PE-backed Aviation Technical Services Acquires Ranger Air

Aviation Technical Services (ATS), a technical services provider backed by New York-based private equity firm JLL Partners, has acquired Ranger Air, a supplier of aircraft airframe and engine accessories to international customers.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The deal launches ATS into the parts trading business and provides Ranger Air with access to ATS’s comprehensive repair capabilities to enable a quick return-to-service.

Headquartered in Everett, Washington, ATS provides a broad and growing portfolio of technical services in MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul), Engineering, Component Repair and Parts Development world-wide.

It supports both narrow body and wide body aircraft operators in the commercial and military aviation markets.

The ATS group of companies offers Component Services, Airframe Maintenance, Engineering Support, and Alternate Solutions in ten locations across the United States. Ranger Air is the fourth acquisition for ATS in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the past five years.

Headquartered in Everett, Washington, ATS has over 1.2 million square feet of aviation maintenance facilities with additional operations in Moses Lake, Washington; Kansas City, Missouri; and Fort Worth, Texas.

This broad North American footprint supports our customers with advanced MRO capabilities across the full spectrum of aftermarket products and services in operationally convenient locations. With our two separate hangar facilities in Everett and Moses Lake, ATS is the largest MRO on the U.S. west coast.

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Ranger Air, on the other hand, is a premier supplier of aircraft airframe and engine accessories and components and provider of repair management services for a growing list of international customers.

Since 2002, Ranger Air has introduced innovative inventory management programs and has stocked and traded parts for virtually every commercial airframe and engine platform in the world.

Singapore: Keppel Offshore & Marine Secures $51m Contract

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), a wholly-owned company of Keppel Corporation Ltd, has secured two contracts with a combined value of about S$70 million ($51 million) in Brazil and Singapore.

In disclosure to the Singapore Exchange, Keppel O&M said the two contracts were secured through its wholly-owned subsidiaries.

In Brazil, Keppel FELS Brasil has been engaged by its long-standing customer, MODEC Offshore Production Systems (Singapore), part of the MODEC Inc group, to undertake the topside module fabrication and integration of the FPSO Carioca MV30, a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

This is the sixth FPSO collaboration between Keppel FELS Brasil and MODEC.

In Singapore, Keppel Shipyard has been entrusted with the conversion of a LNG Carrier to a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) by a leading globa operator of oil and gas production vessels.

“Keppel O&M has a strong track record in production, storage, gasification or liquefaction vessels, having successfully delivered more than 130 of such units over the years,” said Chris Ong, CEO of Keppel O&M.

BrasFELS shipyard, Keppel FELS Brasil’s facility in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will commence the fabrication of the modules for the FPSO in Q4 2018.

When completed, the FPSO Carioca MV30 will have the capacity to process 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 212 million cubic meters of gas per day. The unit’s storage capacity is 1.4 million barrels of crude oil.

The FPSO will be deploye4d at the Sepia field, which is located in the pre-salt region in the Santos Basin, some 250 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Keppel Shipyard has previously delivered three FSRUs, including the world’s first FSRU conversion. With the increase in demand for LNG in power generation, FSRUs are a fast, flexible, cost-effective, safe and environmentally-friendly storage and regasification solution that is well suited for deployment in remote areas with smaller energy requirements.

The world’s first converted FLNG vessel, Hilli Episeyo, has achieved final acceptance and commenced commercial operations for Perenco in Cameroon. This was accomplished within four years of the contract award to Keppel Shipyard.

Cushman & Wakefield Completes Acquisition of Australia’s Inc RE

Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has finalized its acquisition of Inc RE, an Australian capital markets firm specializing in commercial sales, acquisitions, and investment advisory.

With the acquisition, Inc RE will join Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Australian platform and be part of the company’s global Capital Markets network.

In a statement, Cushman & Wakefield said the acquisition bolsters its capital markets platform in the region and globally.

With the combination of our global Capital Markets professionals and the recent acquisition of Inc RE, Cushman & Wakefield is placed to deliver superior results for clients in key markets across the globe,” said Matthew Bouw, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific at Cushman & Wakefield.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Australian Capital Markets practice will be led by Josh Cullen, Inc RE principal.

The team will comprise 14 brokers focused on institutional sales, international investments, acquisitions and investment advisory. Cullen will be supported by Rick Butler and leading brokers Steve Kearney and Mark Hansen.

