Broadridge Announces Agreement to Acquire NewRiver
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire NewRiver, Inc., a provider of electronic investor disclosure solutions, for approximately $77 million.
The merger agreement has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, and the transaction is expected to close in August subject to customary closing conditions.
According to a press release, NewRiver has been an important supplier to Broadridge for nearly 10 years.The acquisition strengthens Broadridge’s compliance communication capabilities.
NewRiver’s associates, located in Andover, Massachusetts, and New Delhi, India, will become part of Broadridge’s Investor Communication Solutions division.
The survey found a net 5% of respondents
predicting that the global economy will improve in the next year, showing a modest
turnaround from July when a net 12% expected the world economy would
deteriorate. An indicator that tracks investors’ risk and liquidity conditions
returned to an almost neutral reading this month, showing an improvement in
sentiment.
While the percentage of respondents expecting
below-trend growth and inflation remained unchanged at 73%, the survey shows
recession fears have eased in favor of inflation concerns. Down from 12% last
month, only 1% of respondents expect inflation to decrease in the next twelve
months.
A net 14% of asset allocators indicated that
global monetary policy is too stimulative, up from 5% in July. Still, 55% of
respondents to the global survey do not anticipate any rate hike in the U.S.
before the third quarter of 2011.
Banks also saw improvement, going from last
month’s 28% to 19% underweight in August. This ranked alongside industrials as
the biggest sector shift by investors, but utilities and pharmaceuticals suffered
steep declines in support.
Increased Appetite for European Equities,
Decreased Boorish Sentiment on China
Allocation to bonds decreased this month in
favor of allocation to equities. European equities saw an increase in demand,
while investors limited their exposure to U.S. and Japanese equities.
Eurozone equities saw a strong uptick from a
net 10% underweight last month to a net 11% overweight in August. U.S. equities
experienced a sharp drop from 7% overweight in July to 14% underweight in
August. Japanese equities reached a net 27% underweight in August, compared to
a net 7% in June.
The survey found asset allocators think the
U.S. dollar appears undervalued, a net 23% up from 3% in July. The Japanese
yen, on the other hand, which 55% saw as overvalued in July, is up to a net 62%
in this month’s report.
Asset allocators continue to reduce their
cash holdings. The survey found a net 7% overweight cash in August, down from
13% in July and 19% in June. In contrast, a net 9% of respondents were
overweight commodities in August, up from a net 1% underweight in July.
Global Emerging Markets (GEM) increased in
popularity as concerns about a weakening of the Chinese economy waned. A net 38%
of global asset allocators are overweight GEM equities, up from 34% in July and
31% in June. Expectations of the Chinese economy to weaken in the next year are
down to a net 19% from 39% last month.