Siemens to add Gamesa wind turbines
MUNICH -- Siemens and Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica agreed to combine their wind-turbine manufacturing businesses, creating a company that will dominate the industry and speed up consolidation triggered by competition and price pressures.
Europe's largest engineering company will own 59 percent of the capital of the new business, Gamesa said in a statement on its website Friday. Gamesa, based in Zamudio, Spain, gets 41 percent and a $1.1 billion cash payment of about $4.25 a share from Siemens. That represents 26 percent of Gamesa's share price on Jan. 28 before the two disclosed their negotiations.
Together, the two would have about 69 gigawatts of turbines installed worldwide, putting them in a position to surpass Vestas Wind Systems A/S and General Electric. While worldwide clean-energy installations have hit successive records in recent years, a boom in manufacturing capacity and improvements in the technology have narrowed margins for making the machines.
Companies are having to compete on a global scale, with Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology of China taking the biggest market share last year.
The equity value of the wind businesses of Gamesa and Siemens would be $4.5 billion and $6.5 billion respectively, based on the market price of the Gamesa shares on Jan. 28 and an agreed exchange ratio, Gamesa said in a filing. That would give a combined equity value of $11 billion.
-- Bloomberg News
Twitter puts $70M into music streaming
SAN FRANCISCO -- Twitter Inc. has invested about $70 million in SoundCloud Ltd. to help the Berlin-based music streaming business expand its paid offering.
The investment is part of a larger financing round expected to amount to about $100 million, valuing the company at about $700 million, according to a person familiar with the situation.
"We can confirm that Twitter has made an investment," SoundCloud said in an emailed statement, declining to comment on specifics or the valuation. It said it will use the money to "continue the global roll-out of many company initiatives such as our recently launched subscription service, SoundCloud Go."
While SoundCloud's massive, engaged user base has tantalized the recorded music industry for years, it had been under increasing pressure to develop a paid service after failing to turn its reach into sustainable revenue streams. SoundCloud, which says it has 175 million monthly users, released the premium service in March and has completed deals with major music labels, as well as publishers and independent labels.
Twitter has invested in startups including smart headphones developer Muzik and mobile marketing platform Swirl.
-- Bloomberg News
China firm raises $4.5B to battle Uber
BEIJING -- Didi Chuxing has raised $4.5 billion in a round of funding that values it at close to $28 billion, according to people familiar with the situation, giving China's leading ride-hailing company more firepower to battle Uber Technologies Inc.
Didi's newly earned valuation would make it the world's third-largest privately backed young company, surpassing Airbnb Inc. Didi was valued at $16.5 billion last year. It closed its latest round of funding with the help of Apple Inc. and prominent Chinese investors, including the nation's top life insurer, according to the people, who didn't want to be identified because the deal is private.
The Beijing-based company also snagged a $2.5 billion debt package from China Merchants Bank Co. on top of the fundraising, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing a person familiar with the matter. Didi declined to comment via email last week.
Didi, which has formed a global coalition with Lyft Inc. in the U.S., India's Ola and Southeast Asia's Grab, is trying to fend off a charge by Uber onto its home turf. Both companies are amassing cash and spending aggressively to expand in the world's second-largest economy, partly by subsidizing the costs of rides.
Backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. -- China's two most valuable technology companies -- Didi is targeting an initial public offering in New York next year, people familiar with the matter have said.
-- Bloomberg News
India to expand rare-earths search area
NEW DELHI -- India is set to issue new policy guidelines to encourage more private-sector exploration for the so-called rare earth minerals used in everything from mobile phones to lasers and cruise missiles.
The framework due by the end of June will demarcate a total area of 386 square miles where companies can search for rare earths, and introduce auctions for the right to explore for the deposits, according to Balvinder Kumar, the top bureaucrat in the nation's Ministry of Mines.
"At the moment it isn't clear about who can explore which areas," Kumar said in an interview in New Delhi. "There will be clarity now."
The South Asian nation has one of the world's bigger reserves of rare earths, a group of obscure minerals produced mostly by mines in China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is trying to cut the complex red tape and land acquisition hurdles that have prevented the nation from fully exploiting not just rare earths, but also rich seams of resources such as coal, bauxite and gold.
The region to be earmarked for exploration includes states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, according to Kumar, with another 155 square miles set aside exclusively for state-run companies to search for uranium and thorium.
State-run Indian Rare Earths Ltd. helped the nation mine 2,800 metric tons of such ore in 2013, or 2.5 percent of the global total, according to a presentation by the company citing U.S. Geological Survey data. The survey's latest Mineral Commodity Summaries report doesn't provide Indian output numbers for 2014 and 2015.
-- Bloomberg News
UberEATS offers London food delivery
LONDON -- Uber Technologies Inc., best known for giving rides to customers, is expanding its food delivery business in Europe.
The car-hailing company introduced UberEATS in London last week, the second European city where it's available after Paris. Several U.S. cities also have the program.
Uber has been expanding around the world as it attempts to add users and justify its $62.5 billion valuation. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick sees food delivery as a natural extension for the network of cars and drivers already on the road giving people rides.
UberEATS is a standalone app allowing customers to order food from different local restaurants. The design is similar to Uber's ride-hailing app and shows customers the status of their order so it can be tracked as it's being prepared and the driver is en route.
Uber joins a crowded food-delivery market. Companies including Deliveroo and GrubHub Inc. have been available in London for some time, and competition is intensifying across Europe.
-- Bloomberg News
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