Bamboo Innovator

Colleges Cut Alternative Investments to Recoup Losses

Colleges Cut Alternative Investments to Recoup Losses

U.S. college endowments are cutting holdings of alternative investments, such as private equity, as many seek to recoup record losses from four years ago. Colleges on average allocated 47 percent of their investment portfolios to alternative assets in the 12 months ended in June, down from 54 percent the year before, according to a preliminary report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Commonfund Institute. Read more of this post

The Bharti-Walmart Breakup: Where Does FDI in India Go Next?

The Bharti-Walmart Breakup: Where Does FDI in India Go Next?

Nov 01, 2013 Law and Public Policy Strategic Management Asia-Pacific India

After a seven-year partnership, Walmart and Indian retail partner Bharti Enterprises last month issued a terse joint message saying they were ending the 50/50 joint venture launched by the two firms in 2006 and had reached an agreement to independently own their business interests in India. The move wasn’t entirely unexpected. Days before the statement was released, Walmart Asia CEO Scott Price told the media during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Bali that “the existing franchise to Bharti is not tenable as the base” for Walmart in India. Both sides were looking at the best way to move forward, he added. Read more of this post

British army of 1.7m entrepreneurial sole traders appear to be thriving with a quarter generating turnover of more than £51,000

1.7m Britons are ‘one-man band’ firms

November 5, 2013

Nicole Blackmore

British sole traders appear to be thriving with a quarter generating turnover of more than £51,000. Britain’s army of entrepreneurial sole traders is thriving despite the current tough economic conditions, according to new research. Insurer LV= found there are 1.7 million “one-man-bands” operating in the UK. Some 27pc of these generate an annual turnover in excess of £51,000 and 5pc earn in excess of £150,000. Read more of this post

London’s ‘Great Smog’ Provides Lessons for China

London’s ‘Great Smog’ Provides Lessons for China

Fall may be in the air, but in China, it’s the pollution that’s most visible. This is the time of year when many northern industrial cities switch on coal-fired heating plants to provide warmth to urban dwellers. When combined with copious quantities of industrial pollution from factories dependent on coal, entire cities shut down, as Harbin did a couple of weeks ago. Read more of this post

Europe’s Top Fund Managers Find Ways to Overcome Weak Economy

Europe’s Top Fund Managers Find Ways to Overcome Weak Economy

05 NOV 2013 – TOM BUERKLE

It was the shock felt round the world. Ben Bernanke’s suggestion earlier this year that the Federal Reserve Board might begin to reduce its bond purchases roiled emerging markets. Currencies and stock prices fell sharply from Brazil to Indonesia as the prospect of tighter global liquidity prompted panicky investors to withdraw massive amounts of funds from those countries’ securities markets. Read more of this post

In a Turnaround, Thai Government Promises Amnesty Bill Will Die

November 6, 2013, 9:08 PM

In a Turnaround, Thai Government Promises Amnesty Bill Will Die

WARANGKANA CHOMCHUEN

BANGKOK – Thailand’s government rushed to reaffirm that it would kill a contentious amnesty bill that would absolve former leader Thaksin Shinawatra of criminal charges, as protests against the bill and skepticism over its fate continue unabated on Wednesday. A lawmaker from the ruling Pheu Thai Party first proposed the bill back in August, but on Wednesday the party officially announced that it would not revive it if it’s turned down, as expected, by the country’s Senate in a meeting scheduled for next week. Read more of this post

AirAsia co-founders to take more control of budget carrier to cut costs

AirAsia co-founders to take more control of budget carrier to cut costs

7:56am EST

By Niluksi Koswanage

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – The co-founders of Malaysia’s AirAsia Bhd (AIRA.KL: Quote, Profile,Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday they will take more control of running Asia’s largest budget carrier by passenger volume and push on with cutting costs that have been a drag on profit. Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun, who started up AirAsia in 1993, had shifted their base to Indonesia and set up a regional office to focus on spearheading the company’s expansion in Southeast Asia and further afield. Read more of this post

Return of Cash Sparks Big Stock Rallies; Investors Judged on Annual Performance Are Eager to Act Before Year-End

