Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/576901
Events 49 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2015 Hili Properties plc launches €37 million bond issue Hili Properties plc, the property division of Hili Ventures Ltd, has launched a €37 million bond issue, maturing in 2025. The unsecured bonds, at a nom- inal value of €100 per bond issued at par, bear an annual interest rate of 4.5%. Proceeds from the bond issue will be directed to refinanc- ing property acquisitions. The bond issue is guaranteed by Har- bour (APM) Investments Ltd and Hili Estates Ltd. Hili Properties plc holds and manages an extensive portfolio of strategic real estate assets in key locations in Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The portfolio is dominated by commercial real es- tate and includes property hous- ing McDonald's restaurants, retail centres and office blocks. In January, Hili Properties plc acquired nine retail complexes in Latvia, adding a total 18,500 square metres of retail footprint to its international commercial portfolio. The total area of the nine properties is 27,000 square metres. Benefiting from strong demo- graphics, the retail centres oc- cupy footprints ranging from 950 square metres to 4,150 square metres and accommodate around 100 tenants between them. Most centres are 100 per cent occupied. The anchor tenants are supermar- kets and convenience stores of chains well known in the Baltics and Northern Europe. Additional retail activities like pharmacies and personal care shops, delicates- sen, banks and insurance brokers sit alongside the supermarkets us- ing separate entrances or within a shop-in-shop concept. In May, Hili Properties finalised the acquisition of Tower Business Centre in Swatar. The business block accommodates six major tenants including legal, financial and professional services firms. It has a rentable area of 8,200 square metres, including the 3,700 square metre underground garage. Application forms are available from September 24 from author- ised financial intermediaries. Sub- scriptions open on October 7 and close on October 9, or earlier if the bond issue is over-subscribed. Interest on the bonds commenc- es on October 16 and refunds of unallocated monies will be made by October 23. The bonds are ex- pected to be admitted to The Mal- ta Stock Exchange on October 23. Trading is expected to commence on October 26. Hili Properties plc will announce the basis of acceptance of applica- tions and the allocation policy to be adopted by not later than Fri- day, October 16, 2015. Toyota establishes collaborative research centers with MIT, Stanford to accelerate artificial intelligence research THE research and development of intelligent vehicle and mobil- ity technologies will get a major boost in an ambitious new col- laboration between Toyota, MIT and Stanford. At a press confer- ence, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced that it will be investing approximately $50 mil- lion over the next 5 years to es- tablish joint research centers at each university. Additionally Dr. Gill Pratt, former Program Manager at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and leader of its recent Robotics Challenge, has joined Toyota to direct and accelerate these re- search activities and their appli- cation to intelligent vehicles and robotics. Kiyotaka Ise, TMC Senior Man- aging Officer and Chief Officer, R&D Group, said, "We're here today to mark the beginning of an unprecedented commitment. We will initially focus on the ac- celeration of intelligent vehicle technology, with the immediate goal of helping eliminate traffic casualties and the ultimate goal of helping improve quality of life through enhanced mobility and robotics. "This partnership, directed by Dr. Pratt, is a great opportunity to work with two leading research teams from two top universities. I am very excited about what this new venture means for Toyota, and I look forward to more an- nouncements in the future." Research at MIT will be led by Professor Daniela Rus, Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Profes- sor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Institute's Computer Sci- ence and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). "Our team will collaborate with Stanford and Toyota to develop advanced architectures that allow cars to better perceive and navigate their surroundings in order to make safe driving decisions," said Professor Rus. "These efforts will play a ma- jor role in helping reduce traffic casualties, and potentially even helping us develop a vehicle inca- pable of getting into a collision." Led by Professor Fei-Fei Li, Di- rector of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL), the Stanford-based research center will collaborate with MIT and Toyota to develop advanced intelligent systems to recognize, understand and act in complex traffic environments. "Building on Stanford's exper- tise with computer vision, ma- chine learning, large-scale data analysis and human- computer interaction, our team will work to help intelligent vehicles recog- nize objects in the road, predict behaviors of things and people, and make safe and smart driving decisions under diverse condi- tions," said Professor Li. Beyond Toyota's longstanding work on autonomous vehicles and advanced driving support systems, the company has been developing robots for industrial use since the 1970s, and for Part- ner and Human Support Robot applications since the 2000s. This collaborative effort will open up new avenues for systems and product development across a broad range of mobility appli- cations. Bank of Valletta commissions GO to deliver Gigabit fibre network GO CEO Yiannos Michaelides and BOV CEO Charles Borg sign the agreement in the presence of (from left), Jonathan Brincat – GO Senior Manager Business So- lutions and Value Added Services, Elaine Fenech – Senior Manager GO Business, Kurt Camilleri – GO Chief Commercial Officer, Herbert Zarb – BOV Executive Head ITSD and Joseph Agius – BOV Chief Technology Officer. YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt GO plc will be designing and building a nationwide dedicated Gigabit fibre network for Bank of Valletta. This will future-proof BOV's communications infrastructure, enabling it to deliver more and better interactive services to their customers. The multi-million Eu- ro project agreement was signed by GO's CEO, Yiannos Michaelides and Bank of Valletta CEO, Charles Borg. Borg said, "A dedicated nation- wide Gigabit fibre network will greatly improve BOV's capacity to manage and transfer data within a secure environment. In turn this will help Bank of Valletta to better understand and to more quickly meet our customers' needs. As the only provider of true fibre net- works in Malta, we are confident that GO will prove to be an out- standing partner for the Bank as this project is rolled out over the coming months." Michaelides said, "The data management and transfer require- ments for an organisation like Bank of Valletta are huge and require a world class communications in- frastructure. As the pioneers of true fibre internet in Malta, GO is looking forward to delivering a Gigabit fibre network to BOV, which in turn will help the bank to further improve its operations and customer service." The roll out of the BoV nation- wide Gigabit fibre network will take place alongside the ongoing rollout by GO of Fibre-To-The- Home (FTTH) which is already bringing the next generation of in- ternet services to both residential and commercial customers. The €50 million investment in FTTH was launched by GO in April 2015 and a total of 33,000 plus house- holds in Malta will be connected by the end of this year.