Goldman Sachs in talks to buy Invesco holdings May 6, 2020 Goldman Sachs is reportedly in talks to buy a large portfolio of company stakes being sold by Invesco. A unit of Goldman Sachs Asset Management is closing in on a deal to acquire the positions, according to Sky News reports, which could be closed within weeks. Invesco had applied a 60 per cent reduction to [...]
London Capital & Finance investors could start receiving compensation this month May 5, 2020 Investors in collapsed mini-bond firm London Capital & Finance (LCF) could start receiving compensation this month. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) said today it would start issuing decisions on LCF claims relating to misleading advice given to its customers before the end of May. It said it had already started reviewing individuals claims and [...]
How have sustainable companies performed during the Covid-19 crisis? May 5, 2020 | City Talk Rather than being a luxury or an optional extra, our analysis shows that a focus on sustainability would have helped relative performance during the recent market turbulence. Here at Schroders, our view of sustainable investing is that companies who treat their stakeholders fairly will see better share price performance than those who do not. There [...]
Private equity funds set to target Aim-listed firms May 4, 2020 Private equity funds are expected to target Aim-listed companies once lockdown has eased and dealmaking is resumed. The number of private equity-backed deals for Aim companies trebled in the past 12 months. PE funds bought and took 12 companies private in 2019/20, compared to just four deals in the previous year ended 31 March. Aim [...]
Investment firms deploying new tech are the most trusted among investors May 4, 2020 Investment firms that are deploying new technology are the most trusted by both institutional and retail investors, according to new research. Nearly two-thirds of institutional investors and nearly half of retail investors with an adviser trust their investment firm because of an increased use of technology. There is growing interest in the use of artificial [...]
Why does investing in UK SMEs matter? May 1, 2020 | City Talk The UK has seen an explosion of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the past 10 years, bringing with it a love for supporting brave entrepreneurs, innovative start-ups and high street boutiques. The UK currently boasts more than six million SMEs – businesses with fewer than 250 employees – which employ close to 16 million [...]
First-hand account: my observations on China’s return to work May 1, 2020 | City Talk Emerging markets analyst Shuyu Gao provides a personal account of virus containment measures on her return to China, and reviews the recovery in activity. Amid the global spread of Covid-19, with lockdowns necessitating working from home more broadly, I decided to return to China and work from my family home in Nanjing. At the time, [...]
St James’s Place trims dividend as first-quarter AUM falls April 30, 2020 St James’s Place has withheld a third of its planned dividend after assets under management fell amid the sustained market volatility. The wealth manager said it was “not immune to how the unprecedented level of uncertainty may impact the operating environment”. Read more: St James’s Place posts five per cent profit fall as inflows slow [...]
A new economic era beckons after this crisis April 29, 2020 | City Talk Current events likely mark a turning point in economic policy and the end of a 40-year spell of free market capitalism. Nobody can know how long the Covid-19 crisis will last, but I think that regardless of this it will mark a profound long-term change in economic policy. It is likely a turning point in [...]
Economies in free fall as hopes fade for a V-shaped recovery April 28, 2020 | City Talk Amongst the arguments about a lack of protective clothing for health workers and whether governments were too slow to react to the spread of Covid-19, the latest figures show that the pandemic is gradually coming under control. The rate of growth in new infections and fatalities around the world is slowing and the curves are [...]