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Bloomberg SenseTime Group Ltd. has raised $600 million from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and other investors at a valuation of more than $3 billion, becoming the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup. The company, which specialises in systems that analyse faces and images on an enormous scale, said it closed a Series C round in recent months in which Singaporean ...

ZURICH / Reuters Swiss drugmaker Novartis is moving further into gene therapy by buying AveXis for $8.7 billion, adding a rare-disease treatment that could reap billions in sales. The acquisition reflects a surge of interest in biotech deal-making as large pharmaceutical companies seek promising new assets to boost their pipelines. The $218-per-share cash deal announced on Monday represents a 72 ...

Bloomberg The $4.2 billion Sequoia Fund bought a small position in Facebook Inc. as the stock slid late in the first quarter, investment manager Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb told clients. “The recent controversy enabled us to purchase a very unusual business franchise riding several powerful secular trends at a price-earnings multiple only a little higher than that of the overall ...

Reuters Viacom Inc has asked CBS Corp to sweeten its merger bid by about $2.8 billion or almost a quarter more than CBS’s offer, people familiar with the matter said, indicating the wide gap in the US media firms’ price expectations. National Amusements Inc, the Redstone family company that controls CBS and Viacom, has pushed them to negotiate a merger ...

Reuters Pivotal Software Inc, a division of Dell Technologies Inc, said on Monday it expects its initial public offering of 37 million Class A shares to raise up to $592 million. Pivotal Software said it expects the offering to be priced between $14 and $16 per share. The company, which plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under ...

SANTIAGO / Reuters A looming trade war between the United States and China will fuel near-term volatility for copper prices, but strong demand and tight supply for the metal will bolster long-term market fundamentals, the head of Anglo-American’s copper division said in an interview. The price of the red metal has fluctuated along with other financial commodities in recent weeks ...

LONDON / Reuters Britain’s financial watchdog called on Monday for immediate coordination with European Union counterparts to ensure that Brexit is as smooth and stable as possible for markets. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said financial firms should feel comfortable about relying on a transition deal agreed last month between Britain and the EU. This covers the period between ...

Bloomberg UK home prices jumped to a record in March, though the larger picture of a slowdown is unchanged, according to Halifax. Values surged 1.5 percent from February, to an average 227,871 pounds ($321,600), the lender said in a report published on Monday. But over the first quarter, prices were stagnant, it said, adding that activity has “softened” compared with ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Deposits of non-residents in UAE Islamic banks increased by AED4.2 billion over the first two months of 2018, bringing up to AED17.058 billion their total savings in Sharia-compliant banks operating in the country until the end of February from around AED12.81 billion in December 2017. The growth in non-residents’ deposits in January and February is a ...

ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Shareholders of Adnoc Distribution, the UAE’s largest fuel and convenience retailer, on Sunday approved a AED 735 million (AED 5.88 fils per share) dividend payment, at the company’s landmark first Annual General Meeting (AGM). HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Adnoc Distribution Board Chairman, said, “The IPO and recently announced fourth quarter and 2017 full ...