Thursday newspaper round-up: Hedge funds, Anglo, Greece, Tata
Hedge funds have suffered their worst quarter in seven years after more than $15bn was pulled out by investors starting to fight back against the high fees being charged across the industry. The total amount invested in hedge funds fell to $2.86tn in the first three months of the year, marking the first time since 2009 that the sector has faced two consecutive quarters of net outflows, according to data from Hedge Fund Research. – Financial Times
Anglo American
2,205.00p
16:45 24/04/24
FTSE 100
8,040.38
16:34 24/04/24
FTSE 350
4,419.71
17:09 24/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,374.06
16:44 24/04/24
Mining
10,520.27
17:09 24/04/24
Anglo American is braced for a revolt over rewards for top executives, with indications that more than a third of investors will fail to back the miner’s pay policies. A trio of investor advisory groups have urged shareholders to vote against Anglo’s pay report ahead of its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. Mark Cutifani, the miner’s chief executive, was awarded a £3.4m pay package last year, when Anglo’s shares were the UK’s worst-performing blue-chip stock. – Financial Times
From Atom’s Apple app-only offering – which counts out all those who do not own an iPhone or an iPad or do not want to use one for banking – to Metro’s weird obsession with offering free water for dogs, each has their own quirk. Between them they make a significant noise about what they offer and how they do things differently. – Telegraph
Greece could crash out of the eurozone as early as this summer if Britons vote to leave the European Union in the upcoming referendum, economists have predicted. The uncertainty following a 'yes' vote to Britain leaving the EU would put unsustainable pressure on Greece’s cash-strapped economy at a time when it is also struggling to cope with an influx of migrants escaping turmoil in the Middle East and Africa, according to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. – Telegraph
Sir Terry Matthews, the first Welsh billionaire, is backing a proposed management buyout of Tata Steel UK, boosting hopes of a rescue deal for the Port Talbot steelworks and thousands of employees. Matthews is helping to put together a consortium of public and private sector figures from south Wales who can support the buyout. Other figures in the consortium include Simon Gibson, the chief executive of Matthews’s investment vehicle Wesley Clover, and Steve Phillips, the chief executive of the Neath Port Talbot county borough council. - Guardian
Older homeowners unlocked a record amount of value from their properties in the first three months of 2016, cashing in to the tune of £393m. The figures show housing wealth is “centre stage in financial planning for later life”, said the Equity Release Council, which reported the biggest quarter for lending in its 25-year history. – Guardian
Volkswagen is believed to have reached a deal with the American authorities to settle the case over its cheating of diesel emissions tests that would involve it offering to buy back the affected vehicles or fix them and pay compensation of as much as $5,000. Shares in the carmaker rose to a six-week high after the German newspaper Die Welt reported that the company was expected to set out a solution today to Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco to avoid a damages trial in the US over its emissions fraud. – The Times