Business Mergers Acquisition, Alibaba - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Alibaba Group

Explanation:
Chinese online retailer Alibaba Group opened its Australian and New Zealand headquarters in Melbourne on 4^th Feb 2017.

This marks its first expansion in the region as it seeks to tap growing global demand for products from the two countries.

The group's billionaire founder Jack Ma said he hoped the e-commerce giant would help Australian and New Zealand businesses expand.

There are more than 1,300 Australian and 400 New Zealand brands on Alibaba's Tmall and Tmall Global.

Alibaba Group's vision for the ANZ region is to build the entire operating infrastructure needed to enable local businesses to expand globally.

Further growth is planned in the areas of cloud computing, payments, digital entertainment and logistics.

Alibaba also signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia Post aimed at streamlining logistics between Australia and China.

It aims at developing the first Australian marketplace within Alibaba's Lazada eCommerce Network in Southeast Asia.

ANSWER: EID Parry (India)

Explanation:
Parrys Sugar Industries Ltd. will merge with EID Parry (India) Ltd. Parrys Sugar is a listed subsidiary of EID Parry.

• The board of EID Parry had already given its nod for the scheme of amalgamation.
• The merger, which will be subject to the approval of the shareholders and relevant regulatory authorities, will take retrospective effect from April 1, 2016, according to a company release.
• Shareholders of Parrys Sugar will receive two equity shares of Re.1 each of E.I.D. Parry for every 13 equity shares of Rs.10 each they hold.

ANSWER: Viral Shots

Explanation:
Times Internet Limited, digital arm of TOI Group has acquired micro-content app Viral Shots. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed. Viral Shots was founded by Kumar Apurva and Shalini Tewari with over 15 years of experience in mobile and internet space. Stories can be curated from 300 social destinations and web publications. Content shots will be presented in less than 60 words accompanied by picture and clocks roughly 100 million views in a month. App currently differentiated content in Hindu, English, Bengali and Telugu and shall be available in all major Indian languages at the close of 2016.

ANSWER: Nexidia

Explanation:
Israeli software service provider Nice Systems has agreed to purchase analytics firm Nexidia for USD 135 million in cash for expanding the growing analytics business. Deal will close in the first quarter of 2016 and the acquisition will be accretive to earnings on adjusted basis each year.

ANSWER: Loen Entertainment

Explanation:
Chat app operator Kakao Corp is all set to purchase control of South Korean top music streaming services provider Loen Entertainment for USD 1.57 billion in another push to find fresh revenue streams. Kakao has indicated it will buy 76.4% stake in Loen which owns music streaming service MelOn and talent agency with IU, a K Pop artist. The stake is being purchased partly by issuing USD 754 billion won worth of new shares to top Loen shareholders Affinity Equity Partners and SK Planet Co Ltd.

ANSWER: General Atlantic

Explanation:
US PE firm Blackstone Group LP has purchased a minority stake in India’s IBS Software for USD 170 million from shareholders including General Atlantic. IBS is a software company involved in diverse industries such as travel, hospitality, logistics and oil and gas. General Atlantic has been an investor in IBS since 2007. PE firm Blackstone has been looking for investment opportunities since acquisition of India operations of British outsourcing firm Serco for 250 million pounds, the largest acquisition in India by enterprise value.

ANSWER: Vodacom

Explanation:
Tata Communications said it will sell majority of its subsidiary Neotel's fixed line assets to Vodacom South Africa but will retain control of licences including spectrum. The deal was agreed to in May 2014. In dollar terms, the value of transaction at that time was around USD 676 million which has come down to USD 479 million due to depreciation in value of South African rand.

ANSWER: RealtyCompass

Explanation:
Online classifieds portal Quikr has acquired a real estate analytics platform RealtyCompass which enables customers and investors to be involved in the decision making process through provision of builder ratings and project analysis. RealtyCompass was founded in 2013 by N. Bhandari, S. Srinivasan and A. Mishra and will now be part of QuikrHomes.

ANSWER: Paytm

Explanation:
Online e-commerce and payments company Paytm has acquired Near.in in a consolidation in the local and home services market. With this acquisition, Gurgaon based Near.in is in line with the strategy of the payment company to strengthen online to offline play. Near.in has raised seed funding from well known entrepreneurs such as Anupam Mittal and vanish Vij.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
ADAG led RCom has agreed to sell its telecom tower and associated infrastructure to Tillman Global Holdings LLC and TPG Asia. RCom has 45,000 phone towers valued at about Rs. 22,000 crore and optic fibre assets worth another Rs. 8,000 crore, taking the total deal size to Rs. 30,000 crore. This marks the largest acquisition in the telecom space.