A quick overview of the day's main developments:
JD.com completed its acquisition of Ceconomy for €1.335 billion
UFORCE raised $700 million for defence systems
Databento secured $100 million from investors
Microsoft outage affected Outlook, Teams and Copilot
UK GDP grew by 0.7 percent in the third quarter
Foreign Investment
Chinese technology and retail group JD.com has completed its public takeover offer for German company Ceconomy, which operates consumer electronics retailers across Europe. It acquired 59.8 percent of the company's share capital from existing shareholders for €1.335 billion, equivalent to €4.60 per share. Together with the stake held by its partner Convergenta, the two parties now control 85.2 percent of Ceconomy. The transaction is significant because it combines a European retail network with JD.com's technological, logistical and online capabilities.
Defence technology company UFORCE, founded in Ukraine and headquartered in London, has raised $700 million in a Series A funding round. The company reached a valuation of $6 billion. The round was led by Valor Equity Partners and the UK's National Wealth Fund, with participation from the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. The funding is intended to expand production of autonomous unmanned systems and support the development of control software in Ukraine and other allied countries.
US financial data platform Databento announced a $100 million Series C funding round at a valuation of $1.1 billion. The investment was led by Fifth Down Capital. Additional capital came from NEA, DRW Venture Capital, Tribe Capital, Hedosophia and strategic investor Fitch Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to expand its market data infrastructure and broaden coverage of additional asset classes for banks, asset managers and companies developing artificial intelligence.
Major Events with Global Impact
A widespread outage affecting Microsoft services continued into Friday. According to the Associated Press, the disruption affected users, businesses and some government agencies from Asia to the United States. The problems primarily involved the Outlook email service, the Teams communication platform, the Copilot assistant and other parts of Microsoft 365. The company acknowledged that the fixes it had deployed were not working as expected. It also stated that there was no evidence of a cyberattack.
The UK economy grew by 0.7 percent in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Growth accelerated from 0.5 percent in the second quarter and reached its strongest pace in two and a half years. The expansion was driven primarily by services, while construction output declined by 0.7 percent.
Geoffrey Hunt
Tradingeconomics.com