China's top trainmakers in merger talks

China’s top trainmakers, China CNR (601299.SHA) and CSR Corp (601766.SHA), have begun government-mandated merger talks, Reuters reported. After building the world’s longest high-speed train network in less than a decade, China is looking to use the merger to create a single company capable of competing on a global scale. The two state-owned companies have previously competed fiercely for foreign projects, and in one case ended up losing a fierce price war with each other to a South Korean firm. CNR board secretary Xie Jilong comment that the merger “is not up to us, it has become a national strategy, to be determined by the government.”