Articles

In the wake of a booming global crypto-currency market, Nayib Bukele, the El Salvadoran President, has recently announced that the Central American country is intending to create the world’s first ever “bitcoin city”. This wild proposition will involve funding through the issuance of $1bn in sovereign bonds backed by the Continue Reading

Inflation is soaring in the world’s largest economies now. In the U.S., consumer prices are racing at their quickest level since the 1990s. In China, factory gate prices rose at the fastest pace in 26 years in October, beating forecasts and further squeezing profit margins for producers already grappling with Continue Reading

Officials at the US Federal Reserve have come under recent scrutiny following allegations of trading of non-public information. The Fed chair, Jerome Powell, swiftly took action to reassure onlookers and prevent any further perceived conflicts of interest, but the wider issue of government officials trading on insider knowledge remains a Continue Reading

Emerging market stocks are lagging behind those in developed economies by the most since 2013’s “taper tantrum”, having ended the third quarter of 2021 down 8.1%, the worst quarter since the first of 2020 when Covid-19 hit. On the year, MSCI’s Emerging market (EM) index is basically flat, in stark Continue Reading

The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) is simply put, the global benchmark interest rate for borrowing costs between banks. However, despite being so simple in definition, Libor has had a truly scandalous existence, with the consequences of the financial crisis of 2008 having exposed Libor for being extremely un-robust. In Continue Reading

GameStop at its peak was the world’s largest video game retailer, with its stock priced at around $60 a share in 2006. The precipitous decline of physical retail due to the pandemic and the prevalence of Amazon and digital video game sales led to GameStop being valued at only $3 Continue Reading

Recently it was announced PayPal are in talks with social media site Pinterest about a takeover that could be worth $45bn; possibly resulting in one of the largest corporate takeover deals of the year. After a failed approach by Microsoft earlier this year, PayPal may be about to add Pinterest Continue Reading

October 15th saw Alitalia flight AZ1586 touch down at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport and draw a close to the airline’s 75 year history. Since 2000 Italy’s national airline had only one profitable year and 2017 marked the beginning of the ultimate demise as state-appointed administrators stepped in to avoid Continue Reading

Looking back to the past 2021, the overall theme is recovery. With financial stimulus from governments across the world, liquidity was injected into the market. For example, for most of the past year and a half, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been buying at least $120 billion of bonds each Continue Reading

On October 7th, a £300m takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) was completed. A Saudi-led consortium completed the deal for the Tyneside football club, almost two years after political and commercial controversies put an end to original talks. The takeover marks a key turning Continue Reading

Recently the world’s largest and most indebted real estate developer, China’s Evergrande, has been on the verge of defaulting. In the midst of China’s attempts to move its economy towards a more free market model, free from heavy government intervention, this crisis presents the Chinese government with a challenging decision: Continue Reading

Private Equity is back in the news again, and more specifically back in the sporting news. Throughout the past COVID-19-stricken year, PE firms have made multiple inroads into some of the largest sporting markets in Europe, with the Spanish top-flight football division of La Liga being the latest in a Continue Reading

September saw record-high green bond issuance as both sovereigns and corporates raised over US$40bn in debt capital markets for sustainable projects. This makes September the strongest month for green bond issuance in a year that has seen record-breaking issuances in every month so far. Green bonds are a type of Continue Reading

For a brief period in the 1980s, Reebok was metaphorically the MVP of the all-star team of sneaker brands. It had designed the highly popular first fitness shoe targeted solely at women, the Freestyle Sneaker; it was repped by cultural icons like 50 Cent, David Bowie, Jane Fonda and Shaquille Continue Reading

Online broker eToro has agreed to go public at a $10.4bn valuation by merging with Fintech Acquisition Corp V, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) set up by banking veteran Betsy Cohen, in one of the largest SPAC deals so far this year. The Israeli stockbroking and spread betting platform Continue Reading

With my time as CIBS Research Group Director coming to an end, I thought the most fitting way to write my last article would be to reflect back on my first. 2021 has marked the busiest-ever start to a year for M&A activity in China, with a record pace of Continue Reading

Often referred to as the “Korean” Amazon, South Korean e-commerce retailer Coupang saw its share price pop — peaking at $69 a share, up 84% — after originally listing at $35/share on the NYSE last Thursday. With its IPO, Coupang raised $4.6bn in an enlarged offering after raising its share Continue Reading

Alongside the Budget announcement on March 3rd, Rishi Sunak published the findings of a 5-month independent review into the UK public listing regime, headed by ex-financial services commissioner for the EU, Jonathan Hill. The review has called for an overhaul of the UK’s listing rules to enable London to compete Continue Reading

We have seen an enormous amount of volatility within the bond market recently, inflicting fear onto investors who were preparing for a steady recovery from the pandemic. Most have taken it as a given that we will soon be able to return to normal with the rapid rollout of vaccines Continue Reading

As organisations continue to transition to online working and shift towards cloud computing, it is imperative to invest in robust identity verification systems to help protect against cyber attacks. It is no wonder, then, that the total addressable market for cyber identity management is estimated to be $55bn. On March Continue Reading

The travel industry has been one of the worst-hit during the pandemic, with lockdowns grounding flights, keeping cruises in docks, and tourists at home. A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, travel companies have made huge losses and they are yet to see revenues flooding back in. However, the success of Continue Reading

In 2009, a mysterious and anonymous whitepaper was published under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, which described the principle of a peer-to-peer and purely digital currency. It described advantages such as lower transaction fees than traditional online payment infrastructure and a shift to a decentralised authority, unlike government-issued currencies. Since Bitcoin Continue Reading

Last month, Atlas Crest Investment Corp., chaired by founder of Moelis & Company Ken Moelis, agreed to merge with electric aircraft company Archer Aviation, in a deal that values the company at around $3.8bn. Despite Archer having not generated any revenues or created a commercially viable product as of yet, Continue Reading

On Friday February 19th, following a lengthy legal fight, Uber lost a momentous battle at the Supreme Court in one of the most significant employment cases in recent decades. The UK’s highest court ruled against the firm, concluding that its drivers should be classed as workers rather than independent third-party Continue Reading