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US food delivery giant DoorDash raises $4.5 billion in above-range IPO

elean
2 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - DoorDash raised US$3.37 billion (S$4.5 billion) in an initial public offering (IPO) above its marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter. The San Francisco-based company sold 33 million shares on Tuesday (Dec 8) for US$102 each after marketing them for US$90 to US$95 each, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn't public yet. At that price, DoorDash has a fully diluted value of about US$38 billion, which includes employee stock options and restricted stock units. DoorDash's IPO is one of the largest US tech listings this year. The company is part of a cadre of consumer-facing, web-based businesses that are expected to go public in December - including home-rental platform Airbnb, which is set to price its IPO on Wednesday. Others include video-game company Roblox Corp, installment loans provider Affirm Holdings and ContextLogic, the parent of online discount retailer Wish. Food delivery start-up DoorDash has seized on the pandemic-fueled boom in demand for meals brought to your door, as well as investor exuberance over new stock listings as it moves ahead with its IPO. Revenue in the first nine months of ...

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Morning Briefing: Top stories from The Straits Times on Dec 9

aseanpr
2 minutes

Good morning! Here are our top stories to kick-start your Wednesday, Dec 9. Suspected Covid-19 case on Royal Caribbean cruise to nowhere, ship returns to Singapore mid-sail Guests have been told to remain in their rooms for the journey back. READ MORE HERE 3 bars and pubs to reopen for 2 months under nightlife sector pilot Strict measures will be in place, such as no live music and dancing. READ MORE HERE Singapore and China lay groundwork towards post-Covid-19 world with new agreements DPM Heng Swee Keat identified connectivity, digitalisation and sustainable development as increasingly critical areas for collaboration. READ MORE HERE More on this topic Related Story ST newsletters: Get alerts on the latest news Body of missing 41-year-old snorkeller found near Sisters' Island The man's wife said he had planned to snorkel for 30 minutes. READ MORE HERE Hosting WEF 'a feather in the cap' for Singapore: Experts The tourism and events sectors are expected to get a boost from the meeting. READ MORE HERE Children of divorced parents earn less than peers from intact families, more likely to be divorced: MSF study The study of more than 100,000 S'poreans found that their parents' divorce...

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GIC-backed Rede D’or valued at $29.4 billion in Brazil IPO

elean
2 minutes

SAO PAULO (REUTERS) - Rede D'or, Brazil's biggest hospital chain, was valued at 112.5 billion reais (S$29.4 billion) in an initial public offering priced on Tuesday (Dec 8), sources told Reuters and the company confirmed in a securities filing, placing it among Brazil's 10 biggest companies by market capitalisation. Both the company and its shareholders, which include Carlyle Group and Singapore state investor GIC and its founder's family, raised 11.4 billion reais in the offering, in the biggest IPO by a Brazilian company since 2013. The hospital chain plans to use the proceeds - roughly 8.4 billion reais - to build hospitals and acquire businesses, such as health insurance brokers and hospitals. Rede D'or, with 51 hospitals in Brazil, was founded in 1977 by Jorge Moll Filho as a laboratory. The company is still controlled by the Moll family. Rede D'or's successful IPO comes despite a hit to its business by the pandemic, which has reduced elective medical care. It reported revenue of 9.8 billion reais in the first nine months of 2020, in line with the same period a year earlier, but net income plunged more than 80% to 156.5 million reais. Both GIC and Carlyle sold a small portion ...

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Global investors keep pouring money into Asia’s red hot markets

elean
3 minutes

SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG) - Be it stocks, bonds or almost any other asset class, foreign cash is pouring into Asia on bets it will be fastest-growing region as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose to a record last week and a Bloomberg Barclays bond index is close to its highest in four years. The region's currencies are, on aggregate, the strongest since 2018 and commodities are also climbing. Little wonder when a Citigroup gauge of economic surprises in the region is at a level last seen in 2007. The positive aftermath of the US election, encouraging progress on vaccines, abundant liquidity and an "improving growth pulse" in Asia have driven demand for the region's assets, according to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) head of Asia research Khoon Goh. "We expect a controlled virus situation, improved global growth and ample liquidity to spur further inflows into the region," Mr Goh wrote in a note on Tuesday (Dec 8). "We expected continued strong inflows over the course of 2021, which will be supportive of Asia's asset markets." Investors added the most money to emerging-market exchange-traded funds since January last week and the...

