New Delhi, Nov 21 () Kerala-based lender CSB Bank on Thursday raised Rs 184 crore from anchor investors, ahead of its initial share sale commencing on Friday.
CSB Bank, which aims to raise up to Rs 410 crore, has fixed a price of Rs 193-195 per share for the initial public offer.
According to a regulatory filing, CSB Bank has finalised the allocation of 94,54,080 shares at Rs 195 apiece to 24 anchor investors, including five mutual funds. Based on the price, the total proceeds would be little over Rs 184 crore.
Omers Administration Corporation OAC Custody Account (SCV6), ICICI Prudential MF, SBI MF, Aditya Birla Sun Life Trustee, Axis MF, Sundaram MF, HSBC and Ashoka India Opportunities Fund are among the anchor investors.
The shares are being sold to anchor investors at the upper end of the IPO price band of Rs 195 apiece.
CSB Bank's offer involves a fresh issue of shares to raise up to Rs 24 crore and an Offer For Sale of 1.97 crore scrips by existing investors. The latter would be worth around Rs 385 crore.
The share sale would be open from November 22 to 26.
On November 19, the bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive C V R Rajendran said its promoter entity Fairfax India Holdings Corporation's stake would go down to 49.73 per cent from 50.09 per cent.
The promoter entity, which acquired 51 per cent in the bank in February, has five years to reduce holding to 40 per cent and 15 years to go down to 15 per cent in compliance with the RBI requirements.
As part of the same requirements, it had to list by September 2019 and some procedural aspects resulted in a marginal delay, he had said. RAM BAL

CSB Bank mops up Rs 184 cr from anchor investors

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two Black women were handcuffed by <keyword id="80498" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="secret-service">Secret Service</keyword> last week after they were misidentified by officers.</li><li>The women, India Johnson and Yasmeen Winston, told FOX 5 DC that they were parking their car when the Secret Service smashed into their vehicle and handcuffed them for about an hour while their infants were still in the car. </li><li>The <keyword id="28603" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="mothers">mothers</keyword> and DC officials are demanding answers for the altercation. </li><li>In a statement to FOX 5 DC, the US Secret Service said "the characterization of the events portrayed in the media and by others are misleading, and in some instances, false" and"health and welfare of all of the occupants of the vehicle, to include two children, was a priority for the responding officers."</li></ul>Two Black mothers were apprehended at gunpoint by Secret Service in DC last week.<a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/two-dc-mothers-say-they-were-held-at-gunpoint-wrongfully-detained-by-secret-service-on-national-mall">FOX 5 DC</a> reported that the two mothers were on their way to splash their babies' feet in the fountains near the World War II Memorial. As they were parking their car, Secret Service smashed into their vehicle and pointed guns at the women.The mothers, India Johnson and Yasmeen Winston, told FOX 5 that they were misidentified by the officers.According to the report, the women were handcuffed for about an hour until they were released to their infants, who were in their hot vehicle throughout the entire altercation. Winston's son is 6 months old and Johnson's son is 13 months.The women told the outlet that some of the officers were not wearing masks.Both women are calling for the Secret Service to suspend officers involved. They also are requesting body camera footage and internal investigation, FOX 5 DC reported. Their lawyer Timothy Maloney is demanding answers. "These were two young African American mothers with their babies sitting lawfully in a car with DC tags," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/two-black-moms-took-their-kids-to-the-mall-secret-service-confronted-them-with-guns-they-said/2020/08/03/be4dfa8c-d4f1-11ea-9c3b-dfc394c03988_story.html">Maloney said in a letter to the Secret Service Director James Murray, according to the Washington Post</a>. "Can the Secret Service honestly say it would have treated white out-of-town tourists and their babies, sitting there without District tags, the same way?" In a press release Tuesday, DC Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, announced that her office had penned a <a href="https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-sends-letter-to-secret-service-department-of-homeland-security">letter</a> to the Secret Service demanding answers for the two mothers and asking them to respond within five business days. The letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf and US Secret Service Director James Murray, asks why the women were targeted."Such an incident must not be tolerated anywhere – but it will not be tolerated in our nation's capital," Norton said in the press release. "I am demanding answers to several specific questions, including why these mothers were arrested at all when it was apparent that their license plate did not match the one on the stolen car and why were they never read their Miranda rights."FOX 5 DC received a statement from the US Secret Service on Tuesday. In the statement, the Secret Service said they were conducting an investigation, and added that "the characterization of the events portrayed in the media and by others are misleading, and in some instances, false." The Secret Service went on to claim that officers had been "informed that a person known to have driven the vehicle was wanted by the Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Department in connection with several felonies, and was designated as 'armed and dangerous.'""The occupants of the vehicle were briefly detained until it was determined they were not wanted by law enforcement. During the felony traffic stop, a Uniformed Division patrol unit made incidental contact with the suspect vehicle. No injuries were reported at the scene," they continued. The Secret Service also added that they called medical services to the scene and "health and welfare of all of the occupants of the vehicle, to include two children, was a priority for the responding officers."But that's not a sufficient response for the mothers. Both Johnson and Winston told the Washington Post they felt traumatized from the experience. "I thought the police was here to serve and protect us, and now it's really uncomfortable," Winston said. "The fact that our kids had to witness this? Nobody wants to introduce their kids to this.""I could have been another <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/breonna-taylor">Breonna Taylor,</a>" Winston said. "I could have been another innocent woman who has no record and got shot."Expanded Coverage Module: black-lives-matter-module

