Asia

Insurers, insurance asset managers expect a wave of M&A activity to hit Singapore and Hong Kong in 2024, says Clearwater Analytics

Insurers and insurance asset managers are expecting a wave of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity to hit Singapore and Hong Kong in 2024, as the region echoes the wider global industry trend towards consolidation, Clearwater Analytics said Tuesday.

Hong Kong’s Klook raises $210M in funding led by Bessemer Venture

Klook, the Hong Kong-based platform for experiences and travel services, announced Thursday that it has successfully completed a $210 million financing, supporting business growth and fortifying financial stability. The equity round is led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from BPEA EQT, Asia investment funds Atinum Investment and Golden…

UK-IFC’s MAGC receives $45M in funding expansion to support green construction practices in emerging economies

The United Kingdom Government has announced an expansion of funding for climate projects, including the UK-IFC Market Accelerator for Green Construction (MAGC) Program, to significantly elevate green construction practices in over 20 emerging and developing economies. This expansion will provide an additional £36 million ($45.15 million) to the program.

Demand for AI roles is expected to increase in 2024, says Glints

The demand for artificial intelligence (AI) roles is expected to increase in 2024, with top three roles being sought after are artificial intelligence (AI) engineer, AI mentor or trainer, data scientist and analyst, Southeast Asia talent platform Glints said in a report on Tuesday.

SoftBank buys 51 percent stake in car software firm Cubic Telekom for $512M

Japanese telecommunications and information technology (IT) firm SoftBank Corp. has inked deal to acquire 51 percent stake in Dublin-based car software firm Cubic Telekom Ltd. for approximately EUR 473 million ($512 million).

CoreEL Technologies secures $16M funding from 360 ONE Asset

360 ONE Asset Management Limited (formerly known as IIFL Asset Management Limited) (360 ONE AMC) has committed to invest $16 million in CoreEL Technologies (India) Private Limited (CoreEL), an India-based technology development, systems engineering and products manufacturing company focusing on aerospace and defence segment.

Queensland Investment Corporation sets up Singapore office to boost partnerships across Asia

Queensland government-owned investment firm Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) has expanded its international presence with a new Singapore office established to support a greater focus on Asian-based institutional investors.

Singapore skyline SGX SPAC

ACP, IFC, MAS and Temasek establish green investments partnership in Asia

Allied Climate Partners (ACP), International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Temasek announced today the intent to establish a green investments partnership to address climate finance gaps and increase the bankability of green and sustainable projects in Asia, with an initial focus on Southeast Asia.

Alibaba Cloud open-sources more LLMs with diverse sizes and multimodal features

Alibaba Cloud has open-sourced two large language models (LLM), Qwen-72B and Qwen-1.8B, the 72-billion-parameter and 1.8-billion-parameter versions of its proprietary foundation model Tongyi Qianwen, on its artificial intelligence (AI) model community ModelScope, and the collaborative AI platform Hugging Face.

Axiata concludes sale of Ncell, exits Nepal

Malaysian multinational telecommunications conglomerate Axiata Group Berhad has announced that it had entered into an unconditional sale and purchase agreement with Spectrlite UK Limited for the sale of Reynolds Holding Limited which owns approximately 80 percent equity stake in Ncell Axiata Limited (Ncell).