ), formerly known as Xinhua Holdings Limited (; ) and Xinhua Finance, is a company founded in 1999. It is headquartered in Hong Kong, listed on the Tokyo Standard Board (9399), and is engaged in the provision of financial information and services, primarily in the Chinese market. The company's subsidiary, Xinhua Finance Media Ltd, was listed on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

(), but was unlisted in 2011 after the exposure of a scandal.

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...

owned a stake in Xinhua Finance of 3.45% in February 2006. However, the state-owned news agency had sold all of its stake prior to 2007. The agency stated in a press release in 2007 that they have no relation to Xinhua Finance. In 2013, former CEO Loretta Fredy Bush, as well as former board members Shelly S. Singhal and Dennis L. Pelino, were charged with and sentenced for conspiracy to impede the lawful functions of the Internal Revenue Service. This was in connection with them being charged with engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the SEC and Xinhua Finance.

History

Xinhua Financial Network Limited (XFN) was incorporated in Hong Kong in November 1999, by a

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

incorporated company "Xinhua Finance Holdings Limited". In late 2000, XFN established a joint venture with

FTSE Group FTSE International Limited trading as FTSE Russell ( "Footsie") is a British provider of stock market index, stock market indices and associated data services, wholly owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and operating from premises in Canary ...

, forming the Xinhua-FTSE Index Series (for example FTSE China A50 Index). In 2004, a Cayman Islands incorporated holding company Xinhua Finance Limited was formed. In 2003, it formed an international alliance with

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

(AFP) Finance. Xinhua Financial Network Ltd. purchased the news agencies of AFP Asian Finance in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore and eight other Asian countries and regions, which expanded the coverage of Xinhua News Agency's international network. In July 2006, Mergent, a subsidiary of Xinhua Finance, purchased the business of Praedea Solutions, Inc., a developer of enterprise software for automated data extraction. In June 2007, XFN announced it had agreed to sell seven of its Asia-Pacific news bureaus in Tokyo,

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney and

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

to Thomson Financial, part of Canadian publisher Thomson Corp., to focus on the greater China region. XFN stated they would retain their operations in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, while news operations of Xinhua Finance's other subsidiaries, including Market News International and Stone & McCarthy Research Associates would also not change. Financial terms were not disclosed. In 2010 the Hong Kong incorporated Xinhua/FTSE Limited was sold to

Shareholders

The shareholders of Xinhua Holdings used private equity funds and offshore companies to hide the true ownership structure. Although

did declared subsidiaries owned equity stakes in Xinhua Finance before 2007, the agency did not disclosed the full detail either, but announcing they did not have any stake any more from 2007 and any new business relationship between Xinhua Finance and the agency must under the law. In 2001 Samoa-incorporated company "Xinhua Finance Holdings Limited" owned a majority stake in Xinhua Financial Network, which all the shares of Xinhua Financial Network were exchanged with the shares of Xinhua Finance in 2004. According to Xinhua Finance, as at 30 September 2005, Patriarch Partners, a fund of Lynn Tilton, owned Xinhua Finance 9.92% as the largest shareholder; it was followed by co-founder Fredy Bush for 6.64% stake; and British Virgin Islands incorporated Xinhua Development Holdings Limited for 4.25% stake. According to 2006 filing, Xinhua Development Holdings hold the shares for and on behalf of China Media Development Shenzhen, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://beatholdings.com Financial services companies of Hong Kong Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 1999 establishments in Hong Kong Defunct companies based in Shanghai