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A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. The IPO raised $4.87 billion for SoftBank based on 95.5 million shares sold. It infers a valuation on Arm on a fully diluted basis of $54.5 billion, making it the largest stock market debut since electric car maker Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) in 2021. Arm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reporting by Echo Wang and Anirban Sen in New York Editing by Greg RoumeliotisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Greg Roumeliotis Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, Rivian Automotive Inc, Thomson Locations: New York

A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Yet even with this lower valuation, SoftBank fares better than its $40 billion deal to sell Arm to Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), which it abandoned last year amid opposition from antitrust regulators. Arm priced its IPO at $51 per share, at the top of its indicated range, raising $4.87 billion for SoftBank based on 95.5 million shares sold, the company said on Wednesday. Weak mobile demand during a global economic slowdown has caused Arm's revenue to stagnate. Sales in China contributed 24.5% of Arm's $2.68 billion revenue in fiscal 2023.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Sandra Maler, Greg Roumeliotis, Richard Chang Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, SoftBank Group Corp, Nvidia Corp, Reuters, Apple, Nvidia, Devices, Intel, Samsung Electronics, stagnate, Sales, Thomson Locations: New York, China, United States

☆ Country Garden gets maturity extension approval for one more onshore bond - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The company logo of Chinese developer Country Garden is pictured at the Shanghai Country Garden Center in Shanghai, China August 9, 2023. Shares in Country Garden, China's largest private property developer, jumped as much as 14% in Hong Kong on Wednesday. A Country Garden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the maturity extension of the bond. Before the latest voting to extend the maturities of eight onshore bonds, Country Garden managed to avoid default at the last minute twice earlier this month, bringing some relief to the battered property sector. Of those eight Country Garden bonds, maturity extensions for six have been approved, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

Persons: Aly, Ting Meng, Shuyan Wang, Jing Bian, Xie Yu, Sumeet Chatterjee, Tom Hogue Organizations: Shanghai Country Garden, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Garden, Country Garden, ANZ, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Rights BEIJING, HONG KONG, HK, Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ Country Garden secures bondholder reprieve, sources say; shares soar
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Country Garden did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The latest voting came after Country Garden on Sept. 1 gained approval from creditors to extend payments by three years for a 3.9 billion yuan ($533 million)onshore private bond. Country Garden, one of the few large Chinese developers that has not defaulted on debt obligations, has faced liquidity pressure with reduced available funds as sales plunged, its interim financial statements showed. It has 108.7 billion yuan ($14.9 billion) of debts due within 12 months, while its cash level are around 101.1 billion yuan as of end-June, according to the company's interim financial statement. Any default by Country Garden would exacerbate the country's spiralling real estate crisis, put more strain on its struggling banks and could delay the recovery of not only the property market, but the overall Chinese economy.

Persons: Shuyan Wang, Jing Bian, Xie Yu, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Jamie Freed Organizations: HK, Mainland Properties, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, BEIJING, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai

☆ China 2023 GDP growth forecast cut to 5.0%, 4.5% in 2024 - Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Vivek Mishra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"The primary culprit is the property sector. This source of growth has now evaporated and won't be coming back," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics in Singapore. The Sept. 4-11 Reuters poll of 76 analysts, based in and outside mainland China, predicted the economy would grow 5.0% this year, lower than 5.5% forecast in a July survey. While recent data showed signs of improvement in the economy, some economists said more policy support was needed for the ailing property sector. A strong majority of economists who answered an additional question said the risks to their 2023 and 2024 GDP growth forecasts were skewed to the downside.

