Investing

European financial centres are competing to benefit from rapid growth in SPAC investment vehicles on this side of the Atlantic after they came under regulatory fire in the United States. The Netherland’s Euronext leads in numbers, but Luxembourg attracts those with particular tax needs. 

One of the least invested topics of the world goals set by the United Nations is “life in the water”. With the ocean responsible for every second breath we take and more commitment from the European Commission on this SDG in the offing, things might be about to change, according to Paul Buchwitz, who manages the DWS Concept ESG Blue Economy equity fund.

When investing in unlisted real estate, funds that focus on a single country or on a separate sector within a country outperform funds that diversify across countries and/or sectors, according to a Cambridge University study. By contrast, real estate funds that focus purely on one sector do not outperform diversified funds. This research was named the best of 2021 by industry body Inrev.

It is not a question of whether the tech bubble will burst, but when, Amundi CIO Pascal Blanqué warned again. According to him, the bubble will burst as soon as interest rates rise.

Blanqué spoke about this during the outlook for 2022 that he, deputy CIO Vincent Mortier and head of research Monica Defend presented to journalists on Wednesday.

Two thirds of the UN sustainable development goals are in danger of not being achieved, warned Ben Constable-Maxwell of M&G. In some areas, great strides are indeed being made in the right direction, but in the area of hunger and poverty, the Covid pandemic has caused a setback. 

The warning that climate-related damage will be more difficult to insure is growing. A challenging time is coming for real estate investors, as their investment horizon becomes riskier.

There is a mismatch between asset managers and institutional investors when it comes to ESG, according to PwC Luxembourg’s annual report on the Luxembourg banking sector, which this year places extra emphasis on developments surrounding ESG. The report explains that three-quarters of institutional investors plan to stop investing in non-ESG products next year, but only 14 per cent of fund houses plan to stop marketing non-ESG products. 

The US stock market is always more expensive than other markets. However, America’s premium over Europe is now so high that betting on Europe may be a better option for investors, according to Joost van Leenders, who explained Van Lanschot Kempen’s outlook during a recent interview by Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s Dutch-language sister publication.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, leader of the world’s largest CO2 emitter, is conspicuous by his absence at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Critics consider the ‘unclear’ Chinese climate policy the nail in the coffin of the Paris Agreement. 

A number of investors choose to sell investments in fossil fuel producers. This reduces the CO2 emissions of the investment portfolio but only partially protects the investors against the risks of the climate transition.