Big Ben Venture Partners Ltd.

22/10/2022

Tokenise your company’s shares. Only a few of all companies are listed on a stock exchange.

The development of new international standards has facilitated issuance of token based shares (blockchains) on centralised or decentralised ledger technologies. This development has opened for additional financing opportunities for a large number of companies.

The major advantage of the blockchain technology is a secure instant transfer of any digitised exchange units, that are traceable without need for any intermediary parties and is trusted by the transacting parties.

CSD Tokenisation
We offer every company a turn-key solution to, wholly or partially, digitise private shares and deposit them on a blockchain-based central securities depository (“CSD”). Big Ben in partnership with SideSwap offer a platform with a digital share register, cap table, and tokenisation (“blockchain”) of equity shares in a CSD based on a distributed ledger technology (DLT).

13/02/2022

Sweden had a record year 2021

With 210 total listings including 160 new listings and now almost 1,000 listed companies, Sweden is in the European top ahead of large nations such as Germany and France.

04/01/2022

Sweden has the most listed companies in the Europe -

The past 2021 has been the largest European listing year since before the financial crisis in 2008, states the financial newspaper Wall Street Journal, which notes that a total of 418 companies during the year listed on stock exchanges in the EU or the UK.

29/12/2021

Happy New Year -

“This is the time of the year to get rid of all the unnecessary things – in your home, your body, mind, emotions – and start life afresh.”

16/09/2021

IPO Frenzy Propels Nasdaq Stockholm Into Europe’s Big League — W37 -

Stockholm is not only one of the best-performing equity markets in Europe 2021 says Bloomberg, but Stockholm has also become the securities market that offers investors the best choice when it comes to picking stocks. Sweden with a population of 10.2 million people has about 1,000 listed companies,....

23/09/2020

A World War II spy manual offers intriguing insights into how modern management techniques may be sabotaging your organization.

During World War II, the predecessor to the US Central Intelligence Agency produced a secret field manual detailing how “citizen-saboteurs” could disrupt the operations of enemy organizations.

In addition to inflicting physical damage, the manual notes that workers on the inside can seriously hamper productivity through “human obstruction” tactics, by purposely and surreptitiously making poor decisions and being uncooperative.

“Making a faulty decision may be simply a matter of placing tools in one spot instead of another,” the manual says. “A non-cooperative attitude may involve nothing more than creating an unpleasant situation among one’s fellow workers, engaging in bickering, or displaying surliness and stupidity.”

The manual provides several other tips for stirring up “general interference with organizations and production”:

“Insist on doing everything through ‘channels.’ Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.”

“Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.”

“When possible, refer all matters to committees, for ‘further study and consideration.’ Attempt to make the committees as large as possible—never less than five.”

“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
“Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.”

“Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.”

“Advocate ‘caution.’ Be ‘reasonable’ and urge your fellow-conferees to be ‘reasonable’ and avoid haste, which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.”

“Be worried about the propriety of every decision. Raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.”

“To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”

“Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.”

The spy manual struck a chord with Stefan H. Thomke, the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School since he recognized that many of today’s business leaders run the risk of self-sabotaging their companies by mistakenly adhering to practices on the list.

When Thomke shares portions of the field manual with business executives in class, they tend to respond with a nervous chuckle. But then the room grows quiet, the sober realization that these obstructionist tactics sound a little too familiar.

“There’s this moment where they’re listening, and they know they are inadvertently doing these same kinds of things in their own companies by creating more red tape or more layers of decision making that makes the organizations less agile,” says Thomke, who is faculty chair of the General Management Program at HBS.

In advising global firms, Thomke has seen that in many cases, a company’s biggest obstacle to success doesn’t necessarily come from competitors, the economy, or other outside forces, but can actually fester from within.

03/09/2020

SEC permission for the New York Stock Exchange to let companies raise capital through direct listings has been put on hold following a challenge from the Council of Institutional Investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission granted NYSE's proposal less than a week earlier, on Aug. 26, but on Monday, SEC Assistant Secretary J. Matthew DeLesDernier told NYSE officials in a letter that it had received notice that CII intends to petition for review of the approval, putting it on hold for now.

Amy Borrus, CII executive director, said in an email Wednesday that CII took the unusual step after rising concern over traceable shares, an issue highlighted by Slack Technologies' 2019 public debut, selling shares directly to investors.

The direct listing route bypasses the cost and regulatory controls of a traditional initial public offering, but in Slack's case also led to legal challenges.

"The litigation over the direct listing of Slack raised the issue of whether investors can challenge a misleading registration statement if they cannot trace their shares to those offered in the registration statement. CII has urged the SEC to address this issue by establishing a system of traceable shares as a key component its long-overdue proxy plumbing project," Ms. Borrus said. "We think the SEC should fix the proxy infrastructure before approving an expansion of the direct listing regime."

NYSE officials will ask the SEC to reverse the stay, an NYSE spokeswoman said in a statement. "The ability to raise capital with an NYSE direct listing represents an innovative new path to the public markets and we intend to ask the SEC to lift its stay to make this important resource immediately available to issuers and investors."