Persons: Julian Evans, Pritchard, Bingnan Ye, Teeuwe Mevissen, Vivek Mishra, Devayani, Anant Chandak, Veronica Khongwir, Jing Wang, Kevin Yao, Ross Finley, Sam Holmes Organizations: Capital Economics, China Merchants Bank, People's Bank of, Rabobank, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, China, Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, People's Bank of China, Netherlands, Bengaluru, Shanghai

Arm may price its IPO above the indicated price range and will decide on how much it will sell its shares for on Wednesday, that source and a second person with knowledge of the matter said. Arm was considering publishing a revised price range that would have been higher, reflecting the strong investor demand. Pricing the approximately $5 billion IPO conservatively raises the chances of the shares trading strongly at their debut on Thursday, the sources added. The valuation that Arm has been seeking thus far represents a climb-down from the $64 billion valuation at which SoftBank last month acquired the 25% stake it did not already own in the company from the $100 billion Vision Fund it manages. Sales in China contributed 24.5% of Arm's $2.68 billion revenue in fiscal 2023.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, SoftBank, Echo Wang, Svea Herbst, Bayliss, Greg Roumeliotis, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: REUTERS, SoftBank Group Corp, Reuters, Nvidia Corp, Apple, Nvidia, Devices, Intel, Samsung Electronics, ., stagnate, Sales, Svea, Thomson Locations: New York, China, United States

A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Arm is discussing the possibility of raising the price range and seeking a valuation of more than $54.5 billion, in light of the IPO's oversubscription, the sources said. Alternatively, Arm is also considering keeping the price range as is and pricing the IPO above it on Wednesday, which would also lead to a valuation higher than $54.5 billion, the sources added. Arm will not, however, offer more shares, given that SoftBank wants to retain a 90.6% stake in Arm following the approximately $5 billion IPO, as originally planned, the sources said. Sales in China contributed 24.5% of Arm's $2.68 billion revenue in fiscal 2023.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, SoftBank, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Greg Roumeliotis, Diane Craft Organizations: REUTERS, SoftBank Group Corp, underwriters, Nvidia Corp, Apple, Nvidia, Devices, Intel, Samsung Electronics, ., stagnate, Sales, Thomson Locations: New York, China, United States

☆ Instacart to target valuation of up to $9.3 billion in IPO, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Cheney Orr Acquire Licensing RightsSept 10 (Reuters) - Grocery delivery service Instacart is targeting a valuation between $8.6 billion and $9.3 billion in its initial public offering, according to a person familiar with the matter. The valuation range will be disclosed in an updated IPO regulatory filing on Monday, the source said on SundayInstacart declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on Sunday on Instacart's IPO valuation target. Unlike an IPO, no shares are sold in advance in a direct listing and investors can sell their shares directly to the public. For the six months ended June 30, Instacart last month reported revenue of $1.48 billion, up 31% from the same period last year.

Persons: Eric Cohn, Cheney Orr, Instacart, Andreessen Horowitz, Rowe Price, Anirudh Saligrama, Manya Saini, Niket, Echo Wang, Cynthia Osterman, Leslie Adler Organizations: Safeway, REUTERS, Arm Holdings Ltd, Reuters, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, Thomson Locations: Tucson , Arizona, U.S, Bengaluru, Echo, New York

☆ Instacart to target valuation of up to $9.3 bln in IPO -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Sept 10 (Reuters) - Grocery delivery service Instacart is targeting a valuation between $8.6 billion and $9.3 billion in its initial public offering, according to a person familiar with the matter. The valuation range will be disclosed in an updated IPO regulatory filing on Monday, the source said on SundayInstacart declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on Sunday on Instacart's IPO valuation target. The targeted valuation is a steep drop from the firm's $39 billion valuationin 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic was raging and doorstep delivery boomed. Like SoftBank's chip designer Arm Holdings Ltd and marketing automation firm Klaviyo, Instacart is expected to list its shares in September - part of a wave of high-profile names testing investor appetite for new listings.

Persons: Instacart, Anirudh Saligrama, Manya Saini, Niket, Echo Wang, Cynthia Osterman, Leslie Adler Organizations: Arm Holdings Ltd, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Echo, New York

That price range values Arm at $50 billion to $54.5 billion on a fully diluted basis. It remains unclear whether Arm will attract enough investor demand to seek a higher valuation ahead of its IPO pricing on Sept. 13. The sources said Arm will decide early next week whether to raise its IPO price range. Weak mobile demand during a global economic slowdown has caused Arm's revenue to stagnate. Sales in China contributed 24.5% of Arm's $2.68 billion revenue in fiscal 2023.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Greg Roumeliotis, Richard Chang Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, SoftBank Group Corp, Financial Times, stagnate, Sales, Thomson Locations: New York, China, United States

