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Tag: Investment

  • Thailand Post plans B500m upgrade

    Thailand Post plans B500m upgrade

    A Thailand Post staff member shows an Automated Postal Machine — one of several new products and services the agency is offering to enhance e-commerce and to pamper new generation users.

    Thailand Post is spending 500 million baht on upgrading its core information technology (IT) automation systems and distribution centres to boost service innovation for the next-generation of online merchants and digital lifestyle consumers.

    The move is intended to fight back against the influx of no-frills messenger service apps like Lalamove, a Hong Kong-based delivery-matching mobile application, and parcel delivery service providers looking to capitalise on Thailand’s burgeoning e-commerce market.

    Of the total 500 million baht in spending, 300 million will go towards upgrading IT automation systems. The remaining 200 million baht will go to improving flexibility within and across its distribution centres.

    “We’re also in the process of transforming ourselves to become more digital in a drive to improve services and maintain our leadership in the home delivery service market,” said Samorn Terdthampiboon, president of Thailand Post.

    Thailand Post plans to roll out a slew of innovative services over the next seven months.

    For instance, she said PromptPost, a pre-registration mobile app service for high volume parcel delivery, will allow users to reduce the parcel processing time from eight seconds when they employ the service at a post office to two seconds when using Thailand Post’s semi-automated processing counters.

    Mrs Samorn said Thailand Post will soon provide an e-money service called THP Card, which allows people to use a card to pay for all Thailand Post services at its post offices across the country.

    Customers can also top up their cards at Thailand Post locations nationwide.

    She added Thailand Post plans to apply for an operating licence with the Bank of Thailand to provide an e-wallet service in the near future.

    Thailand Post has expanded its cross-border trading and e-commerce services to Indochina, crossing the Cambodian, Laotian and Myanmar borders to reach Chinese consumers.

    Mrs Samorn said Thailand Post is ready to enter Asean Economic Community (AEC) markets following a comprehensive organisational restructuring and the implementation of its enhancement schemes.

    Cross border revenue represented 14% of Thailand Post’s total, boasting bright prospects for revenue growth thanks to the booming business-to-business e-commerce market.

    Up to 37% of cross border revenue comes from its mail delivery service, and 6% from its mail system used to send financial statements and business letters to the retail and financial sectors.

    Mrs Samorn said Thailand Post expects its revenue to grow by 22% to 24.3 billion baht this year. Net profit is expected to reach 3 billion baht this year.

     

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  • Malaysians keen on investing in commercial properties in Australia

    Malaysians keen on investing in commercial properties in Australia

    Malaysian investors in Australia will most likely focus on commercial properties with the implementation of new tax rates targetting foreign buyers of residential real estate, according to Knight Frank Australia.

    The property consultancy, which recently organised a roadshow to gauge investors’ sentiment, noted that the Australian property market remained a key attraction for Malaysian investors despite the recent changes to the country’s property tax law.

    “Despite the recent stamp duty changes imposed on foreigners purchasing residential property, interest from Malaysian private and institutional investors is remarkably strong,” Knight Frank head of commercial sales Paul Henley said in a statement.

    “We expect many commercial, hotel and retail assets transactions from Malaysian investors over the next year.

    “These assets are not impacted by the tax changes, and some residential specialists will still show interest at the right pricing metrics to build scale,” he added, referring to SP Setia Bhd’s recent purchase of an office tower at 288 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, for A$101mil ( S$104.3mil) as an example of the growing interest of Malaysian investors in Australia’s commercial property sector.

    In an effort to limit the amount of foreign money coming into its real-estate market to keep home prices from rising further, the Australian government had implemented new tax laws targetting foreign investors.

    These changes included a stamp duty surcharge of up to 7 per cent of residential real estate, and an extra 10 per cent withholding tax for a property with a market value of more than A$2mil.

    According to Henley, the Australian property market remained attractive to Malaysian investors due to its strong underlying economic fundamentals, including a record-low interest-rate environment.

    Malaysian investments in Australian real estate had averaged at A$750mil over the past six years, although deal flow had not been as prevalent over the past year.

    “With interest rates having dropped to their lowest ever, and a stable political scene with the Federal election result, combined with an ever-growing population, Australia is well-positioned for offshore investors,” he said.

