M&G will continue freeze of its flagship property fund February 25, 2020 M&G is continuing the suspension of its £2.5bn property fund despite making good progress in selling some of the fund’s assets. M&G suspended trading in its flagship property fund in December after investors rushed to withdraw their money. The asset manager blamed the unusually high outflows on Brexit-related political uncertainty, which had made it difficult [...]
Prudential faces break up calls from Dan Loeb’s Third Point February 25, 2020 Hedge fund manager Dan Loeb has called for the breakup of insurance company Prudential after taking a near $2bn (£1.5bn) stake. Loeb’s New-York based investment firm Third Point has built a five per cent stake in the insurance firm and is now pushing for it to separate its Asian and US operations. It comes just [...]
Fund supermarket best-buy lists — Are they bogus or a bargain? February 25, 2020 It should go without saying that choosing the right investment can be challenging. For time-strapped everyday investors, combing through the financial records of individual companies to find a share worth buying can seem like a monumental task. Instead, many people prefer to put their money into investment funds run by professional asset managers who do [...]
IG’s June Felix: Shorter trading hours would make London ‘less competitive’ February 23, 2020 The head of one of Britain’s largest trading platforms has become one of the most senior industry figures to speak out against proposals to cut trading hours in London, saying it would not be “helpful” for the City and could make it “less competitive globally”. June Felix, whose company IG Group offers 24-hour trading to [...]
Fund managers snap up luxury brands on coronavirus dip February 23, 2020 Leading fund managers are buying millions of pounds of shares in luxury brands after significant falls triggered by the coronavirus outbreak. Fund manager Nick Train, along with bosses from Rathbone Brothers, Jupiter and BNY Mellon, are taking advantage of the dip according to the Sunday Times. Train, who manages the Lindsell Train UK Equity fund, [...]
Why global cities could be more valuable than high-performing tech stocks February 21, 2020 | City Talk The most successful company strategies over the last few years all have one thing in common – a data-driven operating platform. Companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (the so-called FANG stocks) are able to create a significant informational advantage when they use data collected from their platforms. The quantity and quality of this [...]
Goldman Sachs-backed startup Neyber in talks with administrators February 20, 2020 A London-based startup that has been backed by Goldman Sachs is reportedly in talks with administrators in a bid to secure its long-term future. Neyber, a consumer finance provider that enables employees to borrow against their salaries, is in discussions with accounting firm BDO about a range of strategic options, Sky News reported. Possible outcomes [...]
Morgan Stanley to buy brokerage firm E-Trade in $13bn deal February 20, 2020 Morgan Stanley is to buy discount brokerage firm E-Trade in an all-share deal worth around $13bn (£10bn), the biggest deal by a major Wall Street bank since the financial crisis. The deal will help Morgan Stanley boost its wealth management division, which chief executive James Gorman is trying to grow in order to help the [...]
A quarter of FTSE companies faced shareholder dissent in 2019 February 20, 2020 Investors cranked up the pressure on British companies last year, with a quarter of firms on the FTSE All-Share hit by shareholder dissent, according to new figures. Some 158 of the 641 firms on the index experienced significant investor rebellions in 2019, with executive pay and the re-election of directors among shareholders’ biggest concerns, according [...]
Softbank set to invest $100m in AI startup Behavox February 19, 2020 Softbank is reportedly close to investing $100m (£77m) in a startup which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help financial firms monitor employees’ behaviour. Softbank’s second Vision Fund is on the verge of signing the deal with Behavox, Sky News reported, which could be finalised as soon as next week. Behavox, which was founded in the [...]