Newsletter

The Oligarch Model in Hungary By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

Hungary is not following a state capitalism model. It is not the state itself that owns most strategic assets, but businessmen close to the party in power, Fidesz.

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Inflation, Deficits and Compounding Debt By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

At the IMF Annual Research Conference on November 9, 2023, Chair Powell stated: “The Federal Open Market Committee is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2% over time; we are not confident that we have achieved such a stance.”

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Is the Global Economy reaching a Tipping Point? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

The US economy is powering forward with almost 5% GDP growth as per the last measured quarter. Global GDP growth is in the range of 3%.

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How Hungary’s Oligarchs destroy Standards of Living for the Majority By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

Soon after re-election in 2010, Fidesz, the ruling party in Hungary, introduced a new ideology, the National System of Cooperation

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Why is Hungary the EU Inflation Leader?
Inflation as a “Hungaricum” By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker, and Dr. Peter Akos Bod, Economics Professor, former Governor of the Central Bank of Hungary

According to Eurostat’s release dated July 19, 2023, Hungary had by far the highest inflation in the Eurozone—not by a little—roughly triple the EU average and almost double the next highest countries

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Comparing the SME Sector of Hungary with the Visegrad Four and EU By: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s) are the main generators of wealth and employment in the vast majority of countries.

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Europe’s Declining Relative Competitiveness By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

GDP growth (hence wealth creation and improved standards of living) are not possible without competitiveness. So the European track record on competitiveness is a genuine cause for concern.

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The US Fed faces a difficult Decision on Capital Requirements for Banks By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

New regulations on capital requirements for US banks are likely to be announced before the end of June, 2023.

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Germany’s Dual Shock By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors and former World Banker

Germany’s economic miracle over the past few decades has been based on two major economic assumptions: cheap Russian energy and open access to an ever-growing Chinese market.

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Small US Banks and Commercial Real Estate—A Doom Loop? By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

There is the possibility of a doom loop between small US banks and commercial real estate. The scenario looks like this

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US Government Default?! By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

US Government debt has already surpassed the legislated debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion, with the Treasury relying on “extraordinary measures” to stave off default.

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Some Thoughts on Inflation By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, Former World Banker

I have been writing that we are facing a period of high inflation since long before it was fashionable. Now I believe that on the balance of probability we face an entire decade of high inflation.

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Bail-ins: Are your Bank Deposits Safe? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker and Leo Rioufrays

Most readers of this column will have heard of bail-outs (e.g. use of government money to stabilize banks and other financial institutions); few will have heard of bail-ins (e.g. where use depositors’ and bondholders’ funds) is used to stabilize banks.

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Pakistan Sovereign Default on the Horizon? By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

With the attention of economists and financial analysts absorbed by the banking crisis, other clouds on the horizon are being neglected. I see sovereign default in emerging markets as one of those risks.

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The Fed will prioritize financial stability over the fight against inflation By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

For the past six months, the US Fed has been fighting inflation by jacking up interest rates and tightening money supply to fight inflation.

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Technology as a Driver of Economic Growth By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix M&A Advisors, former World Banker

Allow me to start with two thoughts. First, there was once an economist called Thomas Malthus who projected that population would continue increasing, while resources were finite, hence humanity was doomed to famine and pestilence.

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Central Bank Digital Currencies—One of the greatest Threats to Freedom? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

I will start by stating my conclusion: yes, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are one of the greatest threats to personal freedom today, perhaps even the greatest.

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How the Battle for Ukraine may change Europe By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

More and more signs point to a new major Russian initiative to take Ukraine in the spring, including a possible attack on Kiev.

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Is Ukraine War the Beginning of World War III? By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

The conventional definition of World War is that it involves the participation of multiple major powers in a global conflict. Yet one increasingly hears that the Ukrainian Wars signals the outbreak of World War III.

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Key Economic and Financial Drivers to Watch in 2023 By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

There is an old joke that the role of economic forecasters is to make astrologers look good. Forecasting GDP or inflation for the upcoming year with any degree of accuracy is virtually impossible

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The Case for Gold Today—Again By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors, former World Banker

The last time I wrote about the case for gold was in April 2021. At the time gold was in the range of USD 1700, and as of December 10, 2022, it now approaches USD 1800.

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Are we entering an Era of Capital Shortage? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisers Ltd., former World Banker

We have had such low interest rates over the past decade (until recently) — partly because new capital formation has been plentiful.

