Virtual hedge fund allows investors to track best-performing traders
A group of London-based Irish traders have set up a virtual hedge fund to allow investors to track the best-performing traders, according to today’s Irish Times.
The papers says Coalface Capital, which launches in London today, is an online platform that ranks and rewards independent traders on the basis of performance.
It is able to pay traders by passing on 80% of the revenue it receives from established trading platforms for retaining active and consistent traders.
Coalface is reported to have already signed partnership agreements with four leading online trading platforms.
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Too much competition for hotel sales in Dublin
A story in the Irish Independent states that too much competition among buyers means purchasing a hotel in the capital is no longer a good investment, according to the head of one of the country's biggest hotel buyers.
Speaking at a Crowe Horwath/DTZ hotel industry briefing in Galway, Noel Creedon, head of Cork-based specialist investment firm iNua, said his firm will not buy any properties in the capital despite building up a €20m war chest for hotel acquisitions earlier this year.
A flood of investors eager to capitalise on Ireland's economic and property market recovery have seen hotel prices in the capital climb steadily in the past two years, according to the paper.
Several world-famous names have bought into Dublin hotels in this period including Kennedy Wilson, who acquired debt attached to the Shelbourne, and US billionaire John Malone, who was part of the consortium that bought the InterContinental.
The next major Dublin hotel to go up for sale is the Gresham on Dublin's O'Connell St.
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A positive budget for forestry sector
Forestry sector responses to the budget have been largely positive, both for the sector’s overall €113.8m allocation and for targeted tax reliefs, according to the Irish Examiner.
Forestry clear-felling income is to be tax-free as the “high earners restriction” of €80,000 for active foresters and farmers has been ended.
The papers quotes Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney, who says: “Forestry plays a huge role environmentally, economically, and socially in rural areas; and I believe the benefits of this change will be felt long into the future.”
“Instead of that, Revenue has said it is easier to remove the high earners restriction for active forestry farmers, so clear-felling is exempt.
“That goes beyond the expectations and asks of the forestry sector. We need more forestry, planting, and trees and this will be a big incentive to do that.”
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EU planning resettlement of 200,000 refugees
The Financial Times is reporting that Brussels will propose a large-scale refugee resettlement scheme early next year in a move that could see 200,000 migrants distributed across the bloc directly from camps in countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
The European Commission plans to propose a “structural EU-wide resettlement scheme” in March as part of a host of reforms aimed at stemming the flow of people from Turkey and nearby countries into the EU.
The paper adds that massive resettlement is seen as part of a quid pro quo of any deal with Turkey, which the EU is hoping to persuade to play a bigger role in stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.
