Daily Briefing: Uber seals deal to sell SEA operations to Grab; Company openings to boost pharma sector

And CapitaLand joins a global investor to vie for Blackstone’s IT parks in India.

From Bloomberg Finance:

Uber could exit another major market. According to people familiar with the matter, it has reached an agreement to sell its Southeast Asian ride-hailing business to its rival Grab.

“The agreement -- which includes all of Uber’s operations in Southeast Asia, as well as Uber Eats in the region -- gives the U.S. company a stake of between 25% and 30% in the new combined business, the people said, asking not to be identified ahead of an official announcement. The deal, which Bloomberg outlined earlier this month, marks Uber’s operational exit from yet another major market and hands a victory to Grab as it battles local competitor Go-Jek.

SoftBank Group Corp., a major backer of Grab’s and Uber’s as well as China’s Didi Chuxing, has pushed consolidation to improve the profitability of a global ride-hailing business that bleeds billions of dollars a year. New entrants and the strength of second-place regional players such as Lyft Inc. in the U.S. have complicated those efforts.”

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From Reuters:

The opening of new pharmaceutical sites of firms like AbbVie and Amgen marks the recovery of the sector in Singapore, Reuters reported.

“Singapore’s pharmaceuticals business, among the pillars of the city-state’s manufacturing sector, is set to return to strength this year as big global drugmakers ramp up output and advance automation at their production sites across the country.

A recovery from dismal 2017, which marked the sector’s worst contraction in two decades, would underpin Singapore’s economic growth. Pharmaceuticals is the No.2 contributor to the country’s manufacturing output and accounts for 3 percent of its GDP.

The sector will see a ‘robust’ 2018, Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) told Reuters.

‘The opening of new sites like AbbVie’s (ABBV.N) biologics manufacturing facility and the ramp up of others including Amgen (AMGN.O) and Novartis (NOVN.S) reflect strong fundamentals ... we expect the manufacturing activity to remain robust for 2018,’ said Ho Weng Si, director of biomedical sciences for EDB.

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From Deal Street Asia:

According to unnamed sources, CapitaLand and global investment firm The Xander Group Inc. are eyeing the acquisition of Pune-based IT Parks, which is owned by US fund The Blackstone Group.

“Blackstone has put its BlueRidge special economic zone (SEZ) and another IT SEZ in Hinjewadi area of Pune on sale, and hired Morgan Stanley to find a buyer. The deal will be in the range of Rs2,000 crore, said the first person. Others who have joined in the race include Shapoorji Pallonji-Allianz and Singapore-based investor-developer Ascendas-Singbridge.

The 1.5-million-sq. ft BlueRidge special economic zone (SEZ) was acquired from private equity fund manager IDFC Alternatives in 2014, while the other SEZ—jointly developed by DLF and Hubtown (erstwhile Ackruti City)—was acquired by Blackstone for Rs810 crore in 2011.

Read more here.