<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>This article first appeared in <em>The Edge Financial Daily</em>, on January 12, 2016.</p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>SEOUL: Chat app operator Kakao Corp yesterday unveiled a US$1.6 billion (RM7.04 billion) deal to buy control of South Korea’s top music streaming service provider, tapping the market for Korean pop to diversify revenues and even expand offshore.</p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>The South Korean firm said it would buy a 76.4% stake in MelOn streaming service operator Loen Entertainment Inc for 1.9 trillion won (RM6.9 billion). Leon also owns its own record label with “K-Pop” artists such as IU.</p></div><div class=inPageAd id=div-gpt-ad-inpage></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>The deal, Kakao’s biggest since its 2014 all-stock merger with web search operator Daum, gives the mobile chat company access to the biggest streaming service user base in South Korea as well as a library of popular music content.</p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>It will also give the operator of the country’s dominant chat app, KakaoTalk, a head-start on Swedish music streaming service Spotify, which has yet to be launched here. —<em> Reuters</em></p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>&nbsp;</p></div>


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 12, 2016.

SEOUL: Chat app operator Kakao Corp yesterday unveiled a US$1.6 billion (RM7.04 billion) deal to buy control of South Korea’s top music streaming service provider, tapping the market for Korean pop to...

Kakao to buy music streaming operator for US$1.6b

NEW YORK (April 26): As U.S. inflation worries grow, some investors are preparing for the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield to breach a 16-year high of 5% hit last October.

Bond yields, which move inversely to prices, have climbed in recent weeks as signs of persistent inflation erode ex...

Investors brace for 5% Treasury yields as US inflation worries mount

KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Software company Microlink Solutions Bhd said on Friday that it has secured a contract worth RM56.45 million to implement and maintain a new core banking system for Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam Bhd.

Microlink gets RM56.45 mil contract from Bank Islam Brunei

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, as the world’s biggest economies spar on trade complaints and China’s continued support for Russia.

Blinken to meet Xi in Beijing for talks to steady ties

Analysts believe Capital A Bhd's proposed restructuring plan will help the group exit the Practice Note 17 (PN17) status and enhance its competitiveness, as well as provide benefits to AirAsia X Bhd's (AAX) shareholders in terms of free warrants and improved company valuation post restructuring.

Analysts positive restructuring plan will uplift Capital A 's PN17 status, benefit AirAsia X shareholders

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has obtained a summary judgement at the High Court here against ACE Credit (M) Sdn Bhd, ACE Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd, and the company directors Datuk Choong Chee Meng and Chang Ai Nee, for defaulting on a RM46.47 million loan given to them by the bank.

Maybank obtains summary judgement against ACE Corporation, three others for RM46m loan default

(April 26): Huawei Technologies Co.’s latest smartphones carry a version of the advanced made-in-China processor it revealed last year, independent analysis revealed, underscoring the Chinese company’s ability to sustain production of the controversial chip.

The Pura 70 series Huaw...

Huawei’s new phone runs latest version of made-in-China chip

The country’s fifth-generation (5G) network adoption rate has reached nearly 36% as of mid-April, while the service coverage rate stood at 80.3% in February.

Fahmi: 5G adoption rate almost 36%, coverage 80.3%, second network unveiling next week

IOI Properties Group broke ground on Thursday for Senna Puteri, its latest township development located in Sepang, Selangor. The developer is looking to launch 386 units of townhouses in its first phase before the end of the second quarter.

Spanning 117 acres in southern Klang Valley, the 12-phase Senna Puteri will be developed over the next 10 years, offering residential, commercial, recreational areas, green spaces, community hall, surau and more. It has a gross development value (GDV) of over RM3 billion.

IOI Properties breaks ground for 117-acre Senna Puteri in Sepang

KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): The introduction of Account 3 (Flexible Account) by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which would allow members to make withdrawals at any time for any purpose, may only boost consumption in the near term, limiting any positive impact on the consumer industry and the economy in general, according to analysts.

EPF’s Flexible Account may only boost near-term consumption, impact limited, say analysts

Doctor-turned-businessman Tan Sri Mohan MK Swami and his partner Datuk Seri Dr Shamir Kumar Nandy agreed on Friday to acquire a 58% stake in property management company Turiya Bhd for RM52.86 million from MAA Group Bhd.

