Mary Kay renews commitment to prevent, eliminate gender-based violence

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 -- Mary Kay Inc and the Mary Kay Ash Foundation have announced a renewed, joint commitment to the prevention and elimination of gender-based violence by joining the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence.

This is in recognition of the upcoming International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women kicking off the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, according to a statement.

The commitment—which the organisations made public during UN Women’s recent Generation Equality Forum in Paris—is just the latest step the storied beauty brand and its charitable arm have made in the interest of improving the lives of women everywhere.

The Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence, co-led by UN Women and by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund), among other leaders, is a powerful global movement mobilising governments, international organisations, philanthropies, and the private sector to deliver transformational progress towards the elimination of gender-based violence through four concrete actions.

This includes creating enabling policy, legal and resource environments; scaling up evidence driven prevention programming; scaling up comprehensive, accessible, and quality services for survivors; and, enabling and empowering autonomous girl-led and women’s rights organisations to exercise their expertise.

A goal of the Generation Equality Gender-Based Violence Action Coalition is to have 550 million more women and girls live in countries with laws and policies prohibiting all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls by 2026, among others.

During the Forum, UN Women committed to amplifying support and funding to women’s rights organisations by working with partners to secure a minimum of US$100 million in grants to be allocated through the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) over the next five years. (US$1 = RM4.213)

Last year, Mary Kay Inc and the Mary Kay Ash Foundation joined forces with the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) and CARE, two champions of women’s rights, to further their mission to achieve a world free from violence against women.

-- BERNAMA

First Net Insurance Company Credit Ratings affirmed - AM Best

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 -- Global credit rating agency, AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of ‘bbb+’ (Good) of First Net Insurance Company (First Net) Guam. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect First Net’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

First Net’s risk-adjusted capitalisation is assessed at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), and supported by its relatively low net underwriting leverage, and conservative and liquid investment portfolio, both of which partially offset its small absolute capital base.

Based on a statement, the company has a relatively high reliance on reinsurance for its business growth and catastrophe protection, albeit credit risk is limited due to a stable and high-quality reinsurer panel.

FirstNet’s adequate operating performance is underpinned by positive underwriting results and stable investment returns from its fixed-income portfolio. Its combined ratios mostly outperformed its composite’s average over the past 10 years, but the company’s small net premium base left its underwriting performance more susceptible to potential volatility arising from claims and expenses.

First Net reported favourable underwriting performance in 2020 and the first half of 2021 primarily due to reduced auto claims amid the COVID-19 pandemic. AM Best expects auto claims to rebound as traffic levels gradually return to normal over the coming years.

First Net is a domestic property and casualty insurer in the small and competitive Guam market, with a market share of approximately four per cent based on 2019 direct written premium (excluding group accident and health).

Given its location and geographic concentration, AM Best views the company’s business expansion opportunities as limited and highly dependent on local economic development. Nonetheless, the company has a stable business stream sourced through Moylan's Insurance Underwriters Inc, its affiliated company and a major multi-line insurance agency with a strong distribution network in Guam and nearby jurisdictions.

For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

-- BERNAMA

ALSP Orchid Acquisition Corporation I declares US$150 million IPO

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 -- ALSP Orchid Acquisition Corporation I (the Company or ALSP Orchid) has announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 15,000,000 units at a price of US$10.00 per unit. (US$1 = RM4.179)

The units will be listed on The Nasdaq Global Market (Nasdaq) and trade under the ticker symbol ALORU beginning Nov 19. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-half of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of US$11.50 per share.

After the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the Class A ordinary shares and warrants are expected to be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols ‘ALOR’ and ‘ALORW’, respectively. The offering is expected to close on Nov 23, subject to customary closing conditions.

According to a statement, ALSP Orchid is a newly organised blank check company formed by Accelerator Life Science Partners, for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganisation or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Incorporated and Nomura Securities International Inc are serving as joint book-running managers of the offering.

The Company has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 units at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus.

A registration statement relating to these securities was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) on Nov 18.

-- BERNAMA

Ensign-Bickford Industries closes acquisition of Cawood Scientific Limited

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 -- Ensign-Bickford Industries Inc (EBI) has announced successfully closing on its acquisition of Cawood Scientific Limited (Cawood), headquartered in Bracknell, UK.

Headquartered in Denver, CO, EBI is a 185-year-old privately-held corporation with diversified businesses in aerospace and defence, molecular diagnostics, and pet food palatability markets.

Cawood Scientific is the UK’s leading independent scientific group, with laboratories throughout the UK, EU, and the US serving the agriculture, food, and environmental sectors.

