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Alipay Supports Growth Opportunities and Digital Innovation for Start-Ups in Malaysia

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Business Wire India

As part of Alipay’s commitment to supporting digital innovation and talent cultivation in Southeast Asia, the Company today launched its Malaysia roadshow for the Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge (“ANSIC”). ANSIC is a joint initiative by Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”), and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (“NUS”). The roadshow was held at WORQ Subang in Shah Alam, Selangor, where Alipay shared its experience of how technology can be used to solve real world problems with start-up entrepreneurs in Asia.

 

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Alipay Senior Algorithm Engineer Xin Guo sharing the story of Dingsunbao with local start-ups in Mal ...

Alipay Senior Algorithm Engineer Xin Guo sharing the story of Dingsunbao with local start-ups in Malaysia. (Photo: Business Wire)

Alipay’s Senior Algorithm Engineer Xin Guo, explained to a crowd of Malaysian start-up entrepreneurs how he and his team developed the idea of using AI to make car damage claims more efficient for insurance companies, reduce costs and most importantly, increase convenience for car owners.

 

On a rainy evening in September 2016, Xin Guo recalled being involved in a car accident that caused some minor damages to the vehicle. He then waited for 30 minutes for his insurance company to dispatch a claims adjuster, who had been delayed from handling other similar accidents. Despite the wait, it had ultimately, only taken a few minutes to file the claim. While the average waiting time for human claim adjusters to arrive at minor car accidents in China is 30 minutes, in congested cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, car owners may have to wait for hours.

 

This unpleasant experience made Guo wonder: If AI could be used to automate this common process, wouldn’t that be a win-win for insurers and car owners?

 

At Ant Financial, every team member is empowered to leverage the power of technology to solve real world problems. Guo pitched his idea to his superior and quickly obtained approval to start building a feasible solution from scratch, using the company’s resources. Using AI, machine learning and computer vision, Xin Guo and his team worked day and night to develop a technology service that became known as Dingsunbao, or “Loss Assessment Master”. In August 2017, after eight months of development and testing, the first official version of Dingsunbao was launched. The service allows car owners to upload images and videos of their damaged vehicles, and have their claims processed within seconds. Through technology, insurance companies are able to save significant resources by freeing up human claim adjusters to focus on more complicated accidents. Customer satisfaction also significantly improved.

 

In China, it has been difficult for insurers to strike the right balance between operational costs and customer satisfaction. Most insurance companies barely break even or in fact lose money from their automobile insurance business due to labor costs and fierce competition. This has now changed with the introduction of Dingsunbao. As of May 2018, Dingsunbao helped insurance companies reduce their costs of claims handling by over RMB 1 billion, and saved claim adjusters 750,000 hours of time through the automation of the claims process.

 

Xin Guo’s sharing session at the ANSIC roadshow sparked lively discussion from participating start-up entrepreneurs.

 

Separately, Dr. Melissa Foo, VP of Social Innovation of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, moderated a panel discussion entitled, “Running a Sustainable & Scalable Social Enterprise in Malaysia.” Panelists included Redza Shahid, CEO and co-founder of Grub Cycle, a social supermarket that is dedicated to reducing food waste and Suzanne Ling, co-founder of the Picha Project, a social enterprise providing sustainable catering services to help refugee families in Malaysia.

 

Discussing the role of technology in addressing social issues, Redza Shahid commented, “Food waste is a global issue and we want to help. Grub Cycle works with restaurants and supermarkets to buy food that they can’t sell then distribute the food at a discount to low income groups, through online and offline channels. It really makes a difference when our suppliers and consumers can see in real-time how much they have saved by using Grub Cycle.”

 

Susanne Ling explained the reasons she started Picha Project, "The value of social enterprise is in solving real issues. Picha wants to help refugees in Malaysia have a way to support their families before they are able to return to their home country. Our chefs are all refugees in Malaysia who would otherwise have little chance of getting a job. We are focusing on using technology to bring out the stories of our chefs, making corporate catering more convenient and marketing more effective."

 

Xin Guo said, “It’s very exciting to see so many young, energetic and ambitious start-ups in Malaysia today. Alipay is also a start-up company. We hope by sharing our own experiences and working with partners here, we can contribute to supporting local innovation and the growth of more indigenous start-ups that use digital technology to address real world problems and benefit more people.”

 

The Malaysian roadshow is part of a series of events in Southeast Asia to help raise awareness of the Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge and to inspire new ideas and innovation in the region. In Malaysia, Ant Financial supports its partner Touch n’ Go with technological capabilities and experience in implementing a mobile payment platform to offer innovative payment solutions and other inclusive financial services.

 

For more information on the Challenge, please visit www.alipaynusseachallenge.com.

 

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About Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge

 

The Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge aims to identify and support the growth of start-ups in Southeast Asia that are using digital technology to build a more inclusive society. Areas of focus include, but are not limited to, enabling low-income groups to gain access to better educational opportunities, supporting elderly individuals leverage digital technologies to enhance their lifestyle, and helping people with disabilities through upskilling and reskilling initiatives.

 

The inaugural Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge is taking place in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Applicants can participate by registering online at www.alipaynusseachallenge.com. Applications will close in January 2019. The first round of judging will determine the top three winners within each country, who will each receive a cash prize of SGD $10,000. The nine finalists will compete for the top cash prize of SGD $50,000 in the grand finale, to be held in Singapore in March 2019.

 

The winning teams will not only receive financial rewards to invest toward increasing their social impact, but also receive support to accelerate their growth through networks, mentorship and partnership opportunities with Ant Financial, NUS and other partners in the ecosystem. Top teams will also receive three-month incubation support by NUS Enterprise, as well as access to its BLOCK71 community and co-working space in Singapore, Bandung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Suzhou and San Francisco.

 

A series of workshops and roadshows have been held in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, to build awareness of the challenge, encourage applications and support further growth for the participating teams.

 

In addition, the winners will become eligible for the 10x1000 Tech for Inclusion programme jointly provided by International Financial Corporation (“IFC”), a member of the World Bank Group, and Alipay. The comprehensive training programme will support the cultivation of 1,000 technology experts in emerging markets from both public and private sectors over the next 10 years. There will also be potential opportunities to work with Ant Financial and Alipay on CSR initiatives.

 

This latest initiative builds on the work and strategic partnerships that Ant Financial has been carrying out in Southeast Asia. Ant Financial has been sharing its technology capabilities with strategic e-wallet partners such as TrueMoney in Thailand, DANA in Indonesia, GCash in the Philippines and Touch ‘n Go in Malaysia, to enable them to innovate and better service their customers.

 

About Ant Financial

 

Ant Financial Services Group is dedicated to using technology to bring the world equal opportunities. Our technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, security, Internet of Things and computing, empower us and our ecosystem partners to serve the unbanked and underbanked, bringing more secure, transparent, cost-effective and inclusive financial services to individuals and SMEs worldwide.

 

Ant Financial has formed international partnerships with global strategic partners to serve local users in those markets, and we serve Chinese travelers overseas by connecting Alipay with online and offline merchants in popular destinations. Brands under Ant Financial Services Group include Alipay, Ant Fortune, Zhima Credit, MYbank and Ant Financial Cloud.

 

For more information on Ant Financial, please visit our website at www.antfin.com or follow us on Twitter @AntFinancial.

 

About Alipay

 

Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently works with over 200 domestic financial institution partners. Over the years, Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers over 40 countries and regions across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 29 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies.

 

 

 

 
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Satoshi Is Coming Back Inc. Announces Exciting, Dramatic Crypto Whitepaper, U.S. Patent Assets and New Science Fiction

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Business Wire India

Satoshi Is Coming Back Incorporated announces the launch of SatoshiIsComingBack.com and the marketing of two blockchain technology patent assets.

 

SatoshiIsComingBack.com, a stunning 8000-word whitepaper, posits that the founder of Bitcoin is coming back to control Bitcoin’s code. “Satoshi Is Coming Back Incorporated owns technology that Satoshi will want after he controls Bitcoin’s code and the corporation seeks to license patents to Satoshi himself,” explains Rami Tabello, CFA, the founder of Satoshi Is Coming Back Incorporated.

 

The patents concern energy efficiency and a blockchain censorship system that acts as a “box” for artificial intelligence.

 

SatoshiIsComingBack.com introduces thrilling concepts and abstractions that will support the company’s technology and have an electrifying impact on Bitcoin. For example, the whitepaper conceptualizes the “intrinsic value” and “intrinsic cost” of cryptocurrencies for the first time.

 

“These are game-changing abstractions because now that the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is established, finance professionals can understand how intrinsic value can be increased to make Bitcoin large enough to act as a central bank reserve asset,” explains Mr. Tabello, a member of CFA Society Toronto.

 

The myth-busting whitepaper also restructures our understanding of how energy is actually used by blockchain, permitting us to isolate, separate out, then commodify each constituent part of energy’s utility. “Our abstract explanation of how energy stabilizes blockchains allows blockchains to grow with substitute stabilizers that don’t consume energy commodities,” says Mr. Tabello, a 44-year-old Canadian. “One of our patent applications describes using CAPTCHA puzzles as a substitute stabilizer.”

 

The cohesive and comprehensive whitepaper explains how AI and superintelligences can develop with blockchain as their substrate.

