All articles by Joseph Mariathasan – Page 4
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Asset Class ReportsPrivate debt: Leases make plane sense after COVID
With plenty of pent-up demand for air travel, aeroplane operating leases may be an attractive investment option
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Asset Class ReportsEquities – Thematic funds tap into future trends
Themes have long captured the imagination of retail investors. Now institutions are showing interest, despite the lack of clear definitions
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FeaturesFresh views on emerging markets
Despite a large, heterogeneous universe of opportunities across countries that have little or no commonality, risk contagion in the emerging market universe is still an issue, highlighted most dramatically by the 1997 Asian crisis and the risk on/risk off capital movements after the 2007-08 global financial crisis.
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Asset Class ReportsFixed income: Paradigm shift for investors
Credit is looking more attractive on a risk/reward basis for new investment, but the factors that led to the 2022 volatility have not disappeared
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FeaturesClimate risks – pay now or later?
Climate change is an emergency that requires all hands on deck. What should be the role of investors when it is governments that have the most power to effect change?
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Asset Class ReportsEquities – Investing in the midst of Europe’s gloom
Healthcare and luxury brands are two sectors with potential to stand out in an otherwise gloomy macro environment
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FeaturesSustainable tourism: consumers need direction
The end of COVID lockdowns in most places has led to a boom in tourism in 2022 and a return to normality that should persist. Before the COVID pandemic, tourism accounted for around 10% of global GDP and 8% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to speakers at the Reset Sustainably conference on sustainable tourism held in London in September. The size of the industry means that moving towards more sustainable development can have a significant, positive impact on the world, both in terms of climate change and in the protection of natural resources, including biodiversity.
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FeaturesDistributed work: a novel solution for displaced workers
What COVID has taught the world so dramatically is that knowledge-based companies have been able to function effectively with all their employees working remotely. Location suddenly no longer matters, and many employees have taken advantage of lockdowns to cross borders and work in places they wanted to be in, whether holiday resorts or with family.
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Asset Class ReportsPrivate markets: Venture capital investment beyond Sillicon Valley
A golden age of innovation opens opportunities for investors
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FeaturesCan a sinking market re-emerge?
Travelling around Sri Lanka in mid-July reminded me of Winston Churchill’s saying that “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried”. Many in Sri Lanka would argue that the post-independence history of the country may have proved him wrong. This year, political upheavals after popular demonstrations caused the administration of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Prime Minster Mahinda Rajapaksa, to collapse after the Rajapaksas’ deep corruption and deeper ineptitude over two decades brought economic ruin as the country ran out of foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports.
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging market debt: managers face choppy waters
Some see opportunities as investors have exited the asset class but emerging economies continue to face divergent trajectories
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FeaturesInternational Sustainability Accounting Standards Board: An insider view
Technical director Ravi Abeywardana highlights the challenges faced by the newly minted International Sustainability Standards Board and its staff
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FeaturesWe need better climate models to manage global warming impacts
Travelling back to the UK from Sri Lanka in July, I experienced a 10-degree temperature rise with the UK hitting over 40°C. While some people may argue that such extreme temperatures in the UK could just be a statistical anomaly, climate scientists such as Tim Palmer, Royal Society research professor in climate physics at Oxford University, who I spoke to at length on the subject, have no doubt that global mean temperatures are rising as a result of greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities.
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FeaturesChina calls the tune for emerging markets
If President Xi Jinping mismanages China, the careers of many emerging market asset managers could be over. It would also mean emerging markets as an asset class would become irrelevant, at least according to Xavier Hovasse, head of emerging markets at the French fund management house Carmignac, who has devoted his career to seeking opportunities in emerging markets.
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Asset Class ReportsCredit: Inflation and the bond markets
Risks look likely to be building in credit as central banks wreak collateral damage on economies in their bid to tame inflation
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FeaturesAI could help triple Europe’s private debt market
Investors seeking higher yield have driven the growth of the private debt market. European private debt, though still much smaller than the US market, has also been growing rapidly. European lenders managed assets of $350bn as of June last year, according to Preqin, in a total market of $1.19trn. This is more than double the level in December 2016.
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Special Report
Outlook: Can investors act alone on energy policy?
It may be up to governments to set the rules of engagement to achieve net zero
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Special ReportTowards a sustainable portfolio theory
Applying monetary values to impacts would allow investors to direct capital better and assess opportunities for improved long-term returns
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FeaturesMeasuring health impacts could expand ESG metrics
All companies have an impact on the world beyond just the profits for shareholders. Acknowledging and measuring these impacts in a quantitative manner enables them to be managed for the benefit of all and contributes to the creation of a fairer and more just society. The environment, social and governance (ESG) movement has raised the importance of such sentiments.
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging markets: Investors stay positive on Chinese investments
Many Western investors are staying put in China. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given them pause over what might change their stance
