Online lender Avant Inc raises $659mn from JPMorgan, PE firms

Chicago-based start-up lender Avant Inc has mobilized $325millions in its latest round of funding from a private equity (PE) firm General Atlantic and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Balyasny Asset Management and Tiger Global Management LLC are also investing in the round taking total fund-raising for Avant to $659mn till date. General Atlantic-led round is expected to close in October. With this fund-raising, the valuation of Avant is pegged at $1billion. The start-up firm is planning to use the mobilized funds to offer various financial products and fund its global expansion plan.


Barrick Gold Corp buys back part of outstanding debt

As part of its debt reduction exercise, the world's largest bullion producer Barrick Gold Corp has offered to buy back some part of its outstanding debt. Despite the drop in gold prices, The Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp has been selling assets.

Comcast to acquire majority stake in Universal Studios Japan

Comcast Corp. is getting a 51% stake in Universal Studios Japan Co. The US cable company has announced its NBCUniversal unit will pay Goldman Sachs and other owners of USJ Co. $1.5 billion for the majority stake.

Amazon's Kindle Fire HD 10 fails to impress users except for the wide screen

Amazon just unveiled their latest gadget, the Amazon Fire HD 10. It is the widest tablet offered by Jeff Bezos's company and it comes with a price tag far cheaper than any other high-end tablet by another manufacturer at $229.


Latest News

The Asian market open lower on Tuesday as investors start to weigh in again the possibilities of a weak economy sign in China. The market fell to its three-week low and is raising concern in the U.S too causing a substantial loss in the Wall Street.
As part of its new strategy, Microsoft Corporation will announce quarterly results under the three new headers based on operating a segment-wise business. The global software major has devised a rearranging system for financial results by restructuring business into three operating segments.
After exiting the smartphone business in 2005, Japanese electronics major Panasonic is making a comeback in this segment and has prepared business plans to bolster sales volume for reaching the target of $2-billion revenues in next three years.
Feeling the heat over the China's economy slowing down, Kobe Steel Ltd has reduced its profit target by 58 percent for its construction machinery unit Kobelco Construction Machinery.
NASA is gearing up the Orion heat shield for its first space mission, the EM-1, in 2018. The new heat shield must survive extreme temperatures upon its travel to space.
The Dallas-based Energy Transfer Equity LP has decided to buy Williams Cos in a $32.6-billion deal. The acquisition will pave the way for developing a huge 100,000 miles network of natural gas pipelines in the US.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the Doha-based sovereign wealth fund of the world's richest nation by per capita income manages over $300 billion, has opened its office in New York and earmarked $35-billion investment over next five years in the US business opportunity.
The slump business in the mining industry had led Caterpillar to reduce its revenue expectation for this year. The latest revenue projection is $48 billion which is 25 percent lower compared to the last 4 years. The reduction means not only the company will suffer, but its heavy machinery parts supplier is feeling the effects too.
Australia - Vocus Communications will purchase M2 Group for A$1.93B. The merging will be completed in 2016. Vocus Communications Ltd. had come up with an agreement to purchase M2 Group for A$1.93B, that's US$1.35B worth. The deal will be the country's biggest acquisition in the telecom industry in four months, Bloomberg reported.
The recent scandal that Germany faces has revealed the loose sanctions that its government has for the German automobile industry, what with the latter being the nation's poster child with its combined contribution of 413 billion euros revenue from the three biggest carmakers: Volkswagen, BMW, and Daimler in 2014 alone. Whether it is justifiable or not has raised a moral issue argued upon these days with "just how many lives have perished because of this?" as the primary argument.
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