Experian to acquire London fintech startup Clearscore in £275m deal March 15, 2018 Experian, the world’s biggest credit data company, has bought London-based fintech company Clearscore in a £275m deal. The credit checking firm’s CEO Brian Cassin said the deal was “another important step in our strategy to extend the services we provide to UK consumers”. Clearscore launched in July 2015 and now offers over 6m UK customers [...]
Big fish: The seven largest types of institutional investors March 7, 2018 Say whatever you want about the world, but there’s never been a better time to be an end investor. Many things investment professionals fear — fee compression, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain — benefit clients through higher account balances and lower fees. Asset owners are the largest of those clients. Though they are frequently [...]
Two rules to rule them all: Watch out for companies with dual class shares March 6, 2018 Despite the relentless push towards corporate governance, one trend is going against the tide, threatening the old rule: “one share, one vote”. Regulators are rethinking their rules by letting firms issue controversial dual class shares. Companies that adopt this structure will issue two types of shares to give preferential rights to one set of [...]
Done deal: Tesco completes £3.7bn acquisition of Booker Group March 5, 2018 Tesco today completed its acquisition of Booker Group, creating the leading food group in the UK. The £3.7bn deal was given court approval on Friday after shareholders voted it through last week. Booker Group's shares have been de-listed from the London Stock Exchange. Each share has been exchanged for 42.5p in cash, and 0.861 new [...]
Done deal: Tesco completes £3.7bn acquisition of Booker Group | City A.M. March 5, 2018 Tesco today completed its acquisition of Booker Group, creating the leading food group in the UK. The £3.7bn deal was given court approval on Friday after shareholders voted it through last week. Booker Group’s shares have been de-listed from the London Stock Exchange. Each share has been exchanged for 42.5p in cash, and 0.861 new [...]
Investors set to receive £34m in compensation from misleading “closet tracker” fund managers March 4, 2018 Investors who may have been misled into paying higher fees are set to get £34m in compensation from asset managers. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that a number of firms were returning money to investors, though not in any official FCA-backed scheme, after the watchdog launched a crackdown on “closet tracker” funds. These are [...]
Last Week in the City: Trump threatens trade war March 2, 2018 This week US President Donald Trump threatened a trade war, a number of famous high street names, including Toys R Us and Maplin, got into serious trading trouble and upbeat assessments of the US economy from central bankers helped the US dollar to rally, reversing its recent trend. The FTSE 100 fell 0.2 per cent [...]
SSE-Npower merger: Competition and Markets Authority launches probe into the proposed merger February 28, 2018 The competitions watchdog has opened an investigation into the proposed merger of SSE’s retail unit and German-owned Npower. In November, the firms announced a deal where Britain’s second-largest supplier, SSE, would merge and spin off its household energy and supply business to create an independent supplier with Innogy’s Npower. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) [...]
3 ways to get the most out of a mentorship February 28, 2018 In mid-2015, Lars van de Loo, CFA, jumped at the chance to participate in a newly formed mentoring program offered by CFA Society VBA Netherlands. He had just returned from a four-month sabbatical from his job as a strategy analyst at a clearing bank in Amsterdam and wanted to consider his next career steps. “I [...]
Disruption is everywhere – but so are the investment opportunities February 27, 2018 I’m not usually a subscriber to “this time it’s different”, but when it comes to the emerging disruption in so many industries, “this time it’s more than average” doesn’t really seem to cut it. This time I have a feeling it really may be different, because today’s disruptions are everywhere, and that means that there [...]