Chinese firms in talks to join group to buy Li Ka-shing's ports, Bloomberg News reports
June 12 (Reuters) - Chinese ports operator China Cosco Shipping Corporation is among the firms in talks to participate in a global consortium seeking to buy 43 ports from billionaire Li Ka-shing-owned CK Hutchison (0001.HK), opens new tab, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
CK Hutchison said last month that Mediterranean Shipping Company, run by the family of Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte, was the main investor in a group seeking the portfolio of ports, which includes two near the Panama Canal, for $22.8 billion.
Negotiation for the deal that covers 43 ports in 23 countries is on an exclusive basis between CK Hutchison and the consortium for 145 days until July 27.
Adding Chinese investors to the consortium emerged as one of the options after high-level talks in Switzerland last month between Chinese and U.S. officials, the Bloomberg report said.
China Cosco Shipping Corp is among the state-backed companies in talks with the consortium run by the Aponte family, the report said.
CK Hutchison and China Cosco Shipping didn't immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The deal has been through weeks of global scrutiny and criticism in China and the U.S. over CK Hutchison's plan to sell the ports to a consortium, previously led by U.S. investment firm BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab. BlackRock remains part of the group.
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Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Interactive Investor review: How good is it for DIY investors and how does it compare to rivals?
Products featured in this article are independently selected by This is Money's specialist journalists. If you open an account using links which have an asterisk, This is Money will earn an affiliate commission. We do not allow this to affect our editorial independence. By In our Interactive Investor review, you can find out whether the investment platform is right for you. Interactive Investor offers general investing accounts, stocks and shares Isas and Sipps and allows investors to choose shares, bonds, funds, investment trusts and ETFs, including ready-made portfolios that do the work for you. It launched in 1995 and is now owned by the investment management group Aberdeen. It's become a popular choice for do-it-yourself investors: Interactive Investor has more than 450,000 customers and manages £70 billion of assets. Interactive Investor's selling point is its flat-fee subscription model, standing out from competitors that charge account fees as a percentage of your investments. It also offers a wealth of help and guidance for investors. We review Interactive Investor's fees, delve into the features offered by the platform, and put its customer service to the test. Flat fees can work out cheaper than rival traditional investment platforms once the value of your investments reaches a certain threshold. Competitive share dealing fee. Separate 'ii Community' app offers social features that are unique among the traditional investment platforms. Fund dealing costs £3.99 but other platforms offer this for free. Lack of flexibility with regular investments, although this is offered for free. Customer service isn't available at the weekend. This is Money's view: Interactive Investor is a great all-round investment platform. Its fee structure stands out for cost-conscious investors who have larger portfolios. > Learn more about Interactive Investor and open an account* You can open these accounts with Interactive Investor: Isa General investment account Sipp Junior stocks and shares Isa Cash savings account (provided by Flagstone, not linked to a regular Interactive Investor account) Why you can trust us This is Money has been covering investing and personal finance since 1999. Read more about how our editorial independence helps make our readers' lives richer. About our writer: Sam is This is Money's Money and Consumer Guides writer. He has more than 12 years of experience covering financial products. He started his writing career at an investment management company, where he wrote about its stocks and shares Isa and Sipp and covered investments and market news. He's been a writer and editor at the Financial Ombudsman Service and was a senior writer in the consumer team at NerdWallet, covering best-buy personal loans. How we tested Interactive Investor I used Interactive Investor to open a Sipp and spent several hours testing its features for this review. I've tested how easy the platform is to use on both desktop and its mobile app. I've searched for and bought investments, looked at the range of educational content on offer and been in touch with Interactive Investor's customer service team. My final assessment takes Interactive Investor's fees into account and determines whether it's a good overall option for the type of investor it's targeting. Here are Interactive Investor's account fees, along with the tier each level falls into: Interactive Investor's flat monthly fee starts at £4.99 for general investment accounts or Isas up to £50,000, this is higher if you add a Sipp as well, fees then step up for pots above £50,000 and £75,000. Interactive Investor also has a 'Super Investor' tier, which is £19.99 a month for an Isa or general account. This is targeted at more active investors, coming with four free online trades a month and a reduced charge for international share dealing. It costs an extra £10 a month to add a pension to this tier. You can add a junior Isa to your plan on the Investor and Super Investor tiers. It's possible to add as many junior Isas as you have children. This is Money's view of Interactive Investor's account fees Interactive Investor's subscription model is unique among the traditional investing platforms, which usually charge a fee as a percentage of the value of your investments. We believe its flat-fee structure is generally more straightforward than a percentage and helps you keep costs down. You just need to check the