What the UK should learn from Jardines

What the UK should learn from Jardines
27th March 2014

Along with its results on 6-Mar-2014, the Jardine group of 5 companies announced proposed downgrades to their UK listing status, which will reduce minority shareholder rights and governance standards. And guess what? The controlling shareholders can vote to approve this, so minorities have very little say in the matter, except in one case. Read more of this post

The unscaling myth

The unscaling myth

Izabella Kaminska | Mar 27 15:05 | Comment | Share

Part of the GROSS DOMESTIC COLLABORATION SERIES

Unscaling is made possible by the number of Internet-based platforms and cloud-based services and tools now available to startups and small businesses in general. New companies can now be launched without a massive investment in personnel and IT infrastructure. They can quickly get to market, and compete effectively with far larger companies. Mobile Internet platforms, in particular, make it easier and cheaper to experiment in the marketplace. While most such experiments will likely fail, some, like Airbnb, will succeed and can then quickly scale up their capabilities as their businesses grow. Read more of this post

China’s Rich And Powerful Show Off Their Social Status By Attending Ritual Tiger Killings

China’s Rich And Powerful Show Off Their Social Status By Attending Ritual Tiger Killings

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE LAW & ORDER  MAR. 27, 2014, 6:46 PM

More than 10 tigers have been killed as “visual feasts” to entertain officials and rich businessmen in a Chinese city, state media reported. Read more of this post

Pension funds: Sleeping partner or good steward

March 27, 2014 12:23 pm

Pension funds: Sleeping partner or good steward

By Sophia Grene

Should pension funds act as sleeping partners, whose role is no more than the price-setting of market participants, or do they have a more active part to play in the companies they own, acting as good stewards of their assets? Read more of this post

Consumption tax rise gives Abe something to chew on

March 27, 2014 9:16 am

Consumption tax rise gives Abe something to chew on

By Jonathan Soble and Jennifer Thompson in Tokyo

Call it the “beef bowl test” for Abenomics. On Tuesday, when Japan carries out a controversial increase in its national sales tax, the country’s two leading purveyors of gyu-don – cheap and hearty sliced beef on rice – will respond in starkly opposing ways: one by cutting prices, the other by raising them. Read more of this post

A warning that local interest rates may rise more sharply and sooner than expected – posing downward risk in the homes market – was sounded by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority

HKMA fans local rate hike concerns
Karen Chiu and Imogene Wong
Thursday, March 27, 2014

A warning that local interest rates may rise more sharply and sooner than expected – posing downward risk in the homes market – was sounded by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority yesterday. Read more of this post

Casinos plan in Vietnam’s proposed SEZs gets mixed reactions

by Nguyen Thi Thuy Anh, Zhang Jianhua

QUANG NINH, Vietnam, March 25 (Xinhua) — The plan to allow casinos and other forms of leisure to operate in special economic zones (SEZs) that are proposed to be build in three provinces in Vietnam has been met with mixed reactions. Read more of this post

“Culture of Compliance” Won’t Always Stop Fraud

March 27, 2014, 7:07 AM ET

“Culture of Compliance” Won’t Always Stop Fraud

NICHOLAS ELLIOTT

Matt Keel, chief compliance officer at investment firm Sentinel Management Group Inc., said at the trial of the firm’s chief executive Eric A. Bloom that he still believed his former boss to be “an honest person…with high integrity.” Mr. Keel, according to prosecutors, had previously lauded Sentinel’s “strong culture of compliance” in a report. Read more of this post

Activist Investors Often Leak Their Plans to a Favored Few

Activist Investors Often Leak Their Plans to a Favored Few

Strategically Placed Tips Help Build Alliances for Campaigns at Target Companies

SUSAN PULLIAM, JULIET CHUNG, DAVID BENOIT and ROB BARRY

March 26, 2014 10:37 p.m. ET

Shares of Rino International Corp. RINO 0.00% sank 28% in the two days after investment firm Muddy Waters LLC put out a report attacking the Chinese company’s accounting. Read more of this post

Chinese importers of soybeans and rubber are backing out of deals, adding to a wide range of evidence showing rising financial stress in the world’s second-biggest economy

China Soybean, Rubber Importers Renege on Deals

Canceled Contracts Add to Evidence Showing Rising Financial Stress in the Country

HUILENG TAN

March 27, 2014 6:07 a.m. ET

Chinese importers of soybeans and rubber are backing out of deals, adding to a wide range of evidence showing rising financial stress in the world’s second-biggest economy. Read more of this post

Pitfalls of Reverse Mortgages May Pass to Borrower’s Heirs

Pitfalls of Reverse Mortgages May Pass to Borrower’s Heirs

By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG

MARCH 26, 2014, 7:57 PM  22 Comments

The only solace for Isabel Santos as she spends her evenings huddled over stacks of yellowed foreclosure notices is that her parents are not alive to watch their ranch-style house in Pleasant Hill, Calif., slipping away. Read more of this post

The SEC’s Corporate Proxy Rules Need a Rewrite; More than token ownership should be required to get a proposal on the ballot

The SEC’s Corporate Proxy Rules Need a Rewrite

More than token ownership should be required to get a proposal on the ballot.

EDWARD S. KNIGHT

March 26, 2014 6:34 p.m. ET

Communicating with shareholders is a crucial part of the job for 21st century business leaders, and most of them understand the value of doing it. The proxy-proposal system is an important, regulated part of this process for publicly traded companies. It gives investors the option of bringing an issue to a vote by all shareholders and ensures that the owners have a voice in how their company is managed. But the current process is outdated, burdensome and costly. Read more of this post

The Top 13 Biggest Buybacks Over the Past Five Years

Mar 26, 2014

The Top 13 Biggest Buybacks Over the Past Five Years

STEVEN RUSSOLILLO

Tech companies have dominated the buyback blitz over the past five years.

Some 13 S&P 500 companies have each spent at least $25 billion in stock buybacks over the past five years, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior earnings analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. Seven of those 13 companies hail from the tech sector, led byIBMIBM -1.24%, MicrosoftMSFT -1.36% and Cisco SystemsCSCO -0.09%. Read more of this post