2 Black mothers were mistakenly ambushed by Secret Service near the National Mall in DC. Both the women and DC officials are now asking why.

Business leaders from around the world attending an investment summit in the Gujarat this week cheered Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword>'s reforms, and said the disruption caused by his radical demonetisation move should be temporary. 
 
Executives at the week-long, biennial Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in Modi's home state said the tide was turning on investments into India, although some complained the approval process remained prohibitively slow. 
 
Modi has promoted a business-friendly agenda since coming to power in 2014, and his reforms have helped turn India into the world's fastest growing major economy, albeit with the help of hefty government spending to fund projects. 
 "We are making a real bet on the country. What we are seeing with Prime Minister Modi is really some substantive change, it's more than lip service," said <keyword id="1871104" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Peter-Huntsman">Peter Huntsman</keyword>, Chief Executive of U.S. chemical maker Huntsman Corp . 
 
Huntsman said his company, which sells products ranging from adhesives to industrial inputs, is doing "preliminary analysis on what may end up being several hundred million dollars worth of investments in India." 
 
As someone who first came to India in the late 1980s and has seen the promises made over decades, he described the pace of change under Modi as "near light-speed", and said that an overhaul of India's unwieldy tax code would be a game changer. 
 
After lengthy delays and political horse trading among lawmakers, Modi finally won parliamentary approval last year to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST), although it is likely to go only some way to unifying rates. 
 
The prime minister also stunned Indians on Nov. 8 when he abolished old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in a bid to root out corruption and drag the nation into the age of digital payments. 
 The <keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Bank">World Bank</keyword> said in its report this week that the move would slow India's economic growth to 7 percent this fiscal year, down from an earlier estimate of 7.6 percent. 
 
Other economists have also pared growth forecasts, as money shortages over the last two months have caused frustration for millions of people in an economy largely driven by cash. 
 
Industrialists like B. K. Goenka, chairman of Indian conglomerate Welspun Group, believe the economic hit from so-called demonetisation is in the past. 
 
"Demonetisation is over. It was a bold decision and in the long run it will benefit. It will also help the implementation of GST," said Goenka, adding moves to cleanse the system prior to implementing GST later this year made sense. 
 
Welspun outlined proposed investments of 40 billion rupees ($588 million) in Gujarat during the summit, which ended Friday. 
 
RISKS AND REWARDS 
 Canadian billionaire investor <keyword id="6385037" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prem-Watsa">Prem Watsa</keyword> said his India-focused investment vehicle Fairfax India is raising a further $500 million, as its initial $1 billion raise from 2015 has already been largely earmarked for deployment. 
 