 

“Our patent pending censorship system for blockchain allows humans to box, slave and guide the development of AI so it serves us,” says Mr. Tabello. “Without our technology, censorship resistant Bitcoin could lead to sovereign, artificially intelligent business ventures that are adversarial to humanity. Satoshi should use our censorship technology after implementing a hard fork. The whitepaper outfits Satoshi with discursive narrative to justify the hard fork.”

 

The erudite whitepaper cites over 50 scholarly authorities in Modern Languages Association style. The science fiction section of the whitepaper dramatizes this universe as a cryptocurrency ledger called Bitjoule. Satoshi is Bitjoule’s protagonist in a story that features superhero tropes. Bitjoule is a computer simulation and its director needs humans to solve CAPTCHAs. “The whitepaper has the bare-bones of a science fiction epic poem. We plan to commission, underwrite then license an epic poem of literary merit to lament Satoshi’s absence in a story that tells of his return,” says Mr. Tabello.

 

Satoshi Is Coming Back Incorporated is a Canadian startup that supports its technology with powerful discourse. It now seeks venture capital funding. The corporation’s ambitious objective is to own mandatory technology that regulates all blockchains, and to become the leading voice on Bitcoin.

 

 

 

 

Universal Protocol Alliance Welcomes BitGo

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Business Wire India

BitGo, the market leader in institutional cryptocurrency financial services, will support the Universal Protocol Platform and its family of Tokens. The UP Platform allows all cryptocurrencies to become accessible on a single network through the introduction of Universal Tokens.The first set of tokens to be supported include the Universal Bitcoin (an Ethereum based version of Bitcoin), and two Stablecoins -- the Universal Dollar (UPUSD) and the Universal Euro (UPEUR). These interoperable tokens are minted in a fully transparent process on the blockchain.

 

“We’re pleased to be supporting a standard that can help move the crypto community forward by solving issues of interoperability and the safeguarding of crypto assets,” said Mike Belshe, CEO, BitGo.

 

Currently, digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum exist on separate blockchain platforms and cannot interact with one another. This results in significant inefficiencies as separate blockchain projects are unable to collaborate in any meaningful way, without complex and often costly workaround solutions. To date, this has greatly hindered innovation in blockchain and the realization of its vast potential to fundamentally disrupt a wide array of economic, social and industrial sectors. The UP Platform looks to solve this issue and allow all cryptocurrencies to become accessible on a single network through the introduction of Universal Tokens. The UP Platform, which recently announced early backing by a group of leading institutional investors, serves as the hub for the creation and management of ‘Universal’ tokens and user features that will drive mass user adoption of cryptocurrencies.

 

The Universal Platform is created by the UP Alliance, a group of pioneering blockchain companies whose mission is to provide critical building blocks to support the next 100 million users of Crypto. The founding members of the coalition include Uphold, Cred, Blockchain at Berkeley, Brave, and FBG capital.

 

“We’re thrilled to welcome BitGo’s support of the Universal Platform standard and its family of Tokens,” said Dan Schatt, Chairman of the UP Alliance. “BitGo’s experience and thought leadership will help support the Alliance scale its services to support the growing retail and institutional crypto community.”

 

“The early days of the internet were very similar to the world of blockchain today, with many different technology platforms fragmented and incapable of communicating with one other,” said JP Thieriot, President of the UP Alliance and Co-founder of Uphold. “We believe that the Universal Protocol Platform is a technology that has the potential to connect blockchain technologies, much like the breakthrough of the TCP and IP protocols that drove the internet towards mass adoption.”

 

The UP Platform will publish the value of its assets in custody in real-time on a public blockchain. The reserve will also be subject to quarterly third-party audits that will be shared with the community to demonstrate the financial soundness of the Proxy Token ecosystem.

 

The platform will enable a new world of tokenized digital assets – ranging from Universal blockchains such as Bitcoin, to Universal securities and Universal Private Equity – and will facilitate the instant and seamless conversion of different forms of value. In doing so, the UP Platform will unlock the vast and untapped full potential of blockchain to transform how individuals and businesses store and transfer value, with Universal Tokens representing the next generation of digital money.

 

Learn more at www.universalprotocol.io

 

 

 

 

Citi Private Bank Issues Outlook 2019

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Business Wire India

Citi Private Bank released its Outlook report for 2019. The twice-yearly publication provides in-depth insights into the global economy and financial markets for the coming year, and highlights important multi-year investment themes for client portfolios.

 

The report titled, ‘Safeguarding assets: Building stronger portfolios for more turbulent times,’ highlights two key global developments that may affect portfolios in 2019. The first is the return to pre-crisis normalcy in the global monetary system and markets, and the second is the continued retreat from normalcy in politics and geopolitics.

 

Against this backdrop, the Private Bank believes the global economic expansion and bull market in risk assets can endure through 2019. However, given the late-stage of the US monetary tightening cycle and increased market volatility, it urges building stronger portfolios for turbulent times by investing in more resilient assets and by employing strategies that reshape investment outcomes.

 

The Private Bank also sets out three broad investment themes it thinks will likely influence portfolio returns over the coming years. They include putting cash to work in income-producing assets, safeguarding gains made over recent years via various investment strategies and diversifying globally, as well as building exposure to the rise of Asia, increasing human longevity, and digital disruption.

 

In addition to its themes, the Private Bank presents its thinking on an approach it calls Investing with Purpose (IwP). IwP seeks both to maintain portfolio quality and serve the greater good by delivering environmental, social and governance benefits.

 

“We believe 2019 will be complex and more volatile for our clients,” said David Bailin, Global Head of Investments, Citi Private Bank. “We therefore outline vital steps in Outlook 2019 to help mitigate risks and potentially enhance total return profiles. These include keeping a close watch on US monetary policy, especially its effects on the yield curve. We also recommend allocating to countries and companies that are likely to withstand the challenges now facing the world.”

 

The full report, a summary version, short videos, and other materials can be accessed via the Citi Private Bank website here.

 

About Citi Private Bank:
Citi Private Bank is dedicated to serving worldly and wealthy individuals and families, providing customized private banking across borders. With approximately $390 billion in global assets under management, the franchise includes 48 offices, serving clients across 130 countries. Citi Private Bank helps clients grow and preserve wealth, finance assets, make cash work harder, safeguard assets, preserve legacies, and serve family and family business needs. The firm offers clients products and services covering capital markets, managed investments, portfolio management, trust and estate planning, investment finance, banking and aircraft finance, as well as art and sports advisory and finance.

 

About Citi:
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

 

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: https://blog.citigroup.com/ | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

 

 

 

 

Cred and Universal Protocol Alliance Join Blockchain Advocacy Coalition (BAC)

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Business Wire India

Cred, the leading provider of crypto-backed lending with over $300 million in credit facilities and the Universal Protocol Alliance, creator of the Universal Protocol Platform, today announced that they will join the Board of the Blockchain Advocacy Coalition to provide education and support to state and federal legislators and regulators.

 

“We’re pleased to welcome Cred and the Universal Protocol Alliance to our Board,” said Ally Medina, Executive Director of BAC. “These pioneering blockchain organizations are at the cusp of innovation. By working closely with policymakers and regulators, our board members will help develop thoughtful policy initiatives that support innovation in the blockchain industry and benefit the U.S. economy.

 

Blockchain Advocacy Coalition has taken the time to build relationships in Sacramento with policymakers, regulatory bodies and office holders. California has half of the nation’s cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, a share that will increase as more positive legislation passes. The state is uniquely well positioned to lead the nation on regulation that supports blockchain innovation, and we are here to make sure it’s done right. Thoughtful legislation passed here can serve as a model for the federal government and other states.”

 

“We’re pleased to be working with BAC to help policymakers understand and advocate for crypto and blockchain friendly policies,” said Dan Schatt, Co-founder of Cred and the Universal Protocol Alliance. “Our mission is to offer a more equitable, transparent and inclusive set of financial services through blockchain technology. Helping Sacramento and Washington understand the policy implications with this new technology will ensure that it can be prioritized accordingly.”

 

“California has always been a place for innovation and opportunity, and SB 838 shows how we can use technology to increase consumer protection and help prevent cases of fraud,” said Senator Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys). “That it was signed into law is a great testament to the work being done around the state by folks like the Blockchain Advocacy Coalition to advance this rapidly growing technology.”

 

About the Blockchain Advocacy Coalition

 

The Blockchain Advocacy Coalition is committed to educating legislators and regulators about blockchain technology and advancing regulations that support innovation. BAC supports political advocacy that directly benefits the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry and allows its members to gain access and insight into local, state and federal level politics, and to connect with other businesses that share these values.

 

About Cred

 

Cred is a decentralized global lending platform that facilitates open access to credit anywhere and anytime. Founded by former PayPal financial technology veterans, Cred’s mission is to harness the power of blockchain to allow everyone to benefit from low-cost credit products. Cred’s LBA token is available in more than 180+ countries including the US. For more information, visit mycred.io or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn,

 

About the Universal Protocol Alliance

 

Universal Protocol Alliance (UP) is a coalition of cryptocurrency companies and blockchain pioneers, the Universal Protocol Alliance seeks to accelerate the adoption of blockchain as a mainstream financial technology by making digital assets more accessible, secure and convenient to own. The Alliance consists of Uphold, Brave Software, Cred, Blockchain at Berkeley and FBG Capital.