Cawood will become a member of EBI’s Agriculture and Environmental Diagnostics Group.

Commenting on the acquisition, EBI President and CEO Tom Perlitz said in a statement: “Cawood has more than just exceptional growth potential, it comes to us as a thriving business with a solid market position and great talent – built on a set of strong principles that very closely mirror the core values of EBI.

“This partnership will support both goals to expand our diagnostic offerings and extend our reach in global markets, and we could not be more pleased to welcome Cawood into the EBI family,” he said, noting that Cawood would represent a unique partnership with EBI’s EnviroLogix business that will strengthen and grow EBI’s foothold in the agricultural supply chain. 

“Over the last 18 months, Cawood has doubled in size, following significant investment in acquisitions, equipment, and technology, and EBI is committed to supporting and guiding that strategic growth long-term,” said Cawood’s Simon Parrington, who will continue as the Cawood Group CEO.

For more information, visit http://www.ensign-bickfordind.com/

-- BERNAMA

34th Tokyo International Film Festival winners named

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 -- The 34th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) concluded with the announcement of winners at the Closing Ceremony recently.

The Tokyo Grand Prix was awarded to ‘Vera Dreams of the Sea’, directed by Kaltrina Krasniqi, the first TIFF selection from Kosovo; while ‘World, Northern Hemisphere’ by Hossein Tehrani won the Asian Future Best Film Award.

Other winning films included ‘La Civil’, ‘Poet’, ‘The Other Tom’, ‘The Four Walls’, ‘Crane Lantern’ and ‘Just Remembering’, as well as Amazon Prime Video Take One Awardees ‘Sunday and Calm Sea’ and ‘Under the Bridge’.

The 34th TIFF showcased 126 films selected from 1,533 submissions from 113 countries and regions between Oct 30 and Nov 8, according to a statement.

The Japan Foundation Asia Center (JF) and TIFF have co-presented Conversation Series at Asia Lounge.

With an advisory panel headed by Palme d'Or winner Kore-eda Hirokazu, the series brought together acclaimed filmmakers and actors from Asia and beyond to engage in friendly dialogue for eight days.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Asia Lounge featured both in-person and online guests, with audiences able to participate in person and to livestream Q and As for each of the talks, as well as it could also set up the physical lounge where filmmakers would enjoy free-form conversation and exchange.

International guests included TIFF Jury President Isabelle Huppert, Chang Chen, Kamila Andini, Bahman Ghobadi, Brillante Ma Mendoza, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Bong Joon Ho.

The JF and TIFF also jointly showcased the rich and diverse cultures of Asian cinema in the Competition, Asian Future, Gala Selection, World Focus and newly launched TIFF Series sections.

More details at https://2021.tiff-jp.net/en/

-- BERNAMA

Polyplastics introduces new RENATUS (R) PET grades for auto exterior components

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 -- Polyplastics Group has announced the introduction of two new RENATUS (R) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) grades which deliver superior mechanical properties, appearance, and weather resistance for automotive exterior components.

This reaffirms Polyplastics' strong commitment to PET as a key pillar of its extensive resin business portfolio, according to a statement.

The two new glass-reinforced grades, RH030 (30 per cent glass-filled) and RH045 (45 per cent glass-filled), maintain their jet blackness and reduce whitening on the surface of molded articles in outdoor environments, making them ideally suited for applications such as automotive side mirrors and rear wiper arms/blades.

Since PET parts are not painted, weathering degradation can occur over time. The glass filler can start to float and the jet blackness can decrease.

Accelerated weather-resistance testing demonstrates that Polyplastics' new PET materials maintain lower index values than their competing products, thus indicating whitening is being reduced.

RENATUS (R) RH030 and RH045 PET are glass fibre-reinforced grades, but they can still produce molded articles with good surface appearance because of their superior mold transferability during molding.

Recent company testing shows that when compared to standard grade PBT-GF30, RH045 (PET-GF45) exhibits higher surface gloss even though it has a large amount of glass fibre added to the formulation.

Meanwhile, in terms of mechanical performance, PET typically has superior properties compared to PBT. At similar glass loadings, RH030 and RH045 PET grades have higher mechanical properties including greater tensile strength, flexural modulus, and deflection temperature under load compared to PBT grades.

Polyplastics Co Ltd is a global leader in the development and production of engineering thermoplastics, with product portfolio including POM, PBT, PPS, LCP, GF-PET, and COC.

-- BERNAMA

8th New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival ends

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 -- The New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival recently held at New Chitose Airport and online for four days, ended Nov 8.

