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Bid for SABMiller (SAB) Queried

One of my contacts has questioned what is happening in the bid for brewer SABMiller by AB Inbev. Here is what he had to say: "The concern raised is that here appears to be a really anomalous situation which is in danger of setting a terribly bad precedent. The two largest shareholders in SAB Miller are Altria (Philip Morris) and the Santo Domingo family of Colombia. They have agreed to a deal for beneficial tax reasons (to them) whereby they accept a ...

Open Ended Property Funds Should Be Avoided

Commercial property funds are popular with private investors as historically they have provided high dividends with relative price stability. But the announcement yesterday by Standard Life Investments that it had suspended trading in its UK Property Fund has further undermined confidence in the property sector after it was already depressed because of the impact of Brexit. The suspension means that investors are unable to sell their holdings. This fund, one of the largest open-ended property funds, is an "open-ended" fund - in ...

Who Caused the Stock Market Collapse? And consequences.

Who or what caused the stock market falls immediately after the Brexit vote? It was not just the UK market that fell, but many international ones plus of course the pound fell very significantly - to its lowest level since 1985. It was somewhat unexpected that the impact would be so immediate. The UK stock market has recovered to a large extent in the large cap stocks, many of which will benefit from the lower pound and a move to more "defensive" ...

Brexit Hangover, You’re Not Laughing Now

The markets falling, England lost to Iceland in a football match, and there is gloom and despondency everywhere. Much of the country seems to be in a post-party hangover. It therefore seems a good time to review the situation and try to give some explanations for what has been happening. Firstly, you have probably guessed, as did my local M.P. without me telling him, that I voted for Brexit. Je ne regrette rien, as one of our partners that we intend to ...

Bargains You Could Not Pick Up

As I predicted might happen in an earlier blog this morning, there was a panic when the market opened as the pound was already down substantially. But if you tried to pick up some bargains, it was damn difficult. Retail service providers who provide electronic quotes to brokers seemed to stop providing them, and just logging into some retail platforms proved very difficult. Even if you managed to log in, the service was so slow that it was impossible to do ...