 

 

 

 

Cred Opens Its Platform to Developers and Businesses

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Business Wire India

Cred, the leading provider of crypto-backed lending with over $300 million in credit facilities, today announced the launch of CredX, Cred’s developer platform, enabling any company or developer to turn their products into powerful financial applications for their customers. Crypto exchanges, crypto wallets, miner service providers, even traditional financial institutions have the ability to access Crypto Lending as a Service (CLaaS™) and create a rich set of customer experiences for their customers.

 

“Lending and Earning Crypto are hard businesses to get right, particularly in a bear market,” said Dan Schatt, Co-Founder of Cred and the Universal Protocol Alliance. “A crypto custodian, wallet, merchant or exchange business can now offer their customers compelling credit and treasury management features built directly into their own apps, powered by Cred. Businesses can choose to use their own balance sheets, or leverage Cred’s to provide credit and earning services to generate revenue, customer retention, cost saves and receive an instant settlement. Companies can also place their BTC with Cred to earn substantial interest. We look forward to continually adding new functionality that will appeal to new and existing customers of crypto. Even traditional financial institutions can benefit.”

 

Cred’s APIs will allow businesses of every size affordable access to low-interest loans using crypto as collateral. The platform provides the simplicity and reliability needed to navigate the complexity of blockchain financial services. Some of the companies currently building CredX services and LBA token utility in their applications include:

 

Uphold – Uphold has over 1 million users around the world and has traded over $4.1 billion on its digital money platform and reserve ledger. Uphold customers will be able to borrow dollars against their crypto and earn returns on their stablecoins via Uphold Borrow and Uphold Earn powered by Cred.

 

Acre - Acre is a crypto investment application that enables micro-investing in cryptocurrencies. Acre demystifies and democratizes the cryptocurrency space, making the value of crypto projects accessible to everyday people. Acre’s customers will be able to collateralize their crypto to access low-interest rate loans and earn a return on their tokens.

 

Heleum: Heleum is a financial software company that has developed investment applications that automate the process of buying, selling and trading crypto and fiat pairs. Heleum will leverage the CredX platform where funds borrowed through Cred can be invested automatically through Heleum and allow users who stake their LBA to earn returns that can offset their loan interest and principal.

 

“Cred is creating the next generation of platform APIs for the crypto community, something that venerable companies such as PayPal and Stripe are not providing today,” said Scott Thompson, Former President of PayPal. “The future of financial services require a more open and transparent approach to FinTech, and Cred’s former PayPal team is well positioned to meet a market need.”

 

“I’ve always felt that distributed ledgers are a natural outcome of social media, blockchain and open source,” said Brett King, Author of Bank 4.0 and Co-Founder and CEO of Moven Bank. “Happy to see that lending and earning are emerging as an excellent set of application services on the CredX platform.”

 

“The CredX platform enables our company to build some products that are very exciting for our customers-- automated margin trading of fiat and crypto pairs, the ability to lower interest rates through LBA staking and the potential to generate income to pay back loans,” said Pace Ellsworth, Co-Founder, and CEO of Heleum. “We look forward to building many more future products with CredX.”

 

“We’ve been big fans of Cred from day one and foresee a huge opportunity to increase yields on crypto and fiat, and lower the cost of loans to Uphold customers in 180+ countries,” said JP Thieriot, Co-founder and CEO of Uphold. “Everyone wins when we can combine Cred’s best of breed credit and treasury management capabilities with Uphold’s crypto and fiat banking and investment services.”

 

“We believe crypto as an asset class will outperform traditional assets over the next 10 years, and our ability to tap into Cred’s platform to provide a combination of saving and investment features will provide more financial freedom and flexibility for our customers,” said Brendon McQueen, Co-Founder, and CEO of Acre.

 

For more information, visit CredX or email developer@mycred.io

 

About Cred:

 

Cred is a decentralized global lending platform that facilitates open access to credit anywhere and anytime. Founded by former PayPal financial technology veterans, Cred has secured over $300,000,000 of global lending capital. Cred’s mission is to harness the power of blockchain to allow everyone to benefit from low-cost credit products. Cred brings together a diverse team of entrepreneurial leaders, machine learning, and the power of blockchain technology. For more information, visit mycred.io or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, or join our community on Telegram.

 

 

 

 

WaveOptics Raises $26m to Scale Business and Support International Expansion in its First Stage of Series C Funding

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Business Wire India

WaveOptics, the world leading designer and manufacturer of diffractive waveguides for use in Augmented Reality (AR) wearables, has raised $26 million (£20m) from existing shareholders and new investors.

 

This round was led by Octopus Ventures, one of WaveOptics’ largest shareholders and one of Europe’s most prominent venture capital firms. The fundraise was supported by other existing shareholders including IP Group, Robert Bosch Venture Capital and Gobi Partners, as well as new investors Goertek and Optimas Capital Partners.

 

Goertek is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of high-tech consumer electronics. Goertek’s investment is a significant development for the business and follows the announcement on 28 November 2018 that WaveOptics and Goertek have agreed an exclusive manufacturing partnership that will enable the global mass production of waveguides.

 

Based in Hong Kong, Optimas Capital Partners is a growth-oriented alternative investment platform. It seeks to identify and invest in cutting-edge technology globally and utilises its unique access to industry networks to create synergy and accelerate growth.

 

The capital raised will be used to scale up the business operations on a national and international basis. WaveOptics is building a large volume manufacturing supply chain to meet customer demand from Asia and US markets.

 

The business is also investing in its overseas infrastructure having recently opened offices in Los Angeles and Taipei and plans to open a new office in Beijing in 2019.

 

This first stage investment represents the largest AR hardware fundraise in Europe in 2018. WaveOptics is in advanced discussions with potential new shareholders and strategic partners regarding participation in a second stage.

 

David Hayes, WaveOptics CEO, commented:

 

“We have made excellent progress over the last year with our high performing, manufacturable, and versatile waveguides. We are now working with a wide range of leading global OEMs and ODMs as they ramp up the development of their products.

 

“These additional funds will enable us to scale up rapidly around the world, particularly in Asia and the US. This will include our ability to manage and support an increasing number of customers across different sectors. The market is gathering pace with AR wearables expected to become available in volume by the end of 2019.

 

“Securing Goertek as a shareholder is a key strategic development for us and a major endorsement of our technology. Their global market position will significantly expand our reach.

 

“We have seen a recent surge in interest from potential shareholders and strategic partners and anticipate closing further funding in the coming months.”

 

Simon King, Principal atOctopus Ventures, added:

 

“We are delighted to have led the first stage of this funding round, backing the fantastic team at WaveOptics as we believe the business is on track to become a leading UK-headquartered global tech business.

 

“WaveOptics has now established its position as the key optical technology provider to its global customers and partners. They are unique in their ability to build AR hardware solutions at scale to address the numerous opportunities in the emerging AR ecosystem.”

 

About WaveOptics - www.enhancedworld.com

 

WaveOptics is the world leading designer and manufacturer of diffractive waveguides, the key optical component in wearable augmented reality (AR) devices.

 

AR wearables, such as smart glasses, enable users to see computer-generated images overlaid on top of the real world. There are two key elements that allow these images to be seen – a light source such as a minute projector and a means of transferring the image from the projector into the user’s eyes.

 

WaveOptics’ waveguide technology transfers the light waves from the light source and projects them into the user’s eye. The technology produces a large eye-box, binocular viewing and a high field of view. The eye-box (the viewing window) is the size of the AR display from which the full image is visible. WaveOptics’ waveguides deliver crisp, undistorted text as well as stable imagery.

 

WaveOptics technology is designed to be used for immersive AR experiences in industrial, enterprise and consumer markets.

 

About Octopus Ventures

 

Octopus Ventures, part of Octopus Group, is a leading European venture capital firm that helps pioneering entrepreneurs take ideas from inception to international scale-up.

 

Octopus is a group of companies that invests in the people, ideas and industries that will help to change the world. Octopus Group are experts in smaller companies, renewable energy and healthcare infrastructure. Octopus Group currently manage more than £8.6 billion on behalf of their customers. Octopus Energy, Octopus Healthcare, Octopus Investments, Octopus Labs, Octopus Property and Octopus Ventures are all part of Octopus Group. Visit octopusgroup.com.

 

 

 

 

SHUAA Capital’s Transformational Acquisition of Kuwait’s Amwal International Investment Company to Drive Expansion Roadmap

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Business Wire India

SHUAA Capital, the UAE’s premier financial services Group, is pleased to announce the commencement of its post-acquisition integration and consolidation efforts with Kuwait based Amwal International Investment Company (“Amwal”), following the recent completion of the public tender acquisition process, and Amwal shareholders’ General Assembly that was held on 12th December 2018. As part of the General Assembly’s outcome, Amwal announced a new Board of Directors consisting of Bader Al Reizhan, Fawad Tariq Khan, Khaleefa Al Mheiri, Oliver Lee, Ali Tariq, Adil Mustafa and Abdullah Galadari.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181216005024/en/

 

 

The acquisition of Amwal aligns perfectly with SHUAA’s vision of delivering long-term shareholder value, in addition to the prospects of meaningful synergies between SHUAA Capital’s existing capital markets business and Amwal’s key subsidiary, ‘Noor Capital Markets’.

 

Noor Capital Markets is the region’s leading homegrown online FOREX, Commodities and Contract for Difference (“CFD”) trading platform that is highly regarded for being the best in class service offering and quality execution.

 

Fawad Tariq-Khan, Chief Executive Officer of SHUAA Capital, said: “The commencement of this consolidation exercise represents the culmination of our efforts in establishing a broad geographic footprint across the region’s strongest markets. From our heritage in the UAE, and now in our six well-placed jurisdictions, we are well positioned to tap into a diverse range of growing markets. We are excited about the potential to take our expertise into Kuwait, Turkey and Jordan, as well as bringing Noor Capital Markets’ services and offerings to our home territories. We believe that we have a winning combination which will support our continued transformation on the path to sustainable profitability”.

 

Fawad explains further, “Ultimately, it is our clients who will benefit from our ability to deliver a broader range of services and synergies that we will realize between SHUAA Capital , Amwal and Noor Capital Markets. This combination clearly demonstrates SHUAA’s ability to identify, structure and complete complex Mergers and Acquisitions transactions to complement SHUAA Capital’s organic growth plan. We continue to carefully appraise selected opportunities that we believe will generate incremental revenue and will deliver long term shareholder value.”

 

Mr. Khurram Sayeed, CEO of Noor Capital Markets, said “SHUAA Capital is a natural fit, for our trading business Noor Capital Markets, when you consider its diversified regional presence and experience. Clear synergies can be delivered with our combined efforts and business verticals across new markets including Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey. For Noor Capital Markets, we have built a successful industry-leading business in a relatively short period of time and are excited by the tremendous prospects of delivering a combined business plan alongside SHUAA Capital”.

 

In addition to the above, Kuwait’s promotion to the FTSE Russell Emerging Markets Index in September is expected to attract significant inflows of investment. In Jordan and Turkey, regulatory reforms are being implemented to support their capital markets’ growth and their implications on broader economies. For instance, despite a challenging economic backdrop in Jordan, last year Foreign Direct Investment inflows totaled USD 1.6 billion, representing growth of 7.5%. Meanwhile, in 2017, Turkey’s Boursa Istanbul recorded growth of 43% year-on-year in terms of the market value of stocks traded, demonstrating its regional significance and appeal. Boursa Istanbul is one of the largest exchanges in Europe with over c. USD 2 billion traded daily on average.

 

Amwal International Investment Company holds an investment company license regulated by the Capital Markets Authority in Kuwait and a lending license regulated by the Central Bank of Kuwait. Financial earnings are expected to be consolidated during Q4 2018.

 

About SHUAA Capital psc: Established in 1979, and often considered to be the most recognized financial advisory and investment firm in the Middle East, SHUAA Capital psc (‘SHUAA’) is an integrated financial services firm headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. The firm services corporate and institutional clients, governments, family businesses and high-net-worth-individuals with expertise in the areas of Asset Management, Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Securities Brokerage and Credit. SHUAA is a public shareholding company with its shares listed on the Dubai Financial Market. The firm is regulated as a financial investment company by the UAE Central Bank and the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority.

 

The firm owns and operates subsidiaries based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Arab Republic of Egypt. They are SHUAA Capital - Saudi Arabia which operates as a Saudi Capital Markets Authority licensed investment bank, Gulf Finance UAE making up its Lending division, along with Gulf Finance Saudi Arabia its SAMA-regulated Shari’ah-compliant lending arm, Amwal International Investment Company- a CMA licensed financial services institution and SHUAA Securities – Egypt specializing in brokerage services for institutional, corporate and retail clients with seamless access to regional markets. www.shuaa.com

 

*Source: AETOSWire

 

 

 

 
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Algorand Appoints Pablo Azar as Chief Economist

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Business Wire India

Algorand, a foundational blockchain and cryptocurrency company, announced today that it has named Pablo Azar as Chief Economist. Given Algorand's focus on creating sustainable value in a decentralized economy, Mr. Azar will be responsible for guiding Algorand’s economic policies.

 

On the heels of announcing Steve Kokinos and W. Sean Ford as CEO and COO, respectively, Mr. Azar’s appointment as Chief Economist is another advancement for Algorand as it continues to develop its executive team. With a double Ph.D. from MIT, Mr. Azar will bring his unique expertise regarding the application of computer science and cryptography toward the creation of better market mechanisms. Further, he will be responsible for expanding the visibility of Algorand’s economic policy and enhancing the tools necessary for developers to build on the Algorand platform.

 

“As momentum around tokenization increases, so does the need for sound economic management,” said Steve Kokinos, CEO at Algorand. “With his deep background in economics and computer science, Pablo will ensure our community has economic policies and tools necessary for businesses to build on our foundational platform.”

 

As consumers drive economies toward an increasingly digital, transparent, and borderless reality, businesses must embrace technology that supports decentralization to both remain strategically relevant and to participate in the economic potential of this new decentralized world. As a scalable, secure and decentralized platform and digital currency that solves the “blockchain trilemma,” Algorand serves as the foundation for existing businesses and new projects to operate globally in the emerging decentralized economy.

 

“Algorand’s main goal is to build a blockchain that adds real value to the economy,” said Pablo Azar, Chief Economist at Algorand. “The kind of research problems being undertaken by Algorand intersect with many subfields of economics. My initial focus is on key issues such as mitigating the risk faced by our users and collaborating with industry partners in order to design new economic applications. I look forward to being part of a team of outstanding academics, engineers, and business experts.”

 

Pablo is joining Algorand from a 10-year stint at MIT, where he worked on cryptography and macroeconomics, including the development of rational interactive proofs, using software engineering metrics to understand the complexity of US Financial regulations, and developing models on the formation of supply chains and their effects on economic growth. His work has been featured on Bloomberg, The Atlantic, and US News and World Report. He received a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard, a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT in 2014, and will receive a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 2019.

 

About Algorand

 

Based in Boston, and founded by cryptography pioneer and Turing award winner Silvio Micali, Algorand solves the “blockchain trilemma” with a platform that delivers decentralization, scalability and security. Algorand provides a foundation for existing businesses and new projects to operate globally in the emerging decentralized economy. Algorand’s first-of-its-kind, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake protocol supports the scale, open participation, and transaction finality required to build systems for billions of users.

 

For more information, visit https://www.algorand.com/.

 

 

Citi Announces Global, Mission-Led Partnership with the International Paralympic Committee

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Business Wire India

Citi announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to become an international partner through 2020 and to support National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) in 18 countries as they prepare for upcoming World and regional Championships, as well as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

 

The 18 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) Citi will sponsor include: Australia, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and the UAE.

 

Citi serves clients through a local presence in each of these 18 NPC communities and will engage fans through integrated marketing campaigns and promotions to generate excitement and national pride around the extraordinary accomplishments of the countries’ Para athletes. Citi will also work to help support the day-to-day needs of individual NPCs.

 

“Citi and the IPC are ideal partners because we share a deep passion for helping to foster a more diverse and inclusive society,” said Citi CEO Michael Corbat. “These athletes have overcome adversity to achieve the world’s most elite level of sporting excellence. Their strength, perseverance and determination is truly what makes them exceptional, and we look forward to supporting their journey to compete on the global stage.”

 

“We are delighted that Citi joins the IPC as our third international partner and that the company’s support extends to NPCs spanning four continents, as well as a number of Para athletes,” said IPC President Andrew Parsons. “Citi has been involved in the Paralympic Movement for more than six years and we look forward to working closely with them to explore opportunities to further awareness of how our work transforms society and drives social inclusion.”

 

Citi began its relationship with the Paralympic Movement in 2012 with its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams. During that time, Citi has supported eight U.S. Paralympians and featured them prominently in their marketing campaigns, supported U.S. Paralympic sports programs, as well as featured them in colleague engagement promotions. In 2018, Citi served as a sponsor of the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation Wheelchair Rugby World Championship in Australia, World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships in Ireland, Asian Para Games in Indonesia, and Para Powerlifting Americas Open Championships in Bogota.

 

About Citi

 

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

 

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

 

About IPC

 

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. It co-ordinates the organisation of the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International Federation for 10 sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions. The IPC’s vision is to enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world.

 

 

 

 

UK Investor Adhum Carter to Invest a Whooping 7 Thousand Crores in India’s 20 Promising Smart Cities

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Business Wire IndiaThe government’s adept implementation of policies like GST and RERA have lent a lease of life to its ambitious Smart Cities Mission, which aims to establish hundred pro-citizen and self-governing urban dwellings that will be completed by 2020, out of which, the first 20 cities have already been completed. In valuation, projects worth Rs 50,221 crore are underway and projects worth Rs 9,981 crore are done.

The digital component to these smart cities will be predominant, with surveillance systems to monitor and curb crime, e-governance, mobility, e-traffic systems and electronic waste management being the key systems that will drive, sustain and reinforce these city’s economic growth and citizen welfare.

According to senior officials in the ministry of housing and infrastructure development, minimum five years is allocated to a city in order to be complete. The first 20 which were selected in 2016, will be completed by 2021. Since these projects are mammoth in size, timeline delays are to be expected, however, the projects themselves are well on their way towards completion and being fully operational.

Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davanagere, Indore, New Delhi Municipal Council, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana, and Bhopal were the winners of the first round of the Smart City Challenge competition 2016.

The total investment proposed in these ninety-nine projects amount to Rs 201, 981 crore and specific area based projects amount to Rs 1,63, 138 crore, according to statistics projected by the government. Smart pan-city initiatives account for the remaining 38, 841 crore of investment. Projects worth Rs 85, 464 crore have been tendered thus far and projects worth Rs 40,000 crore remain in the docket.

For these projects to be successful, establishing city-wise integrated command and control centres is extremely crucial. These centres essentially control and monitor water supply, power supply, traffic movement, health & sanitation, building management, city network, and internet connectivity. So far, 11 cities have operational centers, 29 are currently being constructed while 21 have tenders pending.

It’s an exciting time for real estate and infrastructure in India and with smart cities coming up and government regulations and timelines being streamlined, heavy foreign investments are on the horizon.

Adhum Carter Wolde-Lule is a British investor, financial strategist, and consultant, with a focused real estate background, coupled with a strong expertise in Asia and the Middle East territory. He is a partner in Eyas, which provides a range of corporate services which include discretionary portfolio management, direct and equity investment and managed fund services among other services to its host of clients.

Adhum Carter will be spearheading Eyas’s investment plan to back India’s Smart Cities Mission and capitalize on growth prospects with an investment of approximately six thousand five hundred crores.

Arthur D. Little Report Outlines €200 Billion Digital Transformation Opportunity for Telecoms Sector

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Business Wire India

Arthur D. Little (ADL) today published a new research report highlighting the need for greater digitalization in the global telecoms industry. The TIME 2018 Flagship Report outlines the scale of the digital opportunity, with analysis estimating that a ‘digital dividend’ of over €200 billion free cash flow awaits telcos that can successfully transform.

 

Industry executives surveyed for the report confirm the findings. 73% say that digital will add value to their businesses, with key benefits including greater agility, increased subscriber growth and cost savings. CAPEX spending on areas such as 5G infrastructure and the Internet of Things is expected to require a 7% CAGR increase from 2017-2022, outpacing forecast revenue growth. Consequently, failing to digitally transform risks commoditization and disintermediation, leaving telcos unable to invest sufficiently. As one senior executive put it bluntly, “Digitalization – there is no other choice if we want to survive.”

 

The report highlights that acting now is vital if telcos want to guarantee future success. However, becoming digital will require a substantial shift, focusing on two key areas:

 
  • Enabling digital – investing appropriately to become more digitally mature
  • Embracing digital – making significant structural changes to organizational design and corporate culture as well as how they do business, attract talent and develop the right skills


Currently the majority of telcos are still at an early stage of digital maturity – 33% see themselves at the “digital basic” stage, with just 3% at the most advanced “digital expansion” level.

 

Jonathan Rowan, Partner at Arthur D. Little and lead author of the report explains: “Telcos are self-acknowledged digital laggards, despite our survey highlighting an overwhelming awareness of the benefits of digital transformation. Until now there was little quantitative evidence of these benefits, but our extensive financial analysis highlights that it can deliver a ‘digital dividend’ of more than €200 billion in operating free cash flow benefit, or put another way, up to an additional 10 percentage points of EBIT. To enjoy this dividend, telcos must balance technology and organizational/cultural change, as well as adopting an agile and holistic approach.”

 

The ADL TIME 2018 Flagship Report is based upon interviews with more than 100 senior executives, as well as deep analysis of the financial performance of 190 of the world’s largest telcos. It is available from www.adl.com/DigitalDividend

 

 

 

 

Prima Solutions and Effisoft Announce Their Merger to Bolster Global Leadership in Providing Insurance Solutions

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Business Wire India

As part of their continuing growth strategies, Prima Solutions and Effisoft announce their merger to create a global InsureTech company. This merger between Effisoft, the leading vendor of reinsurance and regulatory software solutions for insurance and reinsurance companies across the globe, and Prima Solutions, one of Europe’s leading software provider for Life, Health, and P&C insurance companies, will produce one of the largest and most comprehensive players in Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region with cloud-based solutions covering all areas of the insurance market.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181217005249/en/

 

This merger, concluded on December 13, will enable both groups to accelerate their development in the P&C, health and personal protection insurance markets. This merger is part of an ambitious and coherent growth strategy: it completes Prima Solutions' and Effisoft's existing product range, diversifies the customer base and strengthens the group's international positioning.

 

The transactional and analytical offerings of Prima Solutions and Effisoft, available in the cloud, now cover all insurance processes end-to-end: Life, Non-Life, reinsurance, regulatory reporting, and analytics (including predictive simulations and actuarial calculations).

 

This merger of two key players is a major step for both our organizations; it broadens our customer base and our international footprint, thanks to a global offering that covers all the core business digitalization needs of our customers we now have further opportunities for growth across the board. This offer, available in the cloud and billable upon use, effectively targets players of all sizes in the insurance and reinsurance markets,”stated Hugues Delannoy, CEO of Prima Solutions.

 

Julien Victor, CEO of Effisoft, added: “The proliferation of High Tech and regulatory evolution are inevitable in the insurance market. This merger enables us to become the first player to provide a 100% digital solution that addresses the overall business needs of the industry. Moreover, our groups are complementary in naturein terms of both customer-base and geographic implementation coverage, and together we will share more than 20 years of experience in building comprehensive business software solutions for the insurance industry.”

 

Following this merger, the group will continue to be led by Hugues Delannoy and Julien Victor, with the support of The Carlyle Group as the majority shareholder.

 

The consolidated group has more than 300 employees, servicing more than 300 customers across 5 continents, and generates revenues of approximately €50 million.

 

About Effisoft

 

Effisoft is a Paris-based international group that designs software solutions for insurance and reinsurance professionals. The group specializes in optimizing reinsurance operations and regulatory compliance with Solvency II.

 

About Prima Solutions

 

Prima Solutions provides P&C and L&H insurers the Prima Insure™ software platform to become a leader in insurance innovation. 100% web enabled, multilingual and delivered via SaaS mode, its addresses the entire life cycle of an insurance policy.

 

About The Carlyle Group and Carlyle Europe Technology Partners

 

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $212 billion of assets under management across 339 investment vehicles as of September 30, 2018. Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) seeks to invest in European technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) companies. CETP’s European team of advisors provides strategic direction and resources to help accelerate the growth of companies in which CETP has invested and to support their efforts to expand internationally and to open up new market opportunities. The current fund is now the fourth one in the CETP franchise. In total, more than 143 investors from 34 countries have made commitments to CETP funds.

 

 

 

 
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Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak Real Estate Announce Merger to Form Bentall GreenOak, Global Real Estate Investment Platform

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Business Wire India

Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak Real Estate (“GreenOak”) announced the signing of an agreement to merge the two firms into a leading global real estate investment platform. The combined entity will be named Bentall GreenOak.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181218005992/en/

 

GreenOak Co-Founders, John Carrafiell and Sonny Kalsi, existing GreenOak senior management and GreenOak’s strategic partner Tetragon Financial Group Limited will all continue to hold significant ownership stakes in Bentall GreenOak. Bentall Kennedy’s senior management team will also acquire a meaningful ownership position in the combined firm.

 

Bentall GreenOak will be majority-owned by Sun Life Financial (“Sun Life”) and will operate under Sun Life Investment Management, the alternative asset management arm of Sun Life. Sun Life has committed significant co-investment capital to support the growth of Bentall GreenOak and to enhance the firm’s alignment with its clients.

 

Senior management of the combined firm will include leaders from both Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak, and will be led globally by Gary Whitelaw, as CEO, and Sonny Kalsi, as President. John Carrafiell will be Senior Managing Partner of the Bentall GreenOak UK/European business.

 

Bentall GreenOak will provide its clients with a broad range of complementary real estate investment strategies that include Core, Core Plus and Value Add/Opportunistic equity, as well as senior and tactical real estate debt strategies. With investment professionals in 14 offices in North America, and 7 offices internationally, Bentall GreenOak will have deep local knowledge and strong, long-standing investment track records across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

 

“This combination brings together two successful real estate platforms to create a world class investment manager, supported by the significant resources and long-term stability of Sun Life Investment Management. GreenOak and Bentall Kennedy are two highly complementary firms with virtually no overlap in investment strategies or offices,” said Gary Whitelaw, CEO, Bentall Kennedy. “As members of the combined leadership team have worked together before, and given our extensive discussions over many months, we believe we share very similar investment practices, underwriting discipline, and client-centric cultures,” Mr. Whitelaw continued.

 

“The mission critical element in any combination is ensuring that the leadership team and the teams directly managing the investment programs and assets on the ground are able to remain focused on creating value and managing risk,” added Messrs. Carrafiell and Kalsi, Co-Founders of GreenOak Real Estate. “This combination of like-minded and compatible firms uniquely allows us to do that – with our clients and fund investors working with the same local specialists with whom they have been working for many years.”

 

“Institutional real estate investment strategies increasingly benefit from a truly global framework. But being successful requires deep local knowledge, a rigorous underwriting culture and strong alignment between investors and the manager,” said Steve Peacher, President, Sun Life Investment Management. “Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak each bring this knowledge, disciplined experience and a fiduciary culture to the new combined firm. Sun Life Investment Management is committed to deepening Bentall GreenOak’s client/manager alignment by making strategic co-investments in future Bentall GreenOak funds and other initiatives in partnership with Bentall GreenOak’s clients and partners,” Mr. Peacher added.

 

As of September 30, 2018, Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak have, in the aggregate, over 700 institutional clients with approximately $47 billion USD / $62 billion CAD in assets under management. Sun Life will have contractual rights to increase its ownership interest in Bentall GreenOak in 2026, though it is expected that a meaningful interest will continue to be held by the Bentall GreenOak management team on an ongoing basis.

 

Bentall Kennedy and Sun Life Investment Management received financial advice on the transaction from Berkshire Global Advisors and legal advice from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Evercore provided financial advice to GreenOak and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Covington & Burling LLP provided legal advice to GreenOak and its owners.

 

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019.

 

About Bentall Kennedy

 

Bentall Kennedy, a Sun Life Investment Management company, is a leading real estate investment advisor and one of North America’s foremost providers of real estate services. Bentall Kennedy (which includes Bentall Kennedy (Canada) Limited Partnership, Bentall Kennedy (U.S.) Limited Partnership) serves the interests of more than 545 institutional clients with expertise in office, retail, industrial and multi-residential assets throughout Canada and the U.S. Bentall Kennedy’s Investment Management group has approximately $36 billion USD / $48 billion CAD of assets under management (including approximately $18 billion USD / $24 billion CAD of Sun Life General Account Assets, of which $12.3 billion USD are commercial mortgages managed by certain affiliated Sun Life Investment Management entities outside the Bentall Kennedy group under the oversight of individuals who are officers both of Bentall Kennedy and those other affiliates, all as at September 30, 2018). We are one of the largest Real Estate Services providers in Canada, managing more than 60 million square feet on behalf of third-party and investment management clients (as of September 30, 2018).

 

For more information, please visit www.bentallkennedy.com

 

About GreenOak

 

GreenOak Real Estate is a leading global real estate investment management firm with approximately US$11 billion of AUM, across discretionary closed-end funds for both equity and debt strategies in the US, Europe and Asia. Founded in 2010, GreenOak has acquired approximately 203 assets representing 40 million square feet and US$14.3 billion of real estate value within its target markets. GreenOak has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Milan, Luxembourg, Tokyo, Seoul and Mumbai, with over 100 professionals in dedicated regional teams having deep, local knowledge, experience and extensive networks in each market.

 

For more information, please visit www.greenoakrealestate.com

 

About Sun Life Investment Management

 

Sun Life Investment Management comprises Sun Life Institutional Investments (Canada) Inc. and Bentall Kennedy (Canada) Limited Partnership in Canada, and Prime Advisors Inc., Ryan Labs Asset Management and Bentall Kennedy (U.S.) Limited Partnership in the United States.

 

These operations have combined third-party assets under management of $46 billion USD / $61 billion CAD (at $1.33 CAD/USD) as of September 30, 2018. Sun Life Investment Management is supported by the investment division of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada that manages $109 billion USD / $146 billion CAD (at $1.33 CAD/USD) in assets under management for the Sun Life Financial group of companies as of September 30, 2018.

 

For more information, please visit our website – www.sunlifeinvestmentmanagement.com

 

About Tetragon

 

Tetragon is a closed-ended investment company that invests in a broad range of assets, including bank loans, real estate, equities, credit, convertible bonds, private equity, infrastructure and TFG Asset Management, a diversified asset management business. Tetragon is traded on Euronext in Amsterdam N.V. and on the Specialist Fund Segment of the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Tetragon partnered with the GreenOak Co-Founders on the launch of GreenOak, providing working capital, co-investment capital and operating infrastructure to the joint venture. TFG Asset Management will continue to hold its key investment in Bentall GreenOak, will serve on its Board of Directors, will participate in investment committees for funds in which TFG Asset Management will hold carried interest and expects to invest in new Bentall GreenOak funds.

 

For more information please visit the company’s website at www.tetragoninv.com

 

Forward Looking Statements

 

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the “safe harbour” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Information about risk factors relating to Sun Life (and Sun Life Investment Management) can be found in the annual information form of Sun Life Financial Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2017 under the heading “Risk Factors” and other regulatory filings filed with or furnished to Canadian and U.S. securities regulators available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

 

 

 

 
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Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited Selects Majesco Distribution Management to Power their Growth Strategies

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Business Wire India

Majesco Limited (NSI: MAJESCO) (www.majesco.com), a global provider of core insurance platform software and consulting services for insurance business transformation, announced that Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited (“BAGIC”), a leading general insurance company in India, has selected Majesco Distribution Management for the incentive and reward management for their employees.

 

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has multiple lines of business within the General Insurance umbrella and has traditionally used in-house systems to calculate rewards and incentives. With Majesco Distribution Management, the company will consolidate and automate their rewards and incentives management on a single platform. Incentive payments will be processed on Majesco Distribution Management with the data integrating back to their policy administration system, which will provide the repository of the information.

 

Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance commented, “Being a customer obsessed company, we are always exploring partnerships that contribute in enhancing our customers’ experience directly or indirectly. An engaged and effective sales force is very important for creating a base of happy customers. We believe that the partnership with Majesco Distribution Management will play an important role in helping us automate and speed up the rewards and incentive process. It will also bring in greater transparency through the system based process.”

 

“We are delighted to welcome BAGIC to our growing community of customers and thank them for their confidence in our team and solution,” said Farid Kazani, MD, Majesco Ltd. “It is great to be partnering with such an innovative and a forward-looking insurer like BAGIC. Rewards and incentive management is increasingly a strategic business capability required to enable robust growth strategies. We are positive of a successful implementation and building a strong strategic bond with BAGIC.”

 

Majesco Distribution Management System is a standalone, modern solution designed to enable insurance carriers to manage the entire distribution landscape with comprehensive business capabilities that enable diverse channel options, support the increasing need of an omni-channel environment, effectively administer channel producers from registration to termination, compensation and performance management, and launch innovative contests and personalize payment schedules for producers to help drive business growth. The highly configurable platform enables ease of integration within an insurance carrier’s business system landscape. Majesco Digital Solutions is designed to enable personalization of the portal and mobile solutions based on the unique customer journeys and personas defined by each insurer to fulfil their unique and multi-channel distribution and customer experience needs. Majesco Digital Solutions is pre-integrated with Majesco’s core solutions and offers insurers a robust platform to support their digital strategy. Our open architecture provides capabilities to integrate with other core solutions and an extensive partner ecosystem that integrates content, channels and technology.

 

About Majesco

 

Insurance business transformation is a journey of change and revitalization, a renaissance of Insurance. Approximately 170 insurance companies worldwide in P&C, L&A and Group/ Employee Benefits are transforming their businesses with Majesco’s solutions. Our market leading software, consulting and services uniquely underpin the entire insurance value chain and are designed to empower insurers with the agility, innovation and speed needed to meet their transformation opportunities. Majesco’s solutions include policy management, new business / underwriting, rating, billing, claims management, distribution management, BI/ analytics, predictive modeling, digital platform with mobile and portal, testing services, cloud services, bureau and content services, transformation services, consulting services and more. For more details on Majesco, please visit https://www.majesco.com/.

 

About Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

 

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance is one of the leading private general insurance company in India. Bajaj Allianz is a joint venture between Allianz SE, the world’s leading insurer and largest asset manager, and Bajaj Finserv Limited, India’s most diversified non-bank financial institution. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance offers general insurance products such as motor insurance, home insurance, health insurance as well as other unique insurance plans such as wedding insurance, event insurance, and film insurance. The company began its operations in 2001 and today has a pan-India presence in 200 towns and cities. The company has been constantly expanding its operations to be close to their customers. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has been a profit-making company since its inception and has consistently been rated with “iAAA” rating for its claims paying ability by ICRA Limited (an associate of Moody’s Investors) consecutively for last 12 years.

 

For more information, please visit: https://general.bajajallianz.com/Corp/general-insurance/general-insurance.jsp

 

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

 

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of management, are not guarantees of performance and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. These forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various important factors, including those set forth in Majesco’s reports that it files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and which you should review, including those statements under “Item 1A – Risk Factors” in Majesco’s Annual Report on Form 10-K”.

 

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to: integration risks; changes in economic conditions, political conditions, trade protection measures, licensing requirements and tax matters; technology development risks; intellectual property rights risks; competition risks; additional scrutiny and increased expenses as a result of being a public company; the financial condition, financing requirements, prospects and cash flow of Majesco; loss of strategic relationships; changes in laws or regulations affecting the insurance industry in particular; restrictions on immigration; the ability and cost of retaining and recruiting key personnel; the ability to attract new clients and retain them and the risk of loss of large customers; continued compliance with evolving laws; customer data and cybersecurity risk; and Majesco’s ability to raise capital to fund future growth.

 

These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as predictions of future events and Majesco cannot assure you that the events or circumstances discussed or reflected in these statements will be achieved or will occur. If such forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. You should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by Majesco or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified timeframe, or at all. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this presentation. Majesco disclaims any obligation to publicly update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

 

 

 

 

Takeda Announces Listing of American Depositary Shares on the New York Stock Exchange

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Business Wire India

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

 

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502) (“Takeda) announced that the listing and trading of its American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) is expected to commence on December 24, 2018. Takeda’s ADSs currently trade over-the-counter. The ADSs will now trade under the ticker symbol “TAK” and The Bank of New York Mellon will continue to act as the depositary bank for the ADS program.