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S&P 500, Nasdaq end at new records, extending rally

elean
3 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks finished in record territory again Tuesday (Dec 8) on enthusiasm over coronavirus vaccines and anticipation of stock offerings by Airbnb and DoorDash. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at all-time highs, with the S&P 500 up 0.3 per cent to 3,702.25 and the Nasdaq Composite Index up 0.5 per cent to 12,582.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4 per cent to close at 30,173.88. Sentiment has been boosted by major Covid-19 vaccine announcements that have lifted confidence about the potential for a strong economic recovery in 2021, and offset worries about the near-term pain as the US contends with soaring coronavirus case counts that have led to new restrictions. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday issued a positively-worded briefing document saying the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective, raising expectations the regulator is poised to grant emergency approval. Also Tuesday, AstraZeneca became the first Covid-19 vaccine maker to publish final-stage clinical trial data in a scientific journal, confirming the vaccine works in an average of 70 per cent of cases. Markets also have been cheered by the impe...

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Competition watchdog looking into cooperation between SIA and Vistara on flights to India

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2 minutes

SINGAPORE - Singapore's competition watchdog is seeking public feedback on whether a proposed cooperation between Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Vistara for flights to and from India could adversely affect passengers. The application for collaboration between the two airlines, submitted to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) in November, could merge 16 routes that the two airlines now ply separately, including flights from Singapore to Indian cities including Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Concerns that the reduction in flights could affect ticket prices and seat capacity can be submitted to the CCCS till Dec 21. Vistara is a joint venture between SIA and Indian company Tata Sons and began operating flights in 2019. The agreement between SIA and Vistara to work together on scheduling, pricing, selling, and marketing related to flights between Singapore and India was inked on Feb 13, before the coronavirus crippled the air industry. The CCCS said the two airlines argued that the cooperation is unlikely to distort competition on the 16 routes in question due to the many existing competitors already plying them. They said their passenger share, taken t...

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3-year Singapore-led study to look at impact of heat on migrant workers, soldiers and others

aseanpr
1 minute

SINGAPORE - Singapore is hot, hot, hot. But this does not mean nothing can be done about it. Local researchers keen to prove that the effects of heat can be tamed have embarked on a research project to study its impact on the health and work productivity of those with more physically intensive jobs here, such as migrant workers, soldiers and hawkers. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month Latest headlines and exclusive stories In-depth analyses and award-winning multimedia content Get access to all with our no-contract promotional package at only $0.99/month for the first 3 months* Subscribe now *Terms and conditions apply.

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NUS launches new interdisciplinary College of Humanities and Sciences

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - The National University of Singapore (NUS) on Tuesday (Dec 8) officially launched a new college that will house two of its oldest faculties - arts and social sciences, and science - and take in some 2,000 undergraduates. The College of Humanities and Sciences, which will admit its first cohort of students in August 2021, marks a major shift from the traditional way of learning in separate disciplines. Both faculties date as far back as 1929, and will continue to operate separately. Students will still graduate with a bachelor's honours degree in arts, social sciences or science within four years. But a key difference is that they will have to take 13 common modules in areas that cut across different fields of study, such as design thinking, artificial intelligence and scientific inquiry. Students will spend a third of their overall curriculum on such modules, which will focus on the intellectual approaches and connections across disciplines. Other topics include Asian studies, computational thinking and community and engagement. Students will also take two higher-level interdisciplinary modules of their choice. These aim to integrate knowledge across disciplines. With t...