Mohan Swami, partner agree to buy 58% of Turiya for RM52.86m from MAA Group

<p>The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has extended the deadline for non-business taxpayers to submit their tax return form for the year of assessment 2023 via e-Filing from April 30 to May 15.</p>


e-Filing: Tax return form submission deadline extended to May 15 for non-business taxpayers

<p>Berjaya Corp&nbsp;Bhd (BCorp) has denied that its founder Tan Sri&nbsp;Vincent Tan Chee Yioun participated in talks to revive a US$100 billion (RM477.60 billion)&nbsp;Forest City casino resort as reported recently.</p>


Berjaya Corp denies participation in talks to revive Forest City casino resort

<p>Maxis Bhd could work with another consortium partner to lower the cost of deploying the second 5G network, even after the recapitalisation of Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), said RHB Research in a note on Friday.</p>


Maxis could lead second 5G network roll-out with new consortium partner, says RHB Research

<p>The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has updated its Investor Alert List.</p>


SC adds four entities to Investor Alert List, two being potential clones

<p>Analysts believe Capital A Bhd's proposed restructuring plan will help the group exit the Practice Note 17 (PN17) status and enhance its competitiveness, as well as provide benefits to AirAsia X Bhd's (AAX) shareholders in terms of free warrants and improved company valuation post restructuring.</p>


<p>Doctor-turned-businessman Tan Sri Mohan MK Swami and his partner Datuk Seri Dr Shamir Kumar Nandy agreed on Friday to acquire a 58% stake in property management company Turiya Bhd for RM52.86 million from MAA Group Bhd.</p>


<p>Shares of ViTrox Corp Bhd are headed for its worst day in 18 months as first-quarter (1Q) results disappointed investors while analysts turned increasingly cautious on the semiconductor company’s near-term prospects.</p>


ViTrox shares on pace for worst day in 18 months as 1Q disappoints

<p>Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd has valued ACE Market-bound Sin-Kung Logistics Bhd at 14 sen based on a 14 times financial year 2025 (FY2025) earnings per share forecast of one sen.</p>


Mercury Securities values ACE Market-bound Sin-Kung Logistics at 14 sen

<p>RHB Retail Research said YTL Corp Bhd is eyeing to extend the upside movement after it staged a bullish breakout.</p>


YTL Corp eyeing to extend upside movement, says RHB Retail Research 

<p>Uday Kotak built his Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd over decades to become Asia’s richest banker. After India’s regulator slapped his firm with a surprise ban, he’s facing one of his biggest tests yet — and a dip in wealth.</p>


Asia’s richest banker loses US$1.2 bil after RBI ban

<p>The corporate exercise to merge the AirAsia airline businesses under AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) is apparently sufficient to offset all of the RM8.7 billion negative equity in Capital A Bhd, according to chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.</p>


Merger of airlines alone enough to reverse all of Capital A's negative equity, says Fernandes

<p>Wall Street stocks closed lower on Thursday as markets were stunned by data showing slower-than-expected US economic growth and persistent inflation, coupled with a sell-off in large cap stocks triggered by disappointing results from Meta Platforms.</p>


Wall Street stocks fall as weak GDP growth spreads rate-cut gloom

<p>The country’s&nbsp;fifth-generation (5G) network&nbsp;adoption rate has reached nearly 36% as of mid-April, while the service coverage rate stood at 80.3% in February.</p>


<p>RHB Retail Research said VS Industry Bhd is poised to continue the bullish trajectory after it broke past the key resistance on high volume.</p>


VS Industry poised to continue bullish trajectory, says RHB Retail Research 

<p>The battle for consumer attention in China's electric car market is being fought over touches of "tech luxury" that car buyers in other markets have never seen.</p>

<p>China’s upstart electric brands, and even its state-owned, legacy automakers, are racing to pack technology and features once considered premium into electric vehicles (EVs) as cheap as US$20,000 (RM95,525) — less than half the cost of an average new car in the US, now more than US$48,000.</p>


Battle for 'tech luxury' in China as EVs get smarter — and cheaper

<p>The world’s 3,000 billionaires should pay a minimum 2% tax on their fast-growing wealth to raise £250 billion (RM1.28 trillion) a year for the global fight against poverty, inequality and global heating, ministers from four leading economies have suggested.</p>


World’s billionaires should pay minimum 2% wealth tax, say G20 ministers

<p>The Tesla Inc shareholder who won a court order in Delaware killing co-founder Elon Musk’s US$56 billion (RM267.54 billion) pay package is premature in asking the judge to bar the billionaire from moving the executive-compensation dispute to Texas, the car company’s lawyers argue.</p>


Tesla fires back at investor who doesn’t want pay fight in Texas

<p>Anyone called in by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), either as a witness or subject of investigation, is given ample opportunity to provide additional, detailed information as they please, and this includes imprisoned former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.</p>


MACC officer says Najib given ample opportunity to elaborate while statements were recorded

<p>European and American investors showed converse interest in sustainable funds during the first quarter, research firm Morningstar said on Thursday, with a record US$8.8 billion (RM42.03 billion) in net withdrawals from the products in the US.</p>


Record US$8.8 bil pulled from US sustainable funds in 1Q

<p>Former president Donald Trump’s economic advisers are considering ways to actively stop nations from shifting away from using the dollar — an effort to counter budding moves among key emerging markets to reduce exposure to the US currency, according to people familiar with the matter.</p>
