Summary of Preqin’s 2022 Global Hedge Fund Report: • Returns across the asset class were up 11.43% (as of September 2021, +15.52% annualised). • Event-driven funds topped the leader board, recording returns of +17.53%, ahead of equities at +14.85% • Hedge funds’ assets under management (AUM) passed the USD4 trillion mark at the end of […]
Suhail Ahmad is one of UK's leading fintech entrepreneurs, a venture investor and trusted adviser to entrepreneurs and executives. Founder of the Financial Network, a group of companies and strategic partners that together form a boutique multi-disciplinary business advisory and investment firm.
Bitcoin AUM Declines 20%
Bitcoin is being outpaced by some of the smaller and faster-growing cryptocurrencies. The dynamic has lessened Bitcoin’s dominance, with total assets under management for Bitcoin-related investment products falling 20% to $39 billion in December, according to a report from CryptoCompare. The decline reduced Bitcoin products’ portion of total digital-asset investment vehicles to 67.8% from 70.6%, […]
UK Housing Hits Record High
U.K. house prices hit a record high of £269,945 in September 2021 according to Bloomberg as buyers rushed to tie up deals before a property tax cut came to an end. The data: Prices have soared by 15%—more than £35,000—since Rishi Sunak introduced a tax waiver in July 2020, Land Registry figures show. That dwarfs the £2,500 saving […]
Tesla Shares and Elon Tweets
Ouch! Billionaires can be so harsh, lol. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s trust sold about $6.9 billion worth of stock in the company over the last week. Some of the shares were sold in part to satisfy tax obligations related to an exercise of stock options but he’s just cashing in on record stock price. Despite […]
Millennial and Gen Z Survey 2021
We’ve had plenty of research and surveys of Millennials and now more understanding of Gen Z’s can help us understand the changing socio-economic environment. According to a Deloitte survey of over 8,000 Gen Zs, they seem to be the most vocal generation, likely to speak out against things like racism or sexism. Also like investors […]
Private Equity a Sellers Market
Private equity firms are paying an average premium of 45% for European companies in 2021, the highest since the data company Refinitiv started keeping records in 1980. In the US, the premiums hit 42% this year, the highest since 1999. UK-listed companies were taken private at an average premium of 47% this year. Source: Financial […]
Tech Spending in 2022 Forecast
An increased focus on investing in business outcomes as opposed to buying finished products underlies Gartner’s expectations for sustained growth in IT services — 9.8% in 2021, with a CAGR of 8.68% over the 2020-2025 period (second only to software at 11.9%). Also noticeable in Gartner’s forecast is a sharp near-$100 billion rise in spending […]
Pound Sterling on a Tear
The economic gloom is lifting so fast in the U.K. that even the skeptics are warming to the Pound Sterling which is up more than 4% from its January low. Thanks to one of the world’s fastest vaccine-rollout programs, the pound is winning fresh backing as the faster-than-expected recovery fuels speculation that the Bank of England is […]
Consumer Spending on the Rebound
Consumer spending as a whole is set to rebound strongly post Covid19. However, the recovery is likely to be uneven with high-income households with members who could work remotely being in a better position to spend. Low-income households will likely not return to 2019 spending levels by 2024, especially US families that have lost jobs […]
Interview: Stampede, Bitcoin and AI
Last week, I had the opportunity to do my first Facebook and YouTube Live Stream with Gary A. Fowler, venture capitalist, CEO, and Co-founder of GSD Venture Studios. We not only had a brief discussion about the ‘Connectivity of the Global Private Capital Markets in a Decentralised World’ but had a candid conversation ranging from […]