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NTU to offer free Covid-19 testing for hall residents in Jan 2021

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2 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will be offering free Covid-19 testing for new and returning students staying in the university's halls. Testing will be conducted on weekdays between Jan 4 and 15 next year, said NTU on Monday (Dec 7) evening. In an e-mail from its president's office, NTU said that this move is part of the Government's efforts to expand the Covid-19 testing regimen to selected community groups. The university consulted the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health prior to this. "The testing of all hall residents would allow us to better monitor the prevalence of Covid-19 and contain any asymptomatic cases in the community quickly," said NTU. The communal living environment may pose an increased risk of community transmission, the university added. NTU said that all new and returning hall residents who do not exhibit Covid-19 symptoms and are not serving a quarantine order, stay-home notice or leave of absence are eligible for testing. It added that antigen rapid tests, which involve nasal swabbing, will be utilised. Those who test positive will be required to take another test - a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test - to confirm that they...

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CUSKIN, a Pioneering Cosmeceutical Company in Korea, Looks for Business Partners from Various Countries for the Expansion of Its Oem/Odm Business

pandora
3 minutes

Cheongju, Korea - CUSKIN Co., Ltd (CEO Hyun Chul Kim), which established CGMP plant in the life science complex located in Osong, Chungcheongbuk-do, is a dermatology cosmeceutical company that invests in R&D intensively, which is quite unusual for small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea. For the past 20 years, the company has devoted itself to continuous product development for the health and beauty of its consumers; it has been recognized by Korean and foreign consumers in terms of quality satisfaction and now it's actively expanding its partnerships with overseas companies as a leading cosmeceutical company. CUSKIN, which produces various cosmetics products through its own research and production along with its know-how, exports its products to more than 20 countries including Korea, Australia, China, Cyprus, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam. . CUSKIN runs 4 professional brands (Clean-Up, Dr. MK, CU Dr. Solution, CU Dr. Solution, and CU: Vitamin U) jointly researched and developed by Clean Up Dermatologist, the best Dermatologist in Korea, and other skin experts. Among them, a brand called Vitamin U which contains Vitamin U...

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Arrest warrant out for man who allegedly exposed himself in NUS library

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2 minutes

SINGAPORE - A warrant of arrest is out for a man accused of exposing his private parts and sexually stimulating himself in front of a woman at the science library of the National University of Singapore (NUS) on April 10 last year. Xiong Jiawei, now 28, was an NUS student when he allegedly committed the offence. The Singaporean was charged last year with insulting a woman's modesty. He could have been jailed for up to a year and fined if convicted of this offence. The charge has since been reduced to that of committing an obscene act in public, for which he can be jailed for up to three months and fined if convicted. The arrest warrant was issued on Oct 26 this year. It was not stated on the State Courts portal why the warrant was issued then. A review of the matter took place in chambers at the State Courts on Monday (Dec 7). Another review has been scheduled for June 7 next year as Xiong is on the run. In an earlier statement, the university said disciplinary sanctions, including suspension of candidature for two semesters and mandatory assessment by a psychiatrist, as well as mandatory counselling, had been imposed on Xiong. An NUS spokesman said: "The university takes a serious...

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Uber abandons pursuit of self-driving cars, sells unit to Aurora

elean
4 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Uber Technologies sold its self-driving car division to Aurora Innovation and took a stake in the start-up, pulling back from its vision for a fleet of autonomous taxis to focus on turning a quarterly profit next year after the pandemic crushed revenue. The deal will value Aurora at US$10 billion (S$13.4 billion), according to people familiar with the talks. In exchange for investing US$400 million in Aurora, Uber will get a 26 per cent ownership stake in the company. That number increases to 40 per cent when counting the stakes held by the employees and investors of Uber's autonomous driving division. Uber chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi and one other yet-to-be-named person representing Uber will join Aurora's board. The price tag is a comedown for Uber, whose self-driving division, Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), raised money last year at a US$7.25 billion valuation. The agreement with Aurora values the unit at just US$4 billion, following Uber's investment. The deal, expected to close during the first quarter, also guarantees that when Aurora releases its self-driving vehicles, they'll launch on Uber's network. Shares of Uber fell were mostly ...