The competition screening, which is the main event of the festival, showed 92 films selected from over 2,200 submissions.

An award ceremony was held on Nov 8 at the Portom Hall located in the international terminal building of New Chitose Airport, according to a statement.

Among the awards recognised include Grand Prix for Short Films: ‘Easter Eggs’ Nicolas Keppens, Belgium; Japan Grand Prix: ‘Replacements’ Jonathan Hagard, Japan; and, New Talent Award: ‘The Fourth Wall’ Mahboobeh Kalaee, Iran.

Also listed Grand Prix for Feature Films: ‘The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily’ Lorenzo Mattotti, France & Italy; Best Student Film: ‘Butterfly Jam’ Shih-Yen Huang, France & Taiwan; and, Best Music Animation: ‘Czarodzielnica’ Klaudia Ptasinska, Poland.

There was a new event called NEW CHITOSE AIRPORT PITCH 2021. There, nine Japanese animation filmmakers made short presentations on their upcoming projects, with the festival office and one of the commentators commending two projects.

The projects are NEW CHITOSE AIRPORT PITCH AWARD: ‘CHERRY AND VIRGIN’ Project by Masanao Kawajiri; and, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal Award: ‘The Story of My First Love and the Rainbow Ferry That Was Sold’ Project by Honami Yano.

All winning works can be found on the official festival website at https://airport-anifes.jp/en.

-- BERNAMA

VORTEXA UNVEILS FREIGHT PRICING ANALYTICS FOLLOWING THE BALTIC EXCHANGE PARTNERSHIP

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- Vortexa has announced the launch of its new Freight Pricing Analytics screen available within Vortexa Freight Analytics following the recent data partnership with The Baltic Exchange, the world's leading independent source of maritime market information.

Vortexa Chief Executive Officer, Fabio Kuhn said: “For the first time in the freight markets, one screen is able to combine pricing with a real-time view of fundamentals at this scale and depth, unlocking an immense competitive edge in speed and foresight to market participants.’’

The new screen provides access to The Baltic Exchange freight pricing benchmarks alongside Vortexa’s real-time supply and demand analytics such as forward vessel availability and fleet utilisation for a chosen route - all in one view.

According to a statement, Vortexa’s Freight Pricing will further accelerate the time-to-market of trading, chartering and optimisation opportunities.

Vortexa’s forward view of tonnage supply up to 35 days ahead and real-time utilisation data at the highest frequency and granularity available in the freight markets today, help market participants to make well-informed, high-stake chartering and positioning decisions quickly and confidently.

Vortexa provides market-leading real-time data and advanced analytics for energy and shipping markets.

-- BERNAMA

HYTERA ROLLED OUT NEW POC RADIO PNC360S FOR SIMPLIFIED BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS AT CCW2021

 

Hytera Rolled Out New PoC Radio PNC360S for Simplified Business Communications at CCW2021 (Graphic: Business Wire)

SHENZHEN, China, Nov 5 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Hytera, the global leading provider of professional and private communications technologies and solutions, has launched its latest Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) radio at CCW2021- the PNC360S, a simple yet powerful radio designed to help business users communicate effortlessly and efficiently.
 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211103005609/en/ 

Business organisations such as retail outlets or hotels are often looking for an economic solution to enable wide-area communications with a low start-up cost. This is exactly what PoC radios provide. PoC delivers PTT services over existing public mobile networks. This allows users to access a nationwide radio network without the need to purchase, operate or maintain any infrastructure.

However, compared with two-way radios, traditional PoC radios suffer from a number of challenges, including unclear audio in very noisy environments, intermittent voice call issues in areas with a weak signal, a short battery life, and unstable performance in humid and dusty conditions. The Hytera PNC360S has been optimised to meet these challenges, making it the ideal solution for delivering easy and reliable PTT communications.

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=41501

Voyager Labs paves way into Japan with key strategic win

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 -- Voyager Labs, a world leader in advanced AI-based investigation solutions, has sealed a major deal with a Japanese government agency, empowering the organisation to gain deep investigative insights about entities, individuals, groups, and topics.

The engagement provides the government agency with an AI (Artificial Intelligence) based investigation platform that easily analyses massive amounts of intelligence unstructured information from any source including open and deep data, understand content and human interactions and uncover hidden or unknown connections and relationships.

“I am glad that we are collaborating in the fight against terror and crime. This is a strategic win for Voyager Labs and our partner Terilogy Worx Corporation in Japan,” said Managing Director APAC at Voyager Labs, Divya Khangarot, in a statement.

