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Here are the top reads,

Shareholder letter: Private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group Inc. is pressing ahead with its effort to wring money out of its failed bid for Wind Mobile – and claims to have evidence against a rival fund manager that may have been gathered in a sting operation run by former Israeli spies. Story (Andrew Willis and Jeffrey Jones, for subscribers)

Property hunt: Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and two Canadian investors have made Bombardier’s short list of buyers for the manufacturer’s aerospace plant and surrounding lands in northwest Toronto, according to sources familiar with the matter. Story (Jeff Gray, Rachelle Younglai, Greg Keenan and Nicolas Van Praet, for subscribers)

Financial products: Another Canadian bank is preparing to enter the exchange-traded-fund industry, with Bank of Nova Scotia planning the launch of a suite of its own Scotia-branded ETFs. Story (Clare O’Hara, for subscribers)

Financial products: Timing appears to be everything in the world of cannabis funds. Just over one year ago, the world’s first cannabis exchange-traded fund – officially known as the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF – started trading. Today, it has assets of roughly $700-million, a total return of 75 per cent since inception, and big inflows. Story (Matt Lundy, for subscribers)

FINANCIAL SERVICES WRAP

Earnings: Goldman Sachs Group Inc is likely to expand its consumer bank through small acquisitions, its finance chief said on Tuesday, without ruling out the idea that it might buy a traditional lender, too. Story

Regulators: The Ontario Securities Commission is asking for people to contact the provincial regulator if they’ve been approached by representatives of BitConnect or its affiliates, which includes an online exchange platform known as the BCC Exchange. Story

International banking: China’s central bank said on Tuesday that it will reduce the amount of cash that most commercial banks must hold as reserves, but will require them to use that freed-up liquidity to pay back loans obtained via its medium-term lending facility (MLF). Story

DEAL WRAP

Financing: Brookfield Property Partners LP has lined up a slate of heavyweight backers to help finance its planned takeover of GGP Inc. Story

Speculation: Activist hedge fund Blue Harbour Group LP CEO Cliff Robbins told a conference in New York on Tuesday that Canadian business information management software company Open Text Corp could be acquired. Story

Canadian venture capital: Quebec City-based XpertSea has raised a $10 million Series A to support its aquaculture solution. BetaKit

Canadian venture capital: Vancouver-based Instant Financial, which allows employees to get access to their pay after a shift, has closed at $14.3 million CAD ($11.4 million USD), bringing their total funding to date to $19.3 million. BetaKit

U.S. venture capital: Drift today announced it has raised an additional US$60 million to grow its conversational sales and marketing platform. To date, the maker of sales assistant Driftbot has raised a total of US$107 million. VentureBeat

U.S. venture capital: San Francisco-based Scality today announced that it has raised US$60 million in venture capital, bringing its total raised to US$152 million. VentureBeat

U.S. venture capital: After years of leaning on China to manufacture its electronic wonders at a low cost, Silicon Valley’s factory of the future may soon be located just up the highway in the heart of San Francisco. Tempo, a low-volume electronics manufacturer, said today that it has raised US$20 million to build a “smart” factory in the city. VentureBeat

WHAT WE’RE READING ELSEWHERE

Hedge funds: Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group buys distressed debt and goes to great lengths to hide it. Here’s why — and how — hedge funds such as his fight to keep secrets. Part 1 of a two-part series. Institutional Investor

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