Flag Luxury Group LLC signed a deal with Marriott International Inc. to develop a Ritz-Carlton hotel at 28th Street and Broadway, near the Ace Hotel New York and the NoMad Hotel. The project is expected to cost more than $500 million, according to a statement from Marriott, and will feature 250 hotel rooms and 16 branded residences in a 500-foot (150-meter) tower designed by architect Rafael Vinoly…
Jul
30
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CEO accused of sexual harassment by women in New Yorker report
- Early departure could cost him millions in lost wages, bonuses
CBS Corp. offered Leslie Moonves a contract extension last year that could pay him several hundred million dollars if he remains chief executive officer until 2021. Now that might be in flux.
Shares of the broadcaster continued to slide Monday after the New Yorker reported that six women said they’d been sexually harassed by Moonves over the years. Similar accusations have derailed the careers of numerous executives and high-profile employees at U.S. companies recently…
Jul
30
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Slump in trading and share sales will cut earnings, CICC Says
- Big companies seen gaining share amid deleveraging: Huachuang
Investors haven’t been this down on Chinese brokerages in more than a decade, and the outlook is just as grim.
Bloomberg’s gauge for China-listed brokerages is at its lowest relative to the Shanghai Composite Index since June 2007, even with the equity benchmark stuck 20 percent below its January peak. The sector trades at 13.3 times 12-month forward earnings, compared with 10.6 times for the Shanghai gauge, near the narrowest difference in a year.
Jul
30
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives and board members may have reaped as much as $3 billion from stock options granted during the 2008 financial crisis, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In December of that year, the bank granted 36 million options with a strike price of $78.78 to about 350 partners and directors. The securities have generated an estimated $3 billion of gains as the firm’s stock has tripled, the newspaper reported Monday, citing a review of regulatory filings…
Goldman Insiders Cashed In $3 Billion of Crisis-Era Options: WSJ
Jul
30
The semi-submersible Ocean Farm 1 off the coast of Norway can hold 1.5 million fish.
Three miles off Norway’s rugged coast, 1.5 million salmon swim in a 220-foot-high, football-field-long mass of floating mesh-wire frames and nets. This is Ocean Farm 1, the world’s first deep-sea aquaculture project, designed by leading salmon farmer SalMar ASA. The company paid China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. $300 million upfront for six facilities that offer more space than conventional shoreline farms (large nets in sheltered waters) while diffusing fish waste, allowing them to be packed in tighter…
The $300 Million Plan to Farm Salmon in the Middle of the Ocean
Jul
30
The forex division’s commissions-driven culture was cited by current and former employees as fueling the practice
American Express Gave Small Businesses One Rate, Then Secretly Raised It
Jul
30
Bitcoin spiked lower after dropping below the $8,000 price level.
Volatility in the biggest cryptocurrency has increased over the last few trading sessions after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the latest attempt to create an exchange-traded fund…
Bitcoin Extends Loss After Dropping Below $8,000 Price Level
Jul
30
Hedge Funds’ Big Short Could Be Fool’s Gold
By · CommentsInvestors haven’t been this bearish for years. Are they wrong?
Investors have never been so down on gold.
Managed money funds’ position in Comex gold futures and options last week crashed to a net short of 27,156 contracts. That amount — equivalent to 2.7 million troy ounces, or 14 million-odd wedding bands — represents the most bearish position for hedge fund investors in data going back to 2006, outstripping even the major wobble at the end of 2015 as the U.S. Federal Reserve started edging away from its zero-interest-rate policy…
Hedge Funds’ Big Short Could Be Fool’s Gold
Jul
30
Goldman Partners’ Haul on Crisis-Era Options: $3 Billion
By · CommentsLast vintage of an earlier reward structure reflects Wall Street’s new share-price heights
In December 2008, with the financial world in a tailspin, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. issued stock options to 350 of its top executives and board members.
By the time they expire later this year, these options will have earned their owners—most of whom left Goldman years ago—at least $3 billion, according to a review of regulatory filings by The Wall Street Journal…
Jul
30
Shares in Nintendo Co. slumped as a New York hedge fund increased its short bet against the company ahead of earnings Tuesday.