value of your pot and the type of account to see your annual fee. Unfortunately, this is more complicated than it was, due to the various tiers. Importantly once the value of your investments reaches a certain threshold, Interactive Investor's fees can work out cheaper than other big traditional investment platform providers, as most rivals charge percentage fees. Let's look at an example: Even though we like Interactive Investor's subscription model, there are situations where it will be beaten on account fees, particularly if you have a smaller pot and want to open both an Isa and a pension. For instance, here are example annual account fees for various sized pots invested in both an Isa and a Sipp with the different providers: Annual account fees for example pots in an Isa and Sipp Interactive Investor AJ Bell Charles Stanley Direct Fidelity Bestinvest Hargreaves Lansdown £30,000 £119.88 £75 £90 £105 £120 £135 £50,000 £119.88 £125 £150 £175 £200 £225 £100,000 £263.88 £250 £300 £350 £400 £450 £250,000 £263.88 £625 £600 £500 £1,000 £1,125 It's imperative to do your own calculations when thinking about where to put your money. Compare fees by considering the size of your pot, account type, what you want to invest in and how often you want to trade. Other important Interactive Investor fees In our view Interactive Investor's trading fees are competitive, but investors in funds should watch out for the £3.99 dealing charge. Some other platforms offer this for free. We like free regular monthly investing, but foreign exchange fees are higher than other platforms - watch out for this if buying US or European stocks. Trading fees UK and US shares, funds, ETFs, bonds and gilts: £3.99 Other international shares: £9.99 or £5.99 for 'Super Investors' Dividend reinvestment: £0.99 Regular monthly investing: No charge Foreign exchange fees Between £0 and £24,999.99: 1.50 per cent Between £25,000 and £49,999.99: 1.25 per cent Between £50,000 and £99,999.99: 1.00 per cent Between £100,000 and £599,999.99: 0.50 per cent For £600,000 or more: 0.25 per cent What is Interactive Investor's investment choice like? Interactive Investor offers a full range of investments, including: Stocks and shares Funds Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) Bonds and gilts Investment trusts You can choose from a huge range of more than 40,000 stocks, more than 3,000 funds and more than 1,000 ETFs. This is on par with other traditional investment platforms, so Interactive Investor gives you more than enough choice to build a portfolio suited to your investment style, risk tolerance and overall financial goals. If you want managed options, Interactive Investor doesn't build and offer its own ready-made portfolios unlike other platforms. Instead it markets 'Quick-start Funds' that are portfolios built by investment management companies Royal London and Vanguard. What is Interactive Investor's customer service like? Interactive Investor's customer service team is generally available from Monday to Friday between 7.45am and 5.30pm. The lack of weekend availability means it falls short of AJ Bell, Fidelity and Hargreaves Lansdown, which are all available on Saturdays. You can access Interactive Investor's help and support in a number of ways. The platform first points you towards its Help Centre, which answers many common questions, including how to add money to your account and how to pay your monthly fee. It's also possible to get in touch with Interactive Investor by phone, which is best for more pressing questions about your account. And while it doesn't list a customer service email address, you can message the team from your online account securely – a service which I tested. How did Interactive Investor's customer service perform? An interesting feature offered by Interactive Investor is the ability to add cash by way of an instant bank payment. The platform touts this as a way of bypassing the need to use your debit card or make slower traditional bank transfers. After linking your bank account, you can select it from the list of payment options to make an instant transfer. Having multiple options to add cash to your account quickly is great for investors. But I was having trouble linking my bank account using the QR code generated by the desktop version of the platform, so I messaged Interactive Investor from my online profile to ask for help. I asked them whether it was a known issue and if there's an alternative solution. Interactive Investor's chat functionality isn't live – you get a notification after you send the message saying it may take the team up to five working days to reply. But I received a reply in less than three hours, which I found to be very helpful. The customer service representative told me they would forward the problem to the IT team. In the meantime, they detailed the ways I could make an alternative payment to my account. I was grateful to have all this information in the reply, rather than being fobbed off to a page on the Help Centre. Another member of the This is Money team is a long-term Interactive Investor customer and has had to call them with questions about holdings, the timing of deals, tax-year end related issues and transferring investments to a spouse. He reports that the customer service team are helpful and knowledgeable and rates it as good. Secure messages: Interactive Investor's chat function isn't instant, but customer service responded quickly What is Interactive Investor's platform like to use? You can use Interactive Investor's platform on desktop and on mobile by downloading its app. I tested: On desktop: setting up a regular investment On mobile app: searching for and making a new investment Setting up a regular investment on desktop I found it straightforward to add a regular investment to a fund of my choice from my account on desktop. When you click 'portfolio' from the menu, you'll see a link for 'free regular investing' that takes you to a page to set up and manage regular investments. You must have cash in your account for regular investments to go through. I added cash to my account using