Category: Articles

NAS Invest, the Berlin-based real estate investor and asset manager, and BlueRock Fund, an AIFM compliant investment fund, have acquired residential properties in Berlin for about EUR 50 million over the first half of 2016. The acquisitions have been made primarily for the portfolio of the co-managed “NAS Berlin Residential Growth” fund.

New research note from Erik Oja, Equity Analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. "The surprising Brexit results, coming after recent polls indicated that a majority of U.K. citizens were in favor of remaining in the European Community, will now likely create several headwinds for U.S. banks.We now see a further decline in long-term U.S. interest rates, a stronger US Dollar, and low probability that the Fed will raise short-term rates in the foreseeable future. This will further pressure net interest margins at banks, and lead to lower oil prices - with negative credit effects on bank's energy lending.

In the wake of the Leave vote, Frost & Sullivan explains that organizations should use the new reality to influence the economy and society in a positive way

Today, as the UK voted to leave the European Union, Wellian Investment Solutions gives its view on the impact of this decision on the investment industry.The DFM had said in advance of the vote it had been adopting a balanced approach with diversification across a wide range of assets and investment strategies.

Asia and Australia will lead the way in beginning to shape the response of global currency markets to the Leave/Remain decision come Friday. “This is because they will be open when the polls close and when the Leave/Remain decision is finally made public,” says Greg Secker, the millionaire Currency Trader and Founder of Learn to Trade, one of the world’s leading trader training companies.

IG Group, a global leader in online trading, reveals that fans of Germany and Slovakia descending on Lille in France this weekend for their Round of 16 clash at Euro 2016 can expect to fork out the most for a hotel room.

Viktor Nossek, director of research at WisdomTree Europe, analyses the impact the EU referendum has had on sterling, and what a vote for Brexit would mean for both the pound and wider markets.

Private equity firm IW Capital and crowdfunding specialists Crowdfinders have today announced the nationwide roll-out of Race to Scale, a £100 million funding drive kick-started by the scheme’s first investment commitment, offered to Manchester-based oncology company – Incanthera. The cancer treatment specialist is set to receive £150,000 in equity finance, sourced in full through the Race to Scale initiative. The finance was secured after a successful pitch to 400 high net-worth and private investors at Crowdfinders’ latest live crowdfunding event, held 21 April at the Royal Institution, and contributes to Incanthera’s current funding round.

UK consumers are increasingly standing up to poor performing service providers by purposely withholding payments, according to new research - with 48% saying they had withheld or defaulted on payments in the past as a result of poor customer service or billing issues.

EQ Investors (EQ), the boutique wealth manager led by John Spiers, in this feature.

This year’s “Brexit” and last year’s “Grexit” have one common theme: referendums create uncertainty. And generally speaking, markets hate uncertainty.Uncertainty surrounding the UK’s decision whether or not to leave the EU is starting to test traders’ nerves. Implied volatility of the GBP/USD spiking to 29% – a level comparable to the extreme highs seen in the 2008 financial crisis – and 10 year gilts yielding less than 1.1% to reach new historic lows (see Chart 1) means risk-off positioning is now starting to build up.

The 2016 UK IT Outsourcing Study, conducted by Whitelane Research in collaboration with PA Consulting Group, examined over 800 unique IT outsourcing contracts held by more than 250 of the top IT spending organisations in the United Kingdom. The total combined annual value of the contracts included in this study is in excess of £15 billion, almost three quarters of the UK market by value. All industry sectors are represented.

Beacon Rail Leasing (“Beacon”), a leading Pan-European rolling stock lessor, is pleased to announce that it has closed on the acquisition of Ascendos Rail Leasing S.à r.l. (“Ascendos”), a European locomotive and rolling stock leasing company, after having received clearance with the German competition authorities.

Eight out of ten UK businesses have failed to make adequate preparations for a potential exit from Europe following the upcoming referendum, according to a survey.

Today Draper Esprit, one of the top five European VC technology funds who have invested in companies like Graze, Movidius, Trustpilot and Lyst, has today successfully listed on the London and Dublin Stock Exchanges, raising £103 million in total. The initial portfolio will consist of investment in 24 companies, predominantly in high-growth digital technology businesses in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Europe.

Meatcure, the growing Midlands based team inspired by New York’s Meat Packing District, is seeking backers to be part of their next five restaurant openings. Meatcure’s campaign through equity crowdfunding platform, Seedrs, is inviting backers to help them raise £350,000 and take the vast choice and dynamics of the street food generation to market towns across the UK.

ZyFin Holdings Pte. Limited (ZyFin) today announces the listing of the world’s first dedicated Turkish sovereign laddered bond fund, the LAM Alternatif ZyFin Turkey Sovereign Bond UCITS ETF (the Fund), on the Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange.

