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HKEX to Open Office in Riyadh to Expand Middle East Presence

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HONG KONG, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to announce today (Wednesday) that it plans to open an office in Riyadh in 2025. The new office will strengthen HKEX’s Middle East presence as the Group looks to promote greater connectivity between China and the Gulf region, aiming to facilitate new opportunities for its customers and issuers around the world.

Situated in Saudi Arabia’s economic powerhouse and a leading financial hub in the region, the new Riyadh office will enable HKEX to better connect with investors and companies in one of the world’s most dynamic and innovative economic hubs, providing on-the-ground support to help them access Hong Kong’s broad and diverse financial products ecosystem, as well as to capture the opportunities arising from megatrends that define Asia’s growth story.

HKEX Chief Executive Officer Bonnie Y Chan said: “We are delighted to be opening a Middle East office in Riyadh, marking the first step in elevating our presence across this vibrant and fast-growing region. This underscores our strategic commitment to promoting greater capital market connections between China and the Middle East, whilst supporting the ambitions of our broad range of customers from the region and around the world. As investment ties between the Middle East and Asia grow stronger, Hong Kong and HKEX’s roles in connecting capital and opportunities between these regions have become more important than ever. Joining our offices in Beijing, London, New York, Shanghai, and Singapore, the new Riyadh office will enable us to foster greater global coverage and facilitate access for Middle East clients to Asia’s most international, diverse and liquid capital markets in Hong Kong.”

HKEX has made significant progress in its engagements in the Middle East, with meaningful collaboration and partnerships. These include signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Saudi Tadawul Group, welcoming Asia first and the world’s biggest Saudi-focused Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), and adding the Saudi Exchange, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, and Dubai Financial Market to HKEX’s list of Recognised Stock Exchanges. These initiatives demonstrate HKEX’s commitment to fostering collaboration and enhancing market accessibility between China and the Middle East.

Additionally, the listing of two ETFs tracking Hong Kong-listed equities this week on the Saudi Exchange marks a significant milestone in the capital market connectivity between Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, and builds on the listing of the first Saudi-focused ETF in Hong Kong last November.

APPENDIX

HKEX has continued to deepen strategic partnerships with the Middle East:

  • HKEX brought the first FII PRIORITY Asia and Capital Markets Forum (CMF) to Hong Kong to connect investors and corporates between the two regions
  • Signed MOU with Saudi Tadawul Group (STG) in 2023 to explore collaboration in cross listings, exchange products and ESG
  • Added Saudi Exchange (2023), Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market (2024), to the list of Recognised Stock Exchanges (RSE), opening the door for Middle Eastern companies to seek secondary listings in Hong Kong
  • Welcomed Asia Pacific’s first and the world’s biggest Saudi-focused ETF listing in Hong Kong (2023)
  • The London Metal Exchange, a subsidiary of HKEX, approved a warehouse delivery point for copper and zinc in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah

About HKEX

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is a publicly-traded company (HKEX Stock Code: 388) and one of the world’s leading global exchange groups, offering a range of equity, derivative, commodity, fixed income and other financial markets, products and services, including the London Metal Exchange.

As a superconnector and gateway between East and West, HKEX facilitates the two-way flow of capital, ideas and dialogue between China and the rest of the world, through its pioneering Connect schemes, increasingly diversified product ecosystem and its deep, liquid and international markets.

HKEX is a purpose-led organisation which, across its business and through the work of HKEX Foundation, seeks to connect, promote and progress its markets and the communities it supports for the prosperity of all.

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Infosys Finacle Launches Data and AI Suite to Help Banks Accelerate their AI Journey

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BENGALURU, India, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys (NSE: INFY), (BSE: INFY), (NYSE: INFY), today announced the launch of the Finacle Data and AI Suite, a set of solutions to empower banks to infuse AI into their digital operations and accelerate their enterprise AI journey. The suite will offer a comprehensive set of platforms that enable banks to build low-code, predictive as well as generative AI solutions from the ground up with high transparency and explainability. It will help banks scale their data readiness, industrialize AI model development, apply generative AI technologies, and deliver actionable insights across their entire ecosystem.

The Finacle Data and AI Suite is a part of Infosys Topaz – an AI-first set of offerings using generative AI technologies and steered by a ‘responsible by design’ approach that ensures strong standards of AI ethics, trust, privacy, security and regulatory compliance. The suite consists of three components.

