Category: 3. Business

Toronto, October 29, 2025 – Today, the Catalytic Climate Finance Facility (CC Facility) announced it has awarded USD 870,000 to its new cohort of grantees. The selected projects include the Southeast Asia Blue Innovation Facility (SEA-Fund), the Regenerative Capital Fund (ReCa), and the FTB Green Credit Facility.  

The CC Facility, a partnership between Climate Policy Initiative and Convergence, provides working capital grants of up to USD 500,000 to help scale early-stage financial solutions that mobilize private capital for climate action in developing economies.  

The Facility and its team of experts also provide up to 18 months of tailored technical assistance to address barriers and maximize opportunities to increase the investment pipeline. 

The three vehicles were selected following a rigorous review process from a pool of more than 500 submissions worldwide. Each vehicle addresses investment barriers in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, supporting projects in maritime decarbonization, climate-resilient agriculture, and the clean energy transition. 

“These three vehicles stood out for their rigor, creativity, and strong potential to mobilize private capital for climate impact,” said Joan Larrea, CEO at Convergence. “In an era of diminishing foreign aid, blended finance initiatives like the CC Facility are proving indispensable, by fast-tracking climate solutions that not only deliver impact but also attract the capital needed to sustain it.” 

With support from three anchor donors – The Gates Foundation, Global Affairs Canada, and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – the CC Facility targets a main obstacle to scaling blended climate finance: the challenging acceleration stage, when promising financial vehicles try to attract investment across diverse markets.  

SELECTED VEHICLES: 

The Southeast Asia Blue Innovation Facility (SEA-Fund) will be structured as a USD 450 million sustainability bond or asset-backed security to finance infrastructure projects with a focus on maritime decarbonization, alongside a USD 50 million venture capital fund dedicated to early-stage ocean and climate-tech startups.  

The Regenerative Capital Fund (ReCa) is a USD 400 million blended equity vehicle that mobilizes institutional investment to scale regenerative agriculture and nature-based solutions across Sub-Saharan Africa through long-term, climate-aligned, and inclusive agrifood investments.

FTB Green Credit Facility is a USD 160 million program offering affordable, long-term loans and guarantees to help Cambodian banks and businesses invest in green projects.  

QUOTES 

“We applied to the CC Facility to accelerate the structuring and launch of the SEA Fund—a blended finance vehicle addressing the maritime decarbonization and climate adaptation gap in Southeast Asia—by leveraging the Facility’s catalytic capital and technical support. We aim to gain catalytic validation, structuring expertise to mobilize concessional and institutional investors, shorten time-to-market, and unlock the first wave of investable projects across the region,” said Vicky Lay, Partner & Head of Impact of Artesian. 

“We applied to the CC Facility to strengthen the ReCa Fund’s impact frameworks, enhance our investor readiness, and build confidence in a scalable blended finance model for regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation across Africa. We hope to gain targeted technical assistance to refine our impact and gender KPIs, and catalytic grant support to accelerate due diligence, capital raising, and the successful launch of the ReCa Platform,” said Duncan Vink, Joint Managing Director of Signature Agri Investments. 

“Our participation in the CC Facility marks a strategic commitment to pioneering the future of green finance in Cambodia. We are honored to collaborate in developing robust financial products and governance frameworks designed to mobilize private capital at scale. Through this Facility’s unique combination of grant funding, expert technical assistance, and a collaborative network, we will launch investable blended-finance models that directly address both climate mitigation and adaptation and improve critical services for Cambodia,” said Dith Sochal, CEO of Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia. 

ABOUT THE CATALYTIC CLIMATE FINANCE FACILITY 

The Catalytic Climate Finance Facility (CC Facility) is a solution to scale climate finance by filling a market gap in mobilizing private capital. The CC Facility provides a range of services to market-ready blended finance vehicles in developing economies to help them expand their reach. Through grant funding, technical support, and a learning hub, the CC Facility accelerates the implementation of high-impact financial structures while providing resources to the broader ecosystem on how to best catalyze climate finance. The initiative is a partnership between Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and Convergence. 

MEDIA CONTACTS 

Sijia Yi
Head of Communications
Convergence Blended Finance
sijia.yi@convergence.finance   

Annie Woscoboinik
Communications Associate
Climate Policy Initiative
annie.woscoboinik@cpiglobal.org 

Anomaly detection use case will be demonstrated live with partner Q-KON at AfricaCom 2025

Herndon, VA, 28 October 2025 – ST Engineering iDirect, a global leader in satellite communications, today announced its AI-powered network analytics platform proof of concept that enables operators to anticipate and resolve network issues before they escalate. This underscores how real-time insights, predictive analytics, and anomaly detection are reshaping satellite network operations. 