Founded in 2009, Lilian H Weinreich Architects (LHWA) is a boutique multi-disciplinary architectural and interior design firm based in New York City with roots in Australia. Led by Lilian Weinreich, AIA, RAIA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB, the practice aims to transform ordinary spaces into spectacular and unique environments in the most straightforward, practical, precise and functional way.

Yesterday (9 June 2016) Business Minister Anna Soubry led the first cross-government retail roundtable with some of the top high street names.

WisdomTree, the exchange-traded fund ("ETF") and exchange-traded product ("ETP") sponsor today announced the launch of the WisdomTree US Quality Dividend Growth UCITS ETF (DGRA) and WisdomTree Global Quality Dividend Growth UCITS ETF (GGRA) on the London Stock Exchange.

Founded in 1994, Venus Capital is an institutional-focused India-dedicated firm, which is based in Boston with affiliated offices in London and New Delhi. We spoke to Vik Mehrotra, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Venus, to find out more about their firm, and get his unique insight into how they consistently generate alpha while mitigating risks.

Based in Zurich, Finanz Konzept AG is a highly innovative independent asset manager who specialise in alternative investments. We spoke to Florian Agarwalla, Head of Sales at Finanz Konzept AG, to find out more about their company, as well as their unique investment strategy.

24FX Global is an independent family office and a trading, advisory and currency hedging firm for global institutional and HNW clients. We spoke to Andy Schnappberger, MD of the company, to find out more about their company and learn the secrets behind their success.

VFS is the fund administration arm of the Bank of Valletta Group. The company’s core activity is the provision of a full suite of fund administration services to collective investment schemes, spanning across all fund typologies, following very diverse investment strategies.

VFS is the fund administration arm of the Bank of Valletta Group, Malta’s largest banking group. The company’s core activities cover both the provision of fund formation services, as well as a full suite of fund administration services to collective investment schemes.

Realty Africa is established by Patrick Chella and Erik van Eeten, two seasoned professionals from the Netherlands and has a diverse team of people with a lot of banking, investment and IT expertise. Patrick Chella spent his youth in Zimbabwe before moving to the Netherlands to study and work in the Investment and Banking Sector.

Aspect is the leading global provider of multi-commodity trade, risk and operations management solutions (E/CTRM) delivered Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in the cloud. With more than 487 customers in 86 countries, it’s one of the fastest growing solutions with rapid deployment, affordable subscriptions, and immediate ROI for all size companies. Commodities support includes oil, petroleum products, metals, biofuels, coal and petrochemicals. 1605MR13

An AIM listing is the planned exit strategy for less than a quarter (23%) of UK technology entrepreneurs, according to new research from Nabarro, the international law firm. This is despite the strong demand from AIM investors for opportunities to invest in the tech sector. Technology sector stocks made up an average 31% of the portfolios of the investors interviewed by Nabarro, with 88% planning to increase (53%) or maintain (35%) their exposure to AIM tech stocks in the next five years.

Harvey Law Group (HLG) is an International law firm founded in 1992 in Montreal. For over twenty- four years, HLG has built a solid reputation in both investment immigration and business law, becoming a leading multi-national law firm with a worldwide presence. We spoke to Bastien Trelcat, Managing Partner of HLG-Thailand and South East Asia, to get his unique insight into the currently thriving region of Vietnam.

The last eight years have been challenging for motoring manufacturers. The industry was hit incredibly hard by the global economic slump, and one of the very first commodities that consumers chose to sacrifice was a new car.

Come Thursday 23rd June, life for Britain's smaller businesses may never be the same again.

Law firm Winckworth Sherwood is advising Genesis Housing Association on its role in LINQ Housing, an innovative delivery and financing model developed by LINQ Partners. Genesis and LINQ Partner have together co-sponsored LINQ Housing’s first initiative, with long-term funding provided by M&G Investments.

Malta has addressed one of the biggest issues in European fund management – the speed to market - with its new Notified Alternative Investment Funds (NAIF) framework, according to Jeremy Leach, Chief Executive Officer of the Managing Partners Group.

Interior architecture and specialist FFE (furniture, fixtures and equipment) consultancy SpaceZero, has secured contracts working on 40 per cent of the country’s private finance-funded Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) schools, and 27 per cent of those that are government funded.

VCCP, the London-based top five UK advertising agency owned by the leading international sports marketing and communications group, Chime Communications, announces that it is expanding its reach to the U.S. with the acquisition of MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER, a highly awarded, San Francisco-based, full-service advertising agency. The combined group will form an international network spanning London, San Francisco, Paris, Madrid, Prague, Sydney and Berlin.

Dr. Antonius Alijoyo of the Enterprise Risk Management Academy and CRMS Indonesia shares his thoughts on the importance of corporate governance today, the recent trends and developments in the field, and how his company implements it.