Asia Pacific
Headlines
Rachika A Sahay joins HSA Advocates as Partner in the New Delhi office
Rachika A Sahay joins HSA Advocates as Partner to further strengthen the Projects, Energy and Infrastructure and Corporate practices. She will be operating out of the firm’s New Delhi office. Rachika has over a decade of experience in handling a broad range of deals in the energy sector. She also has diverse experience in handling corporate transactions...
Japanese firms step up overseas M&A
Number of deals hits record in first half as smaller companies get into the game With SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son taking the lead, Japanese companies have been engaging in mergers and acquisitions at record levels. Japanese corporations made 339 overseas mergers and acquisitions during the first half of the current Japanese fiscal year, the highest...
Investcorp adds Deepak Parekh to International Advisory Board
Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products, today announced that Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC Limited, Indian’s leading Financial Services conglomerate, has been appointment to Investcorp’s International Advisory Board. Mr Parekh has played a significant role in the development of the financial sector...
South Korea: Making up for lost time
After the impeachment of South Korea’s former president, Park Geun-hye, amid a far-reaching corruption scandal, the country was ready for change. South Korea’s new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, appears set to take on that challenge. Campaigning on a policy platform of job creation, corporate governance and labour market reforms, as well as promises...
Alibaba acquires majority stake In Indian ticketing startup TicketNew
Alibaba Pictures, the entertainment unit of China’s ecommerce major Alibaba Group, has acquired a majority stake in Chennai-based TicketNew for an undisclosed amount. Post-acquisition, Alibaba will have four representatives on TicketNew’s board and the firm’s promoters will have two of their representatives. TicketNew founder and CEO Ramkumar...
Finance
The leaders of the two Koreas put on another great performance
THE setting keeps changing; the pictures, not so much. Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s dictator, welcomed Moon Jae-in, the South’s president, to Pyongyang airport on September 18th for their third summit since April. As during the previous two, there were hugs and smiles galore. Some were reserved for the North Korean children who presented Mr Moon...
For many Asian leaders, elections are too pivotal to be left to voters
NEVER let anyone accuse President Abdulla Yameen of leaving things to chance. He was first elected to run the Maldives in 2013 by a wafer-thin margin—just 6,000 votes. The story of his time at the head of this atoll nation of 400,000 people spread over a vast expanse of the Indian Ocean has been one of determined entrenchment. It is a story about...
Kyrgyzstan resorts to radical tactics against radical Islamists
Careful what you read WHAT do a report on the mistreatment of migrant workers, a pamphlet from Hizb ut-Tahrir (an international group that wants an Islamic caliphate but disavows violence) and a Dutch film called “I am gay and Muslim” have in common? According to the authorities in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of 6m people, they are...
Far more Indians kill themselves than previously assumed
EARLIER this year a neighbour dropped by the Chundawats’ house in the northern suburbs of Delhi, wondering why his friend Lalit had not opened his nearby shop. When he let himself in the reason became clear. Everyone inside—11 people from three generations—was dead. Two brothers, their wives, a sister and their children dangled from the ceiling...
Japan’s prime minister has a lot to do in his last years in office
THE outcome was never really in doubt, just the margin—and in the end that proved comfortable too. This week Shinzo Abe won a third consecutive term as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), earning 69% of the vote in a ballot of the party’s members and MPs. Since the LDP has a big majority in parliament, that gives him three more years...
Legal
After Fintech, Singapore eyes Legaltech status
Singapore, a haven for disruptive fintech firms, is aiming to shake up Asia's legal sector next The Lion City will host Southeast Asia's first legaltech accelerator from April. The city-state's initiative aims to groom legaltech startups as well as incubate new business models or services conceived by law firms. Singapore's law academy has launched...
China updates New Industry Catalogue
PRC reduces regulatory procedures for foreign investments following its 2016 reforms. China creates a nationally applicable “negative list” for foreign investment, which opens up more industries for multi-national companies.Foreign Investments Filing Administrative Rules will be updated and published soon by the Ministry of Commerce to clarify...