"I'm saying India is the single best country to invest in worldwide for the long-term," said Watsa, adding that all the companies Fairfax India has invested in so far are registering double digit growth rates. "I see huge opportunities." 
 "You're going to see a transformation take place before your eyes in India," said Watsa, comparing Modi's reform agenda in India to the transformation <keyword id="685" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lee-Kuan-Yew">Lee Kuan Yew</keyword> brought to Singapore. 
 
Even for optimists, though, challenges remain. 
 
Fairfax India warned last week that a $323 million deal it had struck in March 2016 to acquire a 33 percent stake in the Bengaluru airport was still in limbo, awaiting some government and regulatory approvals. 
 
That deal had initially been expected to close in mid-2016. 
 
The head of Dubai's DP World, which operates several ports along India's coastline, said he was "very bullish" on India but that more work was needed to speed up approvals. 
 
Others pointed to the unpredictability of Indian politics as a wild card factor. 
 That challenge was illustrated this week when <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>.com was forced to remove doormats resembling the Indian flag from its Canadian website, after an Indian government threat to rescind visas of the company's employees if they did not stop selling them. 
 "Investors will just have to accept a higher level of risk to get the returns they want from big markets like India," said <keyword id="4061217" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="amitabh-dubey">Amitabh Dubey</keyword>, a political analyst at emerging markets advisory firm Trusted Sources. 
 
($1 = 68.0229 Indian rupees)