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The Cure for High Prices is—High Prices By: Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

Prices are important economic signals. High prices—whether for energy foodstuffs, etc., are signals to the world to (a) supply more; (b) substitute; or (c) conserve.

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Are we now seeing Peak Russia and Peak China? By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

The question in the title is perhaps a strange one to ask at a time when these two countries seem so powerful and aggressive, the former attacking Ukraine, the latter threatening to take Taiwan.

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The UK Gilts Crisis: A Harbinger of Things to Come? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors, former World Banker

In 1994, James Carville, a Clinton advisor, stated he’d like to be reincarnated as the bond market, because “you can intimidate everybody”

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Is the World heading towards “Polycrisis”? By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

According to historian Adam Tooze, we are currently potentially facing a “polycrisis”: a number of smaller to medium-sized crises in the world that have the potential to combine and reinforce each other.

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The Dawn of a New Era: More expensive Energy and Wages? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

Psychologists say that the human brain suffers from dozens of different biases, perhaps one of the most important of these being “recency bias”. We tend to project the past into the future.

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Demographics and Cost of Capital By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd, former World Banker and Margaux Plassard, Intern

While there are short-term fluctuations in interest rates caused by economic circumstances and central bank policies, there are also long-term structural trends affecting interest rates. This article will look in greater detail and one of the most important of these, namely demographics.

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Demographics and GDP By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd, former World Banker

Many believe that demographics is at most remotely related to economics. If you are one of these, perhaps by the time you finish reading this article, you will be convinced how fundamentally demographics underpins economics.

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The Riskiest Macroeconomic Environment of the 21st Century! By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

In my opinion, the macro environment is riskier than before the Dotcom Bubble and before the Great Financial Bubble. Why? A nasty cocktail of factors which may reinforce each other

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Is the US Fed playing with the wrong levers? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors, former World Banker

Many economists are of the opinion that the US Fed has had a pretty abysmal track record in forecasting inflation during past years.

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The world continues to hurtle along towards recession and possibly even financial crisis By: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

Over the past month, I have travelled within North America and Western Europe, met quite a few people, including senior bankers, and have been generally surprised by the feeling of ‘business as usual’.

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Where are US markets? Where are they heading? By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

According to Bloomberg, the current decline in Nasdaq market cap has exceeded that of any recent crisis:

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How may the War in Ukraine affect Emerging Markets? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

We have all heard the adage that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon could affect the weather patterns on the other side of the planet. May the war in Ukraine also have such unintended consequences?

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Prepare for Monetary Climate Change By: Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

Monetary climate change (to borrow a phrase from author and columnist Ron Stoeferle) is happening far faster than environmental climate change.

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From Rubble to PetroRuble: towards the Birth of a new Monetary Order? By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

The recent sanctions against Russia catalyzed a sudden fall of the Ruble from 81 Rubles to the Dollar to 150 Rubles to the Dollar.

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Will US Sanctions on Russia weaken the US Dollar as World Reserve Currency? By Les Nemethy, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

There are three crises brewing in the world today: An energy crisis is taking shape, caused by poor transition planning from fossil fuels to alternative energies

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How may the Ukrainian Invasion economically impact Western Economies? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd, former World Banker

Despite the world experiencing a humanitarian crisis and approaching Armageddon, some observers are focusing on how much damage sanctions have caused to Russia

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Inflation and Democracy By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

According to macro analyst Octavio Costa, the United States (and for that matter most of the world) are facing three macro extremes simultaneously

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The Fragility of the European Banking System by Les Nemethy, CEO of Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

It is an often unappreciated fact that Europe escaped the 1929 depression that began in the US, until the 1931 collapse of Creditanstalt, a large Austrian bank, which unleashed the full brunt of the depression Europe.

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Is Monetary Tightening the Cure for Inflation? By Les Nemethy, CEO of Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd. and former World Banker

The US Fed has not increased interest rates, just talked of increasing rates—not even by that much—and global stock exchanges lost $4.2 trillion in week.

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The Importance of Capital Allocation By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

In my experience, most owners, CEO’s and boards of companies are highly concerned with improving operations, but

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Can the Fed Engineer a Soft Landing? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

When Apollo 13 was re-entering earth’s atmosphere, with a re-entry angle of less than 5.2 degrees, the craft would have bounced off the atmosphere into space.

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Economic Vulnerability of Central European Economies By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., Former World Banker

The recent global economic scene today may be characterized by two related phenomena: first, an “everything boom”

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Is Bitcoin the New Gold? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd, former World Banker

Much has been written about how bitcoin has taken luster and marketshare from gold over the past decade.

