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5 February 2025
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A resurgent Japanese stock market has a new generation of investors asking if shareholder-friendly governance reform is finally embedded into corporate culture there. This explores the issue and what it means for investors.
Australian companies worth billions of dollars are slipping into private hands at an alarming rate. This explores what’s driving the takeover binge, why it’s a worry, and what needs to be done to fix the problem.
Private equity has had a stellar decade as low rates drove investors to search for higher returns in less liquid assets. Can inflows into the asset class continue? Can PE's outperformance versus public markets continue?
Temporary changes to capital raising regulations during the pandemic gave companies easier access to capital. The changes had a lasting impact on company behaviour though, to the benefit of retail investors.
In proposing to prevent certain franked distributions that are funded by capital raisings, the Government is addressing the wrong problem, and the solution lies in this week's 2022 Budget announcement on buybacks.
Listed companies often raise capital around the same time they pay dividends and return capital to shareholders, but proposed legislation may prevent companies paying franked dividends during a capital funding.
It was a joy ride while it lasted but the free money era could not last. The consequences of the misallocation of capital into poor companies is now playing out and shareholders face billions of dollars in losses.
Some conglomerates include hidden assets that the market is not valuing properly. It may take a demerger to show their worth and there are good reasons why these work. How do investors identify the best demergers?
Major changes are underway in the methods used to distribute bank hybrids. Investor cannot rely on the previous ways of buying hybrids at IPO and now must be 'sophisticated', react quickly and know a broker.
Cash flow statements differ from income statements and balance sheets, and every company must balance payments to investors versus investing into the business. Cash flows drive the value of the business.
Bonus options issued by Listed Investment Companies (LICs) deliver many advantages but there is a potential dilutionary impact if options are exercised well below the share price. This must be factored in.
We do not agree with Treasury’s suggestion that institutional investors are overly influenced by the research provided by proxy advisors. Here's how active ownership works to serve the client's best interests.
The housing market was subdued in 2024, and pessimism abounds as we start the new year. 2025 is likely to be a tale of two halves, with interest rate cuts fuelling a resurgence in buyer demand in the second half of the year.
This examines the performance of key asset classes and sub-sectors in 2024 and over longer timeframes, and the lessons that can be drawn for constructing an investment portfolio for the next decade.
While encouraging people to draw down on their accumulated wealth in retirement might be good public policy, several million retirees disagree because they are purposefully conserving that capital. It’s time for a different approach.
The renowned investor has penned his first investor letter for 2025 and it’s a ripper. He runs through what bubbles are, which ones he’s experienced, and whether today’s markets qualify as the third major bubble of this century.
Getting regular, growing income from stocks is tougher with the dividend yield on the ASX nearing 25-year lows. Here are some conventional and not-so-conventional ideas for investors wanting to build a dividend portfolio.
2024 was a banner year for equities, with a run-up in US tech stocks broadening into a global market rally, and the big question now is whether the good times can continue? History suggests optimism is warranted.