Corporates praise PM Modi’s cash ban move; say inconvenience is temporary

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Thomson ReutersPeople wait to load portable water-purification units and supplies at a Red Cross aid center after Cyclone Pam in Port Vila, capital city of Vanuatu, March 19, 2015.</div></div></div><ul><li>China reportedly discussed setting up a military presence in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.</li><li>Both countries denied the report, and a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called it "fake <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword>."</li><li>The US and its partners are eyeing China's moves in the region warily.</li></ul> China and Vanuatu discussed establishing a Chinese military presence in the Pacific island nation, The Sydney Morning Herald <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>, citing several sources. Australian <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword> officials said Beijing asked Vanuatu to host a port or allow port visits by naval vessels, <a href="https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/983618953531441152">according to Nine News</a>.Vanuatu adamantly denied the reports, but a potential Chinese military presence in that area of the South Pacific has long been a source of concern for Australia, the US, and their partners in the region, who are eyeing China's expansion warily.No formal proposals have been made by the Chinese government, according to The Herald, citing sources saying any Chinese military presence in Vanuatu would likely <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">develop incrementally</a>, possibly starting with a deal allowing naval ships to visit routinely."No one in the Vanuatu government has ever talked about a Chinese military base in Vanuatu of any sort," Vanuatu Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-defence-vanuatu/vanuatu-and-china-deny-holding-military-base-talks-idUSKBN1HH019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "We are a nonaligned country. We are not interested in militarization. We are just not interested in any sort of military base in our country."China's Defense Ministry <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-defence-vanuatu/vanuatu-and-china-deny-holding-military-base-talks-idUSKBN1HH019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Fairfax Media's report "completely did not accord with the facts," and a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman referred to the report as "fake news."<h2>Troubling implications</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Google Maps/Christopher WoodyAn outpost in Vanuatu could put China's military near trade routes in the South Pacific.</div></div></div>Vanuatu is made up of more than 80 islands between Fiji and New Caledonia, located about 1,200 miles from Australia's northeast coast, and it hosted a strategically located US Navy base during World War II."The most troubling implication for Australian interests is that a future naval or air base in Vanuatu would give China a foothold for operations to coerce Australia, outflank the US and its base on US territory at Guam, and collect intelligence in a regional security crisis," Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said in <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/many-questions-about-china-s-vanuatu-ambition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Lowy Institute report</a>."We would view with great concern the establishment of any foreign military bases in those Pacific Island countries and neighbors of ours," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. Australia's opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman <a href="https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/983618953531441152" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> such a military presence a potential "game changer for the region and for Australia."Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was in Vanuatu with Prince Charles over the weekend - a diplomatic visit meant to underscore the importance of the commonwealth countries' emphasis on a free and open international system, <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html?__twitter_impression=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Fairfax Media.Bishop said she was unaware of any Chinese military designs on Vanuatu. She noted China was more active in the region, citing Chinese naval visits to Vanuatu in 2017, "but these sorts of visits are normal," <a href="http://amp.abc.net.au/article/9635742" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she told</a> Australian media.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Steve Parsons/Pool via ReutersBritain's Prince Charles with Chief Sine Mao Tirsupe during a visit to the chief's nakamal in Vanuatu, April 7, 2018.</div></div></div>"It is a fact that China is engaging in infrastructure investment activities around the world," Bishop <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-defence-vanuatu/vanuatu-and-china-deny-holding-military-base-talks-idUSKBN1HH019?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=Social" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I remain confident that Australia is Vanuatu's strategic partner of choice."New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she could not comment on the validity of the report, but <a href="https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-eyes-permanent-military-vanuatu-report-030128964.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told AFP</a> that "we of course keep a watching eye on activity within the Pacific and that New Zealand is opposed to the militarization of the Pacific generally."<h2>China putting billions into the Pacific</h2>Beijing has <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already agreed</a> to hundreds of millions of dollars in development funds to the island nation, which is home to about 270,000 people.China has also agreed to fund a new wharf on the northern island of Espiritu Santo, close to an international airport that Beijing is also helping overhaul.The wharf deal "raised eyebrows in defense, intelligence, and diplomatic circles" in Australia because while the facility is ostensibly for docking cruise ships, it could also host naval vessels, Johnathan Pryke, a Pacific Islands expert at the Lowy Institute, <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Herald</a>, which reported that senior members of China's army want to quickly set up a base in Vanuatu.China has <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also agreed</a> to build a new official residence for Vanuatu's prime minister, a new Finance Ministry building, and an extension for the country's Foreign Ministry. It ahs already funded Vanuatu's parliamentary building, a 1,000-seat convention center, and a major stadium and is finishing work on a school that will reportedly be the biggest education facility in the South Pacific.Beijing committed more than $1.7 billion in aid to 218 projects in the Pacific between 2006 and 2016, <a href="https://chineseaidmap.lowyinstitute.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Lowy Institute.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Kris ParasLocal residents outside damaged homes surrounded by debris after Cyclone Pam hit Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, March 15, 2015.</div></div></div>China "is beginning to shift this long-standing regional dynamic in ways that are raising concern in Canberra and in other regional capitals," Bates Gill, an Asia-Pacific expert at Sydney's Macquarie University, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43707975" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the BBC</a>.China has expanded its presence in the Pacific and Indian oceans, building military facilities on a number of reefs and manmade islands in the South China Sea. Beijing has made expansive claims over the sea, which have been <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43707975" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backed by Vanuatu</a>.The US and Australia have compared China's overtures in the South Pacific to its moves in the Indian Ocean, where Beijing agreed to develop port facilities and other infrastructure in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, the Maldives, and other countries - all of which is of particular concern for India.A Chinese military base in Djibouti, which features a port, aircraft hangers, and accommodations for up to 10,000 troops, was Beijing's first overseas military outpost (though Beijing refers to it a logistics facility.)Chinese deals in the India Ocean region follow a trend that has been called "debt-trap diplomacy," in which Beijing funds projects in a poorer country and uses that leverage for get more advantageous relations or more access.Earlier this year, US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer referred to such deals as "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-weaponizing-capital-us-navy-chief-awake-at-night-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weaponizing capital</a>." China holds almost half of Vanuatu's $440 million in foreign debt, <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-eyes-vanuatu-military-base-in-plan-with-global-ramifications-20180409-p4z8j9.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to The Morning Herald. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-chanos-explains-significance-china-real-estate-market-2018-2">Jim Chanos explains the most important asset class in the world</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

China is reportedly interested in building a military outpost on a tiny island in the Pacific - and it could be a 'game changer' for the region

