IPO

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has raised $8bn (£5.1bn) in its first approach to the bond markets to raise capital.

It has been a volatile year for mid caps, with the FTSE 250 falling 6% between March and April. But F&C's £20m UK Mid-Cap fund has considerably outperformed over the past year, maintaining the return profile it has enjoyed over three and five years.

Strong growth in e-commerce has justified lofty valuations of online firms in China recently, but Lombard Odier Asia equity portfolio manager, Zhikai Chen, explains why investors are better served in financials.

Is it worth accessing medical tech stocks via crowdfunding?

How Romania’s growing GDP is outpacing the EU

Georgia, Senegal, and Ghana could be the next candidates to be upgraded to MSCI frontier market status, according to LGM Investments' Thomas Vester.

Challenger bank Virgin Money has priced its shares at the bottom of their range as it relaunches its delayed IPO.

A raft of pulled IPOs in October point to a more rational environment for new listings, managers suggest.

ITs in 2014: Narrowing discounts and an income focus

UK 'challenger bank' Aldermore is set to float later this month, with a share price which values the business at around £800m.