
投资巨头贝莱德(BlackRock,管理规模达11.6万亿美元)首席执行官拉里·芬克素以逆向投资著称。过去一年饱受非议的英国经济,或许会成为他的最新投资标的。
芬克表示,基于对英国工党政府“促增长”议程的信心,贝莱德正“全面”加码英国资产配置,并补充称,英国和欧洲在触及“投降点”后,正进入反弹期。
这位72岁的贝莱德集团掌舵人捕捉到英国的投资机遇,提及国民西敏寺银行(NatWest)、劳埃德银行(Lloyds)及圣詹姆斯广场(St. James’s Place)等金融股,认为这些股票因市场负面情绪而遭到低估,在他看来,此类负面情绪“可能缺乏事实依据”。
在接受《泰晤士报》采访时,芬克以数项公众行为转变为例,表明他对英国发掘新增长机遇充满信心,并认为基尔·斯塔默(Keir Starmer)领导的政府专注于解决“棘手问题”。
他坦言:“英国与欧洲本就具备诸多根本性优势,却长期受到过度监管和过多管控的束缚,这让我深有感触。在我看来,当时的情况已触及投降点。”
芬克对英国经济的乐观判断,与大众认知大相径庭。大众普遍认为英国经济增长滞后,即将陷入衰退,高净值人群也即将大批外流。
企业对新出台的国民保险缴纳义务及灵活工作政策颇有微词,称这些政策加大了招聘和企业发展的难度。与此同时,有报道称,受非居民税收法规调整影响,亿万富翁群体正大规模撤离英国。房地产投资领域的亿万富翁兄弟伊恩·利文斯通(Ian Livingstone)和理查德·利文斯通(Richard Livingstone)成为最新的离英者,自去年5月大选以来,已有数千人离开英国。
英国本就紧张的公共财政,还面临着唐纳德·特朗普政府威胁实施大规模报复性关税带来的压力,这将严重影响英国经济增长。
这些压力似乎正在主导英国民众的情绪。
益普索·莫里(Ipsos MORI)的一项民意调查显示,75%的英国民众预计未来12个月经济形势将持续恶化,刷新了该调查自1978年启动以来的悲观情绪纪录。该机构发布的经济乐观指数为-68,较2022年生活成本危机期间、2008年全球金融危机期间以及1980年全球经济衰退初期记录的数据更为严峻。
这种悲观情绪在企业界同样蔓延开来,企业纷纷未雨绸缪,为可能因关税战引发的经济衰退提前部署应对策略。3月英国采购经理指数跌至2022年以来的最低水平,表明企业因信心不足而减少业务活动。
然而,即便面对诸多负面信号,相较于里希·苏纳克(Rishi Sunak)首相任期最后数月时的黯淡论调,芬克如今对英国经济的预期更为乐观。据彭博社去年披露,英国财政大臣蕾切尔·里夫斯(Rachel Reeves)曾主动向贝莱德等投资巨头抛出橄榄枝,力邀其参与英国经济重建进程。
“相较一年前,如今我对英国经济更有信心。"
芬克对办公空间短缺表示失望
贝莱德进军英国可能会遇到的一大障碍是办公空间短缺。
芬克迫切希望将伦敦约3000名员工集中到一处办公,以加速该集团在英国的布局进程。然而,由于缺乏合适的办公场所,他的计划陷入僵局。
芬克在接受《泰晤士报》采访时表示:“随着在伦敦的收购版图不断扩张,眼下我正深陷办公空间严重短缺的困局。明日就急需一间办公室,可寻遍伦敦也难觅合适之所。”
“倘若我能确定未来12个月内可获批启动建设项目,我会自建办公楼。”(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
投资巨头贝莱德(BlackRock,管理规模达11.6万亿美元)首席执行官拉里·芬克素以逆向投资著称。过去一年饱受非议的英国经济,或许会成为他的最新投资标的。
芬克表示,基于对英国工党政府“促增长”议程的信心,贝莱德正“全面”加码英国资产配置,并补充称,英国和欧洲在触及“投降点”后,正进入反弹期。
这位72岁的贝莱德集团掌舵人捕捉到英国的投资机遇,提及国民西敏寺银行(NatWest)、劳埃德银行(Lloyds)及圣詹姆斯广场(St. James’s Place)等金融股,认为这些股票因市场负面情绪而遭到低估,在他看来,此类负面情绪“可能缺乏事实依据”。
在接受《泰晤士报》采访时,芬克以数项公众行为转变为例,表明他对英国发掘新增长机遇充满信心,并认为基尔·斯塔默(Keir Starmer)领导的政府专注于解决“棘手问题”。
他坦言:“英国与欧洲本就具备诸多根本性优势,却长期受到过度监管和过多管控的束缚,这让我深有感触。在我看来,当时的情况已触及投降点。”
芬克对英国经济的乐观判断,与大众认知大相径庭。大众普遍认为英国经济增长滞后,即将陷入衰退,高净值人群也即将大批外流。
企业对新出台的国民保险缴纳义务及灵活工作政策颇有微词,称这些政策加大了招聘和企业发展的难度。与此同时,有报道称,受非居民税收法规调整影响,亿万富翁群体正大规模撤离英国。房地产投资领域的亿万富翁兄弟伊恩·利文斯通(Ian Livingstone)和理查德·利文斯通(Richard Livingstone)成为最新的离英者,自去年5月大选以来,已有数千人离开英国。
英国本就紧张的公共财政,还面临着唐纳德·特朗普政府威胁实施大规模报复性关税带来的压力,这将严重影响英国经济增长。
这些压力似乎正在主导英国民众的情绪。
益普索·莫里(Ipsos MORI)的一项民意调查显示,75%的英国民众预计未来12个月经济形势将持续恶化,刷新了该调查自1978年启动以来的悲观情绪纪录。该机构发布的经济乐观指数为-68,较2022年生活成本危机期间、2008年全球金融危机期间以及1980年全球经济衰退初期记录的数据更为严峻。
这种悲观情绪在企业界同样蔓延开来,企业纷纷未雨绸缪,为可能因关税战引发的经济衰退提前部署应对策略。3月英国采购经理指数跌至2022年以来的最低水平,表明企业因信心不足而减少业务活动。
然而,即便面对诸多负面信号,相较于里希·苏纳克(Rishi Sunak)首相任期最后数月时的黯淡论调,芬克如今对英国经济的预期更为乐观。据彭博社去年披露,英国财政大臣蕾切尔·里夫斯(Rachel Reeves)曾主动向贝莱德等投资巨头抛出橄榄枝,力邀其参与英国经济重建进程。
“相较一年前,如今我对英国经济更有信心。"
芬克对办公空间短缺表示失望
贝莱德进军英国可能会遇到的一大障碍是办公空间短缺。
芬克迫切希望将伦敦约3000名员工集中到一处办公,以加速该集团在英国的布局进程。然而,由于缺乏合适的办公场所,他的计划陷入僵局。
芬克在接受《泰晤士报》采访时表示:“随着在伦敦的收购版图不断扩张,眼下我正深陷办公空间严重短缺的困局。明日就急需一间办公室,可寻遍伦敦也难觅合适之所。”
“倘若我能确定未来12个月内可获批启动建设项目,我会自建办公楼。”(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
Larry Fink, CEO of the $11.6 trillion investing titan BlackRock, is used to making contrarian bets. The entire U.K. economy, much maligned in the past year, could be his latest one.
Fink says BlackRock is investing in U.K. assets “across the board” after being reassured by the Labour government’s “pro-growth” agenda, adding that the U.K. and Europe are entering a rebound era after discovering their “capitulation point.”
