Beat Holdings
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial information services |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Hong Kong , Hong Kong |
Area served | Chinese market |
| Products | Financial information and related services |
Beat Holdings Limited (, ), previously known as Xinhua Holdings Limited (; ) and Xinhua Finance, was established in 1999. Based in Hong Kong and publicly traded on the Tokyo Standard Board (9399), the company primarily delivers financial information and related services within the Chinese market. Its affiliate, Xinhua Finance Media Ltd, was once listed on NASDAQ () but was removed from the exchange in 2011 following a controversy.
In February 2006, Xinhua News Agency owned a 3.45% share in Xinhua Finance but completely divested before 2007, explicitly denying any continuing affiliation thereafter.
In 2013, former CEO Loretta Fredy Bush along with board members Shelly S. Singhal and Dennis L. Pelino were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct IRS activities, connected to a $50 million fraud case investigated by the SEC involving Xinhua Finance.
History
Xinhua Financial Network Limited (XFN) was founded in Hong Kong in November 1999 by "Xinhua Finance Holdings Limited," incorporated in Samoa. Toward the end of 2000, XFN entered a joint venture with FTSE Group, resulting in the creation of the Xinhua-FTSE Index Series, which includes the FTSE China A50 Index. In 2004, a holding company named Xinhua Finance Limited was set up in the Cayman Islands.
In 2003, XFN collaborated with Agence France-Presse (AFP) Finance by acquiring AFP's financial news agencies across Asia, covering regions such as Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and eight other markets, thereby broadening its global reach.
In July 2006, Praedea Solutions, Inc., a company specializing in enterprise software for automated data extraction, was acquired by Mergent, a subsidiary of Xinhua Finance.
By June 2007, XFN divested seven news bureaus located throughout the Asia-Pacific region—including Tokyo, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney, and Seoul—to Thomson Financial (a division of Thomson Corp.) to focus more intensively on the greater China area. Operations continued in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei, while subsidiaries such as Market News International and Stone & McCarthy Research Associates remained unaffected. The financial details of this transaction were not publicly disclosed.
In 2010, the Hong Kong-based Xinhua/FTSE Limited was sold to FTSE Group.
Xinhua Holdings employed private equity vehicles and offshore entities to conceal its ownership framework. Although Xinhua News Agency had previously declared certain equity interests in Xinhua Finance subsidiaries before 2007, it discontinued these disclosures afterward and stated that any new business engagements must adhere to legal regulations.
In 2001, "Xinhua Finance Holdings Limited," incorporated in Samoa, held a controlling interest in Xinhua Financial Network; by 2004 all shares were converted into those of Xinhua Finance. As of September 30, 2005, Patriarch Partners (the fund managed by Lynn Tilton) was the largest shareholder with a 9.92% stake, followed by co-founder Fredy Bush at 6.64%, and Xinhua Development Holdings Limited (incorporated in the British Virgin Islands) at 4.25%. A filing from 2006 indicated that Xinhua Development Holdings held shares on behalf of China Media Development Shenzhen, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency.