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Asia-Pacific: SoftBank acquires stake in Uber; Jio to buy RCom's wireless assets

S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of Asia-Pacific media and communications deal announcements, completions and updates from Dec. 11 to Jan. 5.

TOP NEWS

* As expected, SoftBank Group Corp. will acquire a 15% stake in Uber Technologies Inc. at a steep discount, after Uber investors and employees agreed to tender shares equal worth to about 20% of the company to a SoftBank-led investor group, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 28, 2017. Other members of the consortium including Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Dragoneer Investment Group, will own around 3% of Uber.

* India's Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio said Dec. 28, 2017, that it agreed to acquire Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications Ltd.'s wireless spectrum, tower, fiber and media convergence node assets.

* Walt Disney Co. reached a deal to buy an array of 21st Century Fox Inc.'s domestic and international assets, which include Fox's fast-growing STAR India Pvt. Ltd., Fox said Dec. 14, 2017.

TECHNOLOGY

* Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing Technology Co. Ltd. said Jan. 4 that it is acquiring Brazilian ride-hailing business 99.

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Ant Financial and MoneyGram terminated their merger agreement after a U.S. government committee rejected the proposed merger over national security concerns, MoneyGram said Jan. 2.

* New York Stock Exchange-listed Arrow Electronics Inc. said Jan. 2 that it agreed to acquire India-based eInfochips Ltd. The deal size is likely to be between US$300 million to US$325 million, an investment banker familiar with the situation told Mint.

* SoftBank Group said Dec. 27, 2017, that it completed its US$3.3 billion cash acquisition of Fortress Investment Group LLC.

* Infosys Ltd. on Dec. 22, 2017, completed a share repurchase program to buy back up to 130 billion Indian rupees worth of shares.

* Oracle Corp. agreed to buy ASX-listed cloud-based solution provider Aconex Ltd. in a A$1.6 billion deal, according to a Dec. 18, 2017, announcement.

* U.S.-based data center giant Equinix Inc. agreed to a nearly A$1.04 billion deal to buy Australian data center operator Metronode Group Pty. Ltd. from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, according to a Dec. 17, 2017, press release.

* Tencent and JD.com Inc. will invest about US$863 million in Chinese online discount retailer Vipshop Holdings Ltd., according to a Dec. 17, 2017, announcement. JD will spend US$259 million for a 5.5% stake in the company, while Tencent will invest US$604 million for a 7% stake.

MEDIA

* Dentsu Inc. subsidiary Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd. said Dec. 20, 2017, that it agreed to acquire 100% of U.S. digital media and marketing agency David Wood & Associates Inc.

* Dish TV India Ltd. said Dec. 15, 2017, that it received final government approval for the closing of its merger with Videocon d2h.

* Bharti Airtel Ltd. said Dec. 12, 2017, that it and another entity will sell a combined 20% in its direct-to-home arm Bharti Telemedia Ltd. to Warburg Pincus for US$350 million.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

* Bharti Airtel said Dec. 19, 2017, that it entered into a definitive agreement with Millicom International Cellular SA under which Airtel Rwanda will acquire the entire stake in Tigo Rwanda.

* NTT Docomo said Dec. 11, 2017, that it will repurchase 2.39% of its outstanding shares for ¥250 billion, with the majority coming from its parent company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., decreasing NTT's stake in the carrier unit to 61.4% from 63.32%.