The 72-year-old BlackRock boss has spied an investing opportunity in the U.K., name-checking finance stocks like NatWest, Lloyds, and St. James’s Place as equities that were undervalued by a level of negativity that Fink thinks “was probably not warranted.”
In his interview with the Times, Fink pointed to several examples of shifting public practices that gave him confidence in the U.K.’s ability to discover fresh growth opportunities and argued that Keir Starmer’s government was focused on “hard issues.”
“It just resonated with me—that there are so many fundamentally strong attributes about the U.K. and Europe, and they’ve been so smothered by overregulation, by too much control,” he said. “And to me, it was just very clear we were at a capitulation point.”
Fink’s positive ruminations on the U.K. economy are a divergence from popular opinion, which has painted the U.K. as a growth laggard on the cusp of both a recession and an exodus of its richest citizens.
Businesses have complained about new national insurance obligations and flexible working policies that they argue make it harder to hire and grow. Meanwhile, there are reports that billionaires are kick-starting a mass exodus from the country owing to changes in non-dom tax regulations. Billionaire real estate investing brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone were among the latest to exit the U.K., joining thousands of others since last May’s election.
The U.K. is also facing pressure on its already tight public finances from the Donald Trump administration’s threats of widespread retaliatory tariffs that would significantly affect growth.
These pressures appear to be driving the dominant sentiment among the U.K. public.
An Ipsos MORI poll revealed 75% of Brits expect the economy to get worse over the next 12 months, marking the gloomiest sentiment among the public since the survey was launched in 1978. The group’s Economic Optimism Index registered a -68, worse than results during the cost-of-living crisis in 2022, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, and a global recession kick-starting in 1980.
That sentiment is similar among businesses, which are beginning to build their defenses ahead of a possible recession induced by the tariff war. The U.K.’s Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to its lowest level since 2022 in March, suggesting businesses are reducing activity owing to low confidence.
Despite this evidence to the contrary, however, Fink is cheerier on the U.K. than he was in the final months of Rishi Sunak’s premiership. Bloomberg reported last year that BlackRock was among the investment groups being wooed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to help rebuild Britain.
“I have more confidence in the U.K. economy today than I did a year ago.”
Fink laments lack of space
One obstacle that might halt BlackRock’s march on the U.K. is office space.
Fink is keen to bring all of his approximately 3,000 London employees under one roof to expedite the group’s bet on the U.K. He’s being foiled, though, by a lack of available real estate.
“I am so short of space here in London with all our acquisitions. I need an office tomorrow, but there is nothing here,” Fink told the Times.
“If I knew I could put the shovel in the ground in the next 12 months, I’d build our own.”