<div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53zsdW33wTw">YouTube</a></div></div>The letters of intent have been signed - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackberry-offer-to-go-private-2013-9">Canadian firm Fairfax Financial has offered to buy BlackBerry for $9 a share</a> and take the company private.
That means the BlackBerry is now in the hands of Prem Watsa, a man known as the 'Warren Buffett of <keyword id="6356687" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="canada">Canada</keyword>.'
Watsa has been Chairman and CEO of Fairfax Holdings since he founded the company in 1985, and he <a href="http://www.thestar.com/business/2012/01/23/prem_watsa_meet_the_man_behind_the_rim_shakeup.html">controls half the voting rights</a> of the company. That likely means he's amassed a great fortune - reports put it in the billions - but it's hard to pin down exactly how many billions because, as the Toronto Star put it in a 2009 profile, Watsa is <a href="http://www.thestar.com/business/2012/01/23/prem_watsa_meet_the_man_behind_the_rim_shakeup.html">"the richest, savviest guy you've never heard of."</a>
In short: Watsa does not care for fame.
Unfortunately for him, his story and track record are attention grabbers. Watsa was born in Hyderabad, India in 1950 and was orphaned as a boy. He shined in school despite his misfortune, and ended up studying chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology. For business school he emigrated to Canada <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/article/canadas-warren-buffett-from-india-inspired-prem-watsa-sells-in-review-cm248046">(with $8 in his pocket, say some reports)</a> and attended the University of Western Ontario.
When the time came, Watsa modeled his holding company after Warren Buffett's. He's a die-hard value investor and one of his kids is named after famed value man Ben Graham.
After founding Fairfax Watsa's own legend grew. He predicted the 1987 crash, Japan's crash in the 1990s, and the most recent global financial crisis - though he may have been a little early on that one <a href="http://www.financialpost.com/analysis/columnists/story.html?id=9c0066a6-8473-4615-9b48-d47d4e1846b6">(from the Financial Post):</a>
In 2007, Fairfax, Canada's largest property and casualty insurer, posted profits of US$1.095-billion compared with US$227.5-million in 2006. In 2008, as more bad news hit markets everywhere, Fairfax's profit soared to US$631.8-million in the first quarter.
Since then Watsa has warned about <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-27/watsa-who-models-buffett-sees-housing-bubble-corporate-canada.html">Canada's housing market</a> and won big on an investment in the <a href="http://www.gurufocus.com/news/212509/after-success-in-ireland-prem-watsa-eyes-national-bank-of-greece-investment">Bank of Ireland.</a>
Good stuff, but Watsa's still come up against some major headwinds in his career, and one of them has a name - Dan Loeb.
Back in 2006 a bunch of hedge funds were shorting Fairfax - Jim Chanos' Kynikos, Steve Cohen's SAC Capital, and Loeb's Third Point. Loeb was especially graphic about his feelings on Watsa in e-mails, and when Fairfax sued this group of hedge fund managers, Loeb's comments were made public.
Check this one out, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-hedgefunds-fairfax-loeb-idUSTRE72A4NH20110311">from Reuters:</a>
"Prem Watsa bend over the hedge funds have something special for you," Loeb wrote in the June 25, 2006 email to Adam Sender, the founder of Exis Capital, whose hedge fund also was "shorting" Fairfax -- that is, looking to profit from a decline in its shares. A little later that day, in an email to a consultant who was doing research for some of the hedge funds wagering on Fairfax's fall, Loeb wrote: "die, Prem Die!"
Not the most professional thing to say about a fellow CEO, but it's more than likely Watsa's shaken off by now.
With BlackBerry, he has bigger fish to fry.

Meet Prem Watsa, The Blackberry Suitor Known As The Warren Buffett Of Canada

<keyword id="1738613" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mobile-Insights">Mobile Insights</keyword> is a daily newsletter from <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> delivered first thing every morning exclusively to <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> subscribers. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today</a>. 