“The acquisition complements our local Capital Markets platform and creates momentum for us in the Capital Markets landscape nationally. It provides us with opportunities to accelerate the growth of the company’s broader commercial real estate business, particularly in Asset Services and Agency Leasing,” James Patterson, Chief Executive, Australia and New Zealand said.

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In addition to Josh Cullen, Rick Butler, Steve Kearney and Mark Hansen, Claire Zouroudis, Charles Long and Lisa Lee also will join the Cushman & Wakefield Capital Markets practice based in Sydney. Inc RE’s total transactions completed in the span of 18 months total $2.25 billion.

Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest real estate services firms with 48,000 employees in approximately 400 offices and 70 countries. In 2017, the firm had revenue of $6.9 billion across core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, valuation and other services.

Israel: AI Vision Firm AnyVision Raises $28m in Bosch-led Series A

Israel-based AnyVision, a developer of artificial intelligence and computer vision technology, announced that it has raised $28 million in Series A financing led by German multinational technology group Bosch.

In a statement, AnyVision said the latest funding round also saw the backing of two US private equity groups, which the company did not identify.

“The new capital will allow the company to meet global demand and enhance product innovation, research, and development,” AnyVision said in a press statement.

Founded in 2015, AnyVision has created a software technology that the company said learns on the feed, is customizable, and runs on multiple platforms, including existing CCTV infrastructure.

“We built AnyVision to be a core technology that solves fundamental problems in the computer vision industry and that can operate on any sensor, any time,” said Eylon Etshtein, AnyVision’s CEO and Co-Founder.

The team behind the company has over 20 years of experience in artificial intelligence and computer vision and has developed proprietary AI solutions for the HLS/Police, airports, sports/entertainment, smart cities, critical infrastructure, banks, transportation and retail verticals.

Its solutions are oriented around real-world applications relating to faces, bodies, and objects. Through seamless integration and plug and play technology, AnyVision enables any camera to smarter by indexing and analyzing everything the sensor sees.

“Our customers around the world are increasingly asking for ways of integrating person and object recognition software into our cameras; collaboration with AnyVision will allow us to fulfill this customer wish even better and offer an enhanced package of solutions,” Bernhard Schuster, SVP at Bosch Building Technologies, said.

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AnyVision has shown significant growth in the three years since it launched in 2015. Today, the company has more than 130 employees globally and recently launched its first North American office in New York City.

Later this year, AnyVision will launch three new offices globally in Los Angeles, London and Singapore. AnyVision’s global customers and world class business partners include Microsoft, Google, Johnson Controls, Telefonica and Genetec.

Philippines: Pilmico Acquires Singapore’s Gold Coin for $334m

Aboitiz Equity Venture (AEV)’s food subsidiary Pilmico International Pte Ltd (Pilmico International) announced its acquisition of a majority stake in one of Asia’s largest privately-owned agribusiness corporations, Gold Coin Management Holdings Limited (Gold Coin), as it expands its animal feeds business in the Asia – Pacific region.

Pilmico International is a wholly owned subsidiary of AEV through its Singapore-based holding entity, AEV International.

Pilmico International signed a share purchase agreement with British Virgin Islands -based Golden Springs Group, Ltd. (GSG) for 75% equity interest in Gold Coin.

The consideration is based on an enterprise value of US$413 million, which is equivalent to 75% of the total enterprise value of US$550 million. After deducting cash-like adjustments, the final cash consideration is US$334 million. The transaction will be funded through financing from foreign banks.

Pilmico International was chosen as the preferred bidder following a competitive bid selection process for the acquisition of Gold Coin shares from its holding company, GSG. Gold Coin, which is based in Singapore, is a major producer of animal feeds and operates 20 livestock and aqua feed mills across 11 countries in Asia.

“ASEAN’s market size of over 500 million will bring many opportunities to expand our customer base. This acquisition serves as a platform towards achieving Pilmico’s strategy to grow our core feed milling business beyond ASEAN and now across Asia. This acquisition will add three million metric tons of volume which quadruples our overall feeds production capacity.” said Sabin M. Aboitiz, AEV Chief Operating Officer and Pilmico President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Gold Coin acquisition is Pilmico International’s largest investment in the Asia-Pacific region to date.

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Pilmico International’s first ASEAN venture was in Vietnam in 2014 when it bought a 70% stake in Vinh Hoan Feeds (VHF), one of the country’s major aquafeed manufacturer. In 2017, it bought an additional 15% stake in VHF, effectively increasing its stake to 85%.

