Africa Broker-Dealers: Growing Flowers and Seed Investors

Posted on June 6, 2014 by admin

As a follow-up to BrokerDealer.com/blog spotlighting KKR’s investment in flower firm Afriflora, a description of the African Securities Exchange Association (ASEA), which brings together members from the 23 securities exchanges in Africa can be found here.

Africa investor, the trading platform from Marco Polo World seamlessly connects African Brokers and Exchanges with global buy side originators, broker dealers and exchange points. It represents the most formidable order dissemination and execution network for Africa available in the market today.

If you’re considering trading into and out of Africa and emerging markets, talking with the Africa investor Marco Polo Network should be your first step. We offer the simplicity of a single connection to African and emerging markets around the globe.

For firms that originate trades into Africa and local brokers that execute them, The Africa investor Marco Polo is the electronic, FIX-enabled trading network that brings transactions into compliance with regional rules and regulations, allowing for seamless cross-border transactions.

These capabilities are multi-directional. Traders that are based in Africa use the same platform to execute trades outside of their own borders, without worrying about different versions of FIX or trading rules and regulations in other countries.

As a network built by capital markets professionals for capital markets professionals, we provide instant infrastructure, reliable transaction messaging, and comprehensive 24/6 client support in all markets. Our goal is to support African exchanges and free traders to focus on what they do best.

Bankers Smell Opportunity in Africa Flower Deal; Private Equity Firm KKR Brings Home the Roses

Posted on June 6, 2014 by admin

BrokerDealer.com deal spotlight courtesy of Simon Clark reporting for the Wall Street Journal.

LONDON—For private-equity giant KKR +0.30% & Co., a debut investment in Africa smells of sweetheart roses. {And for others seeking investment capital for Africa-based opportunities, BrokerDealer.com provides a global resources of brokers, dealers and private investors seeking new deal opportunities}

KKR is investing about $200 million in Ethiopian flower company Afriflora; above, an Afriflora worker. Afriflora

Afriflora is an Ethiopian company that grows about 730 million of the flowers a year for export to Europe, making it a significant player in the east African country’s blossoming cut flower export industry. KKR is investing about $200 million from its $6.2 billion European fund to buy a stake in the company, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

The deal opens a new chapter for KKR, the New York-based firm best-known for its hostile $25 billion leveraged takeover of RJR Nabisco RAI +1.47% in 1988, the subject of the book “Barbarians at the Gate.”It also comes as private-equity firms, seeking opportunities outside the crowded markets of North America and Europe, show tentative interest in Africa. KKR rival, Washington-based Carlyle Group CG -0.34% LP, raised a $698 million African fund earlier this year and has invested in a food distributor and a logistics company, for instance.

Private-equity investment in sub-Saharan Africa increased 43% to $1.6 billion in 2013 from the previous year, according to the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. Investors are attracted by fast economic growth in some countries on the continent. The Ethiopian economy grew by an average 10.6% a year between 2004 and 2012, according to the World Bank.

“We see Africa as a long-term attractive investment destination,” said Kayode Akinola, head of KKR’s African operations. “The potential is astounding. But the work to get there is going to be considerable.”

For the full story from the Wall Street Journal, click here

Bitcoins, Broker-Dealers, Investment Bankers and New Business Models: The Race is On

Posted on June 5, 2014 by admin

Bitcoin and the topic of “virtual currency” continues to gain traction, as evidenced by the increasing number of technology-savvy corporate executives focused on the world of transactions. Within the world of broker-dealers and investment bankers, bitcoins are increasingly intriguing when considering the global ramifications of a new tool that will be part of the toolset for trading securities and financial instruments; and certainly a tool for which start-up companies seeking capital can build a business plan around.

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz explains his outlook here:

More Than Half of VC-Backed Start-ups Valued at $1Bil+ are B2B

Posted on June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 by admin

BrokerDealer.com blog update is courtesy of this a.m.’s WSJ CIO Journal and reporter Rachel King: For companies who aspire to the same success as the biggest and best, selecting the right investment banker and broker-dealer can mean the difference between greatness and simply a great idea (that never made it..) The brokerdealer.com database can help entrepreneurs source and locate bankers, licensed investment brokers and qualified investors across the globe.

Twenty of 35 VC-backed startups valued at $1 billion or more are business-to-business companies, including Dropbox Inc., Palantir Technologies Inc. and Cloudera Inc. That’s a higher percentage of B2B startups than during the dot-com bubble years of 1999 and 2000. For some of these startups, the high valuations can help inspire confidence with prospective corporate customers. For others, the overall rise in valuations is reminiscent of previous instances of collective — and misplaced — euphoria. “I’m not worried,” Karim Faris, general partner at Google Ventures, tells CIO Journal. “There’s a lot more meat to the bone this time around than there was in 1999.” The WSJ CIO Journal full list of $1B+ startups is in this article.)

Top Secret Palantir Technologies Valued at $9Bil Considers Alternative to IPO

Posted on June 1, 2014June 1, 2014 by admin

Extracts published at Brokerdealer.com are courtesy of NY Times May 31 story by Quentin Hardy

Palantir Technologies will not help you share, message, pin, post or chat. It does not exist to make you more social or connected, or even to help advertisers get to you. Its technology is deeply geeky, its work secretive. Nonetheless, it’s one of the most valuable private tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Palantir Technologies, which has 1,500 employees, has government and private clients worldwide. Credit Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

This year, Palantir, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., is expected to bring in about $1 billion in revenue, mostly from private companies interested in adaptations of its intelligence software. Though it is not yet profitable, investors have given Palantir almost $900 million in total. The most recent round, last December, sold shares in the company to investors at an implied valuation for the company of $9 billion.

All of this has its investors, including some of the world’s most successful hedge funds, salivating for a big payday from an initial public offering. “The company has been incredibly successful, and every investor likes when companies go public,” Justin Fishner-Wolfson, a managing partner at 137 Ventures, which is one of those investors, said in an email.

Instead of selling stock to the public, founder and co-CEO Alex Karp and other executives are toying with the idea of creating new kinds of financial instruments, like a bond that pays off on future earnings, to unlock a bit of Palantir’s value.

For the full story from the NY Times, please click here