Nintendo dropped as much as 3.7 percent on Tuesday, the most in about a month, after Bloomberg News reported Gabriel Plotkin, head of Melvin Capital Management, had accumulated a short position of roughly $400 million in the Japanese game maker. Plotkin’s fund was short 1.2 million shares, or about 0.8 percent of Nintendo’s outstanding stock, according to the latest filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The firm has been increasing its position, with the latest trade on July 26, ahead of Nintendo’s quarterly earnings on Tuesday…
Jul
30
New Yorkers who love to lament tiny living spaces at astronomical prices need not apply.
Graham Hill is at it again. The eco-entrepreneur and founder of LifeEdited.com and TreeHugger.com became a guiding light for pared-down living with his 2011 Less Stuff, More Happiness TED Talk, now topping 4 million views, and a 420-square-foot micro-apartment in Manhattan’s SoHo called LifeEdited1 (LE1). It generated headlines, think pieces, and no small amount of both awe and ire not just for its size, but also for its adaptability and functionality…
Jul
30
Arif Naqvi rode Dubai’s rise to build Abraaj Group with an unusual business model. Was it a house of cards?
Days before rubbing elbows with global business titans in Davos in January, Arif Naqvi set out to charm another circle of friends—Gulf Arab tycoons—in a last-ditch attempt to save his Dubai private equity firm.
But things were already on the cusp of spiraling out of control. Dogged by allegations Abraaj had mismanaged investors’ money, Dubai’s star financier soon couldn’t pay the rent…
Jul
30
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Carige, founded 1483, urged to find buyer by ECB, rival holder
- ECB said to urge Malacalza, with 20% stake, to calm situation
An industrialist had grand visions when he helped rescue a storied bank in the port city of Genoa. Fast-forward three years, and the European Central Bank is uneasy about the shareholder, turnover in the executive suite and the lender’s ability to survive on its own.
Jul
30
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Cyclical stocks fall behind despite strong earnings support
- Tech-stock pain is just the start of more losses, bank says
The market’s leaders have gone missing this earnings season. For Morgan Stanley, that’s a worrying sign that the stock rally may have exhausted itself.
Despite more than 85 percent of S&P 500 members beating analyst estimates, the type of pro-cyclical companies you’d expect to surge amid banner earnings have been falling behind. Not even the biggest winners of the year are posting reliable gains, as earnings misses from the likes of Netflix Inc. and Facebook Inc. hamper the momentum trade…
Jul
29
New York City socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein was once worth billions — but now her fortune has vanished.
Wildenstein, whom the New York City tabloids dubbed “Catwoman” because of her unusual feline look, filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. According to The New York Post, she listed her Citibank account balance as $0 in the filing. The 77-year-old Switzerland native says she’s now getting by on just $900 a month in Social Security payments.
“I am not employed and my only income is Social Security,” Wildenstein said in an affidavit. “I often turn to friends and family in order to pay my ongoing expenses.”…
Jul
29
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Amundi to Fidelity see short-term correction faltering
- Strong dollar, trade tensions, political risks still weigh
Don’t be fooled by July’s gains: the causes of emerging-market turmoil haven’t gone away, according to investors including Fidelity International and Amundi Asset Management.
Developing-nation debt is heading for the first monthly gain since March and stocks are set for the first advance since January after a sharp sell-off in the second quarter made valuations appealing. Carry-trade investors will have their first positive return in four months as emerging currencies close the month with a small loss…
Jul
29
Dearth of investments in oil projects mean a spike in prices above $100 could be on the horizon
Crude across the globe is being used up faster than it is being replaced, raising the prospect of even higher oil prices in the coming years.
The world isn’t running out of oil. Rather, energy companies and petro-states, burned by 2014’s price collapse, are spending less on new projects, even though oil prices have more than doubled since 2016. That has sparked concerns among some industry watchers of a price spike that could hurt businesses and consumers…
Jul
29
India’s Logged a Record $98 Billion in Deals This Year
By · Comments-
Telecom, IT and media to drive transactions, Morparia says
- U.S. lender tops M&A ranking in India for 1st time in a decade
Indian companies have been involved in deals worth a record $97.6 billion this year. Top banker JPMorgan Chase & Co. is predicting more offshore interest in the nation, particularly in technology, media and telecom.