  • Finacle Data Platform: It includes an automated data pipeline to clean, transform, and deliver data for AI and other organizational requirements. This sits alongside a modular data lakehouse with BIAN (Banking Industry Architecture Network) inspired data models and domain-specific data marts for rapid, interoperable access.
  • Finacle AI Platform: It allows banks to build, train, deploy, monitor, and optimize AI solutions from a unified interface. It features a wide range of pre-trained models and ML techniques, combined with a no-code, generative AI-driven approach, allowing both technical and business users to rapidly create explainable AI solutions. The platform’s extensive library of pre-built use cases facilitates seamless AI integration into various business processes and user journeys. Features such as model comparators, what-if simulations and pattern analysis, help refine and elevate modelling sophistication. The platform promotes responsible AI practices with capabilities for detecting biases and drifts and includes a patent-pending synthetic data generation feature to safeguard data privacy during training.
  • Finacle Generative AI Offerings: These encompass a diverse range of AI assistants designed for both enterprise and customer-centric applications, including the Finacle Knowledge AI Assistant, designed to facilitate NLP-based information extraction from document repositories, and the Finacle Support AI Assistant, which enhances ticket resolution for support teams. Additionally, generative AI technology plays a foundational role in Finacle AI Platform, empowering users with an interactive interface to select and build the right models for their AI use cases.

Sajit Vijayakumar, Chief Business Officer and Global Head, Infosys Finacle, said, “AI is transforming banking by redefining the future of customer experience, risk management, and decision-making. By leveraging data at scale, AI empowers banks to anticipate needs, personalize solutions, and drive growth with unprecedented agility. We are excited to introduce the Finacle Data and AI Suite as a definitive solution for banks seeking to harness the power of AI. The Finacle Data Platform lays out a robust data foundation, and the Finacle AI Platform abstracts the complexities of AI development, putting power in the hands of banks’ business teams to unlock the true potential of AI.”

“Finacle’s cutting-edge AI Suite for the banking industry harnesses the power of Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to enable banks to scale AI initiatives and drive innovation across critical areas such as customer interactions, operations, and strategic decision-making,” said Marianne Roling, Vice President, Systems Integrators, Microsoft. “By leveraging AI, Infosys Finacle is laying the groundwork for a smarter, more agile, and resilient banking ecosystem.”

Jerry Silva, Program Vice President, IDC Financial Insights, said, “AI-fueled business is the next revolution in the financial services industry. But success will be predicated on how quickly banks can integrate AI into their operations while maintaining governance and compliance. While generative AI has raised the urgency for adoption, long-term differentiation will come from a strong commitment to robust data readiness and responsible AI practice. Platforms like Finacle Data and AI Suite can support the banks’ goals of faster adoption of AI as a tool to respond quickly and effectively in a fast-evolving landscape.”

About Infosys Finacle

Finacle is an industry leader in digital banking solutions. We are a unit of EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned product subsidiary of Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY). We partner with emerging and established financial institutions to help inspire better banking. Our cloud-native solution suite and SaaS services help banks engage, innovate, operate, and transform better to scale digital transformation with confidence. Finacle solutions address the core banking, lending, digital engagement, payments, cash management, wealth management, treasury, analytics, AI, and blockchain requirements of financial institutions. Today, banks in over 100 countries rely on Finacle to help more than a billion people and millions of businesses to save, pay, borrow, and invest better. For more information, visit www.finacle.com

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, or our future financial or operating performance, are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the ‘safe harbor’ under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding the execution of our business strategy, increased competition for talent, our ability to attract and retain personnel, increase in wages, investments to reskill our employees, our ability to effectively implement a hybrid work model, economic uncertainties and geo-political situations, technological disruptions and innovations such as Generative AI, the complex and evolving regulatory landscape including immigration regulation changes, our ESG vision, our capital allocation policy and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, liquidity, capital resources, our corporate actions including acquisitions, and cybersecurity matters. Important factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements are discussed in more detail in our US Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

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H.I.G. Realty Expands Investment in the U.K. Elderly Sector

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LONDON, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative investment firm with $65 billion of capital under management, is pleased to announce that its portfolio company Lovett Care, a leading provider of elderly care homes across England and Wales, has completed the acquisition of New Care.

Established in 2009 and based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Lovett Care has grown to a portfolio of 16 homes (1,091 care beds) and is committed to becoming the best-in-class provider in the elderly care sector, through continued investment in its facilities, systems, and people. Cheshire based New Care has a portfolio of 15 facilities (1,057 care beds) and has established a strong reputation for delivering high quality care in modern, purpose-built settings. The combined group will own 31 homes with a total capacity of 2,148 beds, making it a top 20 care home operator in the UK and one of the largest in the Midlands.

Riccardo Dallolio, Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Realty in Europe, commented: “We are delighted to complete this transaction and to continue in our plan of building one of the leading players in the U.K. elderly care sector. We have created several successful real estate platforms in sectors with strong underlying secular trends such as hospitality, logistics, and self-storage, working with best in sector management teams.”

