At Capitalmind Premium, we have a very active Slack channel where we discuss a lot of interesting topics. In there, a number of interesting links come our way. Here’s a list:
1. India is not the only place where defaults are happening. China is following suit.CEFC Shanghai International Group Ltd, a subsidiary of troubled China CEFC Energy, recently defaulted on bond payments totalling 2.09 billion yuan ($327.3 million). What’s interesting is that China CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming has been under investigation for suspected economic crimes.
2. It has been a sad year for many mutual fund investors. There has been negative returns pretty much all over the MF market. In fact, 78 percent of the total 347 equity mutual fund schemes have registered negative returns during the last one year.
https://www.financialexpress.com/money/mutual-funds/mutual-funds-78-per-cent-of-equity-schemes-give-negative-returns/1375741/lite/
3. Speaking of negative fund returns, AQR Capital Management of US is also facing some tough times. Its market neutral mutual fund declined 4.7 percent in the last three months, which brings its full year losses to 13 percent. That’s huge for what’s supposed to be market neutral. A long note from the folks at AQR:
https://www.aqr.com/Insights/Perspectives/Liquid-Alt-Ragnarok
4. You have got to admit, Bandhan Bank has been speeding like an F1 race car. Its expansion has been unlike any other. But RBI has managed to slow down this speedster a little. Why? Because Bandhan Bank is trying to move beyond microfinancing and into private banking and RBI isn’t convinced that it follows shareholding norms for new private banks.
http://www.rediff.com/business/report/bandhan-finds-that-banking-licence-comes-with-challenges/20181103.htm?curator=alphaideas&utm_source=alphaideas
5. Have you ever heard an Indian company engaged in racial profiling of Americans… in America? TCS is in a case where investigators say they are profiling candidates. Recently, in California, the company was defending itself against claims of racial discrimination by American workers who lost their jobs at TCS offices in the U.S. after not being assigned to any of its clients. The question raised they were asked was, “why engineers hired at its American outposts are 13 times as likely to be fired if they’re not South Asian?”
https://www.bloombergquint.com/law-and-policy/india-s-tcs-faces-u-s-jury-over-why-it-fires-so-many-americans?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=whatsapp_feed#gs.Gp7s77c
6. Math is considered by many to be the backbone of investments. Co-relations, variance, probability factors, etc. have all played their fair role in building so called perfect investment formulas. But is it really possible to build such perfect or magical formulas using math that guarantees wealth?
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1bpqyp4684v06/The-Wall-Street-Math-Hustle
7. If the spat between RBI and the government doesn’t end, Moneylife suggest Patel, the RBI governor, may actually resign.
https://www.moneylife.in/article/rbi-governor-may-resign-on-19th-november-for-health-reasons-and-spat-with-the-ministry-of-finance/55695.html
8. Equitas Small Finance Bank finds reorganising shareholding to be a better idea than to go for IPO.
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/equitas-small-finance-bank-will-not-take-ipo-route-plans-to-rejig-shareholding-3132301.html
9. Just like Airtel’s network service, it’s bond rating also seems to be on an iffy path. Moody’s Investors Service is reviewing its rating against the backdrop of low profitability and expectations of weak cash flows.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/moodys-places-bharti-airtels-ratings-on-review-for-downgrade
10. Last week posted a link about ITC foraying into dairy industry. Actually they are just getting started. Looks like ITC keeps getting stronger and more ambitious as time passes.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/itc-eyes-wellness-food-segments-for-growth/articleshow/66550544.cms
More to come!