Walmart Inc.’s $16 billion acquisition of a majority stake in Indian e-commerce company Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd. — a deal JPMorgan advised — has been the biggest so far, pushing the total past a previous annual peak of $92.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. India’s bankruptcy process has also spurred activity with more than $26 billion in distressed steel assets coming on the block, while a price war in telecom forced consolidation…
Jul
29
Ant Financial is transforming how Chinese run their daily finances, drawing flak from big banks and warning shots from the government
It handled more payments last year than Mastercard, controls the world’s largest money-market fund and has made loans to tens of millions of people. Its online payments platform completed more than $8 trillion of transactions last year—the equivalent of more than twice Germany’s gross domestic product.
Ant Financial Services Group, founded by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, has become the world’s biggest financial-technology firm, driving innovations that let people use their phones for buying insurance as easily as groceries,…
Jul
29
Beijing Towers Over This $9 Billion IPO
By · CommentsIt’s less about numbers, more about national service.
Jul
29
Investors who can’t get into high-return exclusive funds are opting for the next best thing
All the money in the world can’t get you into some of the world’s best hedge funds.
Multibillion-dollar funds operated by Renaissance Technologies LLC,…
These Hedge Funds Are Doing Great but Don’t Want Your Money
Jul
29
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Mnuchin says U.S. will keep growing at 3%, despite Fed’s view
- Theresa May’s team is terrified that EU talks will fail
- Central bankers in the U.S., Japan, U.K., Brazil and India will meet to set their respective policies this week. President Trump is casting a political shadow over the Fed, while the time seems right for another rate hike in India. The Bank of Japan, sometimes dubbed the Tokyo whale for its market influence, may be about to change its habits
- China once railed against the dollar’s outsize role. But in a marked turnaround, it’s now come to embrace the greenback…
Jul
29
Real estate cycles turn as slowly as a massive cruise ship. Unlike the stock market where a stock like Facebook can fall 20 percent overnight, real estate tends to boom and bust at a much slower rate. There is an odd logic to the current market. “We bought a few years ago and look how late to the game you are!” Then when asked if some would buy today, “no, but it can only go up!” Coming from an investor mindset, if housing values are priced in a good range you should buy, just like you would buy an undervalued stock. When you are spending $1 million on a crap shack, you need to do some serious due diligence. It is odd that house humpers always use the “but you can’t treat your home like an investment” line and then talk about how reasonable it is to pay for an absurd amount for a property in a subpar neighborhood with underperforming schools. Then they compare real estate to stocks! Of course it was a matter of time where the market would hit a bump and here we are. Even Robert Shiller hints at this being a turning point…
Jul
29
Something interesting happened in Swedish finance last quarter. The only big bank that managed to cut costs also happens to be behind one of the industry’s boldest plans to replace humans with automation.
Nordea Bank AB, whose Chief Executive Officer Casper von Koskull says his industry might only have half its current human workforce a decade from now, is cutting 6,000 of those jobs. Von Koskull says the adjustment is the only way to stay competitive in the future, with automation and robots taking over from people in everything from asset management to answering calls from retail clients…
Jul
29
Investors in Australia Look Set for a Dividend Bonanza
By · Comments-
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto account for about 25% of total payouts
- Aurizon seen posting biggest payout rise, Telstra largest cut
The world’s third-highest dividend yielding developed market is expected to boost payouts to the most in at least four years as investors reap the benefits of a resources-based economy.
Five times as many companies are likely to boost dividends from a year earlier than cut among the top 100 stocks reporting in August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. More than a quarter of the expected payments are coming from two of the world’s largest miners, the data show…
Jul
29
After the financial crisis, China called for a new reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar. Now it’s swimming in dollar-denominated bonds.
China used to rail against the outsize role of the U.S. dollar. But in a major turnaround, the world’s second-biggest economy has started embracing the currency of its larger rival.
Chinese companies and banks—and even the government—sold bonds denominated in dollars at a record pace last year, and underwriters expect that growth to continue for years. The roughly half-trillion-dollar market has two key attractions for China’s borrowers. For some, it’s an easier place to raise cash than at home—where regulators are cracking down on leverage. For others, dollars are simply easier to use to fund acquisitions and investments abroad…
Jul
26
The oil giant is planning to tap banks and global investors so it can buy a stake in a state petrochemical firm, a $70 billion deal engineered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Saudi Arabia is pushing Aramco to raise tens of billions of dollars in debt now that the state oil giant’s initial public offering has stalled, as the kingdom pursues other ways to fund an economic transformation.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s advisers are prodding Saudi Arabian Oil Co., as the oil company is officially known, to raise debt to buy a controlling stake in a petrochemical company from the country’s sovereign-wealth fund, said Saudi officials and executives familiar with the talks…
Jul
26
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Crypto-focused merchant bank releases first financial results
- Quarterly losses led by trading digital assets, investments
Galaxy Digital LP, the crypto-focused merchant bank founded by Mike Novogratz, posted a $134 million loss in its first quarter, when the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plunged.