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Monetary tightening will be transitory. Inflation is here to stay. By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

Monetary policy over the past few years has been the most accommodative in the history of financial markets.

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Covid-19: Effects on Debt Levels and Inflation By Les Nemethy

You may recall that at the beginning of March 2020, I wrote an opinion that many considered outlandish at the time

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Net International Investment Position By Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd. and former World Banker

Net International Investment Position (“NIIP”) is an ever-so-important but ever-so-seldom used indicator of a country’s financial health, you might say, its financial net worth.

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Beware: Likely an Era of Negative Real Interest Rates Ahead by: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker and François Lesegretain

With the long-term trend in interest rates down, and inflation trending upward, (alas, with increasing signs of not being transitory), more and more debt instruments have increasingly negative real interest rates.

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Risk Premiums in Central Europe during the Covid Era by: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker and François Lesegretain

Risk premium may be defined as the differential in interest rate payable on bonds of a particular country compared to the lowest risk country.

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FDI in Central Europe by: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker and François Lesegretain

Foreign Direct Investment has an enormous impact on economic performance of developing economies.

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What is the impact of Industry 4.0 on your business? by: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker and François Lesegretain

Industry 4.0 is sweeping Central Europe, indeed the world. How does this affect your business?

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Inflation and Emerging Markets by: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker and François Lesegretain

Inflation does not affect emerging markets (EM’s) the same way as developing markets (DM’s). In this article, we examine (a) past and current differences in inflation rates between emerging and developed markets

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Is Current Inflation Temporary? Today’s Most Consequential Economic Debate by: Les Nemethy, CEO, Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

On March 4, 2021, Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced “inflation will pick up in the coming months but that it would likely prove temporary and not enough for the Fed to alter its record-low interest rate policies.”

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Active vs Passive Investing By Les Nemethy and Francois Lesegretain

Business owners often wonder: if they were to sell their business, what would they do with their money?

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Activist Investors By Les Nemethy and Francois Lesegretain

No public company, no matter how large, is immune from possible attack from activist investors.

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Is the Global Economy heading towards a crack-up boom? By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion.

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The Case for Gold Today By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

The last time I recommended gold as an investment was in April, 2020, at which time it traded below $1700

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The Venture Capital Industry in Europe and Central Europe By Les Nemethy and François Lesegretain

Our last article was on the subject of Mergers & Acquisitions, which came to the conclusion that M&A appears very robust over the past few quarters in Central Europe.

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How is M&A holding up under Covid? By Les Nemethy and Francois Lesegretain

In a nutshell, surprisingly well. This article looks at (a) geographic areas that have been performing better

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Where is the recent Market Turmoil is heading? Yield Curve Control By Les Nemethy, CEO Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd., former World Banker

The backdrop Financial markets are currently experiencing unprecedented circumstances

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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:

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GameStock 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.

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Why 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.

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Is 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.

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Inflation 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

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Light 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.

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Financial 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?

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A 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”

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Malinvestment 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

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An Upcoming Paper Gold Crisis? By Les Nemethy and Alberto Scalabrini

This article deals with the possibility of problems in the paper gold market.

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Does 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.

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The 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

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Covid 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.

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The 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

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Bankruptcy 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.

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New 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

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Corporate 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

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May 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.

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COVID-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

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Coronavirus:  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

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Covid-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?

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COVID-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).

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COVID-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

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Factoring 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

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Impact 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.

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Should 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.)

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Should 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.

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The 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.

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Corporate 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).

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Dividend 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.

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The “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.

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Control Premiums: How much is control worth? By Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov

The majority of corporate acquisitions are acquisitions of majority interests.

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Minority Discount By Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov

Our last article was on control premiums. Minority discount is basically the flipside of control premium

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Debt Financing of Acquisitions by Les Nemethy and Sergey Glekov

There are many reasons for using debt to finance an acquisition.

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Optimizing 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.

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Reverse 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.

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Part 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.

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Part 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.

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Part 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.

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Part 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

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Part 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.

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Different 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.

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The 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.:

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The 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

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The 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:

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Debt 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:

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Why 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.

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Debt 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

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Conditions 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

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Drag 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

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Non-core assets in corporate finance transactions

Non-core assets may greatly complicate raising equity financing, finding strategic or financial partners, or selling a business.

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Do 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.

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Material 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

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Valuation via Discounted Cash Flow

Business owners often ask themselves whether they need a business valuation, and if so what kind of valuation is required.

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Managing 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…

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