By Jim Pickard -
The ownership of billions of pounds of property will move offshore unless the government urgently introduces Reits (real estate investment trusts), the property industry warned yesterday. The Treasury is keen to introduce a new tax-efficient vehicle for property investors but is adamant that such a system should not lead to lower tax takings.
Property industry leaders said unless Reits were introduced soon, more property companies and funds would register offshore.
By Paul Waldie and Sinclair Stewart -
Hedge funds have long been viewed as one of the more untouchable areas of the financial markets, and now 30,000 Canadian investors, along with a handful of pension funds, know why: Quite literally, they can't touch their money.
More than $1.2-billion they invested in two domestic hedge fund companies has been frozen by securities regulators amid a wide-ranging investigation, and the investors don't know when -- or if -- they will get all of their cash back. To make matters worse, regulators can't even determine where all of their investments have gone.
By Meg Richards -
NEW YORK -- If you own both stock and bond funds, you probably consider yourself well-diversified. But research by Lipper Inc. suggests broad exposure to commodities like gold, oil and copper can go a long way toward rounding out a mutual fund portfolio, as long as you understand the risks.
One of the reasons stocks and bonds are paired together is that they can perform differently from each other _ when one declines, the other typically advances. For even more diversification, professional investors often add other asset classes, such as real estate and commodities, that theoretically can zig when stocks or bonds zag.
By Bill Gross -
They say never sell America short and with good reason. Any country whose equity market has been able to crank out 6.8% real returns annually over the past century stands as a formidable obstacle for any speculator willing to bet the “don’t come” line. The odds of winning a long-term wager laid against the U.S. “house” have been about as bad as heading out to the track and betting on your favorite color of jockey silks. Even when the bear gets his facts right, the timing and the wait often spell his doom; the “house” has more chips, especially a house with reserve currency status like the U.S., so a wager must be done prudently in order to conserve capital for that prospective rainy day.
Johannesburg, South Africa -
With the rand looking vulnerable, now is the opportune time to invest offshore, even though global markets are experiencing a soft patch, Mark Appleton, chief investment officer at Barnard Jacobs Mellet (BJM) Private Client Services, said in a statement on Monday.
According to Appleton, softer international economic indicators have led to a downgrade in expected growth rates globally over the past quarter. This, in turn, has led to weaker commodity prices that -- combined with the continuing rise in United States interest rates -- has put downward pressure on global equity markets.
By Rachel Beck -
NEW YORK - It may be too soon to call the dollar's recent rise a full-fledged turnaround. And there may be some in corporate America who are just fine with that.
After being beaten and battered for the last few years, the greenback appears to be emerging from its funk by making significant gains in recent months against the currencies of major trading partners.
TAX and regulatory burdens could pose a threat to Britain's position as a leading global centre for asset management, according to a report released today.
Currently the third-largest global centre for fund management, the UK's £2.8 trillion industry could lose assets and jobs to low-cost rival centres, a study by the Investment Management Association and Corporation of London concluded.
Xinhua -
April saw dynamic trade on the inter-bank foreign exchange market in China, with a robust month-on-month growth of 40 percent in average daily transaction volume, which reached US$1.282 billion.
According to the Shanghai-based national forex swap center, turnover of the US dollar, the Japanese yen, the HK dollar and the euro, amounted to US$28.215 billion for the 22 trading days in April.
By Shu-Ching Jean Chen in Hong Kong -
Venture capital investment in China plunged by 43% to $165 million in first-quarter 2005, hit by legal uncertainties that a foreign exchange regulation created, according to a survey by Beijing-based consulting firm Zero2IPO Ltd.
A total of 28 VC investors sank $165 million into 35 Chinese companies in the first quarter, of which 80% were located in Beijing. That's down from $285 million registered in the fourth quarter of 2004 and marks a decline from the torrid investment activity of the previous four quarters, Zero2IPO said.
By Stephen Bartholomeusz -
The remarkable aspect of the Macquarie model for investment banking is not the amount of wealth it generates for its executives, although that is remarkable, but how its development has turned the bank into probably the world's best-performed and fastest-growing investment bank.