Return of Cash Sparks Big Stock Rallies

Investors Judged on Annual Performance Are Eager to Act Before Year-End

ANJANI TRIVEDI, BEN EDWARDS and JAKE LEE

Nov. 6, 2013 1:06 a.m. ET

Cash is returning to emerging markets, sparking big stock rallies and a surge in fundraising, as calm in the U.S., combined with low interest rates, spurs global investors to try to juice up returns before the end of the year. Yield-hungry investors are venturing far into risky territory. Investors snapped up $1.8 billion worth of stock sold by Chinese banks in Hong Kong over the past two weeks, while India’s stock market has climbed to record highs. Brazil sold $3.25 billion of debt, its biggest dollar-denominated offering on record, and Pakistan said Monday it plans to sell debt overseas for the first time in six years. Read more of this post

Bitcoin Climbs to Record on Wider Acceptance, China Trade

Bitcoin Climbs to Record on Wider Acceptance, China Trade

Bitcoin’s price hit a record at $261 on the Bitstamp online exchange, driven by wider acceptance of the virtual currency. The digital money, which can be used to pay for goods and services on the Internet, has risen 20-fold so far this year, as trading activity has increased. Bitcoins were trading at $259.02 apiece at 1:17 p.m. in New York on Bitstamp, one of the more active Web-based exchanges where Bitcoins are traded for dollars, euros and other currencies. Read more of this post

Fukushima Debris “Island” The Size Of Texas Near US West Coast

Fukushima Debris “Island” The Size Of Texas Near US West Coast

Tyler Durden on 11/06/2013 07:59 -0500

While it took Japan over two years to admit the Fukushima situation on the ground is “out of control“, a development many had predicted for years, a just as important topic is what are the implications of this uncontrolled radioactive disaster on not only the local environment and society but also globally, particularly Japan’s neighbor across the Pacific – the US. To be sure, there has been much speculation, much of it unjustified, in the past two years debating when, how substantial and how acute any potential debris from Fukushima would be on the US. Which is why it was somewhat surprising to see the NOAA come out with its own modeling effort, which shows that not only “some buoyant items first reached the Pacific Northwest coast during winter 2011-2012” but to openly confirm that a debris field weighing over 1 million tons, and larger than Texas is now on the verge of hitting the American coastline, just west off the state of California. Read more of this post

The uncomfortable truth in China’s property market: government is one of the biggest obstacles to the success of taming the market. State income is so entwined in the need for rising land prices that policy efforts to try to curb the house market create an inherent conflict of interest. Homes in cities such as Beijing are more expensive by some measures than Britain or Japan

The uncomfortable truth in China’s property market

5:09am EST

By Xiaoyi Shao and Koh Gui Qing

BEIJING (Reuters) – In defying four years of official cooling efforts, China’s soaring house prices reveal an uncomfortable truth: government is one of the biggest obstacles to the success of taming the market. State income is so entwined in the need for rising land prices that policy efforts to try to curb the house market create an inherent conflict of interest. With one hand on a patchwork of controls aimed at taming record house prices, governments with their other hand are at the same time selling land to developers at rising prices. Homes in cities such as Beijing are more expensive by some measures than Britain or Japan, a dismal outcome for a central government campaign aimed at making homes more affordable to Chinese. House prices in September rose nationwide at their fastest pace in three years. Read more of this post

Singapore Condos for Mainland Rich Funded by Bonds: China Credit

Singapore Condos for Mainland Rich Funded by Bonds: China Credit

Faced with curbs on luxury residences and fundraising at home, China’s biggest mainland-listed property developer is building apartments for wealthy Chinese in Singapore and raising debt in the city’s currency. China Vanke Co., which also plans developments in San Francisco and Hong Kong, sold S$140 million ($113 million) of four-year notes with a 3.275 percent coupon on Oct. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s a premium on the average 1.8 percent coupon for Chinese bonds in the currency. The yield on the company’s five-year U.S. dollar bonds fell 54 basis points since June, to 4.14 percent on Nov. 5, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Read more of this post