    Separately, Sarkunan Subramaniam, Knight Frank’s managing director for Malaysia, said there was a close connection between Malaysia and Australia because the latter is one of the preferred education and tourism destinations for many Malaysians.

    “Many Malaysians travel there for education… 77 per cent of Malaysia’s ultra-high net worth individuals are expected to send their children abroad for university over the next year,” he said.

    In addition, Sarkunan said there was a growing number of Malaysians visiting Australia, with the rate having risen by more than 40 per cent over the past three years.

    Meanwhile, Knight Frank head of research and consulting Matt Whitby said UK’s referendum to leave the European Union, or Brexit, would likely accentuate global capital flows into Australia.

    “I expect Australia to benefit from Brexit and other global uncertainty, as it remains a safe-haven for investors.

    “With volumes slowing over the past quarter, mainly on the back of limited supply of assets, I expect Brexit will accentuate the capital flows into Australia and volumes will pick up in the second half of 2016,” Whitby said.

    “Australia’s economy is the envy of the developed world, growing at 3.1 per cent as at the March 2016 quarter. Sydney and Melbourne are driving performance, while our population is strong, with a growth average of 1.5 per cent across the country,” he added.

     

  • Metro Retail to invest P10 B to double network

    Metro Retail to invest P10 B to double network

    The Gaisano family’s Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) is pouring in P10 billion to double the size of its network in the next five years.

    The plan is to increase the network to 800,000 square meters in terms of gross floor area.

    So far, the company has already secured about 40 percent of the target, which will open in the next two years.

    In the first half, MRSGI has added 30,000 sqm of GFA, bringing its store network to 49 covering 24 supermarkets, 13 hypermarkets and 12 department stores.

    The company reported a net income after tax of P262 million in the first six months of the year, up 24 percent year on year.

    MRSGI posted a 10-percent all-stores growth, fueled by the strong performance of the hypermarket segment. It registered same stores sales growth of five percent.

    Frank Gaisano, chairman and CEO of MRSGI, said the company would continue to cement its presence in the Visayas region by capitalizing on its existing locations and adding new stores in prime locations.

    “Despite challenging conditions, we are encouraged by our bottomline and same store sales growth led by our hypermarket format. This was achieved by our familiarity with the Visayas region and the markets that we serve,” Gaisano said.

    The company has partnered with property giant Ayala Land Inc. for the establishment of its stores in four new Ayala commercial developments.

    These comprise a department store and supermarket in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; a supermarket in Iloilo City, a supermarket in Cebu City, and a department store and supermarket in Pasig City.

    MRSGI likewise entered into a lease agreement with a local government unit in Negros Oriental to set up its first store in the province.

    For its supply chain and logistics requirement, MRSGI inaugurated a distribution facility in Cebu with advanced storage and technology features.

    Gaisano remains optimistic about its growth prospects.

    “The continued development and growth in the country this year as well as the resilient OFW remittances and BPO industry are fueling domestic consumption. Aligned with this development, we are ahead of schedule in doubling our footprint by 2020, with more than 40 percent of this target already currently secured,” Gaisano said.

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  • Would you ever take investment advise from an app?

    Would you ever take investment advise from an app?

    Fintech firm 8 Securities said on Monday it plans to launch Hong Kong’s first so-called robo-investment advisor app in the next quarter, which it is calling “Chloe”, but experts remained divided on whether such an idea will every catch on in the city.

    Asia, and especially Hong Kong, is seen as lagging other international markets on the adoption of robo-advisors.

    Assets held by such robo-advisors in Hong Kong are expected to expand exponentially to US$20.6 billion by 2020 from the current US$400 million, according to a Boston-based research firm Aite Group’s latest robo-advisor forecast.

    The apps are powered by artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies developed in-house, and effectively learn day by day as a system’s user base and database grows, matching products to customers with different financial needs.

    That’s very different, of course, to what is offered by around 450 local brokers in Hong Kong, who have traded for decades, by offering personalised services based on close relationships, to hold onto clients.

    Mathias Helleu, 8 Securities’ executive chairman and co-founder, expects the Chloe app’s popularity to grow fast thanks to higher mobile penetration and lower entrance levels for users.

    “Chloe users will have the freedom to deposit or withdraw money from their portfolio anytime and with no penalty,” said Helleu. “The minimum investment amount with Chloe will be under HK$1,000.”

