Newsletter
Why you should watch commodities very carefully by Les Nemethy, Founder, Euro-Phoenix Financial Investors Ltd., former World Banker
This article will explore two reasons why you should carefully observe commodities over the coming months:
Read moreGameStock and Silver: Failure in Exit Strategy? By: Les Nemethy, Founder, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker
The events of the past month have created something of a paradigm shift in financial markets. This article will look at (a) what caused the surge in prices of GameStop, silver, etc.
Read moreWhy you should pay attention to 10Y Treasuries going up by Les Nemethy, former World Banker, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors
Even if you do not own Treasuries, rising Treasury rates is arguably the most important event in financial markets this year so far.
Read moreIs our Financial System Unstable? By Les Nemethy, former World Banker, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd.
The good times seem to be rolling: stock valuations have defied gravity and interest rates have plummeted. The world is awash with liquidity.
Read moreInflation or Deflation? by Les Nemethy, former World Banker. CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd.
Whether we live in inflationary or deflationary world has a massive impact for everyone
Read moreLight at the end of the Covid-19 TunnelBy Les Nemethy, former World Banker, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd.
The past week has seen two dramatic vaccine announcements—by Pfizer and Moderna—each claiming over 90% efficacy. This is good news.
Read moreFinancial Repression By Les Nemethy
Most readers are aware that Government debt was very high throughout the world before the pandemic, and is spiraling even higher during the pandemic. Post-pandemic, how can Governments manage or reverse the massive amounts of debt?
Read moreA New Bretton Woods Moment By Les Nemethy, former World Banker, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd.
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, titled her recent Oct 15 speech at the IMF Annual Meetings “A New Bretton Woods moment”
Read moreMalinvestment in our Strange New Economic Environment By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd.
Interest rates are near zero in most of the developed world, sometimes negative, despite which new investment and velocity of money are falling
Read moreAn Upcoming Paper Gold Crisis? By Les Nemethy and Alberto Scalabrini
This article deals with the possibility of problems in the paper gold market.
Read moreDoes Covid-19 help large corporations and technology companies squeeze out medium-sized companies? By Les Nemethy
It is clear that Covid-19 is creating winners and losers in the world today, although there seem to be more losers than winners.
Read moreThe Covid-19 Financial Hole is getting Wider and Deeper By Les Nemethy
Even if Covid-19 were to disappear tomorrow miraculously, as I will attempt to demonstrate in this article, it would take years for the already inflicted damage to work its way through the financial system
Read moreCovid creates Dilemmas for Company Owners (and Financial Advisors) By Les Nemethy
Imagine the following situation: you are a financial advisor. The owner of a large and very attractive hotel asks you to sell his hotel.
Read moreThe Small Business Trap by Les Nemethy
Most people would think that it is more difficult to sell a large company than a small company. While there are exceptions to every rule, I would suggest that it is easier to sell a larger company than a small company
Read moreBankruptcy as an Exit Option by Les Nemethy
In my book, Business Exit Planning (John Wiley & Sons, 2012)1, I confess to have made a significant error in judgment: I have barely touched on the option of bankruptcy as an option for exit.
Read moreNew Hungarian Legislation to Screen Foreign Investment By Les Nemethy and Andras Hanak
On May 25th, the Hungarian Government issued a decree requiring de facto approval of the Hungarian Government with respect to ambiguously defined “strategic” transactions whereby interests in Hungarian companies are acquired by foreign entities
Read moreCorporate debt market during COVID-19 pandemic by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
We are in the midst of a global coronavirus pandemic, with worldwide GDP contracting substantially, creating a phenomenon of corporations issuing record amounts of new indebtedness
Read moreMay Covid-19 trigger a European Banking Crisis? by Les Nemethy and Nicolas Beguin
Forecasts for GDP decrease within the European Union in 2020 run as high as 13%, even after taking into account massive stimulation by Governments1.
Read moreCOVID-19 and the M&A Market by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
M&A activity, both globally and in Central Europe, declined dramatically in Q1 2020
Read moreCoronavirus: Are Financial Markets out of the Woods? By Les Nemethy
Despite the number of cases and deaths rising to approximately 1.8 million and 110,000 respectively, as at the time of writing of this article , there has been considerable good news on the coronavirus during the past week or two
Read moreCovid-19 and Financial Markets (Part III of III on Covid-19) By Les Nemethy
After several weeks of extreme volatility, the most dramatic crash in the history of financial markets and partial recovery, where can we expect financial markets to go from here?
Read moreCOVID-19, the World Economy and Financial Markets Part II of III by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
The number of COVID-19 cases has reached to 170,000 and total deaths rose beyond 6,5001 as at the time of writing of this article (March 16, 2020).
Read moreCOVID-19 and Financial Markets Part I of III by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
COVID-19 has taken approximately 3,000 lives to date, and infected approximately 90,0001 people in over 60 countries. This article is not about the humanitarian aspects of COVID-19
Read moreFactoring for SME’s by Les Nemethy and El Mehdi Hosni
Factoring is a financing method in which a business owner sells accounts receivable at a discount to a third-party funding source, in order to raise capital
Read moreImpact Investing by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
Impact investing, as the word “impact” implies, is all about investing to make a positive impact on the world, not only generating a financial return1.