Galaxy Digital’s trading business had $13.5 million of losses and an additional $85.5 million of unrealized losses on digital assets, plus a $1.1 million paper loss on investments, the New York-based firm said July 25 in its first quarterly disclosure. The eight-month-old firm also posted $22.9 million paper losses on investments in its principal investing business…
Jul
26
New index taking aim at scandal-ridden Libor passes $6 billion test.
A benchmark lending rate that regulators and investors hope can replace the scandal-plagued Libor as the foundation for trillions of dollars of debt from credit cards to business loans easily passed a key test.
Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae sold $6 billion of adjustable-rate securities in the first major trial run of the new index Thursday. The sale marked a milestone for borrowers, investors and bankers as Libor, the London interbank offered rate, begins its planned wind-down from ubiquitous metric to expiration at the…
Jul
26
John Streur, an investor who sold his fund’s Facebook Inc. holding after the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, said he felt “vindicated” watching the social media giant’s free-fall Thursday.
“I’m never rooting for stocks to go down or for companies to go poorly, but pretty simply, we got this,” said Streur, who heads Calvert Research & Management, a socially responsible investing firm with about $14 billion. “We nailed this, and sure, that’s a good feeling.”…
A $14 Billion Fund Manager Feels ‘Vindicated’ by Facebook Plunge
Jul
26
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Analysts say Trump may be positioning himself closer to allies
- Little sign of a near-term resolution to tensions with China
Donald Trump’s surprise trade truce with the European Union has analysts asking, “What does this mean for the trade war with China?”…
Jul
26
Mizuho Eyes $11 Trillion Held by Japan’s Rich Elderly
By · Comments-
Bank began offering tailor-made trusts for wealthy retirees
- Also expanding consulting for Japan pension funds, CEO says
Mizuho Financial Group Inc.’s trust banking arm has its sights set on exactly where the wealth is in Japan: the $11 trillion held by the nation’s elderly.
The company has begun selling a type of trust that gives rich retirees more options for managing their money, and sales of the product are exceeding expectations, Chief Executive Officer Tetsuo Iimori said. “There’s no question that this is going to be a pillar of our retail trust business,” he said in an interview. “The potential here is clearly enormous.”…
Jul
26
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Market appears to be headed for its broadest slowdown in years
- ‘Affordability is becoming a headache for homebuyers’: Yun
They were fed up with Seattle’s home bidding wars. They were only in their late 20s but had already lost two battles and were ready to renew with their landlord. Then, in May, their agent called.
Suddenly, Redfin’s Shoshana Godwin told the couple, sellers were getting jumpy, even here in the hottest of markets. Homes that should have vanished in days were sitting on the market for weeks. There was a three-bedroom fixer-upper just north of the city going for $550,000, down from more than $600,000. They made the leap in early June and had closed by the end of the month, for list price…
Jul
26
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Insolvency professionals face pressures at troubled companies
- India has one of the worst bad loan ratios in the world
Devendra Jain was abducted one muggy Mumbai afternoon last September, whisked away in a car by angry investors of an insolvent firm he was tasked with reviving.
The chartered accountant says he stood outside the firm’s midtown office that day, by a bustling main street. Suddenly a group of investors walked up, demanding to know when they’d recover their money. Then a car whizzed by; he was bundled in and driven to a remote bungalow. It took nearly 24 hours and a lucky phone call for the police to track him down. He now keeps an armed bodyguard with him at all times…
Jul
26
Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo Inc. has raised $1.6 billion after pricing its U.S. initial public offering at the top end of a marketed range, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The Shanghai-based shopping platform backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd.has priced 85.6 million American depositary shares at $19 each, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The shares were marketed at $16 to $19 each, according to a regulatory filing…
Tencent-Backed PDD Is Said to Price $1.6 Billion U.S. IPO at Top
Jul
26
The outlook for the first U.S. exchange-traded fund that invests in Bitcoin just got darker.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday again denied an exchange’s request to list a cryptocurrency ETF run by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, steepening the odds that any of a clutch of similar proposals will make the grade. The SEC decided to reject the rule change needed for the Winklevoss fund to start trading after reviewing a March 2017 decision, which came to the same conclusion…
Bitcoin ETF Mania Dented as SEC Again Rejects Winklevoss Fund
Jul
26
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Chain is trying new measures as earnings fail to wow investors
- Chinese comparable-store sales fall short of expectations
Starbucks Corp., fresh off a spring of tough headlines and uninspiring results, is taking bigger steps to correct course.