    In the West, the fledging robo-advisor industry is growing fast.

    By the end of 2015, US robo-advisor services had US$53 billion in assets under management, up from US$2 billion in 2013, according to statistics from the Aite Group. Key players include both startups such as FutureAdvisor, Bettermont and WealthFront, and big industry names, such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

    I do not expect robo-advisor apps to prove attractive in mature markets like Hong Kong. Here, retail investors consider their brokers or wealth managers more reliable

    Benny Mau, chairman of Hong Kong Securities Association

    However, that number of managed assets is still small compared with the US$20 trillion total investable assets by US retail investors.

    Traditional Hong Kong brokers, however, questioned on Monday whether local retail investors, many of whom still like going to bank branches or brokers shops to buy and discuss their investments, will ever use such an app.

    Benny Mau, chairman of Hong Kong Securities Association, the industry body, said: “I do not expect robo-advisor apps to prove attractive in mature markets like Hong Kong. Here, retail investors consider their brokers or wealth managers more reliable [than robo-advisors].”

    chloe app

    Mau also added Hong Kong investors are more rational than in other developing markets and a lot more cautious and selective as to which investment services they use.

    However, he did concede some young investors could find the service appealing.

    But Brett McGonegal, chief executive of Capital Link International, said robo-advisors are sweeping the investment world as they represent the pioneering wave of the fintech revolution.

    “This is critical in addressing the needs of a new investing group around the world — that’s millennials. “Platforms that blend human contact with technology will prove to be very successful amongst the new generation that often feel more comfortable communicating over electronic means rather than face to face,” McGonegal said.

    Jenny Lau, a recent graduate whose basic monthly salary is HK$21,000, said she would try her hand at Chloe because it has no penalty and is convenient to operate on her mobile phone.

    “The minimum investment of under HK$1,000 is no big deal for me,” she added.

    “But it will just be to satisfy my curiosity and I do not expect any high investment returns. I’ll not use it for my life saving goals.”

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  • Eagle Gates Group plans Asia expansion

    Eagle Gates Group plans Asia expansion

    Eagle Gates Group plans to further expand its Asian retail business in the next five years. Eddy McClough, chief executive officer at Eagle Gates Group, says the group will continue to look at retail opportunities in Asia, with possible plans to establish new offices in the region.

    Eagle Gates Group’s history spans almost a decade and through careful stewardship and intelligent investment, the group has expanded to become one of the leading financial services groups across America and Europe.

    Eddy is positive about the outlook for the Asian market.

    “I see tremendous growth opportunities in the Asia Pacific region, especially the likes of China and Thailand. A number of partnership discussions are already underway. The foray into the Asian market reflects our commitment to growing the global footprint of Eagle Gates Group and gives us access to such an important investment market,” he said.

    Eagle Gates Group provides exchange traded funds and other products investing in indices, infrastructure and real estate. Eagle Gates Group also serves institutional investors who need to invest insurance or pension funds.

    In Asia, Eagle Gates Group has a Tokyo office which has been operational since 2013 but Eddy admitted its Asia business should be bigger.

    “The business in Asia Pacific now represents only single digits of our global business asset size. We are targeting a double digit in the next five years. Asia has a young population and a growing segment of wealthy individuals which would support future growth for the asset management industry,” he said.

    SOURCE Eagle Gates Group

  • End of the Line for Singapore Investors

    End of the Line for Singapore Investors

    This is where shareholders in Singapore’s subway network get off. And it doesn’t matter if some of them can’t quite see the platform. Leaving people stranded has become a hallmark of their company’s operations in recent years. Like back in January 2008, and then twice over three days in December 2011 when two passengers fainted, and again in July last year.

    Decent Ride

    Singapore subway operator SMRT has returned almost 600% since the SARS epidemic of 2003. But the ride is over. State investment firm Temasek, which owns 54 percent of SMRT, has offered S$1.68 ($1.24) to buy out the remaining shares. Minority shareholders should be grateful for the 8.7 percent premium over the last closing price. Considering the island’s transport regulator is taking away SMRT’s trains and signaling system for S$991 million ($730 million), which — after paying taxes and retiring debt — won’t even leave enough for a special dividend, the rump isn’t worth much more.

