S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a roundup of recent investment deals and updates in the Asia-Pacific technology, media and communications sector.
TOP NEWS
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Nov. 29 priced its senior unsecured notes offering to raise up to US$7 billion in five tranches, with maturities ranging from nearly six years to 40 years. The offering is expected to close Dec. 6. Investor order for the Alibaba bonds reached US$41 billion, according to the London Financial Times.
* Xiaomi Inc. will invest up to US$1 billion in 100 startups in India over the next five years, Mint reported Nov. 20, citing CEO Lei Jun.
* Shanghai-based Orient Hontai Capital agreed to making a US$841 million debt investment in U.S. mobile marketing company AppLovin Corp. after the latter abandoned plans to sell a majority stake in Orient Hontai for US$1.4 billion, Reuters reported Nov. 21.
* Alibaba Group said Nov. 20 that it will invest HK$22.4 billion for a 36.16% stake in Chinese grocery store Sun Art to further push its offline retail in the food market.
STARTUP FUNDING
* South Korea's Naver Corp. said Nov. 29 that it invested in three local AI startups V.Do, DeepMedi and Alethio through its technology startup accelerator D Startup Factory.
* SoftBank Group Corp. may invest up to US$250 million in Bundl Technologies Pvt. Ltd., which owns food delivery startup Swiggy, with the Japanese conglomerate eyeing a significant minority stake, three people aware of the development told The Economic Times of India. Tencent Holdings Ltd. is also interested to invest nearly US$100 million, while Alibaba is also in talks with Swiggy for a potential investment, according to the Nov. 29 report.
* Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. held initial talks with Indian online marketplace Paytm Mall for leading an up to US$600 million financing round, two people privy to the deal discussions told Times News Network. SoftBank is likely to put around US$300 million into the service, the report said Nov. 28.
* Alibaba Group invested 1.5 billion Chinese yuan in AI startup SenseTime Group Ltd., Caijing reported Nov. 28, quoting insider sources. The artificial intelligence startup aims to raise about US$500 million in a QUALCOMM Inc.-led funding round expected to close in 2018.
* Chinese internet company NetEase Inc. participated in a US$200 million funding round for Niantic Inc., the creator of augmented reality game "Pokemon Go," The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 26.
* Chinese transport service Beijing Shouqi Group raised an additional 1.3 billion Chinese yuan from investors including Baidu, Inc. and smart electric vehicle maker NIO, the South China Morning Post reported Nov. 20.
CAPITAL INVESTMENTS
* Tokyo Disney Resort operator Oriental Land Co. Ltd. is planning to spend over ¥300 billion, or US$2.68 billion, to expand the theme park and has initiated discussions with U.S.-based Walt Disney Co., The Nikkei reported Nov. 30.
OTHER FUNDING
* Fujitsu Ltd. will invest roughly ¥2 billion in 1QB Information Technologies Inc., a Canadian quantum software firm, as the Japanese infotech company moves to market its own quantum computer, The Nikkei reported Nov. 29. Fujitsu will take a 9.3% stake in 1QBit.
* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. will set up a 1 billion Chinese yuan fund to encourage innovation from app developers, and expects to increase AI-based applications in 2018, Tencent News reported Nov. 29.
* The South Korean government said Nov. 28 that it allocated 5.235 trillion South Korean won for its 2018 national information technology project.
* Chinese AI startup SenseTime signed a strategic partnership with the Shanghai municipal government to invest not less than 6 billion Chinese yuan in the city in the next five years, Sina reported Nov. 27.
* Shanghai-based HUB Film is teaming up with U.S.-based Assembly Line Entertainment to set up a film fund that will invest in U.S.-Chinese co-productions, Variety reported Nov. 20.
