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Deals

InterContinental acquires Bangkok-headquartered Six Senses for $300m

JD arm, Dongfeng Motor among six firms to invest $354m in China Railway unit

Japan’s Takeda Pharma to raise $4.5b in biggest bond issue ever

Bridgestone’s $1.8b share buyback joins spree of Japanese deals

Private Equity

Japan’s Advantage Partners acquires Vietnamese fashion chain Elise

Gaocheng Capital hits $100m first close for maiden PE fund

India: KKR in talks to invest up to $280m in Emami via structured credit

NZ’s Direct Capital takes minority stake in retirement village operator Qestral

Venture Capital

China’s Lilly Asia secures $40m commitment from US pension fund

Kuwait’s COFE app secures $3.2m in pre-Series A funding

Legend leads $29m round in China’s Sciwind Biosciences

SG’s Circles.Life secures Series C funding led by Sequoia India for expansion to new markets

India likely to offer angel tax relief to startups, but may not be enough

Philippine remittance startup SendFriend secures $1.7m funding

Indonesia’s trader platform Stockbit acquires mutual fund app Bibit

PayPal to close Malaysia operations by year-end, offers staff VSS

Lazada Malaysia appoints former Taobao executive as new CEO

Myanmar Digest: Katapult injects $150k in RecyGlo; Phandeeyar to back five startups

IPOs & Markets

Japanese jewelry retailer Primo’s PE owner explores IPO options

Lyft to pitch fast US growth to investors in IPO race with Uber

ICOs alive and crypto startups hunt wealthy buyers

SG’s Mapletree Industrial Trust to raise at least $129m via private placement

Mobile & Telco

Bharti Airtel unit to merge with Telkom Kenya to take on rival Safaricom

SoftBank Corp reports quarterly profit jump in first post-IPO earnings

Mukesh Ambani could be biggest beneficiary of RCom’s bankruptcy

Indian telco RCom outlines asset sale plan to resolve debt

Real Estate

Bahrain’s $23b manager Investcorp sees sweet spot in India’s realty crunch

Cash-starved Indian real estate sector to get boost from PE investors

Ascendas-Singbridge selling 45% stake in Shanghai assets to Mitsui

Blackstone to buy stake in Taubman’s Asia retail assets for $480m

China’s DiDi invests $100m in Indian hotel chain OYO’s $1b round: Report

Temasek-backed Pine Labs eyes unicorn tag with new funding round

Paytm parent pledges all assets with ICICI to up borrowing limit to $196m

Go-Jek seeks bank pitches to raise additional $2b in ongoing round

Spend on driver training pushes China’s Didi losses up to $1.61b in FY18: Report

Alibaba says China’s slowdown isn’t hurting it all that much

Q & A

Indonesia's newest listed startup DIVA eyes more investments this year

Russia's RTP Global to focus on India through new fund, plans local office

India: After launching $50m growth fund, 3one4 Capital seeks to raise new vehicle soon

Downstream PEs buying SEA startups completely missing in some industries: Yi Ming, TRIVE Ventures

AirAsia's digital arm to tap external investors for CVC fund, says deputy group CEO

Opinion

In Vietnam, it is about going after returns rather than chasing unicorns

Guest post | Opportunity in Crisis: Building an Indian NBFC

Will the delisting trend actually turn out to be a good sign for SGX?

Debt guarantee tangle: China's private firms hit by default contagion

Why Shanghai's new Nasdaq-style tech board may be a game-changer

People

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing to cut 15% of its workforce

Tata Trusts managing trustee R. Venkataramanan resigns

People Digest: BNP Paribas AM hires APAC Head; StepStone names new partners

GOJEK ropes in former National Research Foundation exec as Singapore GM

Fortis wants to make parting of ways with Singh brothers official

HEADLINES