Books

REPORTS: Standard Life plc and Aberdeen Asset Management PLC

The Boards of Standard Life plc (“Standard Life”) and Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (“Aberdeen”) are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all-share merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen, to be effected by means of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement between Aberdeen and the Aberdeen Shareholders under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 (the “Merger”). The Combined Group will in due course be branded to incorporate the names of both Standard Life and Aberdeen.

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Book Review: Solomon’s Knot

Solomon’s Knot is a double tie. For Robert D. Cooter and Hans-Bernard Schaefer, authors of the book by the same name and published by Princeton University Press, the knot is the one between law and economical growth in the developing countries.

According to them, only laws can create the right environment for these nations to prosper: an example would be obliging parties to respect contracts, while in many countries opening a new business is always a matter of long time and complex procedures. In Venezuela, according to the data reported by the authors, 141 days and 16 procedures are needed, versus the 5 days and 1 procedure in Canada.

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REPORTS: Press Review Willerfunds and Elbrus Capital

Launched in 1997, WEREE has been advised by Elbrus beginning October 2013. Over the three years, it has improved its risk-return profile and has significantly outperformed its benchmark and competitors. The Fund is now in the top quartile performance among its peers for the period and ranks highly in industry databases and monitoring services such as Morningstar1 (4 stars) and Quantalys2 (5 stars).

WEREE invests in liquid listed equities in Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia and the former Soviet states. The Fund implements a hybrid investment process that combines fundamental research stock selection with a model-driven macro overlay that determines the appropriate level of equity exposure for a given period or market environment.

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