The catalyst for transforming Macquarie from an Australian investment bank with limited offshore activities into a globally significant institution was probably the Kennett government's decision to award Transurban the CityLink tollway concession in 1995. Macquarie's involvement in advising Transurban, and structuring and arranging the financing for the stapled trust, created the template for its specialist funds strategy.
By MARY HOLM -
The "invest offshore" message was loud and clear the other day, after news broke that somebody might have released foot-and-mouth disease on Waiheke Island.
By the time you read this, the claim may have been proved a hoax. Here's hoping so. If that's the case, take warning from it.
If it's still not clear whether the threat is real, now is the time to review how much of your savings are in overseas investments. If an outbreak has been confirmed, cross your fingers.
By Tim Wood -
NEW YORK (ResourceInvestor.com) -- China in 2005 sounds a whole lot like Japan a decade earlier except the fracas this time is over monetary rather than trade policy. The value of the Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi, has become critical to commodity fundamentals as well as equity valuations for companies targeted by China for acquisition.
China’s Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, has made it clear that the value of the renminbi will be dictated by domestic requirements, not foreign pressure. However, Wen also reaffirmed the commitment to liberalizing the foreign exchange regime in time.
MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Mexican bank leader Grupo Financiero BBVA-Bancomer SA said it has launched a private bank Wednesday to provide comprehensive services for wealthy customers.
Private Bank Bancomer said its clients account for 40% of Mexico's market for high net-worth individuals.
"People don't have to think about offshore institutions to get answers to their financial needs," said Jaime Alvarez, who heads the private bank, in a release.
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Global venture capital funds slowed investment into Chinese companies in the first quarter after the country's foreign exchange regulator issued rules that may hinder international share sales and capital raising by China businesses.
Chinese residents must for the first time get approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange before starting or investing in an offshore company, according to notices from the regulator dated Jan. 24 and April 8. Venture capital into China slowed by one-third to $552.6 million in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the Asian Venture Capital Journal.
By C.L. Jose -
Dubai: The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), which is expected to go live this year, will float a fully owned subsidiary to carry out the settlement of trades on the exchange.
David Rutledge, chief executive officer of the Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre (DMCC), said the new clearing house being established by DGCX will be adequately capitalised.
By Tom Taulli -
Famed investor Jim Rogers made a fortune by investing in commodities during the 1970s. Now, Rogers is back in commodities, and he's giving individual investors advice in his new book, Hot Commodities (Random House, 2005). His thesis is that the world is in the midst of a bull market in commodities. He believes that the boom started in 1998 and will last for roughly 20 years.
True, such predictions are never a sure thing. Sometimes, they don't pan out at all. But regardless of whether there really is a major bull market for commodities, it is still a good idea for investors to have some in their portfolio. Commodities represent a unique asset class and can add diversification to a portfolio alongside other asset classes, such as equities, bonds, and cash.
By William Pesek Jr. -
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Even though his bet against the dollar cost him $310 million in the first quarter alone, Warren Buffett is sticking with it. Alan Greenspan seems less worried about the world's top currency.
Who's Asia to trust when the two most revered U.S. gurus in this region are at odds?
The issue is far from academic, something that's clear from the intense interest among policy makers here in Istanbul for the annual Asian Development Bank meeting. Be it discussions about growth outlooks, poverty or infrastructure, the risk of a dollar crisis is sure to come up.
By Darius Snieckus -
With nearly 70% of current global oil production flowing from fields more than 30 years old - and peaking or in decline - oil companies are increasingly focused on information technology's role in helping the upstream industry face the 'challenges and opportunities' of the coming decade.
STREAMLINING OPERATIONAL PROCESSES THROUGH information management systems - now the 'enabling' realm of e-, i-, digital and smart fields - is a subject that has been pushed toward the spotlight in the last few years as the oil and gas industry continues its two-front campaign to lower exploration and development costs while increasing and extending production from workhorse developments the world over.
By Terry Hall -
At last! The word oversold – market jargon for "too cheap" – is starting to reappear in analysts' recommendations. This suggests investors are readjusting to the hefty share price falls of the past two months, and looking for bargains.
We are also getting buy recommendations. Among stocks to score these last week were the ANZ Bank, after its latest profit rise (which Australian analysts reckon makes it the best-performing Australian bank) and Telecom.
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