Weak mobile demand during a global economic slowdown has caused Arm's revenue to stagnate. The future growth driver is to expand market share in the Windows PC market," said Ryuta Makino, a research analyst at Gabelli Funds. ARM China has a history of late payments and presents "significant risks" to Arm's business, the company's IPO filing said. Arm said in the filing that it was owed $386.9 million by Arm China as of the end of March. Arm's chief financial officer has told investors during the marketing of the IPO that the company was not concerned about being paid back.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rene Haas, Ryuta Makino, Arm, Echo Wang, Svea, Bayliss, Max Cherney, Greg Roumeliotis, Richard Chang Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, stagnate, Vision Fund, Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Inc, Apple, Windows, Gabelli, Sales, ARM, Arm, Svea Herbst, Thomson Locations: China, United States, Arm China, ARM China, New York, San Francisco

☆ Scientists uncover a 'bizarre' leggy dinosaur unlike anything seen before, and it could rewrite the history of bird evolution
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The 150-million-year-old dinosaur is likely a very early bird ancestor, as old as the Archeopterix. This suggests bird's long legs may have evolved much early than thought. The dinosaur, named Fujianvenator prodigiosus, is thought to be as old the Archaeopteryx, which many consider to be the first bird. AdvertisementAdvertisement"I would put my money on runner," Wang told Reuters. There is still a 30 million-year-long gap in the fossil record between Archeopteryx and Fujianvenator and the next bird fossil on record, which appears in the Cretaceous, the study authors said in a press release.

Persons: Fujianvenator, Min Wang, Wang, Rex, prodigiosus, WANG Min Still, WANG Min, Hailu, Mark Loewen Organizations: Service, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Reuters, Nature, University of Utah Locations: Wall, Silicon, Nanping, Fujian, Beijing, Salt Lake City

NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence startup Brand Engagement Network (BEN) on Thursday agreed to go public through a merger with a blank check acquisition company in a deal valuing the combined company at $358 million. The deal with DHC Acquisition Corp (DHCA.O) will provide Brand Engagement Network with about $40 million in gross proceeds, the company said, confirming an earlier Reuters report. Headquartered in Jackson, Wyoming, Brand Engagement Network is a provider of AI-powered chatbots and conversational AI technology to companies in industries like automotive, healthcare, and customer service. Brand Engagement Network's AI offerings help companies with services, including data leakage prevention and identity verification. SPACs are shell companies that raise money in an initial public offering and put it in a trust for the purpose of merging with a private company and taking it public.

Persons: “ BEN, doesn't, ” Said Chris Gaertner, ChatGPT, SPACs, Cohen, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Leslie Adler, David Gregorio Our Organizations: DHC Acquisition Corp, DHC, Brand, Acquisition Corp, Nasdaq, Cohen & Company Capital Markets, Thomson Locations: PitchBook, Jackson , Wyoming, New York

A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Arm is also meeting with other potential investors, including Arlington, Virginia-based Sands Capital, in Baltimore on Tuesday, the sources said. The chip designer is expected to meet with other investors in cities including New York in the days leading up to the pricing of its IPO on September 13, the sources said. T Rowe Price and Sands Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Reporting by Echo Wang and Anirban Sen in New York Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rowe Price, Arm, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Nick Zieminski Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, SoftBank Group Corp, Sands Capital, Thomson Locations: Baltimore, Arlington , Virginia, New York

A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Arm is also meeting with other potential investors, including Arlington, Virginia-based Sands Capital, in Baltimore on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter. T. Rowe Price and Sands Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Arm has signed up many of its major clients as investors in its IPO, including Apple (AAPL.O), Nvidia (NVDA.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), Intel (INTC.O) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS). Reporting by Echo Wang and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rowe Price, Arm, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Nick Zieminski Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, SoftBank Group Corp, Sands Capital, Apple, Nvidia, Devices, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Thomson Locations: Baltimore, Arlington , Virginia, New York

Country Garden also offered on Tuesday to extend repayment of eight onshore bonds worth 10.8 billion yuan ($1.48 billion) by three years, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents seen by Reuters. Country Garden did not respond to a request for comment. A general view of a construction site of residential buildings by Chinese developer Country Garden in Tianjin, China August 18, 2023. Country Garden has not missed a debt payment obligation, onshore or offshore. "The three-year extension of maturity offered by Country Garden looks better than restructuring plans by most of the other troubled developers," Meng said.