    Besides, as Smartkarma strategist Crispin Francis notes, the Land Transport Authority’s nationalization plan will see SMRT having to share with the government the outsize profit margin of about 60 percent it earns from rental income and advertising. That would be in exchange for a boost to the profitability of its core rail operation business, from a measly 1.1 percent to a more respectable 5 percent. Hardly a sweetheart deal.

    Temasek, though, should still come out okay. It owns 41 percent of the nation’s largest property developer CapitaLand, 25 percent of retailer A.S. Watson, and all of MediaCorp., the Singapore broadcaster with a large outdoor advertising arm.

    As Singapore upgrades its rail network to close the gap with Hong Kong, the value of the city-state’s droopy residential property could get a lift; there would be more underground locations for retail; and plenty of new walls for LCD displays. Temasek will indirectly reclaim at least some of what SMRT’s other shareholders will lose from nationalization. Since a part of Temasek’s returns are used to finance the government’s budget, this will complete a virtuous cycle.

    Maintaining the status quo would have created a vicious cycle. Private capital is loath to finance massive investments from which gains are likely to be so diffuse they can only be captured by a government or large, diversified investor such as Temasek. So while it’s been a good ride for SMRT shareholders, it’s time they got off. They can use the S$1.68 they’re getting for their shares to hail a ride home.

    *Originally posted at Bloomberg.

    To contact the editor responsible for this story:
    Katrina Nicholas at knicholas2@bloomberg.net

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  • Blockchain comes to Myanmar microfinance

    Blockchain comes to Myanmar microfinance

    Infoteria Corporation and Tech Bureau Corporation (hereinafter “Tech Bureau”) have successfully transferred loan and deposit account data in the main system of BC Finance, one of the largest microfinance institutions in Myanmar, to mijin, the private blockchain placed on Microsoft Azure using ASTERIA WARP and mijin adapters.

    We hereby announce that this verifies that ASTERIA WARP and the private blockchain mijin are applicable in the operational process of microfinance and the private blockchain technology is applicable to account data recording. This is the world’s first demonstration experiment that used a private blockchain in microfinance.

    Process overview

    We recorded all transaction history (account data) of active accounts at a branch of BC Finance (which operates a total of 19 branches in eight states) in the private blockchain mijin using ASTERIA WARP and mijin adapter. BC Finance assigned a total of three accounts, including one loan account and two savings accounts, to one customer.

    Future plan

    (1) Plan to carry out an experiment for concurrent and consecutive operations over a certain period of time. This is scheduled to begin in the first half of July and continue for approximately six weeks.

    (2) Will consider developing an application that enables data writing and viewing from clients (terminals at each branch) to mijin.

    Upcoming developments

    The number of bank accounts in Myanmar is still limited to approximately two million for a population of more than 50 million, and bank services are available only to the affluent, who represent only a small portion of the population. Microfinance provides financial services such as loans and deposits to a broader segment of the population, and as such plays an important role in supporting Myanmar’s economic growth. Myanmar has achieved 7-8 percent economic growth since its democratization in the spring of 2011, and in the spring of 2016, the military government came to an end, encouraging the lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. Such factors are expected to facilitate further growth, and a significant increase in the number of BC Finance customers is expected.

    While the current system means rising costs of data management as the number of users grows, the introduction of the blockchain technology enables the safe and low-cost operation of account data. We expect that this will facilitate the growth of the microfinance business.

    Infoteria and Tech Bureau are focusing on the promotion and penetration of blockchain technology not only in Japan, but also overseas. The two companies plan to develop this alliance on a global scale by applying the results of this experiment to other countries.

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  • Thailand Future Fund secures adviser

    Thailand Future Fund secures adviser

    Vorapak Tanyawong, president of KTB, said yesterday that the financial adviser would propose the options for fund mobilisation to the government, with KTB having the nationwide network to distribute fund units to retail customers.

    The capital from selling fund units will be used to finance infrastructure projects, starting with the high-speed-rail project from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima province.

    Separately, KTB yesterday unveiled the KTB PromptPay campaign, which offers prizes worth a total of Bt9 million.

    The campaign will run from July 15 to October 15.

    Songpol Chevapanyaroj, senior executive vice president and head of the bank’s global transaction banking group, said the campaign was part of a strategy to get existing customers to use KTB as their main bank.

