Business news in brief

Monsanto to license gene-editing tech

ST. LOUIS -- Monsanto Co., the company that pioneered the commercialization of genetically modified seeds, is expanding further into the new world of gene-editing technology.

The St. Louis-based company said in a statement late last week that it reached a global licensing agreement with the Broad Institute, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University for the use of their Crispr-Cas genome-editing techniques.

Gene-editing technology, which the company has likened to a "search-and-replace function," typically modifies an organism's DNA without introducing foreign genes.

It's attractive for Monsanto and its rivals because it promises to cut development costs while also being less regulated than more established genetic-engineering techniques.

Earlier this year, Monsanto entered into licensing agreements to use gene-editing technologies developed by Germany's Nomad Bioscience GmbH and the Israeli company TargetGene Biotechnologies Ltd.

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, announced last week that it agreed to be acquired by Germany's Bayer AG for $66 billion.

-- Bloomberg News

Game firm Ubisoft sells $445M in bonds

MONTREUIL, France -- Ubisoft Entertainment SA, the French video-game maker trying to fend off the advances of Vivendi SA, sold about $445 million of convertible bonds to help finance product development and pay for possible acquisitions.

The five-year bonds were sold to institutional investors in a private placement, the company said in a statement last week.

The length of the term suggests any conversion would occur well after Ubisoft's current battle to remain independent -- so the new stock wouldn't be available for voting.

The added funding arms Ubisoft to move ahead with its business after a potential showdown with its largest investor this week. Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family has added to their stake ahead of a Sept. 29 shareholder meeting to fend off any Vivendi attempt to gain board seats.

With the bond sale, Ubisoft is taking advantage of low interest rates, according to people familiar with the matter. There is no link between the money-raising and the battle with Paris-based Vivendi, said the people, who asked not be identified.

The sale "will significantly strengthen Ubisoft's financial flexibility" to make investments, the company said. The proceeds will be used for general purposes, including possible acquisitions, share buybacks and debt refinancing, Ubisoft said.

-- Bloomberg News

EU proposes end to phone roaming fees

BRUSSELS -- The European Union's executive arm unveiled new plans recently aimed at ending costly mobile phone roaming charges next year after coming under fire from providers and consumer groups over its previous plan.

Unlike the previous proposals from the European Commission to cap roaming-free use at 90 days per year, the new plan would set no limits on time or the volume of data used. The new arrangements will be based on where phone-users live or an EU country that they regularly visit, like a neighboring state where they might work.

Providers who are broadly opposed to the end of roaming charges could take action if customers do far more roaming than domestic use. They fear that once the new plan takes hold, people might buy cheap services or SIM cards in another European country and then use them at home.

Consumer groups say that roaming calls within Europe can cost up to $2.23 per minute -- about 20 times higher than the cost of mobile calls within the same country. Yet EU data suggest that it costs little more for phone companies to connect such calls.

-- The Associated Press

Google Cloud will test service for banks

Google's cloud services will be used to test blockchain technologies for banks, an area where IBM, Microsoft and Amazon have been courting clients for the past year.

The blockchain is a distributed ledger where multiple companies -- such as banks -- can record transactions securely. The database's strength lies in its trustworthiness: the difficulty of reversing or changing any transactions that have been recorded.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group has employed Google servers in a trial of a new blockchain application for clearing and settlement, the consulting firm GFT said Friday in a statement. The company's cloud services will also be used by other bank clients of the firm, Stuttgart, Germany-based GFT said.

Until now, International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have been most active in rolling out special developer tools and inviting banks and startups to test the new database technology in their data centers.

Amazon.com Inc., the leader in cloud service, has also been working with blockchain startups. GFT is a member of Google Cloud Platform's Partner Program.

-- Bloomberg News

Swiss firm ABB will sell cable business

ABB Ltd., under pressure from Swedish activist shareholder Cevian Capital AB to spin off its power-grid division, said it will slim down its Swedish-Swiss business by selling some operations to NKT Cables for an enterprise value of $934 million.

The sale of its high-voltage cable system to the Danish industrial supplier also comes with a long-term strategic partnership agreement, Zurich-based ABB said in a statement. Progress on the strategic review of the power-grids business will be given Oct. 4, it said.

Cevian still wants ABB to spin off the power-grid division, the investor's co-founder Christer Gardell said by email.

ABB has faced mounting pressure in recent weeks from Cevian to spin off the power-grid division as a way to create value for shareholders and grow the business. Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Spiesshofer had said ABB would unveil the results of a yearlong review of the division during an investor day next month.

-- Bloomberg News

Currency exchange to auction bitcoins

Gemini Trust Co., the U.S.-based digital-currency exchange founded by entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is introducing a daily bitcoin auction to facilitate price discovery and larger trades at lower costs.

The auctions, to be held at 3 p.m. every day including holidays and weekends, at first will support just bitcoin-to-U.S. dollar trading, and will eventually expand to more currencies. Auction trades will be eligible for as much as a 0.15 percent rebate on trading fees, Gemini said.

By adding daily auctions, Gemini is bringing to bitcoin a feature that's long been available on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Bats Global Markets for other asset classes. It's a step toward making the digital currency more attractive and easier to use by institutional as well as retail investors, Gemini Chief Executive Officer Tyler Winklevoss said in an interview.

Gemini is expanding its suite of services as the technology behind bitcoin finds uses in industries ranging from supply chain to finance, and more people around the world open bitcoin accounts.

-- Bloomberg News

SundayMonday Business on 09/26/2016

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