A sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a state-owned fund comprised of capital earned by the government to invest in financial assets including stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, or in alternative investments including private equity and hedge funds. Money generated in these funds is often derived from a country’s surplus with the ultimate goal of accruing profit to benefit the nation’s economy and citizens.
The sharing economy is an economic system in which goods, services or assets are shared between private individuals, usually enabled by a third party and monetized by fees or commissions. Due to the nature of this model, collaboration and openness play a role in defining a passage through which resources are shared and offered.
Founded in 1996, Evergrande is the second largest real estate developer in China. Due to its unsuccessful entrance into the EV market and China’s crackdown on the real estate sector, Evergrande’s debt has now amounted to $300 billion USD. The collapse of Evergrande will have a domino effect on China’s real estate sector and its economy, considering the sector composes a quarter of its GDP.
On October 3rd, 2021, a leak of millions of documents regarding both high-risk and high-wealth individuals was published through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Through 140+ media organizations within the ICIJ, the group of journalists was able to identify the corruption amongst multiple governments and people of power.
In the financial industry, firms may contribute to several different investments that do not include stocks, bonds, or cash. As a starting point, this is what is known as Alternative Investing, and it can include private equity, hedge funds, and commodities, just to name a few. However, for the purposes of this article, we will be taking a closer look at the concept of Distressed Debt Investing, a form of alternative investments.
China has taken the most interesting approach to adopting its digital currency. The country was an early adopter of bitcoin and opened its first bitcoin exchange in 2011 (Li, 2021). It wasn’t till 2012 however, that China began to see the potential of American digital currency, and how threatening it was for their economy and political ideals.
As the national average for a gallon of normal gasoline has seen dramatic price swings over the last several years, volatile gas prices have taken centre stage in the media. Natural gas prices in many countries have witnessed an all-time high while international wholesale gas prices have risen 250% since the beginning of the year.
Similar to medieval castles, businesses also require wide moats to prevent competitors from entering the market and eroding away their market share and excess returns. First coined by the famous investor Warren Buffet, the term economic moat can be simply defined as a company’s unique advantages that enable it to sustain excess returns and protect it from competitors.
As the name suggests, distressed investing is an investing style, usually done through the debt of a company on the verge of default. The companies in question tend to have an unstable capital structure, represented by either a high leverage ratio or an inability to meet their short-term obligations.
For many years, a business’s sole purpose was to create shareholder value for investors and was evaluated purely based on its bottom line. However, increased globalization and interconnectivity through technological development have made businesses more involved in the lives of consumers, which has changed the role of business in society.
How many of us can truly say they’re as good at any extra-curricular as Mark Zuckerberg is at debating? He makes it to the final round of the “Facebook is at it again” debating tournament every other year, held in the prestigious United States Congress. And he wins it every time (depending on how you choose to see it).
