Category: Articles

Castle Hall Alternatives helps investors build comprehensive due diligence programs across hedge funds, private equity and long only portfolios.

New research from creative consultancy Radley Yeldar discovered that there is plenty of scope for improving the digital presence of banks and financial services firms. The agency’s digital director Richard Coope looks at what can be learned from the best performers.

Wise Investment, founded in 1992, is an independent investment company based in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. We got in touch with John Newton at Wise to find out more about the company and to hear his thoughts on winning this award.

A large majority of customers want innovation from their banking suppliers, according to a survey produced by technology firm Sopra Banking Software.

The UK's new Prime Minister made it clear during her leadership campaign that ‘Brexit means Brexit'. And with negotiations on the UK's divorce from the EU now firmly underway between Theresa May and counterparts in Germany and France, it's clear that the new leader intends to honour this pledge.

Gold and silver futures are rebounding – most likely due to the demise of high grade bonds, rather than on supply-demand fundamentals for precious metals.

Today sees the launch of the Shenton International Asset-Backed Mini Bond, an opportunity for UK-based investors to potentially benefit from carefully selected real estate projects in Germany, North America and Brazil. The mini bond, a form of corporate loan that pays ten per cent per annum gross interest for four years, is issued by Shenton Holdings, the Singapore-based alternative investment house. With more than 10,000 customers, Shenton has invested more than £390m into 51 international real estate projects in four years.

Businesses are built on data and numbers. It’s what makes a company tick and what makes the world go round. But as it gets more and more difficult to attract and retain customers, companies need to recognise that the seemingly unimportant data that they hold could actually be incredibly valuable to their future development. It’s all about knowing how to use it.

New research reveals the extent to which drones are taking off in the real estate industry, despite poor knowledge of some of the rules surrounding their use.Two thirds of real estate businesses surveyed say the technology is either already in use in their industry, or will be in the future, according to the research, carried out by YouGov on behalf of law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.

Northern Ireland Minister for Communities Paul Givan MLA today officially opened three projects in the Waterside area of Londonderry funded by an investment totalling £800,806 by the Department.

Ninety-five per cent of organisations are still using paper and manual data entry in their finance function, with only 5% describing their accounts payable (AP) processes as ‘fully automated’, according to a new survey by business automation software provider V1.

Staff are a significant risk to their employer’s cyber security according to new research by specialist global executive search and interim management company Norrie Johnston Recruitment (NJR). The research, which forms part of NJR’s cyber security report: how real is the threat and how can you reduce your risk, shows that 23 per cent of employees use the same password for different work applications and 17 per cent write down their passwords, 16 per cent work while connected to public wifi networks and 15 per cent access social media sites on their work PCs. Such bad habits and a lack of awareness about security mean that employees are inadvertently leaving companies’ cyber doors wide open to attack.

Following up from the opportunity to speak with the CFO of Qtrade Financial Group about the challenges of running the finance department of a B2B fintech operation, we took a closer look at how other components have journeyed towards their current day status and how they operate as an important cog in the company’s success. This is how Shayne Kong, Controller, recounts the past few years of the Finance - Corporate Accounting Team.

Charu Lahiri, Investment Manager at Heartwood Investment Management lifts the lid on UK commercial property, and how companies have been hit by renewed selling pressure this week on concerns around Brexit and its impact on underlying investment activity.

Martindale Pharma, the UK-based international specialty pharma company, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Viridian Pharma, a UK-based developer and supplier of niche pharmaceutical products. Although financial terms were not disclosed, the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking input on which areas should be considered as part of its upcoming review of the rules surrounding both investment-based and loan-based crowdfunding.

The collection of UK taxes could be simplified, and the load spread more fairly, if we used UK citizenship in addition to UK residency, as the qualifying tests, says the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI).

For over 30 years, Greenfield Estate Agents has specialised in property sales, lettings and property management. We spoke to them to find out more about their firm, and got their unique insight into the ins and outs of the UK real estate industry

eVestment is a global leader in institutional investment data and analytics. The company provides data and insights for institutional investors like insurance companies, pension funds, foundations, banks, endowments and more and also provides a wealth of insight and analytics solutions to traditional and alternative asset managers.