a debit card and set up a monthly direct debit from my bank account. These were both straightforward and explained well with help text. Interactive Investor requests direct debits on the 12th of each month and executes regular investment instructions on the first Wednesday of each month. This means cash will sit in your account for around three weeks before it's invested. While it's straightforward to set up, Interactive Investor's regular investing service is less flexible than the ones offered by other investment platforms. For example, this may not work for your pay date. Platforms including Bestinvest, Fidelity and Hargreaves Lansdown give you the option of setting up regular investments directly to an investment of your choice, skipping the requirement to have cash in your account first. Fidelity also gives investors much more choice around the frequency of regular savings – monthly, quarterly, every six months or annually – and you can choose one of four dates throughout the month for the payment to be collected. Searching for and making an investment on mobile Interactive Investor's mobile app is straightforward to navigate. After you sign in, you'll see a menu at the bottom of your account that directs you to take different actions, for example viewing your portfolio, making a trade or checking the cash in your account ('wallet'). When you click 'trade' you'll go to a screen that allows you to search for investments. To search for an investment, you need to know where you want to invest. The 'research' tab allows you to get inspiration from the latest articles and videos from Interactive Investor's experts. However, I couldn't find Interactive Investor's top investment picks – the Super 60 – in the 'research' tab of its mobile app. Instead, I had to navigate back to its website on desktop to see the Super 60. I could navigate to the Super 60 easily from my account on desktop, so the mobile app could integrate this information better. The 'trade' tab does allow you to see popular markets including the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and the Nasdaq and the companies that comprise those markets. I found a stock in the FTSE 100 I'd had my eye on. From there it was fast to add cash to my account using the instant bank connection and then make a trade. Interactive Investor charges £3.99 for share dealing for UK and US shares, but this is generally the cheapest of the traditional investment platforms, with a couple of caveats – see more in our comparison to the right. What other features does Interactive Investor offer? If you like social trading features, Interactive Investor has a separate mobile app called 'ii Community'. This stands out as an uncommon feature among traditional investment platforms. Here Interactive Investor is following in the footsteps of newer players like eToro and Trading 212, which have social features baked into their platforms. eToro bills itself as a 'social trading network' rather than a straightforward investment platform. On Interactive Investor's community app, you can: While the downside is that it's a separate app, the community appears lively with a popular group for 'novice investors' having more than 500 members. Social trading: Interactive Investor's community app is a useful extra for investors What is Interactive Investor's research and educational content like? Interactive Investor has a wealth of investment research available for DIY investors including: Super 60: Interactive Investor's list of its top investment picks ACE 40: a list of top picks for sustainable investments Winter Portfolios: a list of stocks that rise each winter, backed by past performance data This type of research is comparable with the information offered by other investment platforms, such as Hargreaves Lansdown's Wealth Shortlist and Bestinvest's Best Funds List. Interactive Investor has also partnered with the independent financial research provider, Morningstar, to plug equities research into the platform. This is useful – for example, I can see from my account that Morningstar has rated the stock I bought for this review as four stars, which means it's undervalued. There are detailed tables you can access based on Morningstar's data too. These include lists of undervalued and overvalued shares, regional outlook reports and US sector outlook reports. A Portfolio X-ray tool lets you drill down into your holdings and performance, although this sort of detail can quickly become complicated. Interactive Investor has a news feed with content written by its experts to help investors stay up to date with the markets. While Interactive Investor's research is good, less experienced investors may find it difficult to know where to start. It's easy to feel swamped by star ratings, tables and graphs. Interactive Investor does have a range of informative guides, podcasts and videos that explain key concepts such as ETF investing and managing investment risk. These are clearly signposted from the desktop version of its website, under the 'learn' tab from the menu. However, they aren't well integrated into your online account, so investors may find them tricky to navigate to. Interactive Investor: This is Money's overall assessment Interactive Investor's flat-fee structure is what makes the investment platform stand out. If you're only just starting to build your portfolio, there may be lower-cost options available. But once your pot reaches a certain size, Interactive Investor's flat fee comes into its own. It means you're charged the same whether the value of your investments are £100,000 or £1million, so it's worth considering how much you could save under this structure. The cheapest platform isn't always the best for you – it all depends on what type of investor you are. For example, if you want to invest in funds or will be making several trades a year, you might want to choose a platform that offers free fund dealing (such as Hargreaves Lansdown) or one that offers free trading credits (such as Charles Stanley Direct). But in our view Interactive Investor is a great all-round platform, especially