Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Corporations are people too, according to the US Supreme Court. Like people, they don't deserve to become characters of fun, according to the asset manager formerly known as Aberdeen Standard Life. From financial news, focusing on FTAV below:Abrdn is facing “corporate bullying” from the media after its rebranding, according to Peter Branner, chief investment officer at the asset manager.The £495bn fund group announced a major brand overhaul in April 2021, changing its name from Standard Life Aberdeen to Abrdn.CEO Stephen Baird said…
Author: ricardofrancois
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Until now, no matter how bad things got, Chinese property developers could rely on state-owned lenders to support them. That can no longer be taken for granted with state-owned China Construction Bank (CCB) taking rare legal action against troubled mainland developer Shimao Group. However, it is good news for bank investors.Shanghai-based Shimao, which has about $11.7 billion in external debt, said on Monday that China Construction Bank had filed a liquidation petition against it in Hong Kong over its failure to repay…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Puig Group, a family-owned Spanish cosmetics group, is preparing for an initial public offering in the coming weeks in which it aims to raise more than 2.5 billion euros in the largest public offering in the sector in years.The Barcelona-based company, which owns perfume and makeup brands ranging from Paco Rabanne to Charlotte Tilbury, announced its plans to list in Madrid and on other Spanish stock exchanges in a regulatory filing on Monday.Bankers estimate the value of the 110-year-old business at between…
Gold prices continued their record run on Monday, hitting an all-time high amid strong US economic data and increasing geopolitical tensions.Spot gold prices It rose 0.5% to trade at $2,342 an ounce at around 11:45 a.m. London time, after briefly hitting a new record high of $2,353 earlier in the session. The yellow metal has repeatedly hit all-time highs in recent weeks.For some on Wall Street, gold price strength is expected to continue until at least the second half of the year. Citi has previously described the asset as a “recession hedge” in the developed market, while others have noted…
Microsoft has announced a new center in London for its recently unveiled consumer AI division. He will be presented by Jordan Hoffman, an AI scientist and engineer recently selected by Microsoft from high-profile AI startup Inflection AI, in which Microsoft invested last year. The news comes about three weeks after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled a new consumer AI division headed by Inflection AI founders, including Mustafa Suleiman — co-founder of Deepmind, the AI company acquired by Google in 2014. At the time, Nadella said that “several members of the Inflection team” had also joined Microsoft's new AI unit (Bloomberg…
The newly launched BYD seal is displayed during the launch of the Chinese-made BYD brand in Jakarta, January 18, 2024, and at the same time two other types of battery-powered vehicles (EV, electric car) that will be sold in Indonesia with investments of $1.3 billion were introduced American. (Photo by Bai Ismoyo/AFP) (Photo by Bay Ismoyo/AFP via Getty Images)Ismoyo Bay | AFP | Getty ImagesChinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said the rapid rise of electric vehicle companies in the country was not due to subsidies, but due to “continuous innovations.”He said allegations of “excess capacity” by the United States and…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.This article is the on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. Magnolia trees are blooming in New York City, baseball season has begun, and young hearts everywhere are turning to love. That's right: Q1 earnings season is here. Major banks begin reporting on Friday. The news will be good. But maybe not as good as it should…
Welcome to FT Asset Management, our weekly newsletter about the movers and shakers behind a global multi-trillion dollar industry. This article is the on-site version of the newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to have it delivered every Monday. Explore all our newsletters here.Do the format, content, and tone work for you? Let me know: harriet.agnew@ft.com Former rugby lawyer is shaking up the world of private creditPaul Whitman is no stranger to high-profile corporate scraps. The 62-year-old Australian, whose audacious poaching of more than 20 senior executives from asset management firm Barings last month sparked a lawsuit, has spent 20…
Spotify has already had success with its popular AI DJ feature, and now the music streaming service is bringing AI to playlist creation. The company on Monday introduced AI Playlists into beta, a new option that allows users to create a playlist based on written prompts. The feature will initially be available to users on Android and iOS devices in the UK and Australia and will be rolled out in the coming months. In addition to more standard playlist creation requests, such as those based on genre or time frame, Spotify's use of AI means people can request a variety…
This is all to say about the Parisian artists who survey the city's rooftops from their cramped workshops. When artist Margot Derhe comes to fetch me from the courtyard of a building in the lively 10th arrondissement, we take the elevator down into the network of caves – cellars where the occupants of the apartments above traditionally store their wine.Despite the lack of natural light, Derhy's underground studio is cozy and inviting. The walls, floors and ceilings are entirely covered in wavy white plaster: more reminiscent of the fishermen's caves in the cliffs near Derhi's home in Massa, Morocco -…