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London-based augmented reality startup Blippar is said to be facing administration and is “on the brink of collapse” after a dispute between its investors, British luxury property developer Nick Candy and Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. A report by The Times said Khazanah has blocked an emergency fundraising by the unicorn startup, causing Blippar to reach out to its shareholders, saying it had been left with “no current option other than to give notice to start insolvency proceedings”.
Jaypee group’s homebuyers on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its August order which remanded the insolvency case against Jaypee Infratech (JIL) to the National Company Law Tribunal’s Allahabad bench to be started afresh. The homebuyers want the apex court to declare them “secured financial creditors” on a par with banks, the Financial Express reported. A bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur said it would come up for hearing before an appropriate bench.
Losses more than doubled at Dublin-headquartered social media monitoring company NewsWhip last year as the company invested heavily in its technology platform as it looks to grow recurring subscription revenues. Founded by Paul Quigley and Andrew Mullaney in 2011, NewsWhip uses predictive data and analytics to identify breaking news stories of relevance to their clients. The company has more than 500 of the world’s leading publishers, brands and agencies as customers, including big names such as Reebok, the Washington Post, IBM, Ford, Condé Nast, L’Oréal and Walmart.
The Turkish economy slowed sharply this fall and looks set to contract this winter, presenting an immense political challenge for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has overseen a debt-fueled boom that had made Turkey one of the world’s fastest-growing countries, The Wall Street Journal reported. Monday’s figures also present a conundrum for the country’s central bank, which defied Mr. Erdogan by sharply raising rates in September in an attempt to curb runaway inflation.
The European Central Bank didn’t overstep its mandate by setting up a quantitative easing (QE) programme to stave off deflation, judges at the European Union’s top court ruled, the Irish Times reported. The ECB’s programme “for the purchase of government bonds on secondary markets does not infringe EU law,” the EU Court of Justice said, dismissing the latest in a series of challenges from critics who argue the tool deployed by ECB president Mario Draghi clashes with a ban on so-called monetary financing.
Dealing with the gilets jaunes protests has been difficult for Mr Macron’s government, the Financial Times reported. The leaderless movement stretches across the political spectrum and has a range of often contradictory demands. In Monday’s 13-minute speech, watched by 23m people, Mr Macron spoke of the need to address a “state of economic and social emergency” and accepted responsibility that the government had not been able “to provide a sufficiently fast and strong response” and acknowledged that “I may have hurt some of you with my words”.
A no-deal Brexit could almost halve Irish economic growth next year, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has warned, the Irish Times reported. In its latest economic commentary, the think tank modelled the short-term impact of various Brexit scenarios on the Irish economy. It found that if the UK left the EU without a deal, and assuming World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules then apply, this would curtail growth here to 2.6 per cent compared to 4.2 per cent in the absence of Brexit.
A group of building industry players, including the daughter of former developer Liam Maye, has bought the Basta locks and ironmongery brand out of examinership, The Irish Times reported. Basta, which went into examinership in July, employed 48 people. It was based in Sligo where it was founded more than 60 years ago. Desand, an Irish company, has acquired the brand, its goodwill and the company’s stock but is not acquiring the business, or its staff. It said it would continue to trade as Basta “as this continues to be one of the strongest brands in the sector for over 60 years”.
Indian stocks are still holding on to gains for the year, but they’re evaporating fast. Exit polls last week from state elections were the latest hit to the market, sending the S&P BSE Sensex Index down as much as 1.8 percent on Monday, the most intraday since Oct. 19, Bloomberg News reported. The results showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is set for tight electoral contests in key states before next year’s general election, adding to uncertainties in a market already hurting from fluctuating oil prices and defaults at an infrastructure financier.