The coffee giant will start nationwide delivery in China by the end of the year, and it’s also considering a national U.S. television advertising campaign, executives said after the release of quarterly results. The company is taking aim at a persistently soft performance in the afternoons and greater price competition in the key Chinese market…
Jul
26
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Rupee, debt are unlikely to face significant decline from here
- Market has priced in much of potential rate increases: Mishima
After seeing India’s benchmark bond yields rise more than 40 basis points this year, Nomura Asset Management Co.’s Takashi Mishima is seeing a “good entry point” into the market now.
“India stands out by far in emerging markets,” Mishima, senior fund manager at the fixed-income investment department of Nomura Asset, which oversaw the equivalent of $493 billion as of March 31, said in an interview in Tokyo. “The market has already priced in much of the potential rate increases and that would limit any yield gains from here.”…
Jul
26
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Oil giant to pay $10.5 billion to add acreage, enter Permian
- World’s top miner to complete exit from shale with second deal
BP Plc agreed to pay $10.5 billion, its biggest acquisition in almost two decades, for most of BHP Billiton Ltd.’s onshore U.S. oil and natural gas assets, including in the prized Permian Basin.
The deal gives the London-based energy giant a key position in the Permian, the world’s fastest-growing major oil region that’s upended global markets, and a possible signal that Big Oil has mostly rebounded from the 2014-2016 price crash. BP will also add positions in the Eagle Ford and Haynesville basins in Texas and Louisiana…
Jul
25
Last year, John Paulson finally solved one of the enduring mysteries of our time: Why he hadn’t made enough money on gold over the past seven years to buy all of Puerto Rico several times over. It was not, it turns out, an oversized, mistimed bet on a commodity that did not do what John Paulson expected it to do. No: Gold’s stubborn refusal to bend to Paulson’s will, costing him a significant chunk of his fortune and reputation, is actually the fault of gold-mining CEOs, who through a conspiracy of incompetence have single-handedly undermined both the value of their own companies and depressed global demand for shiny metals…
Jul
25
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Such purchases have continued since February, raising concerns
- Ending the measure could cause the yen to rise: Ex-BOJ Kiuchi
Japanese commercial lenders are privately complaining to the central bank about its purchases of corporate bonds at negative interest rates and are asking it to stop the practice, according to people familiar with the matter.
The trigger for the grievances is that the Bank of Japan has continued to buy company notes at yields below zero at monthly operations since February, the people said. Banks are concerned that the downward pressure this puts on corporate borrowing costs in the credit market may force them to reduce the interest rates they charge on loans, further hurting their profitability, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public…
Jul
25
Dan Loeb Thinks There’s Easy Money To Be Made On PayPal
By · CommentsDan Loeb knows he’s got a bit of a reputation for being an asshole. Such are the wages of being an outspoken activist investor, and also of comparing black politicians who disagree with his favored educational policies with the Ku Klux Klan. But, especially in recent years, the Third Point founder has found occasions upon which he need not have recourse to the poison pen. For instance, healthcare products company Baxter International, which Loeb—or an impostor—effusively praised with words like “applaud” and “most impressed” and “working together.” Or the malls of his Southern California childhood, whose continued viability he clings to in spite of all evidence. Or a certain company founded by a fellow sociopathic billionaire whose independence he helped engineer…
Jul
25
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Company says growth in credit-card business lifted results
- Network boosts forecast for full-year adjusted earnings
Visa Inc. has found the upside in America’s addiction to credit-card debt.