 

Takeda will maintain its headquarters in Japan and its primary listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (the “TSE”), as well as its current listings on local Japanese stock exchanges.

 

“Our dual listing on the NYSE and TSE reflects our position as a leading global biopharmaceutical company and will provide wider capital markets access with expanded trading hours for our investors worldwide,” said Costa Saroukos, Chief Financial Officer of Takeda. “We look forward to closing our acquisition of Shire in the coming weeks and driving long-term value for our shareholders as a combined company.”

 

With its listings in Japan and the United States, Takeda will be able to access two of the world’s largest capital markets and is the only pharmaceutical company listed on both the TSE and the NYSE. The new NYSE listing will also facilitate ownership of Takeda shares following its acquisition of Shire plc (“Shire”) (the “Acquisition”) which, subject to the Shire scheme of arrangement being sanctioned by the Jersey court, is expected to complete on January 8, 2019. Under the terms of the Acquisition, Shire shareholders will be entitled to receive $30.33 in cash and either 0.839 new Takeda shares or 1.678 Takeda ADSs for each Shire share held.

 

In connection with the listing on the NYSE, Takeda filed a registration statement on Form 20-F on December 6, 2018, and Amendment No. 1 thereto on December 17, 2018. Takeda’s Form 20-F is available online at www.sec.gov and will be available online at https://www.takeda.com/investors/reports shortly before the listing. Takeda shareholders have the ability to receive a hard copy of this documentation, free of charge, by contacting Takeda Investor Relations by telephone at +81-3-3278-2306 or by e-mail at takeda.ir.contact@takeda.com.

 

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

 

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502) is a global, research and development-driven pharmaceutical company committed to bringing better health and a brighter future to patients by translating science into life-changing medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on oncology, gastroenterology and neuroscience therapeutic areas plus vaccines. Takeda conducts R&D both internally and with partners to stay at the leading edge of innovation. Innovative products, especially in oncology and gastroenterology, as well as Takeda's presence in emerging markets, are currently fueling the growth of Takeda. Approximately 30,000 Takeda employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients, working with Takeda's partners in health care in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/.

 

Important Notice

 

This announcement is not intended to, and does not, constitute, represent or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation of an offer to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities whether pursuant to this announcement or otherwise.

 

The distribution of this announcement in jurisdictions outside the United Kingdom or Japan may be restricted by law or regulation and therefore any person who comes into possession of this announcement should inform themselves about, and comply with, such restrictions. Any failure to comply with such restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws or regulations of any such relevant jurisdiction.

 

Publication on Website

 

In accordance with Rule 26.1 of the Code, a copy of this announcement will be made available (subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in restricted jurisdictions) on Takeda's website at www.takeda.com/investors/offer-for-shire by no later than 12 noon (London time) on October 29, 2018. The content of the website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into and does not form part of this announcement.

 

Disclosure requirements of the Code

 

Under Rule 8.3(a) of the Code, any person who is interested in 1% or more of any class of relevant securities of an offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror (being any offeror other than an offeror in respect of which it has been announced that its offer is, or is likely to be, solely in cash) must make an Opening Position Disclosure following the commencement of the offer period and, if later, following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. An Opening Position Disclosure must contain details of the person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s). An Opening Position Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(a) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the 10th business day following the commencement of the offer period and, if appropriate, by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the 10th business day following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. Relevant persons who deal in the relevant securities of the offeree company or of a securities exchange offeror prior to the deadline for making an Opening Position Disclosure must instead make a Dealing Disclosure.

 

Under Rule 8.3(b) of the Code, any person who is, or becomes, interested in 1% or more of any class of relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror must make a Dealing Disclosure if the person deals in any relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror. A Dealing Disclosure must contain details of the dealing concerned and of the person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s), save to the extent that these details have previously been disclosed under Rule 8. A Dealing Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(b) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the business day following the date of the relevant dealing.

 

If two or more persons act together pursuant to an agreement or understanding, whether formal or informal, to acquire or control an interest in relevant securities of an offeree company or a securities exchange offeror, they will be deemed to be a single person for the purpose of Rule 8.3.

 

Opening Position Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company and by any offeror and Dealing Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company, by any offeror and by any persons acting in concert with any of them (see Rules 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4).

 

Details of the offeree and offeror companies in respect of whose relevant securities Opening Position Disclosures and Dealing Disclosures must be made can be found in the Disclosure Table on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk, including details of the number of relevant securities in issue, when the offer period commenced and when any offeror was first identified. You should contact the Panel's Market Surveillance Unit on +44 (0)20 7638 0129 if you are in any doubt as to whether you are required to make an Opening Position Disclosure or a Dealing Disclosure.

 

 

 

 

Sun Life Financial to Acquire Majority Stake in Bentall GreenOak

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Business Wire India

Sun Life Financial Inc. (“Sun Life Financial”) (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF) announced that it intends to merge Bentall Kennedy, its leading North American real estate and property management firm which Sun Life Financial acquired in 2015, with GreenOak Real Estate (“GreenOak”), a global real estate investment firm with approximately $14 billion (US$11 billion) in assets under management and nine offices globally. Sun Life Financial will acquire a majority stake in the combined Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak entity that will be named Bentall GreenOak and be part of Sun Life Investment Management. Senior management of Bentall GreenOak will include executives from both Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181218005987/en/

 

“This transaction is right on strategy, broadening our asset management pillar by expanding the capabilities of our alternatives manager, Sun Life Investment Management,” said Dean Connor, President and CEO, Sun Life Financial. “Combining the strengths of two leading and globally respected real estate investment managers will bring Clients a broader range of investment solutions that include core, core plus and value add real estate1, plus senior and tactical real estate debt strategies across North America, Europe and Asia.”

 

Sun Life Financial will contribute its interest in Bentall Kennedy and pay GreenOak shareholders $195 million (US$146 million) in cash in exchange for a 56% interest in the combined Bentall GreenOak entity, with GreenOak shareholders holding the remaining interest. As part of the transaction, Sun Life will have an option to acquire the remaining interest in Bentall GreenOak approximately seven years from the closing. Sun Life Financial will also be acquiring the right to a portion of the GreenOak shareholders’ share of Bentall GreenOak net income in exchange for a fixed amount to be paid in quarterly installments. This will result in Sun Life Financial having the rights to approximately 90% of Bentall GreenOak earnings prior to the Company exercising its option to increase its ownership level.

 

“Combining Bentall Kennedy with GreenOak extends our capabilities in real estate investment solutions, in a complementary way and increases Sun Life Investment Management’s total assets under management to $75 billion,” said Steve Peacher, President, Sun Life Investment Management. “Bringing together these two highly experienced teams provides a breadth of strategies and market reach which will uniquely position Bentall GreenOak to serve its Clients."

 

The common shareholders’ equity of Sun Life Financial will be reduced by approximately $730 million when the transaction closes, from the establishment of a liability reflecting the present value of the expected settlement price on the purchase of the remaining interest of Bentall GreenOak2. The ultimate settlement price will reflect the success of the combined Bentall GreenOak entity.

 

The transaction is expected to be accretive to underlying earnings per share and return on equity in 2019 by $0.04 and 60 bps, respectively3. The transaction will be financed through surplus cash, resulting in a reduction of one point in the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) ratio of Sun Life Financial (no impact on the LICAT ratio of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada). The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

 

Berkshire Global Advisors served as financial advisor and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as legal advisor to Sun Life.

 

Slides related to this announcement are available at www.sunlife.com

 

Note to Editors: All figures in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

 

Forward-looking information

 

In this news release, “the Company”, "we", "our" and "us" refer to Sun Life Financial Inc. and its subsidiaries and joint ventures. Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking, including but not limited to, statements relating to: (i) our growth strategies and strategic objectives, (ii) the expected timing of the closing of the transaction, (iii) the expected source of funding, (iv) the expected increase in the assets under management of Sun Life Investment Management, (v) the expected impact of the transaction on our underlying earnings per share and return on equity, shareholders’ equity and LICAT ratio, and (vi) other statements that are not historical or are predictive in nature or that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions. Forward-looking statements may also include words such as "aim", "anticipate", "assumption", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "goal", "intend", "may", "objective", "outlook", "plan", "project", "seek", "should", "initiatives", "strategy", "strive", "target", "will" and similar expressions. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of applicable Canadian securities laws and of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

 

The forward-looking statements in this news release represent our current expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events and are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and are based on key factors and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including the assumption that the transaction, including the terms of the transaction, will be approved and completed on terms acceptable to the parties, or at all, and the assumption that Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak will be successfully integrated. The forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any non-recurring or other special items or of any dispositions, mergers, acquisitions, other business combinations or other transactions that may be announced or that may occur after December 19, 2018. If any non-recurring or other special item or any transaction should occur, the financial impact could be complex and the effect on our operations or results would depend on the facts particular to such item and we cannot describe the expected impact in a meaningful way or in the same way we could present known risks affecting our business. The forward-looking statements contained in this presentation describe our expectations, estimates and projected future events as at December 19, 2018. Except as may be required by Canadian securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this news release.

 

Forward-looking statements are presented for the purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding our expected financial position and results of operations as at the date of this news release, as well as our objectives for the transaction, strategic priorities and business outlook following the transaction, and in obtaining a better understanding of our anticipated operating environment following the transaction. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements may not be appropriate for other purposes and undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements.

