In the mind of many investors, frontier markets are a black box of uncertainty, characterised by unstable leadership, volatile currency, and questionable corporate governance. However, broad investor aversion has created some of the most compelling bottom-up investment opportunities of any asset class.
Where do European family businesses see their future challenges given that they mean on average 40 to 50 % of all jobs of European private employment? Deutsche Bank has conducted a report to obtain overview of the sector’s views, concerning national and regional policies and developments in the financial sector.
Viscofan, the Spanish manufacturer and distributor of casings for meat products, has announced the acquisition of 100% of Transform Pack Inc from a group of private investors and the province of New Brunswick (Canada) for $2 million in cash.
Mario Esteban and Miguel Otero-Iglesias | As in many other European countries, Chinese investments in Spain have increased spectacularly over that past years. Nonetheless, there has not been a public or political debate around the topic, and even less a thorough reflection by the government, the media and the academic community at large about the implications of these investments.
Repsol has reached an agreement to sell its 20.072% stake in Gas Natural to Rioja Bidco Shareholdings, a company owned by funds advised by CVC. The sale price was 3.8 billion euros and the transaction will provide the oil company with approximately 400 million euros of capital gains.
Coco Feng via Caixin | The U.S., Australia, India and Japan are discussing formation of a joint regional infrastructure-building initiative, attempting to counter similar Beijing-led efforts aimed at boosting developing market economies, according to an Australian media report.
The collapse in the “greed index”, the exchange traded note XIV that was an inverse of the VIX, was behind the speed and magnitude of the drawdown in equities over last weeks, but was simply amplifying an existing fragility that has grown out of the post GFC obsession with low volatility. This is just “market mechanics”, as explained by Mark Tinker Chief Economist at AXA IM Framlington Equities Asia in one of his last notes.
Iberdrola reported net profit of 2.804 billion euros in 2017, up 3.7% from a year earlier. Consolidated EBITDA fell by 7.8% to 7.318 billion euros last year. The results were impacted by the US tax reform and difficult operating conditions in Spain.
Spain banks 2017 results confirmed that last year was one of transition for the interest margins. Looking to the future, the pillars of the banking sector’s strategy will continue to be the reduction in problematical assets and the improvement in profitability, within a context where a sustained recovery is still pending (average ROE in 2017 of 7%, on a par with 2016).
Italy’s general elections on 4 March will likely be the biggest political event in the euro zone this year. They can be notoriously hard to predict, but the most likely outcomes are a new government from the current centre-right coalition or a new PD/centre-right coalition. The markets should absorb either event in stride; even if bond spreads widen, Allianz Global Investors believe Italy is still a buy as long as the centre holds.