Premier Foods told Nissin of US Interest

Strange things happen in Corporateland. It will be interesting to see what regulators have to say about this situation. Was Nissin an Insider after being told of potential bid interest? I guess if Joe Blogs would have been told by his girlfriend in the mailroom at Premier before quickly buying some shares the regs would have come down on him like a ton of bricks. So come on chaps at the FCA and/or PRA (wherever you hang your hats in the revolving regulatory circus) and shed some light on this. And the concerned 'fiduciaries' in the investment management firms should have a word to say as well, not least about the off-board transaction when a 'Private' Equity firm (handling the money of the wider public but keeping a hefty share for itself) got a sweet deal selling a stake to Nissin.
(30 March 2016)

Are all Private Investors Idiots?

That seems to be the assumption under which regulators in the EU and FSA publish a raft of consultation documents, guidance notes and draft new laws argues Matthew Vincent in the Financial Times. I would like to add that these diktats lack any democratic legitimacy as they are cooked out by unaccountable technocrats and bureaucrats that are not answerable to the citizens. More and more regulation means higher costs that are ultimately borne by the real investors - the ordinary man on the street who is the paymaster of all fund managers, securities firms and regulatory bureaucracies.
(6/02/2011)

Prudential: what deal has been agreed regarding capital adaequacy?

The pension system in this country to a large extent depends on private companies such as the Prudential to supply savers/retirees with a rock-solid guarantee that they will be there when and as long as they are needed. Deals such as the one just announced can at best be described as a stitch-up where the public is left in the dark about the exact terms and no one but the FSA, the quango in charge of protecting the interests or savers, investors and retirees, knows what standards are applied. Even worse, should a disaster occur and the provider get into trouble the government can simply walk away - even if the financial regulator made errors in assessing the financial health of the insurer. That shareholders are also kept in the dark is par for the course. As a German banker once famously said: Shareholders are stupid and insolent: stupid to invest and insolent to expect a dividend.

P.S.: It may amuse the reader that The Times has refused to publish a version of the above comment on its Website. We can only assume that we have touched a raw nerve and that the editors did not want to give the impression that they allow criticism of the authorities to be published on their site.