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Nasdaq closes at record high as growth names get a lift

elean
4 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The Nasdaq closed at a record high on Monday (Dec 7) after investors moved into mega-cap growth stocks even as a new round of Covid-19 restrictions underscored the continuing economic impact of the pandemic on the United States. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced to close at a record, as several of its largest constituents, including Apple and Facebook Inc, rose. Still, a decline in names such as Alphabet and Microsoft kept major averages in check. Large cap growth stocks, which had underperformed value stocks in recent weeks as investors looked to names likely to benefit from a reopened economy, edged up 0.36% while value lost 0.56%. Authorities in California, the most populous state in the country, on Monday compelled much of its residents to close shop and stay at home the day after it reported a record 30,000-plus new coronavirus cases. Recent economic data indicating the economy has slowed as previous fiscal stimulus has dried up has highlighted the need for a new congressional relief package, with Friday eyed as a possible deadline when a funding measure for the government expires. "It is just kind of a waiting game, we are waiting to see if there is going to...

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Company brief: Ying Li International Real Estate

elean
2 minutes

Ying Li International Real Estate Chinese property developer Ying Li International Real Estate said its group chief executive and executive director Hu Bing was detained by the authorities in Beijing on Dec 4 "due to his involvement in suspected bribery". Mr Hu will cease as group CEO, executive director and a nominating committee member with immediate effect, the mainboard-listed firm said in a Singapore Exchange filing yesterday morning. During the interim period, the group CEO's duties will be temporarily undertaken by Dr Yang Haishan, a non-executive and non-independent director. Wirecard The Singapore authorities added three further fraud charges against the director of a local accounting firm in a case linked to disgraced German payments company Wirecard. R. Shanmugaratnam, a director of Citadelle Corporate Services, was charged with three counts of falsifying letters from Citadelle erroneously representing that the Singapore accounting firm held certain amounts of cash in escrow accounts. BLOOMBERG Japfa Agri-food company Japfa will sell 80 per cent of its South-east Asia-branded dairy business to affiliates of investment firms TPG and Northstar Group for US$236 million (S$3...

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5 things to know about SGFinDex

elean
4 minutes

Singaporeans can now view their funds and investments on a single online platform instead of having to visit each bank's or government agency's website, saving time and making their financial planning easier and more effective. This is made possible by the Singapore Financial Data Exchange, or SGFinDex, a free digital service unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat during his opening address at the Singapore FinTech Festival and Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology yesterday. "This is the world's first public digital infrastructure that allows a person to sign in using his national digital identity and provide consent to obtain his financial information from different financial institutions and government agencies," said Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies. "Such an approach to trusted data sharing - involving both innovation and conducive regulations - can potentially be applied in other areas and in other jurisdictions," he said. Here are five things to know about SGFinDex. 1. WHAT IS IT? SGFinDex is a digital infrastructure that rides on SingPass, Singapore's national digital identity system. It was developed by t...

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Climate change to pose risks to financial systems: MAS

elean
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Covid-19 pandemic, which has reduced the earnings of many companies and the incomes of numerous households, dominates daily news. Yet there is another long-term event that continues to present significant risk to financial systems and their customers, and that is climate change, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in its annual Financial Stability Review that was released last Tuesday (Dec 1). To address this, regulators and financial institutions need to assess how climate change will impact them, the authority added, noting that there is growing recognition of the risk to such attached to sustainability-related issues. "Climate change has become the defining challenge facing both present and future generations. From shifting weather patterns to rising sea levels, the risks posed by climate change are both multi-faceted and pervasive in their manifestation," it said. "The financial system plays a key role in catalysing this global response. Financial markets are pivotal in the allocation of capital and resources throughout the wider economy." It added that the financial system will be vital in enabling economies to make a successful transition to a more ...