<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/lenovo-considered-a-bid-for-blackberry-but-ottawa-wouldnt-accept-chinese-takeover/article15256976/">BlackBerry Will Not Be Purchased By Lenovo</a> (Globe And Mail) A flurry of news surrounding embattled Canadian handset maker BlackBerry surfaced on Monday:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image on-image">Getty Images for <keyword id="13722" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lenovo">Lenovo</keyword>Ashton Kutcher is Lenovo's newest 'product engineer'</div></div>
<ul>
<li>Fairfax Financial Holdings, the company set to takeover BlackBerry with a $4.7 billion bid, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/01/blackberry-fairfax-idUSL1N0IM20L20131101">failed to raise enough funding to complete the deal</a>. </li>
<li>Instead, Fairfax will invest about $1 billion into the company with a group of investors, with Fairfax taking a $250 million stake.</li>
<li>As part of the investment agreement, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/04/blackberry-fairfax-dead-heins-out/">BlackBerry will replace CEO Thorsten Heins</a> with former Sybase CEO John Chen. </li>
</ul>
Over the weekend, the <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> Daily newspaper reported that Lenovo was <a href="http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-11/02/content_17075702.htm">actively pursuing a takeover of BlackBerry</a>. The China Daily is widely regarded as the mouthpiece of the nations' government, meaning the Chinese government was pushing hard for a Lenovo-BlackBerry tie-up. 
For Lenovo, the top PC maker in the world, a BlackBerry takeover would have been beneficial for a number of reasons. Clearly, desktop sales are falling worldwide, and Lenovo wants to expand its mobile business while phasing out PCs as its core product. BlackBerry would have given Lenovo a well-known mobile platform that carries valuable patents as well as established sales channel partnerships in important countries like the United States. 
For China, a Lenovo-BlackBerry tie-up would have helped bring another Western brand into China, creating a bridge to bring a Chinese tech enterprise onto the global stage, with a particularly strong opportunity to expand in the U.S. and in Europe. In 2005, Lenovo famously purchased and resurrected IBM's PC business. <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-04/china-may-be-rooting-for-a-lenovo-bid-for-blackberry">Read &gt;</a>
In other news...
New BlackBerry CEO John Chen claims the company <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131104/blackberry-has-no-plans-to-shutter-its-disaster-of-a-handset-business/?mod=atdtweet">has no plans to shut down its handset business</a>. (All Things Digital)
Lenovo <a href="http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/how-lenovo-drives-in-store-traffic-without-a-bricks-and-mortar-presence-via-mobile">has been using mobile search</a> as both a shopping platform and a research platform for consumers in order to boost sales of its devices. Interestingly, Lenovo's sales have been growing rapidly this year despite not having any bricks-and-mortar retail stores. (Mobile Commerce Daily)
Irish mobile adtech company Velti will be <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/04/velti-blackstone-idUSL3N0IP1XP20131104">selling off its businesses in the U.S., U.K., and India</a>, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the remaining units of its U.S. business. (Reuters)
Twitter is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-testing-mobile-app-install-ads-2013-11">testing a new ad product that will promote or recommend apps</a> for users, similar to Facebook's mobile app install ads. (Business Insider)
Mobile payments platform Square <a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/11/04/square-begins-selling-stand-its-take-on-the-cash-register-in-1000-staples-stores/">has begun selling its point-of-sale system terminal Stand</a> in about 1,000 Staples store locations. With Stand, a cash register emulation, Square will look to attract larger bricks-and-mortar outlets that have yet to utilize its original mobile device attachment, Reader. (GigaOm)
Apple's <a href="http://www.fiksu.com/iOS-7-iPhone-5s-5c-Usage-Tracker#ipad-launches">iPad Air adoption rate through its first weekend sales</a> is three-times larger than the first weekend adoption rates for the iPad Mini last year, and five-times larger than that of the iPad 4. (Fiksu)
Windows Phone continues to <a href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/04/report-windows-phone-overtakes-ios-in-italy-and-makes-progress-in-europe/">gain market share in Europe's largest markets</a>, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. (The Next Web)
Nokia is leveraging Microsoft's scale and business partnerships to essentially coerce developers <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-01/how-nokia-flexes-microsofts-muscle-to-lure-reluctant-app-developers#r=hpt-fs">into creating apps for the Windows app store</a> by threatening to cut off Microsoft business. (Bloomberg Businessweek)
An executive from retail clothing giant Nordstrom claims <a href="http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/content/16507.html">the company's mobile app sees higher engagement than its mobile website</a>. (Mobile Marketer)
The science of how Vine (the company) was launched and how creative marketers are <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/03/vine-six-seconds-video-app-mobile-phone">leveraging the art of the six-second clip</a>. (The Guardian)

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