Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1433519
NEWS 6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 DECEMBER 2021 MEDIRECT Bank is organising its tenth medirectalk investment webinar which will be discussing the topical subject of inflation and what should be done about it. The event will take place online tomor- row at 6pm and is free of charge. The upcoming medirectalk is organised by MeDirect Bank, together with Morn- ingstar. Morningstar Investment Manage- ment's EMEA Chief Investment Officer, Mike Coop, will be discussing the threat of inflation and the potential dangers facing clients. One of the themes to be discussed is the shift of investor focus from recession to inflation over the past year due to the vac- cine rollouts and huge government sup- port that supercharged a global economic recovery. Therefore, is the world now en- tering a new era of high inflation? Is this a structural shift which will erode the real wealth of your asset base? How does one prepare a multi-asset portfolio for such uncertainty? These are some of the ques- tions that will be answered during the me- directalk. Mike Coop has great experience in mul- ti-asset investing, represents the embod- iment of Morningstar investment prin- ciples, and has an obvious passion for delivering great returns to end investors. Since joining Morningstar, he has worked tirelessly with the leaders of the invest- ment team across the world to ensure that their process remains at the leading edge of developments in multi-asset portfolio management. Mike Coop was appointed Chief Invest- ment Officer of Morningstar Investment Management in July. In his role, Mike Coop is responsible for leading the re- gion's investment management team and working with advisers and institutions to deliver investment solutions. He joined Morningstar IM Europe as head of mul- ti-asset portfolio management in 2017 and will continue to oversee this offering as part of his new role. Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, pri- vate capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. The session will be an interactive one, and participants will be invited to ask their questions during a 15-minute Q&A ses- sion with Mike Coop. Questions can be submitted via the online platform during the event or sent in advance to registra- tions@medirect.com.mt. In order to register for the medirectalk, as well as to view past events, you may visit https://www.medirect.com.mt/invest/me- directalk Focus on Blue Whale Growth Fund Meanwhile, the ninth medirectalk event took place on 18 November 2021 and fea- tured Stephen Yiu, Chief Investment Of- ficer at Blue Whale Capital and Lead Man- ager of the Blue Whale Growth Fund. He gave a summary of Blue Whale's invest- ment approach and portfolio positioning, together with an overview of the market developments and fund performance. During this highly interactive and in- teresting talk, Yiu focused on the perfor- mance of three well known equities, name- ly Alphabet, Microsoft and Nvidia. He identified four areas to look out for when making investment decisions: the strength of the company's fundamentals, the infla- tion/stagflation hedge, macro uncertain- ties as well as the pace of digital transfor- mation of companies. The Blue Whale Growth Fund is a global equity fund, focusing on large-cap stocks in developed markets. The Fund was launched in September 2017 and since inception it is one of the best performing funds in the IA Global sector. The invest- ment team, led by Yiu, embraces a high conviction, valuation-driven approach to stock selection. At any given point, the fund will be invested in 25 to 35 individual stocks. Inflation to take centre stage in MeDirect Bank Malta tenth webinar Morningstar's Mike Coop will be discussing the threat of inflation and the potential dangers facing clients during the next medirectalk Public car-park removed from Marsaxlokk club plans JAMES DEBONO THE Marsaxlokk football club is no longer seeking to develop a second football pitch on land currently occupied by a public car-park, first inaugurated in 2018, But the club wants to devel- op a hostel and an old people's home on a public garden and disturbed land outside the de- velopment zone, including a part of the parking area adja- cent to its football ground. The application foresees land- scaping and an "integrated and enlarged public garden" adja- cent to a proposed three-storey home for the elderly. Other proposed develop- ments include a childcare cen- tre, a social club, food and drink establishments, sports-related shops and a physiotherapy clin- ic. Seating stands are also be- ing proposed along the already existing ground. Only a part of the existing car park will be impacted by the new develop- ment. The Lands Authority formally objected to the original appli- cation because Marsaxlokk FC did not possess a legal title on a substantial part of the land ear- marked for the development, "including a public car park and a public garden". The public car park adjacent to the football ground was in- augurated in 2018. The car park includes a water reservoir for 760 cubic metres of rainwater, and paving through which grass can grow – a development sub- sequently awarded an award for being 'environmentally sus- tainable' in the 2018 Malta Ar- chitect Awards, hosted by the Planning Authority. The application comes in the wake of a legal notice issued in 2017, which encourages the commercialisation of sports fa- cilities. Through this legal notice football clubs, aquatic sports clubs and national sports asso- ciations, which were given gov- ernment-rented property, can dedicate part of the building for commercial activities that can be carried out by a private entity. The same legislation excluded entertainment establishments, gaming shops, residences, ho- tels and other activities, which the newly set-up Commission for the Commercialisation of Sports Facilities does not feel adapted for sport facilities at- tended by children. While this legislation has in- jected investment in sports fa- cilities it has also led to greater pressure for commercial devel- opments, which have little to do with sports.