Proposals to make free movement of data a principle of EU law expected this autumn
Ansip said proposed new EU legislation to tackle unnecessary restrictions on where data can be stored are likely to be published this autumn.The proposals will also look to make it easier for businesses to move their data between rival cloud providers and ensure that public sector bodies can access data held by authorities in another EU country to help...
New advertising standards in the UK to take tougher stance on gender stereotypes
The new standards will be drawn up by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), according to a new report on gender stereotypes in advertising (64-page / 5.4MB PDF) published by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the watchdog that oversees compliance with UK advertising rules.The CAP will also look to "clarify standards that reflect the ASA‘s...
BREXIT: Scottish government calls for protection of devolved powers
Minister for negotiations on Scotland’s place in Europe Michael Russell wrote to all MSPs asking them for full backing of the Scottish government's position. The move comes after the UK government published the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill on Thursday last week.Russell said the Scottish government had “serious concerns about the bill in a number...
Deals
Japan heading for biggest M&A spree in the U.S.
Japan is on track this year for its biggest acquisition spree in the US as advisers tell chief executives to pounce on deals while Chinese companies are hampered by trade war tensions. The advice of bankers and lawyers to accelerate US-targeted deals has intensified over recent months in line with both the surge in trade war rhetoric and the perception...
Asia-Pacific predicted to continue to dominate M&A activity In H2 2018
Intralinks has issued its Deal Flow Predictor for the fourth quarter of 2018. In the second half of the year, growth in the global number of announced deals will resume (after a first-half pause) at roughly 7% year over year. The strongest growth in announcements will come from technology (Intralinks calls this the TMT sector because tech includes...
HNA turns M&A norms around again
Everyone used to want to be on the sell side; now they want to be on the buy side.In recent months, there has been a new game in Hong Kong investment banking called ‘Distance yourself from HNA’. It is easy to play. On the way up, everyone wanted to advise HNA, the acquisitive-though-opaque Chinese conglomerate whose big holdings include stakes in...
The Morning Leverage: Brookfield Raises at Least $3.38B for Restructuring Fund
A roundup of private equity-related news.Read More
The Morning Leverage: EIG Global Energy Caught by Breitburn’s Liquidity Woes
A collection of private equity-related news from across the Web.Read More
Acq Lite
ITV renews 'Unforgotten' for a fourth season
Sept. 22 (UPI) -- ITV has ordered a fourth season of Unforgotten, its cold-case, police drama starring Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar. Series creator Chris Lang penned the six new episodes and Andy Wilson is set to direct. "I am so delighted to have been asked to make a fourth series of Unforgotten. The reaction to Series 3 was better than I could...
Paul McCartney tops Billboard 200 for first time since 1982 with 'Egypt Station'
Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Rock 'n' roll icon Paul McCartney's Egypt Station is the No. 1 album in the United States. The album was McCartney's first to top the Billboard 200 chart since Tug of War in 1982. Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Saturday is Eminem's Kamikaze, followed by Lauren Daigle's Look Up Child at No. 3, Russ' Zoo at No....
Sam Smith cancels iHeartRadio performance
Sept. 22 (UPI) -- British singer-songwriter Sam Smith canceled his scheduled set at Friday's iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas. "Dear all, Due to unforeseen circumstances which transpired after rehearsal, it became clear that I'm sadly unable to perform at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Vegas tonight. I am so so sorry about this and I want...
'Saturday Night Live' hires Ego Nwodim as featured player
Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Comedian Ego Nwodim has been named a featured player for Season 44 of Saturday Night Live in New York, NBC announced. A graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in biology, Nwodim has been a regular cast member at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles where she performed her one-woman show, Great Black Women ... and...
Paul McCarney tops Billboard 200 for first time since 1982 with 'Egypt Station'
Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Rock 'n' roll icon Paul McCartney's Egypt Station is the No. 1 album in the United States. The album was McCartney's first to top the Billboard 200 chart since Tug of War in 1982. Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Saturday is Eminem's Kamikaze, followed by Lauren Daigle's Look Up Child at No. 3, Russ' Zoo at No....