Beat Holdings Limited (, ja, ビート・ホールディングス・リミテッド), formerly known as Xinhua Holdings Limited (; ja, ファイナンス・リミテッド) 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 (), 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. Xinhua ...

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; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

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 indices and associated data services, wholly owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and operating from premises in Canary Wharf. It operat ...

, forming the Xinhua-FTSE Index Series (for example

FTSE China A50 Index FTSE China A50 Index (was known as FTSE–Xinhua China A50 Index) is a stock market index by FTSE Group (FTSE–Xinhua joint venture until 2010), the components were chosen from Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which issue A-sh ...

). In 2004, a Cayman Islands incorporated holding company Xinhua Finance Limited was formed. In 2003, it formed an international alliance with Agence France-Presse (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 FTSE Russell is a subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) that produces, maintains, licenses, and markets stock market indices. The division is notable for FTSE 100 Index, Russell 2000 Index, among other indices. The brand and division ...

, 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 ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

Thomson Financial Thomson Financial was an arm of the Thomson Corporation, an information provider. When the Thomson Corporation merged with Reuters to form Thomson Reuters in April 2008, Thomson Financial was merged with the business of Reuters to form the Market ...

, part of Canadian publisher

Thomson Corp. The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL) and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form ...

, to focus on the greater China region. XFN stated they would retain their operations in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, while news operations of Xinhua Finance's other subsidiaries, including

Market News International Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography * Märket, an ...

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 Lynn G. Tilton (born April 22, 1959) is an American businesswoman and collateralized loan obligation (CLO) creator, owner and manager. She is the chief executive officer and sole principal of Patriarch Partners, LLC and its affiliated entities, ...

, 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