Persons: Gary Ng, Tingshu Wang, Susannah Streeter, Hargreaves Lansdown, DODGE, CreditSights, Ting Meng, Meng, Xie Yu, Shuyan Wang, Jason Xue, Sumeet Chatterjee, Christopher Cushing, Kim Coghill Organizations: HK, Reuters, Country, Natixis Asia Pacific, REUTERS, Services, Global, Hargreaves, Mainland Properties, CSI, ANZ, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, BEIJING, Tianjin, China, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Bengaluru

A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. The price range, which has not been previously reported, would translate into a valuation for Arm of roughly between $50 billion and $54 billion, and an offering of $5 billion to $5.4 billion. It would make Arm the most valuable company to list in New York since electric car maker Rivian Automotive (RIVN.O) debuted in 2021. The valuation Arm is currently seeking represents a climb-down from the $64 billion valuation at which SoftBank acquired the 25% stake in the company it did not already own from its $100 billion Vision Fund last month. Arm has already signed up many of its major clients as investors in its IPO, Reuters reported on Friday.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, SoftBank, Echo Wang, Greg Roumeliotis, Matthew Lewis, Chizu Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, SoftBank Group Corp, Rivian, Reuters, Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Inc, Devices Inc, Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics Co, Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys Inc, Thomson Locations: New York

☆ Exclusive: Arm signs up big tech firms for IPO at $50 bln-$55 bln valuation -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Echo Wang | Thomson Reuters | Echo Wang Is A Correspondent At Reuters Covering U.S. Equity Capital Markets | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The talks are ongoing and some other potential investors are also in discussions to invest in the IPO, the sources added. SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T), which owns Britain-based Arm, is targeting a valuation between $50 billion and $55 billion, Reuters reported earlier on Friday. Arm's clients have agreed to invest in that valuation range, the sources said. Arm and SoftBank have set aside 10% of the shares to be sold in the IPO for its clients, Reuters has previously reported. The Wall Street Journal reported on Arm's valuation target earlier on Friday.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, SoftBank, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Inc, Devices Inc, Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics Co, Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys Inc, SoftBank Group Corp, Reuters, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon.com Inc, AMD, Intel, Samsung, Cadence, Street, Thomson Locations: Britain, New York

A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. Arm, the chip designer owned by SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T), is expected to set a price range for its offering next week, the sources said. Arm plans to price its shares on Sept. 13, with stock trading on the Nasdaq to start the following day. SoftBank plans to sell about 10% of Arm's shares in the IPO, Reuters has previously reported. SoftBank decided to sell fewer Arm shares in the IPO after buying the 25% stake in Arm it did not directly own from its Vision Fund unit in August.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, SoftBank, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen Organizations: REUTERS, Arm Holdings, SoftBank Group Corp, Nasdaq, Reuters, Vision Fund, Thomson Locations: New York

☆ Exclusive: Arm signs up big tech firms for IPO at $50 billion-$55 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Echo Wang | Thomson Reuters | Echo Wang Is A Correspondent At Reuters Covering U.S. Equity Capital Markets | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Nvidia shares, which had run up in the days leading up to its report, climbed more than 6% on Thursday but pared gains to end the day little changed. However, Nvidia's stock buyback - the fifth-biggest repurchase announcement among U.S.-based companies this year, according to EPFR - surprised some investors. Despite the staggering dollar amount, Nvidia's buyback amounted to only 2.1% of its nearly $1.2 trillion market value, or buyback yield, as of Wednesday. Indeed, some investors welcomed Nvidia's buyback decision. "It’s a show of confidence," said Francisco Bido, senior portfolio manager for F/M Investments' large cap focused fund, which holds Nvidia shares.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Lip, Daniel Morgan, Morgan, Refinitiv, Tom Plumb, Plumb, buyback, Howard Silverblatt, Dow, Daniel Klausner, Houlihan Lokey, Nvidia's, Francisco Bido, Lewis Krauskopf, Chibuike Oguh, Lance Tupper, Echo Wang, Stephen Nellis, Ira Iosebashvili, Matthew Lewis Organizations: NVIDIA, REUTERS, Nvidia, Companies, Wealth Management, Synovus, Plumb Funds, Arm Holdings, Dow Jones, Apple, Tech, Investments, Thomson Locations: New York, San Francisco

