Allianz manager reveals true cost of IPO paper bulge – 37 pine trees so far this year

The flurry of IPOs this year has caused many to marvel at the resurgence of the listings market, but one Allianz fund manager has been bamboozled by something more obscure – the sheer amount of paper wasted by IPO research reports. 

 

“My colleague Matt Hall has kept copies of all the IPO research reports he has received so far this year [pictured],” writes Matthew Tillett in his blog, fabulously titled “IP-OMG!” According to his rough calculations, if a typical pine tree yields around 80,000 sheets of paper, we’ve gone through 37 trees so far this year. 

 

The Capitalist has spoken to the FCA and paper copies are not a legal requirement. They can be sent electronically. “The City is just as concerned about the environment as any other industry,” Tillet told us. Let’s save some pine trees then, folks. PDFs rule. Printouts drool.

 

■ The sleepy streets of Marylebone were were all too far away for Oracle Capital Group chairman Martin Graham earlier this month. The former chairman of the AIM Market had a run-in with an overzealous Luxembourg bus driver, while on a charity cycle ride from London to Italy. “I thought cycling 1,000 miles, across the Alps and through seven countries was going to be hard, though it is not a patch on trying to reason with a Luxembourg bus driver,” he said of the incident, which threw him from his bike. “Having run me over, he did not respond well to my point that Luxembourg’s pitiful sporting prowess was not a reason to consider me fair game”. Ouch. Bruised and with an injured elbow, Graham still managed to finish the ride, raising over £10,000. Bravo.