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New MetaTrader 5 for Hedge Funds – fast and efficient infrastructure out of the box

pandora
5 minutes

LIMASSOL, CYPRUS - MetaQuotes Software, a leading software developer for brokers, banks and exchanges, has released a new MetaTrader 5 version for hedge funds. The platform offers a turnkey solution for mutual funds, prop trading and investment companies right out of the box. MetaTrader 5 Administrator allows creating a fund, swiftly configuring payouts and commissions, adding managers and opening trading accounts for investors. All calculations related to share values; profitability and payouts are performed automatically in real time. Fund clients are able to monitor their investments and buy additional shares directly from the MetaTrader 5 client terminal like ordinary traders. MetaTrader 5 makes fund creation simple Our platform saves start-up companies and brokers from the costs of deploying their own investment business infrastructure. MetaTrader 5 Administrator features all the necessary tools for arranging a fund and a prop company, including trading accounts, client groups, financial symbols and connection to exchanges. Organizational and legal issues of a business startup remain the client's only concern. One terminal for trading all symbols - a fund manager's dream come ...

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DouYin ecosystem’s monetization channels continue to expand and Joy Spreader (06988) will benefit as its important partner

pandora
4 minutes

HONG KONG, Dec 7, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Based on its luxurious cornerstone investors' lineup and 1,633-time oversubscription, the IPO of Joy Spreader (06988.HK) has been known as a resounding success. Joy Spreader's share price rose by approximately 75% in the first month after listing, making it one of the most eyecatching stocks in the Hong Kong capital market.With an increasing recognition by clients from a variety of industries, the sector of performance-based marketing campaigns is experiencing a rapid growth during recent years. As China's largest player in the market, Joy Spreader is therefore recognized because of its exuberance growth prospects and strong fundamentals.Comparing with most single-channel marketing companies, Joy Spreader is one of the few players with cross-platform capabilities. In addition to the mainstream information platforms, such as WeChat subscription accounts, the Company is also increasing its coverage of new content platforms, such as short video and live broadcast.According to ZhiTongCaiJing, a financial news app, DouYin, a creative short-video social application developed by Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd., recently permitted access of ...

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Simpleshow Video Maker Enables the Creation of Animated Explainer Videos within Microsoft Teams

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2 minutes

simpleshow, the global platform for digital products and services around explainer videos and communication tools, integrates its simpleshow video maker into Microsoft Teams. BERLIN, Germany - In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for simple solutions for digital collaboration is steadily increasing worldwide. simpleshow, the market leader for explainer videos, is now making its intelligent simpleshow video maker available as an app in the popular corporate collaboration platform Microsoft Teams. This integration enables users to create professional explainer videos directly from the Teams interface and share them with team members. Karsten Boehrs, CEO at simpleshow, explains: "Many of our customers, especially large corporate enterprises, now work with the platform provided by Microsoft. In recent months, the share of our digital customer meetings held in Teams has risen to 90%. We have therefore created the integration of our video maker into Microsoft Teams to make it even easier to create and use great videos in this environment". The simpleshow video maker supports users with the help of a proprietary AI-based technology to create animated videos for internal and ex...

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Ventilation duct at Nex mall fell due to accumulated water, says BCA after probe

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2 minutes

SINGAPORE - The collapse of the ventilation duct in a Nex mall cinema was due to "a significant amount of water" accumulating in the insulation material surrounding the duct. The investigation findings were released by the Building and Construction Authority in a statement on Monday (Dec 7), following the incident at a Shaw Theatres cinema hall on Aug 30 that left two moviegoers injured. The water accumulation was a result of "unforeseen excessive condensation over a sustained period", and its weight had overloaded the air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) dropper duct. This overloaded the brackets supporting the ACMV duct, causing it to give way. The acoustic material surrounding the duct typically serves to regulate the surface temperature around the duct to prevent water from forming due to condensation, and to insulate the noise caused by air travelling through the duct. Checks on other cinemas' ACMV systems and ducts had found no such excessive condensation, said BCA. A spokesman for Nex said in a statement on Monday that it will “continue to support and work closely with (its) tenant, Shaw Theatres, throughout the course of rectifications for the planned reopenin...