RelonChem has been in business since 2002 with their offices based in Widnes, Cheshire. As an independent generic company they manufacture and distribute therapeutic products to deal with diabetes, pain management, hypertension, gastric ulcer, breast cancer, immunosuppressant’s, fungal infections, viral infections such as cold sores, osteoporosis and prostate disorders.

Advanced Capital Group’s reputation as a financial innovator extends back to 2000 with the set-up of its first Private Equity Fund of Funds. With a keen focus on time critical high-growth opportunities, Advanced Capital Group has approximately $1 billion in assets under management.

The German company REALOGIS Real Estate GmbH acquired a logistics property in the city of Bielefeld for its investment fund REALOGIS Real Estate Logistics Fund-Germany.

At Privet Capital we look to do special situations investing which involves unusual deals where there are issues within the business or the transaction which makes it more challenging for strategic investors or mainstream private equity firms.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has agreed the sale of Eneas Group (“Eneas” or the “Company”) to Norvestor Equity (“Norvestor”) for an undisclosed amount. The sale will bring total proceeds to NOK 750 million (approximately €80 million), representing a 3.3x return on invested capital.

Gable Insurance celebrates its tenth birthday in 2016 with record growth as one of Europe’s leading players, providing insurance to a range of SME sectors in the EU. We talk to CEO, William Dewsall, about the challenges of building a successful financial services brand.

SCM Direct is an innovative online investment manager offering clients direct low cost to high-end wealth management that is smart, common sense and modern. First launched in 2009 as a reaction to the 2008 financial crisis SCM is based just off Sloane Square, Westminster, London. We spoke to the firm’s Founding Partner, Gina Miller, to find out more about the company and the key issues around the rising cost of risk in wealth management

As a modern investment manager SCM Direct offer low cost access to high end wealth management via Exchange Traded Funds. We got in touch with the Founder of the company Gina Miller to find out more about the company itself and the challenges which lie ahead for the company.

During the darkest days of the global financial crisis (GFC) one thought kept going through my mind. What if the only way to beat the market was to “Forget the Market?”. Honestly, just then all I wanted to do was forget the market. I was terrified of what the new trading day would bring. Everywhere I looked, it was a sea of red and the concept of diversification didn’t mean a damn thing! Established market, emerging market, none of it offered protection for my clients. Previously uncorrelated assets fell in tandem and there was literally nowhere to hide.

Finlabo Investments Sicav is a Luxembourg UCITS IV collective investment scheme

GL Asset Management specialises in alternative investments, and is known for its precision, rigour and experience in developing and managing innovative investment strategies.

Fundadministration is a full-service fund administration firm dedicated to providing accurate, timely and comprehensive accounting and administration services to the financial services industry. Denise DePaola gives her thoughts on the work of the company and imparts her thoughts on the key challenges facing Hedge Fund Start-ups today.

We are a locally based asset management company and our business is to invest on behalf of our clients, from large institutions, high-net-worth individuals and retail investors. However, our products are not limited to investment services, we also have other services such as property and infrastructure funds, trustee for REITS, Private equity trust, Sukuks and provident fund registration. Currently, we are the third largest asset management company in Thailand with asset size of USD 20 billion. We started off in 1996 and we have an office based in Bangkok, Thailand.

NEP UK & Ireland is a leading provider of outsourced, creative broadcast and live event solutions with over 30 years’ experience. The company has been in business for over 30 years and has operations in Bracknell, Slough, London and Dublin.

Based in leafy Lymm in Cheshire, The SPA Group, a dedicated marketing agency for over 22 years, delivers integrated marketing, PR and event management campaigns for an array of diverse clients, across many sectors. As such, I really love the variety of the work we do here and no two projects are the same. It is a constant challenge, but we always enjoy rising to the occasion and achieving stellar results for our clients.

LV= is a modern and leading financial mutual which is focused on doing the right thing for the people that buy their range of insurance, investments and retirement products. In an interview, Richard Rowney, Managing Director of Life and Pensions at LV=, lifts the lid on how the company’s client-centric approach has underpinned their success.

Information Age for I.T. Consultations is a Kuwait based consultation firm specialised in I.T consultations which was first formed in 2013. Since its establishment, Information Age for I.T. Consultations has understood the role of following I.T. market trends. We focus on Natural Language Processing, Text Analytics, Social Media Analytics, Social Media strategies, Web Analytics, Big Data Analytics, and Financial Market Analytics. However, training and consultation