FCA admits seven funds breached ‘trash ratio’ March 4, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed the extent to which UK fund managers breached European rules designed to limit liquidity issues behind high-profile scandals. Regulators across Europe have scrutinised how closely fund managers adhere to Ucits fund rules that limit holdings in unquoted securities to 10 per cent of their portfolio. Responding to a [...]
Ant Financial takes minority stake in fintech unicorn Klarna March 4, 2020 The highest valued fintech company in the world, Ant Financial, has taken a minority stake in payments platform Klarna. The “buy now pay later” specialist confirmed that Alipay owner Ant Financial had bought a less than one per cent stake, but refused to disclose how much it is worth. Ant Financial is part of the [...]
Property fund outflows slow as investors seek safe havens March 4, 2020 Property funds had their best performance since September 2018 as net outflows decreased to just £18m last month, down from £80m in January. In the final week of February, when global markets slumped as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, investors bought a net £24.6m of real estate funds according to Calastone’s Fund Flows Index. [...]
Coronavirus crash prompts record flood of fund outflows March 4, 2020 The market slump caused by increased fears over the coronavirus prompted a flood of outflows from equity funds last month. Investors had bought equity funds enthusiastically in the first three weeks of February, shrugging off concerns at the end of January. UK equity funds saw solid inflows of £1.2bn in the first three weeks. However [...]
Electric chauffeur service Havn launches in London March 3, 2020 An all-electric premium chauffeur service that gives passengers the options to adjust playlists, temperature and chauffeur interaction launches in London today. Havn launches with a fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-PACEs which can be booked via an app or an online portal. The service is backed by Jaguar Land Rover’s investment vehicle Inmotion. Unlike similar ride-hailing [...]
Divestments fail to add value for six consecutive years March 3, 2020 The majority of companies that sold portions of their business last year lost shareholder value, meaning that divestments have failed to add value for six consecutive years. Six out of ten companies that divested part of their business continued to struggle to add value, according to Willis Towers Watsons Divestment Performance Monitor. Based on share [...]
What is the coronavirus and how dangerous is it? March 2, 2020 Since it emerged in China at the turn of the New Year, a deadly new strain of coronavirus has spread across the world and claimed hundreds of lives. The number of coronavirus cases globally is nearing 90,000, with fears of a possible pandemic. Read more: 14 Diamond Princess passengers evacuated to US test positive for [...]
Coronavirus jeopardises Airbnb stock market listing March 2, 2020 Airbnb’s much-anticipated float could be in danger following the outbreak of the rapidly spreading coronavirus. Airbnb has been working towards floating on the stock market this year and was looking to start the process in March or April, according to Bloomberg sources. It could now be pushed back as consumers and businesses cancel travel plans [...]
Deal-makers bullish on M&A prospects for the year March 2, 2020 Deal-makers are more bullish about prospects for M&A and capital raising this year than they were at the start of 2019. According to figures from Refinitiv, 47 per cent of deal-makers anticipate M&A volume growth, with an average predicted growth of 4.7 per cent. Asian dealers are more bullish than their American and EMEA counterparts, [...]
Draper Esprit leads $83m funding round in Thought Machine March 2, 2020 Technology company Thought Machine has raised $83m (£64.74m) in series B funding led by Draper Esprit. The venture capital firm, which has invested in a number of fintech businesses, contributed £26.5m to the funding for Thought Machine, a technology company that builds cloud-native technology for banks. Thought Machine’s banking platform, Vault, counts Lloyds Banking Group, [...]
