In yet another major development, Amazon has made a formal offer to buy 60 per cent stake in Indian e-commerce major Flipkart

Xiaomi officially files for Hong Kong IPO to raise a reported US$10 billion

Xiaomi’s much-speculated IPO process has kicked off officially after the Chinese smartphone giant filed to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The first draft of its filing does not include proposed financial details of its listing, but the South China Morning Post reports that the eight-year-old company is shooting to raise US$10 billion at a valuation of US$100 billion.

Beyond the year’s largest IPO — and the world’s largest raise since Alibaba in New York in 2014 — the listing could make Xiaomi China’s third largest technology company based on market cap.

Amazon offers to buy 60 per cent in Flipkart [CNBC-TV18]

Amazon has emerged as new contender for Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart. The global e-tailer has made a formal offer to buy a 60 per cent stake in Flipkart on Monday, sources said.

Amazon’s offer is likely to be on par with Walmart’s bid for the Indian company. The giant is also seeking a non-compete agreement with Flipkart’s founders, according to the sources.

The Amazon bid offers a breakup fee of US$2 billion, while the Walmart offer includes the buyout of over 80 per cent stake.

The company, helmed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, said it does not offer comments on rumours and speculations.

Walmart proposed to retain Flipkart’s current structure, while Amazon has made not such details known. Walmart is expected to gain three to four seats on Flipkart’s ten-member board.

Walmart has said it will retain the management team of Flipkart including CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

SC calls for applications for US$254M VC fund [New Straits Times]

The Securities Commission (SC) has called upon venture capital (VC) management companies to apply for the RM1 billion (US$254 million) fund committed by major institutional investors, as announced in the Budget 2018.

The Venture Capital Fund Co-ordination Committee, comprising senior representatives from major institutional investors and chaired by SC, has been established to co-ordinate the assessment and selection process of potential submissions by VC management companies.

SC said the committed amount will be invested into early to late stage private companies, with strong preference towards selected sectors including government promoted sectors such as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Biotechnology.

To be eligible for consideration, SC said applicants, both local and foreign, must be registered with the SC and demonstrate, among other criteria, experience and expertise in managing VC investments.

Information on the criteria and submission process is outlined in the Request for Proposal available for download from the SC’s website.

MyRepublic and StarHub form MVNO partnership [press release]

MyRepublic announced today that the company has formed a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partnership with StarHub.

The agreement will enable MyRepublic to utilise StarHub’s mobile network infrastructure to offer mobile services in Singapore.

MyRepublic first announced its intentions to launch mobile services in 2015, and later that year attracted over 50,000 registrations of interest for the MyRepublic HetNet Mobility Trial in Jurong.

“We made a promise and we want to stand by that promise,” said Malcolm Rodrigues, MyRepublic CEO. “We promised that MyRepublic would bring a better kind of mobile service to Singapore, and we believe we can still do that. And we definitely want to thank our friends and supporters for believing in us.”

Cambridge Analytica and British parent shut down after Facebook scandal [Reuters]

Cambridge Analytica, the firm embroiled in a controversy over its handling of Facebook Inc user data, and its British parent SCL Elections Ltd, are shutting down immediately after suffering a sharp drop in business, the company said on Wednesday.

The company will begin bankruptcy proceedings, it said, after losing clients and facing mounting legal fees resulting from the scandal over reports the company harvested personal data about millions of Facebook users beginning in 2014.

“The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers,” the statement said.

“As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the company into administration.”

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