News

Bloomberg Roche Holding AG agreed to acquire US biotech Ignyta Inc. for $1.7 billion, following Bayer AG in buying into a class of experimental cancer drugs that home in on a specific mutation across many types of tumors. Ignyta investors will get $27 a share in cash, the companies said in a statement. Both companies’ boards agreed to the deal. ...

Bloomberg Daimler AG bought a majority stake in French private-hire limousine operator Chauffeur Prive, accelerating the luxury-car maker’s expansion into ride-hailing turf occupied by firms such as Uber Technologies Inc. The German maker of Mercedes and Smart automobiles plans to acquire full control of Chauffeur Prive in 2019 once it gets regulatory clearances, Stuttgart-based Daimler said. The parties wouldn’t disclose ...

Bloomberg Ever wondered how much time millennials spend staring at a screen? UK statisticians have come up with some answers. Young people spent more than a third of their leisure time, 14 hours per week, using devices such as mobile phones, tablets, e-readers and laptops in 2015, the Office for National Statistics said. The figure for men aged 25 and ...

Bloomberg All over Europe, companies are wishing their workers a happy holiday and looking forward to a productive New Year when they return to work in 2018. In Brexit Britain, there’s a catch. Businesses that rely on EU countries for labour are concerned that employees will return to their families in continental Europe for Christmas—and stay there. The pound’s decline ...

Bloomberg Didi Chuxing has scored another investment from SoftBank Group Corp. in a massive funding round that will bankroll the Chinese ride-hailing leader’s exploration of new markets and technologies. Didi said it’s secured new financing of more than $4 billion. That pushed its valuation to about $56 billion and lifts cash reserves to $12 billion, people familiar with the matter ...

EMIRATES BUSINESS Mumbai-based Omkar Realtors & Developers, one of India’s leading brands in redevelopment, boutique and luxury housing has obtained 150 plus EOIs (express of interest) from NRIs in the GCC for its 1200-plus apartments residential project, launched recently. This boutique inventory offering is the biggest realty launch across pan-India, post-RERA, by a branded realty player with Dubai-based NRIs leading ...

Bloomberg Alipay is chasing Chinese tourists to Japan, where it’s signing up a growing number of retailers and eyeing the long-term potential of the nation’s $45 billion digital payments market. The volume of payments processed on Alipay in the country swelled about eight times in the 12 months to September, said Genki Oka, Japan chief executive officer of Ant Financial, ...

Bloomberg Tanzania said Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s local unit belongs to state-owned Tanzania Telecommunications Co., a claim that sets up an ownership dispute between the government and the Indian phone operator. “Airtel, according to the information we have,” is an asset of Tanzania Telecommunications Co., President John Magufuli said on the East African country’s national broadcaster, TBC. “A terrible game was ...

Bloomberg Congress is close to lifting a 40-year-old ban on energy development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but drilling for oil in that frozen wilderness may still be years away as the effort faces exhau- stive environmental reviews and likely lawsuits. It could be a decade or more before any well is drilled, following required environmental scrutiny and permit ...

Bloomberg The last survivor among a slew of major US nuclear power projects is getting one step closer to seeing the light of day. The project could become the first US nuclear plant licensed in recent years that gets to be built, following delays that sent total estimated costs soaring to more than $25 billion. “We hope a decision is ...