for the cost-conscious investor. It's competitive in terms of fees yet still offers very good customer service and investment research. While its broader educational content doesn't particularly stand out, its 'ii Community' app is worth looking at. It cribs from newer players such as eToro and Trading 212 and offers investors further value. Compare the best DIY investing platforms Investing online is simple, cheap and can be done from your computer, tablet or phone at a time and place that suits you. When it comes to choosing a DIY investing platform, stocks & shares Isa, self invested personal pension, or a general investing account, the range of options might seem overwhelming. > This is Money's full guide to the best investing platforms Every provider has a slightly different offering, charging more or less for trading or holding shares and giving access to a different range of stocks, funds and investment trusts. When weighing up the right one for you, it's important to to look at the service that it offers, along with administration charges and dealing fees, plus any other extra costs. We highlight the main players in the table below but would advise doing your own research and considering the points in our full guide to the best investment accounts. Charles Stanley Direct * 0.30% Min platform fee of £60, max of £600. £100 back in free trades per year £4 £10 Free for funds n/a More details Etoro* Free Stocks, investment trusts and ETFs. Limited Isa, no Sipp. Not available Free n/a n/a More details Fidelity * 0.35% on funds £7.50 per month up to £25,000 or 0.35% with regular savings plan. Free £7.50 Free funds £1.50 shares, trusts ETFs £1.50 More details Freetrade * Basic account free, Standard with Isa £5.99, Plus £11.99 Stocks, investment trusts and ETFs. No funds Free n/a n/a More details Hargreaves Lansdown * 0.45% Capped at £45 for shares, trusts, ETFs Free £11.95 Free Free More details Interactive Investor* £4.99 per month under £50k, £11.99 above, £10 extra for Sipp Free trade worth £3.99 per month (does not apply to £4.99 plan) £3.99 £3.99 Free £0.99 More details InvestEngine * Free Only ETFs. Managed service is 0.25% Not available Free Free Free More details iWeb Free £5 £5 n/a 2%, max £5 More details Trading 212* Free Stocks, investment trusts and ETFs. Not available Free n/a Free More details
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Ford forced to shutter factories amid worrying parts shortages: 'Hand-to-mouth right now'
China's trade leverage temporarily shuttered one of Detroit's biggest brands. Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, said his company doesn't have enough rare-earth magnets, forcing the automaker to halt some production lines. 'It's day to day,' the top boss said in a Friday interview with Bloomberg News. 'We have had to shut down factories. It's hand-to-mouth right now.' Ford's production struggles are part of the ongoing tit-for-tat trade escalation between Washington and Beijing. But the company is expecting relief in the coming weeks. In April, Chinese officials stopped the flow of magnets into the US — a critical component found in nearly every modern car's brake pads, seats, windshield wipers, and batteries. The pause came in response to President Donald Trump's then-145 percent tariffs on all Chinese imports. The throttled magnet trade threatened to strangle production plants and empty car dealership lots, sending automakers and industry groups into a tizzy. In May, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation — which represents major US automakers — sent a letter to President Trump warning that China's response could paralyze car production. 'Without reliable access to these elements and magnets, automotive suppliers will be unable to produce critical automotive components,' the letter, signed by the group's president, John Bozzella, said. 'In severe cases, this could include the need for reduced production volumes or even a shutdown of vehicle assembly lines.' Later that month, workers at Ford's Chicago plant, where the company builds the popular Explorer SUV, were told to go home due to the magnet shortage. But as Ford continues to scramble for parts, the company is now expecting a reopening of the supply spigot. American and Chinese trade negotiators have announced a tentative agreement that lowers tariff rates and resumes magnet exports. The deal includes temporary export licenses for rare-earth suppliers. Those licenses will allow magnet shipments to resume to the top three US automakers — including Ford — as soon as this month. China's President Xi Jinping has not officially signed the deal, but President Trump posted on Truth Social that the agreement was 'done.' Industry analysts confirmed to that rare-earth magnets will likely be exempt from American tariffs under the new deal. A standard gas-powered vehicle requires around a half-pound of rare earth magnets CEO Jim Farley confirmed that Ford had temporarily shuttered some of its plants because of China's magnet pause Ford produces over 80 percent of its SUVs and trucks for the US market in American plants Still, as the pipeline starts back up, Farley's announcement underscores China's current leverage over American manufacturing. The US once refined its own rare-earth magnets for vehicle assembly, with facilities operating across dozens of Midwestern states. But 20 years ago, the last domestic refinement plant — located in Indiana — shut down. China, which now controls more than 90 percent of global rare-earth processing capacity, filled the gap. American automakers are now looking elsewhere for supply, including Australia, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. 'Should the US-China trade deal be upheld by both sides, US automakers should be able to secure enough rare earths to continue their production as scheduled,' Seth Goldstein, a vehicle analyst at Morningstar, told 'I would guess all US automakers are looking to secure alternate rare earths supply outside of China as a way to protect themselves from the potential that China may halt exports again in the future.'
