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Asia-Pacific: Google closes HTC deal; SoftBank buys into Line Mobile

S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a biweekly wrap-up of Asia-Pacific media and communications deal announcements, completions and updates from Jan. 22 to Feb. 3.

TOP NEWS

* Google Inc. on Jan. 30 said it closed its deal to buy part of HTC Corp.'s smartphone business, allowing the Alphabet Inc. unit to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region.

* SoftBank Group Corp. will acquire a 51% stake in Line Mobile as part of a partnership with the latter's parent company Line Corp., according to a Jan. 31 announcement. The transaction is anticipated to be completed by March.

* FUJIFILM Holdings Corp. on Jan. 31 confirmed reports that Xerox Corp. will be combined with their longstanding joint venture Fuji Xerox. FUJIFILM now owns 75% of Fuji Xerox, which will buy back that stake from FUJIFILM for around US$6.1 billion, using bank debt, Reuters reported Jan. 31. FUJIFILM will use the proceeds to purchase 50.1% of new Xerox shares. The deal is expected to be completed around July to August.

* Toshiba Corp. closed the sale of its claims against its bankrupt U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC to a consortium led by Baupost Group LLC for US$2.16 billion, boosting its capital by about ?410 billion and allowing the company to remain listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Reuters reported Jan. 22.

TECHNOLOGY

* Tencent Holdings Ltd. affiliate Shenzhen Tencent Puhe Ltd. Partnership Enterprise (Ltd. Partnership) will acquire 5.31% of Chinese menswear maker Heilan Home Co. Ltd. for 2.5 billion yuan, or 10.48 yuan per share, the Shanghai-listed Heilan said Feb. 3.

* Tours4fun, Ctrip.com International Ltd.'s online travel booking business unit, on Feb. 2 said it purchased India's Travstarz Global Group. Terms were not disclosed.

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Feb. 1 said it agreed to acquire a 33% equity stake in Ant Financial Services Group.

* Monster Worldwide Inc. on Jan. 31 said it agreed to sell its Asia-Pacific business to Quess Corp. Ltd., an integrated business services provider in India.

* Fujitsu Ltd. on Jan. 31 said it agreed to transfer a majority stake in its subsidiary Fujitsu Connected Technologies Ltd. and its new mobile device business unit to Polaris Capital Group Co. Ltd. Fujitsu will retain a 30% stake in Fujitsu Connected Technologies and a 19% share in Japan EM Solutions Ltd., a new company that will take over Fujitsu Peripherals Ltd.'s mobile device business.

* Wipro Ltd. unit Wipro LLC completed its US$9.9 million investment in marketing company Harte-Hanks Inc., according to a Jan. 30 statement. As part of the transaction, Wipro received preferred stock convertible into 16% of Harte-Hanks' outstanding common stock on a pre-closing basis, priced at 99.1 cents per share of common stock.

MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

* Bharti Airtel Ltd. on Feb. 1 said it completed its deal with Millicom International Cellular SA to acquire the entire stake in telecom operator Tigo Rwanda Ltd.

* PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk, or Telkom Indonesia, agreed to acquire a 30.4% stake in Hungarian mobile payment service provider Cellum Global Zrt, marking its foray into the financial technology industry, The Nikkei reported Jan. 31. The Indonesian telco's digital payments and advertising unit, MetraNet, will initially buy a 20.4% stake in Cellum Global for US$4 million, then purchase the remaining 10% for US$2 million.

* NTT Communications Corp. on Jan. 31 said that it bought the remaining shares in RagingWire Data Centers Inc. to take full ownership of the U.S. data center provider.

* Times Internet Ltd., the internet subsidiary of The Times of India, acquired a majority stake in South Korean app MX Player for about US$200 million, The Ken reported Jan. 24.

* Essel Holdings Ltd. sold its 1.44% stake, or 13.9 million shares, in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. for 8.3 billion Indian rupees through an open market transaction, Television Post reported Jan. 24.