Read moreShould an operating company own real estate? By Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
If you have a company that produces or sells a product or service, the questions often arise as to (a) whether that company should own the premises or real estate which it occupies (e.g. offices, warehouse, plant, etc.)
Read moreShould you use a holding company?By Les Nemethy
Many small to mid-sized businesses have no need for a holding company. It may be sufficient for the company owner(s) to personally own shares or quotas directly in the company in question.
Read moreThe US Repo Market—A Harbinger of Recession? by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
Recent irregularities in the US repo market may be early indicators of an upcoming recession, as was the case in 2008-2009 and before the dotcom crash of 2001.
Read moreCorporate Debt in Central Europe By Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
Non-financial corporations can typically use two types of debt funding – bank loans and debt securities (e.g. bonds).
Read moreDividend Policy in Public and Private Companies By Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
Dividend is usually discussed in the context of public companies. Like share buybacks, it is a way of putting cash back to shareholders.
Read moreThe “Small Business” Trap By Les Nemethy
Running a small business is arguably more difficult than running a large one. I have done both, and that has certainly been my experience.
Read moreControl Premiums: How much is control worth? By Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
The majority of corporate acquisitions are acquisitions of majority interests.
Read moreMinority Discount By Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
Our last article was on control premiums. Minority discount is basically the flipside of control premium
Read moreDebt Financing of Acquisitions by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
There are many reasons for using debt to finance an acquisition.
Read moreOptimizing Company Valuation via Cost of Capital by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
Our firm recently performed two valuations on a pharmaceutical company two years apart.
Read moreReverse Takeovers by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
In a typical merger deal, the bidding company acquires the target company and the bidder’s existing shareholders obtain the majority in the combined entity.
Read morePart VI on Asset Classes: Investment in luxury goods by Sergey Glekov and Les Nemethy
This is the sixth and final article in a series on asset classes, which examines luxury goods as an alternative investment asset class.
Read morePart V on Asset Classes: Preferred stocks By Les Nemethy and Loïc Cayssol
When investing in equities, investors have two main choices: common stocks or preferred shares. Whereas the previous article in this series dealt with common shares, this article focuses on preferred shares.
Read morePart IV on Asset Classes: Common stocks by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
This is the fourth article in a series on asset classes, designed to demonstrate that even in today’s “low interest” environment, one can generate reasonable returns on a diversified portfolio.
Read morePart III on Asset Classes: Bonds by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
We often hear comments about how little interest banks pay, or the low yield on certain treasuries. In our business of Mergers & Acquisitions, we have seen quite a few business owners who want to sell their businesses, but hesitate to do so
Read morePart II on Asset Classes: Size of Markets and Trading Volumes by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
In our previous article, we gave an overview of the various asset classes, and typical risk/return relationships. In this article, we compare the liquidity and trading volumes of these asset classes.
Read moreDifferent Asset Classes – Part I by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
This is the first of a series of articles on asset classes. Whether you are an individual managing a portfolio for retirement, or someone who just sold their business and devising a strategy to invest funds, the choice of asset classes will be the most fundamental investment decision you make in designing your portfolio.
Read moreThe Case for Gold as an Investment Part III of III: Summarizing the Case for Gold
by Les Nemethy
Let me start this article with a quote by Ludwig von Mises, famous economist of the Austrian School of Economics, on the subjects of credit expansion and economic cycles.:
Read moreThe Case for Gold as an Investment Part II of III: Global Supply and Demand for Gold by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
Part I of the series tackled the value of gold as a portfolio hedge. This article, Part II of the series, will discuss the very limited stock of gold within the world
Read moreThe Case for Gold as an Investment—Part I of III
by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov
The world is a much riskier place than most people realize. A very incomplete list of just some of the possible risks in the global geopolitical system include:
Read moreDebt Levels: Have we learned the Lessons of 2008?
Total global debt levels have reached a whopping $247 trillion as of 2018 – up from $164 trillion in January 2009 1, the time of the last financial crisis. That’s up from 213% to 318% of global GDP 2:
Read moreWhy should you care about yield curves? by Les Nemethy and Mael Rohrig
Whether you’re a business person or an ordinary citizen concerned about what’s going on in the world, the yield curve is something you should care about.
Read moreDebt versus equity in today’s financial climate
Owners and managers of businesses always have the option of financing a business by way of either debt or equity
Read moreConditions Precedent Prior to Closing
A condition precedent (CP) prior to closing is a condition that must be satisfied by a party to a transaction, failing which the other party is not bound to close the transaction
Read moreDrag Along/Tag Along Rights
“Drag Along” and “Tag Along” rights are used by investors to facilitate their exit from an investment. They are methods particularly favored by private equity firms
Read moreNon-core assets in corporate finance transactions
Non-core assets may greatly complicate raising equity financing, finding strategic or financial partners, or selling a business.
Read moreDo you as a business owner need a valuation?
Business owners often ask themselves whether they need a business valuation, and if so what kind of valuation is required.
Read moreMaterial Adverse Change
When negotiating the purchase or sale of a company, the investor or purchaser will often insist on what is known as a Material Adverse Change (MAC) clause. This article deals with three issues related to the MAC clause
Read moreValuation via Discounted Cash Flow
Business owners often ask themselves whether they need a business valuation, and if so what kind of valuation is required.
Read moreManaging risk
Everything has its risks, even getting out of bed in the morning. But that is no excuse for not getting out of bed at all…
Read more