On Monday, NYSE competitor Nasdaq filed its own direct listing proposal with the SEC.

The NYSE approval was the first time that the SEC allowed companies to raise new capital through direct listings. In its approval order, the SEC said it did not believe that it poses a heightened risk to investors.

The most recent version of NYSE's proposal, filed in June, allowed a company that has not previously had its common equity securities registered with the SEC to list those common equity securities on the exchange upon the effective date of a registration statement, with the company selling shares itself in the opening auction on the first day of trading on the exchange.

The NYSE would retain the existing standards for determining whether a company has met its market value of publicly held shares listing requirements, and would determine that a given company has met the $100 million aggregate market value of publicly held shares requirement based on a combination of both an independent third-party valuation and the most recent trading price for the company's common stock. A company would have to provide a valuation showing the market value of publicly held shares of at least $250 million.

HAZEL BRADFORD

25/08/2020

Serious Fundraising For Your Company -

Raising a round of investment is a daunting experience. Most entrepreneurs will, at some stage, ask themselves a question: would I be better served hiring a professional introducer to lead the fundraising? It is certainly a sensible question to ask.

21/08/2020

5 Assets Wealthy People Use to Preserve Wealth

After the financial crisis of 2008, many high-net-worth individuals started seeking alternative investments as a way to protect themselves from losses. Available evidence suggests the desire for investments is being rekindled today thanks to volatility in commodities and equities.
Wealthy people are especially at risk because they are prime targets for ambulance chasing lawyers, rejected relatives, and anyone else who wants a piece of a pie that isn't theirs.

Whether you're already rich or you've just inherited, you may want to consider changing some of your cash into real assets. This can help to keep your wealth free from sticky fingers. Nevertheless, asset protection involves doing things a little differently.
These are the assets the wealthy invest in to preserve what they have:

1. Exclusive real estate.
When people talk about "exclusive real estate, they mean real estate that doesn't hit the market often. It's rarely used to make a big return. Instead, it may be some form of historical building. As long as it maintains its value, wealthy investors are happy.

When this type of real estate does hit the market, there's a lot of interest. However, you don't have to invest in the Taj Mahal. Simply purchasing a 17th-century cottage, for example, is the type of exclusive real estate purchase that doesn't have to cost you a ton of money.

2. Fine art.
Most wealthy investors don't acquire fine art merely because they've fallen in love with the work. They know it has value. Fine art will always have someone who wants to buy it, and those who want to buy it understand its worth. They are not trying to bargain for every cent, which makes this a good investment.

Sometimes fine art can even go in the asset box and generate a passive income. Some wealthy individuals have gathered enough fine art to open private galleries, or to lease their art to famous galleries.

3. Rare coins.
The super wealthy do spend a considerable amount of money on luxuries, at least $1.1 million each year, if CNN Money is to be believed. But this is actually a tiny fraction of their wealth. Furthermore, the luxuries they buy may include things like rare U.S. coins, which many use as a wealth preservation tool. One reason rare coins are a good investment? The market is comprised of historically significant items that are very limited in supply.

According to Michael Contursi, executive vice president of RCW Financial, "The scarcity and exclusivity of many rare U.S. coins creates an environment for excitement where opportunities to purchase these items may only occur once in a lifetime. Ultimately, availability becomes more important than price. This puts an investor with holding power in a very powerful position not only to preserve principal, but also to profit based on the principles of supply and demand."

4. Gold.
Gold has always been a place for the wealthy to store their money. It makes sense because gold maintains considerable value even when paper currency is weak. History has shows us time and time again how the wealthy have survived through simply buying large amounts of this coveted metal.

The good thing is there's a type of gold for everyone. If someone wants to invest a small amount, they may decide to purchase coins. Those with a lot of money may purchase bars they can store in a country like Switzerland.
The rich don't store large amounts of gold in the U.S. Current legislation states that in a crisis, the U.S. government has the right to raid and seize safes containing gold, which is one of the only countries in the world that has this right.

It has already happened once before, under Franklin D. Roosevelt during a time of economic crisis. This is why the rich make a concerted effort to store much of their wealth offshore.

5. Usable precious metals.
Gold is desirable because it's easy to purchase never goes out of fashion. But more and more of the rich are looking toward other precious metals. Titanium and platinum, for example, are used in the construction of many electronics, which makes them prized by businesses and governments all over the world. While not as popular as gold as an investment, these precious metals can be used in a practical capacity. It's no surprise to see them becoming popular among wealthy investors.

06/08/2020

What’s in it for investors? -

Investors priority is to make money and thus placing funds into growth businesses. If you can demonstrate that your business will make them money for investors, you’re 90% there.

04/06/2020

Several different cycles are coming together right now that hasn't been seen in at least 150 years.

Foremost the Kondratieff (Wave) super economic cycle does predict a general reset of the economy. Furthermore, the cycle of depression, the cycle of debt, the cycle of deflation and inflation, even the cycle of war.

Gold and silver are now in the stages of a major new bull market.

New direct debit payment systems based on Bitcoin and gold are in the making. We must look for alternatives to unsustainable government fiat currencies.