China Resources (Holdings) will pay HKD28 billion to buy all of the non-beer businesses of Hong Kong-listed China Resources Enterprise (CRE) to dispose of the latter’s risks and improve share price performance. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley will buy up to 242 million shares, or 10% of China Resources Enterprise’s issued share capital. The deal will reduce the public floatation of the company to 38% from 48% currently.

China will merge its property registration agencies before the end of this year. “So far, 27 out of 32 provincial level regions on the mainland have consolidated their provincial registration departments,” the Ministry of Land and Resources’ Property Registration Bureau said in a statement. “But when it comes to lower level places, only 151 out of 3,100 cities and counties have done the work, which means more than 95% of them have yet to begin the consolidation.” The Ministry urged local government to speed up the process.

China is driving the rapid growth of global vanity consumption – money spent on self-indulgence and enhancement of appearance and prestige – according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch global research report. The investment bank said that the vanity capital market in the Greater China region, which covers the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan but not Macao, grew at an annual rate of 15.6% and led the world in the past five years. Consumption on luxury watches, jewelry, haute couture, fine wines, Ivy League education, private jets and cruises are all part of vanity capital, while in the mid-range market, cosmetics, smart phones and health supplements also fall into this category, according to the study. The future growth in the region is likely to continue outpacing other parts of the world through to 2018, with an estimated rate of 8.2% annually. Worldwide spending in the area rose 6% year-on-year to USD4.5 trillion last year, although the global consumption market remained soft amid a sluggish economic recovery, the South China Morning Post reports.

China’s first space station in the Tiangong program – scheduled for completion in 2022 – will rely exclusively on LEDs for illumination. Thanks to their compact size, light weight, long life and energy efficiency, LEDs are today found just about everywhere on earth, from smartphones to solar-powered street lamps. But it was China’s space program that pioneered their use in space, according to a recent report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). LEDs made their debut in space when China’s manned spacecraft Shenzhou 7 carried three astronauts to undertake the first Chinese spacewalk in 2008. Chinese-developed LEDs consume less than three-quarters of the energy of the metal-halide lamps used by other nations’ space programs.

China’s current stock market craze is generating a debt bubble estimated at CNY1.6 trillion to CNY1.7 trillion. Analysts have expressed alarm at the huge level of borrowings by retail investors to buy shares, warning they may suffer if a likely correction hits. Over the past 12 months, the Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) has doubled to record levels not seen since 2008. Since March, the SCI has risen by roughly a third. “Worryingly, leverage has also risen over the course of this rally. Margin loans outstanding in Shanghai and Shenzhen reached CNY1.6 trillion, two and a half times higher compared to six months earlier,” according to a Barclays report. “It pays to err on the side of caution. China retail investors opened nearly 5 million trading accounts in March alone, a stampede that has continued into April. A survey by China’s Southwestern University of Finance and Economics found that two-thirds of new investors last year did not complete high school. Hence, there are valid concerns that these risky bets could turn sour for these inexperienced retail investors, thereby disrupting the current rally,” Barclays explained. Goldman Sachs estimated margin financing is now equivalent to 1.6% of China’s GDP last year. A Macquarie Research report added: “A-share margin positions have reached levels that exceed historical bubble peaks elsewhere. Yet it very well might go higher,” the South China Morning Post reports.