Stelios Theodosiou, Managing Director at H.I.G. Realty, commented: “The transaction demonstrates our ability to source and execute off-market transactions that are highly synergistic to our existing portfolio companies. This transaction will bring together two award winning groups with a strong track record of delivering and operating high-quality next-generation care homes. We will continue to seek opportunities to expand our Lovett Care portfolio, both organically and inorganically, pursuing our goal of making Lovett Care a top 10 care home operator in the UK.”

Lovett Care CEO, Keith Crockett, said: “We are pleased to welcome the residents and our new colleagues at New Care to the Lovett Care family and are looking forward to working and growing together.  This is a key milestone in our long-term strategy and consistent with our commitment to deliver the best quality care in attractive market locations.”

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global alternative investment firm with $65 billion of capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco in the United States, as well as international affiliate offices in Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Dubai, and Hong Kong, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach:

  • H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations, and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
  • H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche, and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. also manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
  • H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
  • H.I.G. Infrastructure focuses on making value-add and core plus investments in the infrastructure sector.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 400 companies worldwide. The Firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $53 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at hig.com.

*Based on total capital raised by H.I.G. Capital and its affiliates.

Contact:

Riccardo Dallolio
Managing Director
[email protected]

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Stelios Theodosiou
Managing Director
[email protected] 

H.I.G. Capital
10 Grosvenor Street
London W1K 4QB
United Kingdom
P +44 (0) 207 318 5700
hig.com

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FYLD Secures $10 Million in Financing from NatWest

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Ahead of its Series B investment round, the funds will accelerate growth opportunities and expansion for the AI-powered fieldwork software

DENVER, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — FYLD, the AI-powered, fieldwork effectiveness platform for the global infrastructure sector announced today that NatWest, one of the UK’s largest business and commercial banks, has provided $10 million of growth capital to FYLD. The long-term banking partnership will enable expedited investments and continued growth across markets, especially as FYLD scales past the development stage.

“NatWest’s confidence in us and our market-leading product confirms that our vision is necessary to reinvent field workforce execution across the industry,” Shelley Copsey, FYLD’s CEO and co-founder, said. “This investment will be instrumental in our ability to drive change where it’s most needed, as we focus on our U.S. expansion, strengthen our position in the market as we set the stage for our next era of growth, and pave the way toward a more proactive, efficient field workforce.”

NatWest serves more than 19 million people, families, and businesses across the UK and Ireland. Positioning itself as a “relationship bank for a digital world” – NatWest focuses on championing potential and driving change for its communities in enterprise, learning, and climate, focusing on the people and communities who have traditionally faced the highest barriers to entry and figuring out ways to remove these obstacles.

Simon Foss, Vice President, Venture & Growth Finance, at NatWest said “This transaction showcases NatWest’s dedication to supporting innovative scale-up businesses, like FYLD, where we aim to build long-lasting partnerships with businesses that are driving innovation and making an invaluable contribution to the growth of the economy. Our financing will support the further expansion of FYLD’s transformational fieldwork software which promotes better safety behaviors and increases productivity and high-quality outcomes through AI-enhanced workflows.”

As FYLD nears its fifth anniversary, the industry leader is on track to double its revenue in 2024 with strong gross and net revenue rates, along with:

  • Raising a £32 million Series A funding round from 2021 to 2023 led by Koru, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s venture incubator with participation from SGN, to take the platform global
  • Securing awards and recognitions including Tech Nation’s Future Fifty, The Energy Innovation Council, CEMEX Ventures Global Construction Startup Competition, and the UK IT Awards
  • Valuing diversity in hiring, with 45% of the FYLD team being women

To learn more about FYLD and how it is reimagining the future of fieldwork, visit: https://fyld.ai/.

About FYLD
Founded in 2020, FYLD offers an AI-driven digital platform that empowers field managers to make proactive, data-led decisions in real time and transform operational processes and procedures with data. A unique collaboration between SGN, Boston Consulting Group’s BCG X and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) FYLD is redefining the execution of field workforce operations in the infrastructure sector globally. Recognized as a breakthrough platform with awards from the Energy Innovation Council, CEMEX Ventures global construction tech startup competition and UK IT Awards, FYLD is ushering in a new era for productivity, safety, quality and sustainability in the field. Visit https://www.fyld.ai/ for more.

About NatWest Bank plc, Venture & Growth Finance
NatWest Venture & Growth Finance supports UK innovators, from high growth B2B software to research-intensive IP-rich scale-ups, with non-dilutive and flexible funding plans to accelerate growth. The proposition is part of NatWest Bank Plc, one of the UK’s largest retail and commercial banks, sitting within NatWest’s Corporates & Institutions division which is a major backer of global technology, media and telecom (TMT) companies, providing a full suite of lending and broader banking services. Visit Venture & Growth Finance | NatWest Corporates and Institutions for more.

Media Contact
Caroline Phipps
Carve Communications
[email protected]

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