Cracks start to show in frontier markets

Cracks start to show in frontier markets

4:40am EST

By Carolyn Cohn

LONDON (Reuters) – Three years ago, a trip to the Southern Kenya production facilities of Canadian company Africa Oil attracted only seven potential investors. Two months ago, 60 boarded the flight. The investor trip, described by sales staff at Citi following a recent client conference, is just one illustration of the swelling interest in the most esoteric frontier markets. In a world of low yields and paltry growth, the attraction of frontier markets – the lesser developed emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America – is pretty clear. Juicy returns, often huge natural resources and young populations provide a stark contrast to the ageing economic profile in the West. Read more of this post

China cuts gas supply to industry as shortages hit

China cuts gas supply to industry as shortages hit

1:55am EST

By David Stanway

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top natural gas producers have begun to cut supplies to industrial consumers in a bid to make sure that homes and users of transport are not left short as demand surges over the winter. Chemical fertilizer makers and other industrial users are likely to bear the brunt of Beijing’s latest efforts to ration scarce gas supplies, but they are also victims of a long-term strategy to discourage the use of gas as a feedstock. Read more of this post

Singapore digs deep for ideas to build downwards

Singapore digs deep for ideas to build downwards

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 – 07:37

Feng Zengkun

Environment Correspondent

The Straits Times

Underground classrooms, libraries, swimming pools and even a science city for up to 4,200 workers – these are some of the proposals which have been unearthed even as studies into Singapore building downwards gather pace. So far, the country has already engaged in several major underground projects, including a common tunnel under Marina Bay for telecommunications cables, power lines, water and refuse pipes, and the Jurong Rock Caverns for storing petroleum products. Read more of this post

Japan Government Green Fund Wants to Set Local Investment Model

Japan Government Green Fund Wants to Set Local Investment Model

A clean energy fund established by the Japanese government will target projects with the potential to become business models used by regional communities to promote and profit from renewable sources of energy. “One of the green fund’s roles is to show models to regional communities which aren’t aware of their potential” to develop clean energy, said Takejiro Sueyoshi, head of Green Finance Organisation, the body selected by the Ministry of the Environment to oversee the fund. “We want to tell them you can do it in your village and town with your partners.” Read more of this post

Paris Lures Billionaires as Perrotin Rivals Gagosian

Paris Lures Billionaires as Perrotin Rivals Gagosian

Emmanuel Perrotin remembers the moment his art-dealing business changed forever. “It was the fax machine,” he says. “For the first time we were able to send information and an image in a minute. Now with the Internet, we’re everywhere.” Perrotin, 45, is in celebratory mood. He’s sitting in the pale pink office of his headquarters gallery at 76 rue de Turenne in the Marais district of Paris. This year is his 25th as a dealer, an event that’s being marked by a 150-work retrospective at the state-funded Tripostal museum in Lille. Read more of this post

World’s Third-Worst Education Inspires Bond: South Africa Credit

World’s Third-Worst Education Inspires Bond: South Africa Credit

Curro Holdings Ltd. (COH) plans to sell as much as 1 billion rand ($98 million) of property-backed bonds to fund new schools in South Africa, which is languishing near the bottom of global rankings for education. The operator of private schools with more than 21,000 students will issue the first 150 million rand of securities in two weeks, Chief Executive Officer Chris van der Merwe said in an Oct. 30 interview. The bonds, to be sold over 12 months, will complement bank loans, development financing and share sales, Finance Director Bernardt van der Linde said. Read more of this post

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank Mulls Hong Kong Lure as China Builds Trade Zones

United Overseas Mulls Hong Kong Lure as China Builds Trade Zones

China’s plans to develop free-trade zones in Shanghai and Guangzhou may be dimming the attraction of banks in Hong Kong for foreign acquirers such as Singapore’s United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) The zones may make Hong Kong “less relevant” in coming years, Citigroup Inc. said in a report today, citing comments made yesterday on a conference call by officials at UOB, Southeast Asia’s third-largest largest bank. They were responding to a question about UOB’s interest in bidding for Hong Kong’s Wing Hang Bank Ltd. (302), according to James Antos, an analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., who was on the call. Read more of this post