BRICS - whose acronym was originally coined by an economist at Goldman Sachs, currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called the BRICS leaders' decision to invite Ethiopia to join "a great moment". "It shows the determination of BRICS countries for unity and cooperation with the broader developing countries." More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials, and 22 have formally asked to be admitted. "The expansion and modernization of BRICS is a message that all institutions in the world need to mould themselves according to changing times," he said.

Persons: Cyril Ramaphosa, Narendra Modi, Sergei Lavrov, Alet Pretorius, Goldman Sachs, BRICS, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ramaphosa, Lula, globalisation's, Mohammed bin Zayed, Abiy Ahmed, Antonio Guterres, Xi Jinping, Bhargav Acharya, Sergio Goncalves, Ethan Wang, Vladimir Soldatkin, Joe Bavier, Toby Chopra, Emelia Organizations: South, India's, Russia's, REUTERS, United Arab, United, United Arab Emirates, New Development Bank, Ethiopian, United Nations, . Security, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, BRICS, Indian, Thomson Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, UAE, JOHANNESBURG, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Russia, India, China, Ukraine, United States, Beijing, Moscow, United Arab, Lisbon

SoftBank plans to hold off giving details on the fee structure until one to four days prior the pricing of Arm's IPO, expected in September, the sources added. Arm, SoftBank, Goldman, Barclays and Mizuho declined to comment. To be sure, the banks on Arm's IPO view their assignment as part of a wider investment banking relationship that pays on many fronts. Many of them also arranged an $8.5 billion margin loan for SoftBank secured against a 75% stake in Arm. Banks have generated about $3.4 billion in IPO fees globally year-to-date, down 21.3% from the same period last year, according to data provider Dealogic.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Arm, SoftBank Group's, SoftBank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, JP Morgan, Banks, Echo Wang, Anirban Sen, Greg Roumeliotis, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, clamoring, JPMorgan, Barclays, Mizuho Financial Group, Rivian, underwriters, Goldman, Mizuho, U.S, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, New York

☆ Fukushima wastewater released into the ocean, China bans all Japanese seafood
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Sakura Murakami | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Sales to China and Hong Kong accounted for 42% of all Japanese aquatic exports in 2022, according to government data. Separately from China, Hong Kong and Macau have announced their own ban starting Thursday, which covers Japanese seafood imports from 10 regions. Japan will conduct monitoring around the water release area and publish results weekly starting on Sunday, Japan's environment minister said. PROTESTSIn Hong Kong, Jacay Shum, a 73-year-old activist, held up a picture portraying IAEA head Rafael Grossi as the devil. "The Fukushima nuclear disaster is not over.

Persons: Fumio Kishida, Geraldine Thomas, Han Duck, Jacay Shum, Rafael Grossi, Shum, Iizuka, Sakura Murakami, Chang, Ran Kim, Kantaro Komiya, Irene Wang, Bernard Orr, Farah Master, Joyce Zhou, Hongji Kim, Soo, hyang Choi, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: IAEA, Tokyo Electric Power, International Atomic Energy Agency, Japan, Hong, REUTERS, Minwoo, World Health Organization, London's Imperial, Japan Fisheries Co, Korean, Reuters, Thomson Locations: China, Japan, TOKYO, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Fukushima, Busan, South Korea, China , Hong Kong, Macau, Seoul, South, Beijing, Lincoln

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