ST Engineering iDirect’s platform leverages both historical and real-time data—such as weather patterns—to predict throughput, identify anomalies, and drive proactive interventions. By minimizing downtime and maximizing network reliability, it empowers operators to meet customers’ expectations and deliver exceptional service by ensuring uninterrupted connectivity. The platform will help operators cut operating expenses, streamline resource management, and transition from manual to autonomous workflows, driving greater customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

“Our strategy goes beyond connectivity. We’re developing value-added applications that help our customers run smarter, more resilient operations and create a true competitive edge,” said Sridhar Kuppanna, CTO and SVP of Engineering at ST Engineering iDirect. “By enabling operators to resolve issues early, optimize resources, and boost workforce efficiency, our network analytics platform advances both business outcomes and customer satisfaction.”

The platform was recently validated in a real-world use case. Q-KON, a leading provider of satellite communication solutions in Africa, utilized ST Engineering iDirect’s platform to detect anomalies affecting network performance. The early identification of a recent installation error allowed Q-KON to take corrective action and avoid service degradation, directly improving customer experience and operational performance.

“The insights gained from ST Engineering iDirect’s network analytics platform will be transformative,” said Dr. Dawie De Wet, CEO of Q-KON. “The ability to predict and prevent issues before they impact service will raise our operational standards, ensure reliable connectivity for our customers and enable us to offer advanced service packages.”

Live demonstrations of the platform will be hosted at Stand C63 during AfricaCom 2025, Nov 10-13, 2026. Register today.

*****

Media contact:
Martyn Gettings Tank PR
Email: martyn.gettings@tank.co.uk

Anomaly detection use case will be demonstrated live with partner Q-KON at AfricaCom 2025

Herndon, VA, 28 October 2025 – ST Engineering iDirect, a global leader in satellite communications, today announced its AI-powered network analytics platform proof of concept that enables operators to anticipate and resolve network issues before they escalate. This underscores how real-time insights, predictive analytics, and anomaly detection are reshaping satellite network operations. 

ST Engineering iDirect’s platform leverages both historical and real-time data—such as weather patterns—to predict throughput, identify anomalies, and drive proactive interventions. By minimizing downtime and maximizing network reliability, it empowers operators to meet customers’ expectations and deliver exceptional service by ensuring uninterrupted connectivity. The platform will help operators cut operating expenses, streamline resource management, and transition from manual to autonomous workflows, driving greater customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

“Our strategy goes beyond connectivity. We’re developing value-added applications that help our customers run smarter, more resilient operations and create a true competitive edge,” said Sridhar Kuppanna, CTO and SVP of Engineering at ST Engineering iDirect. “By enabling operators to resolve issues early, optimize resources, and boost workforce efficiency, our network analytics platform advances both business outcomes and customer satisfaction.”

The platform was recently validated in a real-world use case. Q-KON, a leading provider of satellite communication solutions in Africa, utilized ST Engineering iDirect’s platform to detect anomalies affecting network performance. The early identification of a recent installation error allowed Q-KON to take corrective action and avoid service degradation, directly improving customer experience and operational performance.

“The insights gained from ST Engineering iDirect’s network analytics platform will be transformative,” said Dr. Dawie De Wet, CEO of Q-KON. “The ability to predict and prevent issues before they impact service will raise our operational standards, ensure reliable connectivity for our customers and enable us to offer advanced service packages.”

Live demonstrations of the platform will be hosted at Stand C63 during AfricaCom 2025, Nov 10-13, 2026. Register today.

*****

Media contact:
Martyn Gettings Tank PR
Email: martyn.gettings@tank.co.uk

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Hedge funds have adopted a new tactic in the distressed debt wars, arguing in a New York lawsuit filed on Tuesday that heavy-handed deals violate US anti-monopoly and cartel laws.

Manulife’s CQS, Algebris Funds and Deltroit Asset Management claim they were cut out of a deal that handed a group of other similarly situated bondholders disproportionate economic benefits in a debt restructuring earlier this year.

The lawsuit, which relates to the recent restructuring of Swiss vending machine operator Selecta, represents the first time that competition law has been invoked as an alleged charge of wrongdoing in the increasingly fractious realm of distressed debt litigation.

The claimants allege that a so-called co-operation agreement struck between the majority bondholders — a group that included Invesco, Man Group, Strategic Value Partners and Diameter — was specifically designed to keep the bulk economic benefits of a bond exchange from those not invited to join.

According to the complaint, the bonds currently held by the majority group trade at more than 70 cents on the dollar while the minority group has paper trading at half that level.

“The co-operation agreement is a classic example of an anti-competitive and collusive agreement between competitors . . . to control the price for Selecta Group BV’s first lien debt”, the complaint said. It alleged the agreement violated the federal Sherman Act and the New York state Donnelly Act.

So-called non pro-rata debt restructurings, where lenders or bondholders holding equally-ranked paper get different payouts, have proliferated in the US over the past decade. But only in recent years have European companies attempted such manoeuvres.

The Selecta deal drew attention this year among analysts and investors for what was believed to be one of the most complex and aggressive bond exchanges in recent memory.

Selecta, which was previously owned by KKR, had sought a solution to upcoming maturities in a near €1.5 debt stack it could not pay off.

The majority bondholder group used Dutch law on distressed disposals to take control of Selecta, and then offered a coercive bond exchange to the smaller holders.