Spending on the firm’s U.S. credit-card products climbed 11 percent to $493 billion during the fiscal third quarter, when outstanding card debt reached a record in the country. Visa, the world’s largest payments network, has benefited from an increase in consumer spending, Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly said…
Jul
25
Deutsche Bank Posts Profit but Trading Weakness Drags On
By · CommentsTrading revenue falls, underperforming U.S. peers
Deutsche Bank Posts Profit but Trading Weakness Drags On
Jul
25
The wife of an unidentified banker is fighting the U.K. prosecutor’s attempt to seize millions of pounds of allegedly improperly acquired property, asking a London judge to block one of the first-ever “unexplained wealth orders.”
Unexplained wealth orders, which came into effect in January, could overhaul how prosecutors chase assets that are thought to have been gained through crime. The onus is on the owner to show that any asset worth more than 50,000 pounds ($66,000) was funded by legitimate means, instead of a requirement for police to prove it was obtained illegally…
Mystery Banker’s Wife Fights U.K. Order on Unexplained Property
Jul
25
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Hikvision can offset potential weakness at home with AI
- The Chinese company remains dominant in video surveillance
Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. has bled $11 billion of market value since U.S. tensions and concerns about a slowing Chinese economy knocked it off a March peak. Now, the world’s largest maker of surveillance equipment is counting on smarter robotic devices to more than recoup those losses.
Hikvision — pronounced “Hike-vision” in deference to its Chinese name — had for years cashed in on the country’s obsession with monitoring its citizens for everything from traffic shenanigans to acts of terrorism. Despite its months-long decline, it’s still earned a valuation on par with some of the world’s largest technology corporations including Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. — before the U.S. social media firm’s Wednesday post-market plunge…
Jul
25
Small suppliers get cash to keep their operations running by selling their invoices to businesses that collect on the bills when they come due
How Investors Make Money When Companies Take Longer to Pay Their Bills
Jul
25
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Kamet has about 40 percent cash, versus more usual 5 percent
- Invests money for two ultra high net worth Chinese individuals
Kamet Capital Partners Pte, a Singapore-based family office that invests on behalf of wealthy Chinese, said it’s hoarding cash as it waits for global asset prices to deflate amid geopolitical tensions and tighter U.S. monetary policy.
The firm plans to maintain its cash holdings at about 40 percent of assets under management, Kamet Chief Executive Officer Kerry Goh said in an interview. That’s an ultra-conservative position by the standards of the fund management industry, where cash holdings of 5 percent or less are common, according to the latest monthly survey by Bank of America Merrill Lynch…
Jul
25
A U.S. judge denied a request from a former mayor of Kazakhstan’s capital, Almaty, to throw out a lawsuit accusing him of “looting” $300 million from the city and laundering some of the money through investments, including real-estate projects in Manhattan.
The City of Almaty and Kazakh lender BTA Bank JSC sued Viktor Khrapunov in federal court in New York in 2015. BTA’s former chairman, Mukhtar Ablyazov, is also accused of being in on the scheme…
Ex-Mayor of Kazakh Capital Loses Bid to Toss BTA Lawsuit in U.S.
Jul
25
Company failed to get approval of Chinese regulators to buy Dutch chip maker, barring a last-minute reversal
Jul
25
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Coutts, RBS’s 326-year-old private bank, uses investment club
- Wealthy investors want to meet entrepreneurs, not just invest
When British entrepreneur James Dean decided to raise money for his tech startup this year, he did what company founders usually do — he talked to venture capitalists. Yet Dean disliked what he heard, so he sought an alternative. He didn’t choose equity crowd-funding or peer-to-peer loans. Instead, Dean turned to Coutts & Co.
As a 326-year-old private bank that caters to Britain’s ultra-rich and counts Queen Elizabeth II as a client, Coutts may not be the first name that jumps to mind as a tech disruptor. The firm, after all, still requires its male employees to wear neckties when meeting with clients…
Jul
25
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Axon Capital, CIFF say they are victims of a massive fraud
- Dispute is playing out in courts in India and Mauritius
The $1.5 billion India wager that went horribly wrong for some of the world’s biggest hedge funds began with a tantalizing offer.
It was a rare chance to invest in prime real estate in one of the fastest-growing economies on Earth. The private equity style venture — steered by a politically connected Indian businessman, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner, and a one-time principal at Michael Dell’s investment firm — promised to deliver outsized returns with a unique combination of local expertise and world-class corporate governance…
Jul
24
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Offshore version of fund has beaten majority of local peers
- BlackRock fund uses social-media strategy for stock picks
The world’s biggest money manager is pushing into China’s cutthroat hedge fund market with an offering that charges less than half the typical fees and has delivered above-average returns.