The Independent
10 hours ago
- The Independent
Starmer and Reeves are back from the brink – here's what they must do next
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves admitted mistakes had been made during the government's difficult first year when she addressed a private meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) after announcing her spending review. Her audience knew what she meant: her catastrophic decision on the pensioners' winter fuel allowance. Reeves was more honest in private than she is in public. Even after their spectacular U-turn, she and Keir Starmer insist last July's decision was right at the time. In her defence, the chancellor said Labour had been out of power for 14 years and in office for one – an admission, perhaps, that ministers must learn on the job. She won a good reception at the PLP for her £113bn boost to investment projects and her framing of her review, first made in The Independent, as 'Labour's choices'. But Reeves' plea for Labour MPs to 'get out and sell' the spending programme in their constituencies landed badly with some in her audience. On Westminster's summer party circuit, they grumbled about a lack of salesmanship from both Reeves and Keir Starmer. These critics have a point. Neither the prime minister nor the chancellor is a natural storyteller. They sometimes look like technocratic automatons as they prioritise the 'stability' they offered after Conservative chaos over their election-winning pitch of 'change'. Although the social democrat Reeves is more ideological than the arch-pragmatist Starmer, many Labour backbenchers complain she has become a prisoner of 'Treasury orthodoxy'. The double act of PM and chancellor works better when they complement each other. Tony Blair was a good communicator and Gordon Brown the brains behind New Labour's strategy and domestic policy. The relationship between David Cameron and George Osborne was similar, and without the corrosive personal tensions between Blair and Brown. Crucially, Blair and Cameron had a story to tell. Today, even some Starmer allies admit privately he has yet to articulate a coherent narrative about his and his government's purpose. However, ministers and Labour backbenchers sense the spending review marks the overdue start of such a process. They detect an important shift – from a technocratic approach towards Labour's traditional goal of social justice: the winter fuel U-turn, an extension of free school meals and a £39bn boost for affordable housing. The biggest symbol of this change of tack will be measures to combat child poverty in the autumn, likely to include lifting the two-child benefit cap. That would be a break with the opinion poll-driven approach of Morgan McSweeney, Starmer's chief of staff. Although the cap is supported by the public, sometimes politicians have to lead public opinion rather than merely follow it. Aides insist Starmer's pragmatism is an asset that gives him the flexibility to try different approaches if Plan A doesn't work and to correct mistakes. But the absence of an ideological anchor can be a liability. To see off the real threat from Nigel Farage, Labour will need more than attacks on Reform UK; it will require a positive vision based on Labour values to woo centre-left voters. A crusade against child poverty will unite the Labour Party, while welfare cuts divide it. Soft-left ministers have a spring in their step: 'Things are moving in the right direction,' one told me. Indeed, the spending review was not dictated by 'Treasury orthodoxy' and the short-termism which often results in cutting investment projects to balance the books. Reeves addressed at least some of the long-term challenges facing the country. Labour's poor results in last month's local elections in England encouraged the rethink. They proved that caution isn't working. What is needed now is not old Labour but bold Labour. That will require more boldness and honesty on taxation. It's an open secret that, barring an economic miracle, Reeves will have to raise taxes in her autumn Budget. Significantly, she is not ruling it out, reverting to the formula Labour used before last year's election: there's nothing here (in the manifesto/spending review) requiring higher taxes. It's the politicians' old, disingenuous friend of 'no plans" used before Reeves raised taxes by £40bn in her first Budget. Starmer and Reeves should prepare the ground now by making the case for higher taxes to deliver better public services and the higher defence spending needed in the dangerous new world of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. If they don't, the vacuum will be filled by months of damaging headlines predicting which taxes Reeves will raise – many of which will turn out to be wrong. If Starmer and Reeves don't make the case, a right-dominated press will blame the inevitable tax rises on Labour economic mismanagement. There is another story to tell. Although the public tend to prioritise avoiding tax increases over investing in public services, Labour can win the argument by exposing the fantasy economics of Reform and Tory plans to cut taxes and raise spending. Brown won such an argument when he raised national insurance to fund the NHS in 2002. Reeves' fiscal rules can provide the 'stability' and tax rises the 'change.' Labour must deliver both. Ministers need to start the debate on tax and spending that the country should have had before last year's election. Now.
