With a high demand of patent agents and lawyers from mainland China, Hong Kong's quest to become the regional trading hub for intellectual property (IP), may soon be a reality as China remained the world's number one patent granter last year with 1.26 million approved applications.

Slouchy zip hoodie maker American Giant collected USD3.6 million in a recent USD2.5 million funding round, raising over USD1 million than what the company expected.

France's Credit Agricole said it will cut its holding in investment firm Eurazeo. The French bank will sell 3.2 million Eurazeo shares and zero-coupon convertibles equivalent to a maximun of 5.1 million shares.

A flush of mergers and acquisitions was expected to come in as early as the end of the year, according to a report from financial news magazine Barron's.

Strategic investors were said to be in discussions to buy a majority stake in Vasan Healthcare, which operates eye care hospitals and dental centers in India.

David Tepper of Appaloosa Management said equity markets are not inflated. Tepper spoke with Bloomberg Television's Stephanie Ruhle at an investors conference in New York.

Texas-based browser security company Quarri raised USD2.35 million in its first funding round today to improve its products, expand internationally, and add more people to its workforce.

Charter Communications was reportedly nearing an agreement with investment banks to borrow money for its bid for Time Warner Cable Inc. Charter has held talks with Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG.

Wevorce has announced that it has received USD1.7 million in new seed funding from investors such as Foundation Capital and Sam Altman. This brings the startup's total funding, which launched out of Y Combinator last March 2013, to USD2 million.

Clothing retailer Vince Holdings showed that fashion is still hot among public investors as it prices its shares one dollar above marketing range in its public debut.