4 Winners And Losers: Companies With Chinese Units

The separation is now complete. Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM)
consummated the process of spinning off of its Chinese unit as a separate publicly traded company. Christened as Yum China Holdings Inc (NYSE: YUMC), the Chinese-focused business began trading on the NYSE Tuesday under the ticker symbol YUMC.

Yum China stock began trading at $24.51 and was up a solid 5.69 percent Tuesday afternoon.

Yum Brands clarified that about 364 million shares of Yum China were distributed during the separation.

The separation talk was initiated by board member and hedge fund manager Keith Meister, who reasoned that the company's Asian business could be better served with a region-specific strategy.

The clamor for making big in China has its own logic. China is the hot and happening economy of the world today. The economy has been expanding at a steady pace of 6.7 percent year-over-year in each of the three preceding quarters, roughly 4 1/2 times the pace at which the U.S. economy is expanding.

Stephen Roach, former Morgan Stanley non-executive chairman, sees huge opportunity for other nations to benefit from the emergence of the world's largest consumer population in China, as its shifts its growth-focus away from export and investment to internal demand.

Chinese Challenges

But not everything is hunky-dory for firms seeking to invest and do business in China. Investing in China has its own set of challenges. Though relatively better, China's growth is slowing from the red hot pace of the past decade. Although high growth areas such as consumer goods and services may not be impacted much, infrastructure and construction sectors could see a slowdown.

Added to this is the Chinese consumer habits and the government's preference for home-grown businesses also ward off a potential intruder into the Chinese market.

Below is a look at some companies' Chinese forays, which were either hits or misses.

A Swing And A Miss

Possible Home Runs

Not Even Batting

At last check, shares of Yum were down 0.31 percent in Wednesday's pre-market, trading at $60.50. Yum China showed no trades and closed Tuesday's session at $24.24.