Global Investing

Capital Markets | Q&A
Axel Merk is president and chief investment officer of Merk Investments, manager of the Merk Funds.
 

Management | Shareholder Activism
A battle is heating up ahead of the DuPont’s annual shareholders meeting, planned for April.

Cover Story
As economic growth languishes and worries about the specter of deflation mount, much-needed infrastructure development and new sources of project financing could provide a panacea to global growth.
 

The largest fully nonrecourse project finance deal of 2014, in fact the largest ever, was the expansion of a liquefied nitrogen gas (LNG) facility near Freeport in Texas. 

Presenting the World’s Best Trade & Supply Chain Finance Awards for 2015.

Management | Corporate Cash
The partial revival seen recently in capital investment by companies reflects the mixed performance of the global economy and the outlook for it.

Market Report | Equity Derivatives
With volatility rising from historic lows on the equity derivatives market, investment banks are finding renewed interest from clients among nonfinancial corporations.

Country Report | Mozambique
Mozambique is the current star in Africa’s rising inward-investment constellation. For much of the last quarter of the 20th century, Mozambique was a war zone. Today the only war on its horizon is a bidder’s war, as investors salivate over the opportunities this Southern African country offers.

Global Finance sat down with Arvind Rajan, International Chief Investment Officer at Prudential Fixed Income, to discuss the impact of low oil prices on the ability of emerging markets to service their debt.

FDI Update
After four years of challenges in the social, economic and political space, Egypt rolls out the welcome mat for foreign direct investors.

Cover Story
The drastic drop in oil prices will clearly have an impact on both individual companies and on overall growth in some countries. But is the shift net positive or negative, cyclical or systemic? The ultimate outcome is yet to be seen.

Activist Investing | Trends
Vanguard CEO William McNabb is making it plain that he wants the many public companies in which the world’s second-largest fund management firm owns significant minority stakes to take Vanguard as seriously as they take activist investors.

A big question mark is pending on how long the US shale production will remain profitable with declining oil prices.

Proxy Voting | Management
Proxy advisory firm ISS updated its proxy voting guidelines last fall to introduce a more detailed approach to the recommendations it makes on companies’ equity plans and shareholder proposals for an independent chairman. The changes could create uncertainty for companies during this year’s proxy season.

Qatar | Newsmakers
Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud Al-Thani, a member of Qatar’s ruling family, was appointed CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) as part of a reshuffle that includes the addition of other Al-Thani family members.

The global financial crisis and several factors peculiar to Georgia have affected foreign direct investment inflows, but investors willing to deal with tensions and risks will find opportunities.

North America | FDI & Economic Development Update
Knowing their target markets helps northern US states and Canadian provinces compete with the southern US for foreign direct investment.

Corporate Debt | Capital Markets
Euroclear will extend its cross-border settlement services at the end of January to Mexican corporate debt instruments known as cebures, or “bourse certificates.” This will enable Mexican companies to issue peso-denominated debt specifically targeted to international investors.

China | Milestones
China will allow foreign firms to increase their ownership stakes in encouraged sectors and enter into previously protected industries, according to investment guidelines drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Venture Capital | Trends
Start-up companies and innovators in the Arab World have suffered from underinvestment and lack of technology infrastructure in recent years.