“We bring additional layers of deep investigative insights using a combination of AI, Machine Learning and OSINT to uncover hidden trails, infringed information, and bad actors.”

Meanwhile, Terilogy Worx Chief Executive Officer Nobuo Miyamura said: “In partnership with Voyager Labs, we are extremely honoured to be able to support this government agency’s work of accelerating criminal investigations and disinformation campaign analysis here in Japan.”

Voyager Labs’ proprietary AI technology enables investigators to easily analyse massive amounts of intelligence information as well as open, deep, and dark web data, and understand content, hidden or unknown connections, relationships, human interactions, and connections. More details at www.voyagerlabs.co.

-- BERNAMA

FLUENCE ANNOUNCES CLOSING OF INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING AND FULL EXERCISE OF UNDERWRITERS' OPTION TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL SHARES; RAISES GROSS PROCEEDS OF $998,200,000

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov 3 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Fluence Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FLNC), a leading global provider of energy storage products and services and digital applications for renewables and storage, today announced the closing of its initial public offering of 35,650,000 shares of its Class A common stock, including the exercise in full of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of its Class A common stock, at an initial public offering price of $28.00 per share. Proceeds from the initial public offering were $998.2 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses. The shares began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on September 28, 2021 under the ticker symbol "FLNC."

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital Inc., and BofA Securities are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the offering. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, UBS Securities, LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., and RBC Capital Markets, LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Nomura Securities International, Inc., Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Seaport Global Securities LLC, Penserra Securities LLC, and Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC are acting as co-managers for the offering.

The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus related to the offering may be obtained from: J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone at 866-803-9204 or by email at prospectus-eq_fi@jpmorganchase.com; Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014; Barclays Capital Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717 or by email at barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com or by telephone at (888) 603-5847; BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department or by email at dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com. 

A registration statement relating to this offering was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 27, 2021. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.  

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=41468

Japan Ministry of Environment holds exhibitions, seminars at Japan Pavilion, COP 26

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 -- The Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ), has set up the Japan Pavilion at the venue of COP 26 (the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), underway in Glasgow, the United Kingdom, from Oct 31 to Nov 12.

The Pavilion provides the opportunity for Japanese stakeholders including companies to organise exhibitions and seminars, according to a statement.

MOEJ is also organising the Virtual Japan Pavilion to showcase technologies and actions online.

During COP 26, MOEJ is operating the Japan Pavilion to hold exhibitions and seminars, as well as the Virtual Japan Pavilion, which showcases technologies and actions, in order to introduce Japan's initiatives and environmental technologies to achieve global and domestic decarbonisation.

On July 20, MOEJ issued a call for applications to exhibit advanced decarbonisation technologies at the Japan Pavilion, and selected 12 on-site exhibits as well as 33 virtual exhibits.

More details at http://copjapan.env.go.jp/cop/cop26/en/index.html.

-- BERNAMA

FINTECH UNICORN NIUM JOINS HKSTP'S FINTECH COMMUNITY TO ACCELERATE HONG KONG'S BOOMING FINTECH ECOSYSTEM

HKSTP connects SE Asian Fintech unicorn with key partners to tap the enormous GBA market

HONG KONG, Nov 1 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) today announced the addition of a global Fintech unicorn, Nium, as a partner company to HKSTP’s thriving Fintech ecosystem. Nium is opening its new office at InnoCentre to leverage Hong Kong’s growing Fintech opportunities as well as the huge GBA market potential for seamless application programming interface (API)-based payments services. The high-growth Fintech startup connects consumers, corporations and financial institutions to the world’s payment infrastructure through a single API for fast, low-cost international transfers.

Nium has been present in Hong Kong since 2016 and the growing team will join other fast-rising Fintech ventures at Science Park’s flagship Fintech hub at InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong. The Temasek-backed Fintech startup closed its Series D funding round in July of this year, propelling its valuation beyond US$1 billion. The round enables Nium to accelerate its regional growth, with HKSTP chosen as the ideal partner for this next stage of the journey. The new funds will support rapid global expansion, with Hong Kong and the GBA as major growth opportunities. It currently holds several regulatory licenses and offices around the world, including in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia, India, the US, and the UK.

HKSTP has already connected Nium with a number of Fintech API players in Hong Kong to accelerate service development and business growth. Through collaboration with industry leaders and tech startups at InnoCentre, Nium can instantly plug into the Hong Kong’s thriving Fintech ecosystem and ride the wave of API-based financial services sweeping across Hong Kong and the GBA. 

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=41452