Driven by its strategy to widen its footprint in Vietnam and diversify product portfolio, in September 2017, Pilmico International bought a 70% stake in Europe Nutrition Joint Stock Company (Eurofeed), an animal feeds manufacturer.

Paktor’s Parent M17 Entertainment Withdraws US IPO

M17 Entertainment, the parent company of Singapore-based dating and networking app Paktor, has officially withdrawn it initial public offering in the New York Stock Exchange after delaying its debut on June 10.

In a statement, M17 Entertainment said it has notified the New York Stock Exchange of its determination to withdraw the American depositary shares representing its ordinary shares from listing.

The decision was inline with previous announcements relating to the postponement of its planned IPO, the company said.

It was in May when M17 Entertainment files for an IPO in the New York Stock Exchange, seeking to raise a total of $115 million.

M17 operates the largest live streaming platform for developed Asia, including the markets of Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

According to its filing, the total number of registered users on its dating applications grew to 14.6 million as of March 31, 2018 from 13.9 million and 11.0 million as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Paktor’s last funding round was in November 2016, when it raised $32.5 million from K2 Global and existing investor PT Media Nusantara Citra Tbk.(MNC Media Group), with further participation from new and existing investors. That had brought the total amount the company had raised to $57.5 million.

In March 2017, under a share swap agreement, all of the shareholders of Paktor exchanged their shares for equivalent classes of M17 shares, and M17 became the holding company of Paktor.

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In October 2016 and January 2017, Paktor acquired 36.8 per cent and 9.44 per cent of the equity interests of Machipopo, respectively, and in March 2017, under the same share swap agreement through which M17 acquired Paktor, the company also acquired all of the remaining interests of Machipopo by issuing equivalent classes of our shares to the remaining shareholders of Machipopo.

The company’s interactive entertainment platform includes 17 Media, the largest live streaming platform by revenue in Developed Asia with a market share of 19.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, according to Frost & Sullivan, and 33.3 million registered users.

Goldman Sachs Backs $55m Series C in Japanese Fintech Startup Paidy

Japanese financial technology (fintech) startup Paidy Inc has announced raising $55 million in a Series C funding round backed by Goldman Sachs. The latest round raised the startup’s total capital to $80 million.

In a statement, Paidy said the Series C was led by Japanese firm ITOCHU Corporation. It will use the fresh capital to launch large merchants, expand into the offline market, and offer additional financial services.

The fintech firm expects to grow its customer base to 11,000,000 accounts by 2020.

Paidy started Japan’s first instant post-pay credit service for ecommerce consumers in October 2014. It requires no pre-registration or credit card to use; Paidy consumers purchase products online using only a mobile phone number and email address (verification is established through a four-digit code via SMS or voice pin-code) and settle a single monthly bill for all their purchases, either at a convenience store, by bank transfer or auto debit.

The startup also also supports multi-pay installments and subscriptions. There are currently over 1,400,000 Paidy accounts in use (June 2018).

“We are extremely honored that Paidy’s business concept was highly valued by one of Japan’s most prestigious business conglomerates, ITOCHU. Through this tie-up, we expect to launch new merchants in order to deliver Paidy’s frictionless and intuitive financial solution to a much broader audience,” said Russell Cummer, Founder and Executive Chairman of Paidy.

Cummer added that Paidy now aims to promote its vision of removing barriers and creating unique consumer experiences to as many people as possible.

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Paidy has proved a powerful means of persuading first time buyers to transact online. Its proprietary models and machine learning mean that transactions are underwritten in seconds, with guaranteed payment to merchants.

Paidy increases merchant revenues by reducing incomplete transactions, increasing conversion rates, boosting average order values, and facilitating easy repeat buying.

On-demand Logistics Platform GoGoVan Raises $250m

Hong Kong-headquartered on-demand logistics platform GoGoVan has announced that it has raised $250 million in its latest funding round, led by US-based venture capital firm InnoVision Capital.

In a statement on its website, GoGoVan said the funding round was also participated by Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao, Russia-China Investment Fund, Hongrun Capital, Qianhai Fund of Funds, and 58 Daojia Group.

“We’re proud to announce that GoGoVan has raised $250 million in the first phase of its new round of funding. We will use the new funds to expand our service offering and grow new markets. Also, in the next few months, we will offer a new service type, door-to-door service, to fulfill the demand of small-item segment,” the logistics startup said on its Facebook page.