BlackRock Inc. started selling the fund to Citic Securities Co. clients last week, and will charge a 0.75 percent management fee while taking 10 percent of profits, according to people familiar with the matter. An offshore version of the strategy, which makes stock picks based on big data gleaned from social media and other sources, delivered an average 22 percent annually from November 2012 through last year, said the people…
Jul
24
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President’s company will build homes at Aberdeenshire site
- His golf resort was the focus of controversy in recent years
Donald Trump’s real estate company plans to spend 150 million pounds ($197 million) building homes, vacation cottages and sports facilities adjacent to the golf resort the U.S. president owns in northeast Scotland.
The Trump Organization said in a statement on Tuesday it submitted the proposal to Aberdeenshire Council for approval. It adds to the 100 million-pound investment in the golf course and hotel at the site on the North Sea coast. The expansion, like the existing investment, will be paid for by the company with no external financing, it said separately…
Jul
24
Ivanka Trump’s Clothing Line to Shut Down
By · Comments-
She says Washington is her focus for ‘foreseeable future’
- Some department stores have dropped the brand since 2017
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, is pulling the plug on Ivanka Trump, the purveyor of womens’ fashion.
After a year and a half of sporadic controversy over potential conflicts of interest, Trump, a White House adviser, said Tuesday that she would wind down the company. She made the decision after some big-name department stores dropped her brand, but said in an emailed statement that she did it as a mercy to her employees…
Ivanka Trump’s Clothing Line to Shut Down
Jul
24
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State-owned China Tower wants to raise funds in Hong Kong IPO
- Worries about worsening U.S.-China ties make markets jittery
A company that’s a key part of China’s ambitions to be a leader in cutting-edge wireless technology is preparing to go public to fund its expansion, but President Donald Trump’s trade war threatens to put a damper on what could be the world’s biggest initial public offering in almost four years.
State-controlled China Tower Corp., which operates almost 99 percent of the country’s wireless towers and charges its three carriers leasing fees, is preparing to raise as much as $8.7 billion in a Hong Kong IPO expected to start trading next month. That would be the biggest IPO since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s 2014 offering…
Jul
24
A Manhattan neighborhood known for its boutique hotels will soon be home to a classic luxury brand.
NYC Area Known for Indie Hotels to Get $500 Million Ritz-Carlton
Jul
24
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Potential buyers of stressed assets wary after realty slump
- Prices weighed down by oversupply of land parcels: Shingwekar
Indian lenders struggling to recoup loans worth about $20 billion to troubled property developers have to contend with another challenge: A lackluster recovery from the worst home-sales slump this decade.
To recover the dues, banks are taking control of land parcels and unfinished projects that can be sold along with loans. This comes at a time when home sales volumes have declined about 40 percent over four years and prices have dropped as much as 20 percent on average, said S. Sriniwasan, managing director of Kotak Investment Advisors, which oversees the alternate assets business of parent Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd…
Jul
24
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Firm’s main fund is up 7% this year, billionaire manager says
- Assets under management at firm have slid in recent years
Leon Cooperman, citing a line from the Kenny Rogers song “The Gambler,” says he knows when to “fold ’em.”
The hedge fund manager told investors that he plans to convert his Omega Advisors at year-end into a family office, managing his own money rather than that of other investors…
Jul
24
Fortnite Mania Fuels Epic Growth to $8.5 Billion
By · CommentsEpic Games’ profits on the game have made “legendary character” Tim Sweeney a billionaire.
That strategy has made him a billionaire.
In an industry chock-a-block with monster hits, such as Candy Crush and Pokemon Go, Fortnite’s popularity isn’t surprising. Its revenues are. Between the release of the current version in September and the end of May, Fortnite brought in more than $1.2 billion, according to SuperData Research. As of early June, it has been played by 125 million people…
Jul
24
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Firm may use fund to seek more deals in the U.S. market
- Antin in 2016 raised €3.6 billion for third European pool
Antin Infrastructure Partners is seeking about 5 billion euros ($5.84 billion) for its fourth fund, according to people familiar with the matter.
The infrastructure investor, which has offices in Paris, London and Luxembourg, may use the fund to seek more deals in North America, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The pool is expected to follow the same rules as Antin’s previous funds, capping investments in the U.S. at 20 percent of total capital…