How a former hedgie manager is challenging the Bordeaux status quo February 26, 2013 THE BOTTLE OPENER I’m delighted to say I spent last Monday evening drinking fine Claret with a revolutionary. Not that Arnaud Christiaens, a polished Belgian former hedge fund manager, is your usual rebel. But with his new venture Le Secret des Grands Chefs, he is setting out to turn the accepted order of things in [...]
Emerging market hedge funds boom with billions more assets February 24, 2013 EMERGING market (EM) hedge funds boomed in the fourth quarter of last year, led by a surge in macro strategies and India-focused hedge funds, according to new figures. EM hedge funds across the world reached 1,100 by the end of 2012, a new record, while the amount of cash committed also leapt by $11.2bn (£7.39bn) [...]
Polymetal buys $96m gold field February 21, 2013 JSC Polymetal, the subsidiary of Russian precious metal producer Polymetal, has agreed to buy ZAO Maminskaya Gornorudnaya kompania, which has a mining licence for the Maminskoye gold mining field in Russia, in a deal worth $95.5m (£62.7m). The licence is valid until 2023. Scoping studies show that the field could have the potential to produce [...]
European Report: Hangover from Carlsberg hits European stock February 18, 2013 EUROPEAN shares dipped for a third straight session yesterday, led by Danish brewer Carlsberg after disappointing earnings, and some analysts expected further weakness in the market in the near term. The world’s fourth-biggest brewer posted a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit as sales stalled in key market Russia and remained sluggish in western Europe, sending its shares [...]
Carlsberg hit by Russia sales and rising costs February 18, 2013 DANISH brewer Carlsberg said yesterday it had scrapped its profit margin target for eastern Europe, blaming volatile markets and raw material costs, and dampening hopes the region can offset sluggish demand in western Europe. The world’s fourth-biggest brewer said that sales growth had stalled in its key Russian market and the cost of an efficiency [...]
The three geopolitical red herrings that the markets can safely ignore February 14, 2013 EACH year, Eurasia Group releases its top risks report, where we consider the ten biggest geopolitical threats to markets and economies, judged by probability and potential impact. So what’s on our radar for 2013? The top risk is now found in emerging markets, as the world’s focus shifts back to the developing world and away [...]
An explosive return for the bad boy of opera February 14, 2013 BALLET MIXED PROGRAMME Royal Opera House **** The Royal Opera House’s mixed programme of ballet, marking the 25th anniversary of renowned dancer and choreographer Frederick Ashton’s death, was bound to be an explosive affair. It saw the dramatic return of Sergei Polunin – the former bad boy of British ballet – to the stage he [...]
A Good Day to Die Hard is a ludicrous, outdated relic February 14, 2013 FILM A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD Cert: 12A ** John McClane is a family man. When he purged that New York tower block of eastern European terrorists in 1988, he wasn’t doing it out of patriotic or professional duty – he was doing it for his wife who was trapped in the building. A [...]
Rosneft and Exxon in Arctic tie-up February 13, 2013 Oil giants Rosneft and ExxonMobil yesterday agreed to expand their cooperation agreement to include an extra 600,000 square kilometres of exploration acreage in the Arctic. The agreement includes seven new offshore licences in the Chukchi, Laptev and Kara seas. Russia’s Rosneft and the US’s Exxon have already agreed to jointly tap hydrocarbon deposits in Russia’s [...]
How to gain emerging market exposure February 12, 2013 IT IS a well-known story. Emerging markets are playing a more significant role in global economic growth. Recent research from PwC has highlighted that emerging market GDP will exceed that of developed markets, in terms of purchasing power parity (which adjusts for differences in exchange rates), for the first time in 2013. Since 2002, the [...]