Tuesday, May 22, 2012 3:59 PM EDT
Asset manager fees in a race to the bottom
TIM KILADZE
It isn’t easy out there for asset managers.
As if volatile equity markets aren’t complicated enough to deal with, independent asset managers are also struggling with the tough competition created by substitute products, such as exchange-traded funds and the big banks’ in-house funds.
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012 5:23 PM EDT
Don’t count SNC-Lavalin out just yet
TIM KILADZE
With SNC-Lavalin Group under investigation for missing funds, and its former vice-president Riadh Ben Aissa believed to be under arrest in Switzerland, investors are freaked that the massive engineering firm is on its last legs.
For that very reason, the company is saying everything it can to assure the market that its operations will stay strong. But talking only goes so far. Deals carry much more weight, and SNC SNC-T was lucky enough on Tuesday to announce a brand spanking new contract for the engineering, procurement, and construction management of Inmet Mining’s Cobre Panama copper project.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 11:09 AM EDT
Morning meeting: Hong Kong losing its lustre for IPOs
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Hong Kong progressively less attractive for IPOs
A Hong Kong securities regulator backs the proposed tightening of initial public offering regulations. Bankers who don’t abide by them could be prosecuted. This squeeze may dissuade the companies who were initially drawn to Hong Kong’s lax restrictions.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 9:30 AM EDT
Veteran venture capital firm launches $105-million fund
TIM KILADZE
Canadian venture capital investor Celtic House Venture Partners is launching a brand new $105-million fund to invest in start up companies, marking the firm's first new fund in seven years.
Supported by the Ontario Venture Capital Fund, Teralys Capital, Export Development Canada and BDC Venture Capital, Celtic House will invest in companies that specialize in media communications technology and are in their very early stages. The last time Celtic raised money, it was back in 2005 and the firm brought in $225-million.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 10:40 AM EDT
Suncor share buyback deal confuses investors
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
Suncor Energy Inc. SU-T is shaking up the market with its share repurchase program.
Rather than just buy back its shares straight from the market, last week Suncor announced that it has negotiated to issue put options to an unnamed Canadian financial institution, giving the party the right to sell Suncor shares back to the oil sands giant at a pre-determined price at some point in the future.
Friday, May 18, 2012 5:00 PM EDT
The tale of the tape is ugly for Facebook
BOYD ERMAN
The tale of the trading tape for Facebook’s first day on the market shows just how weak the debut was.
Exhibit A, of course, is the price. The stock debuted at $38, and after an initial pop, finished the regular trading day at just $38.23.
Friday, May 18, 2012 2:40 PM EDT
Scotia hires new derivatives strategist
TIM KILADZE
The asset management arm of Bank of Nova Scotia BNS-T has hired Damian Hoang as a senior derivatives strategist to assist some of its well-known money managers.
Mr. Hoang heads over from Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he was part of the cross-asset solutions group. His work has focused on hedging and alpha strategies (or in other words, beating the market). He also has a degree in computer engineering, which shows just how much the trading environment is changing.
Mr. Hoang, who will officially work for Dynamic Funds, which was acquired by Scotia, starts next week.
Friday, May 18, 2012 12:27 PM EDT
Afternoon meeting: Australia's funding markets closed?
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Australia's funding markets closed?
In a worrying echo of the global financial crisis, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group says volatile conditions in global markets have caused the wholesale funding market for Australian banks to freeze. Again.
Friday, May 18, 2012 12:00 PM EDT
After vote, CP to hold less weight in TSX
TIM KILADZE
The make-up of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.’s board isn’t the only thing getting changed after activist investor Bill Ackman and his slate of directors were voted in on Thursday. As of next week, CP’s weighting in the S&P/TSX Composite Index will also get shuffled.
Friday, May 18, 2012 2:29 PM EDT
Oil industry expects low deal volumes: survey
CARRIE TAIT
International oil and gas executives are often portrayed as a hubristic bunch, but when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, the big wheels are shying away from deals.
Only 31 per cent of energy executives expect to chase an acquisition in the next year, according to a survey conducted by Ernst & Young. This is down from 48 per cent in October, and the lowest point since 2009.
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Streetwise Contributors
Boyd Erman
Boyd Erman is a long-time business journalist who has worked at Dow Jones, Bloomberg, and the National Post before joining the Globe and Mail. Over the years, his areas of coverage have included economics, monetary policy, debt markets and corporate finance.
In addition, he is a regular commentator and guest host on Business News Network.
Tim Kiladze
Tim Kiladze is a business reporter with The Globe and Mail. Before graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he worked in equity capital markets at National Bank Financial and fixed-income sales and trading at RBC Dominion Securities. Tim has a Bachelor of Commerce in finance from McGill University.
Tara Perkins
Tara Perkins has been a business reporter since 2004, following a brief stint as overnight editor of globeandmail.com. She has been writing for the Globe's business section since the spring of 2007, covering the banking sector during the course of the financial crisis. Prior to that, she worked for the Toronto Star. Tara has a Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Guelph.
Grant Robertson
Grant Robertson joined The Globe and Mail as a business reporter in 2005 after five years as a business writer at the Calgary Herald. His areas of coverage have included the oil and gas industry, the transportation sector and media & telecom. He now covers the banking sector for The Report on Business and writes for Report on Business Magazine.
Jeff Gray
Jeff Gray covers legal affairs for The Report on Business. For five years, he covered Toronto’s city hall and wrote a column about urban transportation. In 2002, he worked for the world desk of BBC News Online in London and freelanced for The Globe. In 2000, he helped launch The Globe’s first breaking-news website. He started at The Globe in 1998.
David Parkinson
David Parkinson has been covering business and financial markets since 1990, and has been with The Globe and Mail since 2000. A Calgary native, he received a Southam Fellowship from the University of Toronto in 1999-2000, studying international political economics.