That offer presented the smaller holders with a choice to either keep their existing paper, but pushed to the bottom of the creditor hierarchy, or take new senior paper which gave the majority group the ability to strip covenants and other protections ahead of potential future transactions through which the majority group could extract even more benefits.

Litigation over non-pro rata debt exchanges has typically centred on contract or securities law, which generally requires unanimous or supermajority approval within a class of creditors to change debt terms or execute a refinancing transaction.

Theories about how competition law may apply in intra-class disputes have surfaced in recent debates between academics and advisers.

However, those had focused on circumstances where a debtor company declared that a creditor co-operation agreement was anti-competitive, not a dispute between creditors as with Selecta.

The plaintiffs, who have separately alleged the restructuring violated contractual provisions of the bond indenture that required 90 per cent support for the deal, are requesting damages.

Samir Parikh, a law professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, expressed scepticism about the chances of success of the minority bondholder’s claims, but said that such a lawsuit was predictable.

“Parties resorting to antitrust law is unsurprising given the strong desire to undermine co-operation agreements and the relative ineffectiveness of other levers that have been pulled to date.”

Inflation has jumped to 3.2% in the year to September, from 2.1% in June, as waning government subsidies feed through to higher household power bills.

Any lingering chance of a rate cut next Tuesday was squashed after the new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures also confirmed a troubling rise in underlying inflation.

The Reserve Bank’s preferred trimmed mean measure – which removes the impact of large, temporary price moves – climbed by 1% in the three months to September and far ahead of the RBA’s predicted rate of 0.6%.

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That left inflation on this trimmed mean measure at 3% in the year, against 2.7% in June.

Michele Bullock, the RBA’s governor, this week made it clear that a quarterly rise in underlying inflation of 0.9% would be a “material miss”, signalling the monetary policy board would not be prepared to deliver a fourth rate cut.

While Australians will feel the bite of higher electricity prices, what has been more concerning for the central bank is the unexpected and unwelcome lift in underlying inflation.

Bullock this week made it clear that the central bank is, for now, more worried about the prospect of resurgent inflation than a recent jump in unemployment.

Bullock said the labour market was not about to “fall off a cliff” and that the jobless measure was “still pretty low”.

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By Emily Bary

Volume growth picked up in the latest quarter, suggestive of healthy payment activity

Visa’s revenue exceeded expectations in the September quarter.

Volume growth picked up in Visa’s latest quarter, signaling a robust spending landscape.

The company on Tuesday reported 9% growth in payment volume for its September quarter, up from the 8% growth rate posted in the June quarter.

The “continued healthy consumer spending,” as described by Chief Executive Ryan McInerney, drove Visa (V) to beat revenue expectations for the latest quarter. The company posted $10.7 billion on the top line, up 12% from a year earlier and above the $10.6 billion that analysts tracked by FactSet were forecasting.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.98, topping estimates by a penny.

Read: SoFi’s business is on fire, and these earnings numbers show what’s clicking

Visa benefited from 12% growth in cross-border volume, which is largely seen as a proxy for spending related to international travel but also includes things like e-commerce transactions conducted between a merchant and buyer each based in different countries. Cross-border volume tends to be more profitable than domestic volume.

Shares of Visa were edged 0.4% higher in the extended session, with the company’s outlook potentially encouraging as well. Visa just began its new fiscal year and expects a low-single-digit revenue growth rate for fiscal 2026. Analysts tracked by FactSet were looking for $44.2 billion in annual revenue, implying expectations for 10.5% growth.

“As technologies like AI-driven commerce, real-time money movement, tokenization and stablecoins converge to reshape commerce, our focus on innovation and product development positions Visa to lead this transformation,” McInerney said in his statement.

Investors will get another look at the payment-technology landscape on Thursday morning, when Mastercard Inc. (MA) reports its September-quarter results.

See also: PayPal partners with OpenAI – and its stock is rewarded

-Emily Bary

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Microsoft Corp. once again surpassed $4 trillion in valuation, joining artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia in the exclusive club that also briefly included Apple on Tuesday. The sky-high valuations highlight the investor frenzy around artificial intelligence.

Earlier in the day, OpenAI said it has reorganized its ownership structure and converted its business into a public benefit corporation after two crucial regulators, the Delaware and California attorneys general, said they would not oppose the plan. It also said has signed a new agreement with its longtime backer Microsoft that gives the software giant a roughly 27% stake in OpenAI’s new for-profit corporation.

The news gave Microsoft’s shares a boost as the stock closed up 2% at $542.07, valuing the technology giant at $4.04 trillion. Microsoft’s valuation previously passed $4 trillion in July, making it the second company after Nvidia to reach the milestone.

Apple’s shares, meanwhile, crossed the $4 trillion line earlier Tuesday before closing up slightly at $269 and a total valuation of $3.99 trillion. Thanks to the iPhone’s success, Apple was the the first publicly traded company to valued at $1 trillion, $2 trillion and eventually, $3 trillion.