 

The following are transactional risk factors that could have a material adverse effect on our forward-looking statements: (1) the ability of the parties to complete the transaction; (2) failure of the parties to obtain necessary consents and approvals or to otherwise satisfy the conditions to the completion of the transaction in a timely manner, or at all; (3) our ability to realize the financial and strategic benefits of the transaction; (4) failure to effectively or efficiently reorganize the operations of Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak after the transaction has closed; and (5) the impact of the announcement of the transaction and the dedication of Sun Life Financial’s resources to completing the transaction on Bentall Kennedy and GreenOak. These risks all could have an impact on our business relationships (including with future and prospective employees, Clients, distributors and partners) and could have a material adverse effect on our current and future operations, financial conditions and prospects. Other important risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements in this news release are listed in the annual information form of Sun Life Financial Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2017 under the heading "Risk Factors" and other regulatory filings filed or furnished to Canadian and U.S. securities regulators available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

 

About Sun Life Financial

 

Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of September 30, 2018, Sun Life Financial had total assets under management of $984 billion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com.

 

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

 

About Sun Life Investment Management

 

Sun Life Investment Management comprises Sun Life Institutional Investments (Canada) Inc. and Bentall Kennedy (Canada) Limited Partnership in Canada, and Prime Advisors Inc., Ryan Labs Asset Management and Bentall Kennedy (U.S.) Limited Partnership in the United States.

 

These operations have combined third-party assets under management of $61 billion as of September 30, 2018. Sun Life Investment Management is supported by the investment division of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada that manages $146 billion in assets under management for the Sun Life Financial group of companies as of September 30, 2018.

 

1 Value add and core plus strategies typically involve properties that have in-place cash flows, but have the potential to increase that cash flow over time by making improvements to, or repositioning the property.

 

2 The transaction includes a put option that entitles the minority owners of Bentall GreenOak to sell their 44% interest to Sun Life approximately 8.5 years from the close of the transaction.

 

3 Accretion amounts represent estimated full year impacts. Actual accretion will be subject to a number of factors, including the anticipated timing of the closing of the transaction.

 

 
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SES Successfully Placed EUR 400 Million Multi-Tranche Schuldschein Loan

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Business Wire India

SES S.A., the world’s leading satellite operator, has completed the syndication of Schuldschein Loans for a total amount of EUR 400 million, comprising a EUR 150 million 5.5-year floating tranche at Euribor 6 months plus 0.80% and a EUR 250 million 7-year fixed rate tranche with a coupon of 1.71%. SES is rated Baa2/BBB- (both with stable outlook).

 

The Schuldschein loan was upsized from the initially marketed size and was placed with several European and Asian institutions. The proceeds will support SES’ general corporate purposes and the refinancing of existing debt maturities which include a USD 500 million 144A bond with a coupon of 2.5% and a final maturity date of 25 March 2019.

 

Andrew Browne, Chief Financial Officer of SES, commented: “We are pleased to have secured this financing at very attractive terms and expanding our investor base while extending our debt maturity profile, where we now have no further senior debt maturities to be financed until early 2020.”

 

BNP Paribas, ING Bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen acted as joint arrangers of this Schuldschein transaction.

 

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About SES

 

SES is the world’s leading satellite operator with over 70 satellites in two different orbits, Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). It provides a diverse range of customers with global video distribution and data connectivity services through two business units: SES Video and SES Networks. SES Video reaches over 351 million TV homes, through Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms and cable, terrestrial, and IPTV networks globally. The SES Video portfolio includes MX1, a leading media service provider offering a full suite of innovative services for both linear and digital distribution, and the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest DTH television reach in Europe. SES Networks provides global managed data services, connecting people in a variety of sectors including telecommunications, maritime, aeronautical, and energy, as well as governments and institutions across the world. The SES Networks portfolio includes GovSat, a 50/50 public-private partnership between SES and the Luxembourg government, and O3b, the only non-geostationary system delivering fibre-like broadband services today. Further information is available at: www.ses.com

 

 

 

 

Get a Vivo Smartphone by Paying Only INR 101

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Business Wire India
New Phone, New You
New Phone, New You

Vivo India, today announced an exclusive offline offer ‘New Phone, New You’ to celebrate the Christmas and New Year festivities. The 41 days offer period starts from December 20th 2018 – January 31st 2019 across all partner outlets pan India. With this offer**, customers can buy any Vivo smartphone above the value of INR 10,000* by making an immediate payment of INR 101 and paying the total amount in 6 equal EMIs.
 
Steps to avail this offer:
  1. Visit any of the 45,000+ Vivo-BFL mapped partner stores
  2. Carry your basic KYC document (PAN Card, Voter ID card, Aadhar Card etc.)
  3. Select your favourite Vivo device (*NEX, V11, V11 Pro, Y95, Y83 Pro, Y81-4G)
  4. Pay an upfront fee of INR 101 and submit your KYC documents to the retailer
  5. The device MOP will be divided into 6 equal EMI’s as per the scheme construct
  6. Go home and enjoy your new Vivo device
Besides the above-mentioned offer, Vivo is also providing:
  • HDFC ZERO Down Payment offer with additional 5% Cashback on Credit/Debit cards EMI transactions, Credit card regular transactions and with HDFC CD paper finance
  • HDB ZERO Down Payment offer for 6 month EMI**
Commenting on the launch, Jerome Chen, Senior Vice President, Vivo India said, “We are excited to bring attractive offers for consumers across India, as we get ready for Christmas and 2019. The ‘New Phone, New You’ offer has been specially curated to provide exciting propositions to our consumers that want to enter the New Year with a new Vivo device. With the New Year round the corner, we at Vivo wish to bring happiness to our customers and make Vivo buying experience a delight.”
 
Vivo has introduced a simple yet innovative financing option in partnership with Bajaj Finance, HDFC, HDB and Capital First to ensure availability of Vivo smartphones for everyone.
 
**Terms and Conditions
  • Campaign period to be  from 20th Dec 2018 to 31st Jan 2019
  • Offer available across India on Vivo approved BFL mapped stores only
  • Customer can purchase any Vivo device (with MOP above 10k) by paying an upfront fee of INR 101
  • The device MOP will be divided into 6 EMI’s as per the scheme construct
  • This offer is available only on purchases made through Bajaj Finance Ltd.
  • The upfront charge of INR 101 will be over and above the MOP
  • Offer cannot be availed with normal EMI offers
  • Vivo smartphones are available with other EMI options also
  • HDFC cashback will be posted after 90 days of successful 3 EMI payment
  • Processing fees of INR 399 would be charged with HDB and HDFC paper finance
  • BFL and Vivo reserves the right to withdraw/ modify this campaign as per the company requirements
About Vivo India

Vivo, a premium global smartphone brand, entered India in late 2014. With a strong focus on "Camera and Music", Vivo has established itself as one of the top smartphone brands in India. Manufacturing in Greater Noida, the company has a robust distribution network across the country both online and offline, catering the best in class quality services to over 539 cities, in 27 states and 5 union territories backed by more than 550 service centres in India. The organization is dedicated to the pursuit of perfection and is continuously creating surprises for users through constant innovation. Through smartphones, Vivo offers users a professional-grade photography solution, taking mobile photography to the level of an art form, witnessing and recording all of life’s beautiful moments.

Dalal Street Investment Journal Launches "PSU Compendium 2018"

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Business Wire IndiaDalal Street Investment Journal’s (DSIJ) Managing Director, Rajesh V Padode, announced the launch of the “PSU Compendium 2018”, an annual compendium on Indian Public sector enterprises - The Building Blocks of the Country. The issue has been made available on 10th December 2018. The compendium has a strong distribution among key stake holders in the Indian PSU fraternity and has longer shelf life of more than one year.
 
This coveted annual compendium is yet another effort of DSIJ family to give much more exposure to PSUs which includes Finance, Insurance, Listed & Unlisted companies, and give information about their performance to investors, policy makers, bureaucrats and common man so that they can take informed decision about them. This annual publication will put forward the real performance of PSUs in a very lucid, concise and logical manner so that it can be used by many people as a ready reckoner for PSU and PSU banks as well. The effort in releasing this product would prove beneficial for various stakeholders of the PSUs and will make it an interesting read.
 
Dalal Street Investment Journal always remained to be the torchbearer of the media fraternity that always regards the performances of these Kohinoors of Modern India at a high pedestal and building a positive perception about them at the bourses and on ground as well.
About DSIJ
 
Starting off as a 12-page cyclostyled stapled booklet in 1986, Dalal Street Investment Journal (DSIJ), the flagship product of the company, soon began to be looked upon as the gospel of stock market investing. At a time when quality financial and guidance was rare, the company (DSIJ) pioneered many firsts; to cater to the fast growing investor base of India. Over the years, its primary publication and other products have helped investors create and protect their wealth in the most meaningful manner, guiding both new investors and the experienced ones, not to forget the established traders, to choose the right stocks, avoid pitfalls and reap the benefits of high tides in the vast ocean of equity investments. It is this vast experience, study and toughening during all kinds of scams and markets ups and downs that gives DSIJ an unbiased balanced insight about the several unfolding events without getting swayed by temporary and misleading populous excitement.
 
To learn more about the company and services offered please visit: http://www.dsij.in
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