Established in 2013, GoGoVan is the first app-based platform for transporting goods in Asia. The app GoGoVan was created to connect drivers and customers, and we aim to redefine the everyday logistics experience by providing a convenient and efficient service.

Since its successful July 2013 launch in Hong Kong, GoGoVan has expanded to Singapore, South Korea, China, and Taiwan. The GoGoVan network currently comprises of over 20,000 commercial vehicles and 70,000 registered drivers.

In 2017, GoGoVan and Chinese peer 58 Suyun merged to create a $1-billion logistics heavyweight, thus creating Hong Kong’s first unicorn. Following the merger, the combined entity is known as 58 Suyun in China and GoGoVan outside the country.

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58 Suyun is the freight business unit of 58 Home, which claims to be China’s largest online marketplace serving local merchants and consumers and holds the majority stake in the combined entity.

The merger was said to create Asia’s only online platform to provide end-to-end on-demand logistics and freight services to both corporate and individual customers.

South Korea’s ProtoPie Raises $3.5m in KIP-led Series A

ProtoPie, an interactive prototyping tool for digital product designers, has raised $3.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Korea Investment Partners (KIP), according to Studio XID, the developer of the design tool.

The Series A financing round was led by KIP with the participation of Kolon Investment and POSCO Venture Capital. Korea Investment Partners are known for backing internet startups Naver known to be the largest unicorn in the Korean peninsula and DoubleU Casino a famous social casino gaming publisher.

Since launching ProtoPie commercially last year and raising a Pre-Series A with venture capital firm Evergreen Investment Partners and the investment arms of international giants Samsung and LINE, the prototyping tool has been experiencing significant growth.

Designers in more than 70 countries at renowned companies like Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, IDEO and Alibaba have integrated ProtoPie in their daily workflow.

“We’re empowering designers to create highly interactive prototypes that are hard to distinguish from the actual digital products they design for. This way, designers can validate ideas easily and quickly while bridging the gap with stakeholders. Nowadays, it’s not just apps and websites on a single screen on your phone or computer. Of course, they still dominate the broad spectrum of digital products,” said co-founder and CEO Tony Kim, who has been with Google prior to becoming an entrepreneur.

ProtoPie allows designers to utilize sensors in smart devices, e.g. tilt, proximity and sound sensors when it comes to highly interactive prototyping. Also, designers can easily create prototypes that can communicate with each other by creating interactions across devices.

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An example would be realistically mimicking the way drivers and passengers interact in an Uber-like service. Furthermore, prototypes made in ProtoPie can integrate with external hardware like Arduino or littleBits, allowing the possibilities to be endless. These features allow ProtoPie to be at the forefront of prototyping in the software industry.

Hong Kong: Australia’s CTM Acquires HK-based Lotus Travel Group

Australia’s listed Corporate Travel Management has continued its strategic expansion into the Asian market after acquiring a majority stake in Hong Kong-based Lotus Travel Group Limited (Lotus) in a deal worth AU$50 million (HK$300m).

The purchase of 75.1 per cent of Lotus will take effect from October 2, 2018 and will result in CTM becoming the largest travel management company in Hong Kong servicing Greater China, with a combined Total Transaction Value approaching AU$2.5 billion (HK$15bn).

CTM’s partners in Asia, Ever Prestige Investments Limited (EPI), will acquire the remaining 24.9 per cent through CTM Asia.

The acquisition creates optimum scale for the combined entity to leverage technology, support costs and supplier relationships across a wider base to best enhance long-term sustainable growth in the Asian region.

CTM Managing Director Jamie Pherous said the two firms had a great understanding of each other’s culture and leadership teams, which would allow for a seamless integration process.

“Lotus is a long standing and highly regarded travel leader in Hong Kong. They
meet our strict acquisition criteria and, like CTM Asia, are leaders in travel in the region and enjoy high client and staff retention,” he said.

Having operated for more than 60 years, Lotus is a market leader in Hong Kong across the corporate, B2B, wholesale and MICE markets. It employs 400 staff and has offices in Hong Kong and Greater China.

“We have known the CTM Asia leadership team for many years and have watched CTM Asia build a very strong growth business based on highly personalised service delivery with best-in-class technology solutions,” Chairman and CEO of Lotus Travel Group, Patrick Kong, said.

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The acquisition will contribute approximately AU$$4 million (HK$24m) earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) over nine months trading to CTM’s 2019 annual results.

Pherous said CTM expected to deliver FY18 results at or slightly above the top end of the previous guidance, at approximately AUD$125m (27% growth on p.c.p).