    Under the scheme, the bank said fund transfers would be more convenient because there would be no fee if the amount was less than Bt5,000, while the cost of cash management was reduced as well.

    Vorapak said the benefit of being the main bank for customers was the cross-selling of products.

    The bank said it had received more than 300,000 PromptPay pre-registrations since it began accepting them on July 1.

    Official registrations for the scheme, which is designed to enhance e-payments, will be accepted from July 15.

    KTB said it had about 17 million depositors, and it hopes to bring in 8 million more under the campaign.

    Vorapak said the bank’s upcountry customers were more aware of using automated teller machines and digital banking, with transactions at branches declining, including those for retail vendors’ lottery reserves.

    He said retail vendors were migrating to booking lottery tickets via ATMs and KTB’s online channels because they could access reserves from those channels more quickly than they could through the branches.

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  • Foreign Investment into Tobacco Industry Banned in China

    Foreign Investment into Tobacco Industry Banned in China

    The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has recently issued regulations regarding retail of tobacco products in China. The new regulations stipulate that foreign invested commercial enterprises or individual business households are not permitted to engage in tobacco wholesale or retail business, nor engage in trading of tobacco monopoly products in alternative forms such as franchise, absorption of franchise stores or other re-investment, etc. The Measures for Administration of the Tobacco Monopoly License and Measures for Administration of Shipment Permit of Tobacco Monopoly Products will both become effective as of July 20, 2016.

    Shanghai Issues Notice on the List of Automatic Preferential Tax Policies

    Shanghai Municipal State Tax Bureau and Shanghai Municipal Local Tax Bureau has released a notice outlining and clarifying eight preferential tax policy matters which do not require additional materials to apply for. They are as follows:

    • Deduction/reduction of VAT for purchase of special equipment for the VAT control system.
    • Exemption of small sized and micro profit enterprises from VAT.
    • Exemption of ticket income of science halls, natural museums, science & technology education bases and science & technology education activities from VAT.
    • Exemption/reduction of enterprise income tax on qualified small sized and micro profit enterprises.
    • Accelerated depreciation or remuneration for fixed assets or software purchased.
    • Accelerated depreciation or one-off deduction of fixed assets.
    • Preferential stamp tax during the restructuring process of an enterprise.
    • Preferential stamp tax on loan contracts concluded between small sized and micro enterprises.
    State Council Issues the Guiding Opinions on Cutting Overcapacity in the Non-Ferrous Metal Industry

    The General Office of the State Council issued “Guiding Opinions on Creating a Favorable Market Environment to Promote Structural Adjustment, Transformation and Increases in Benefits in the Non-Ferrous Metal Industry (Opinions),” which addresses dealing with overcapacity problems in the non-ferrous metal industry. The Opinions consists of 15 articles, making detailed directives for key tasks and policy assurance, stressing that work should be done to cut overcapacity and disposal of surplus material in accordance with the laws and regulations, and guide the transfer of non-competitive capacity.

    The Opinions states the key tasks as including: strict control of newly-added capacity and investigation and management of newly-built electrolytic aluminum projects in violation of the regulations; quickening of disposal of excess material, dealing with overcapacity in accordance with the laws and regulations and guiding the transfer of non-competitive capacity; stepping up technological innovation, pushing forward intelligent manufacturing and development of refined processing; expanding market applications, enhancing upstream and downstream cooperation and improving relevant product standards; improving reserves systems; actively promoting international cooperation, etc.

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  • Foreign direct investments rise to RM12.8b in first quarter

    Foreign direct investments rise to RM12.8b in first quarter

    Despite a weaker global environment, Malaysia remains a competitive investment location for foreign investors, with an increase of 28% in this quarter, says minister Mustapa Mohamed.

    In the first quarter (Q1) of 2016, Malaysia recorded RM37.3 billion of approved investments in the services, manufacturing and primary sectors.

    These investments involved 1,271 projects and will create 39,990 employment opportunities.

    “Despite a weaker global environment, Malaysia remains a competitive investment location for foreign investors, with an increase of 28% in this quarter.

    “Year-on-year, FDI (foreign direct investments) increased to RM12.8 billion in Q1 2016 from RM10.0 billion in the corresponding period of 2015.

    “Domestic investments led with RM24.5 billion or 65.7% of total approved investments in Q1 2016,” said International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed today.

    “Taking into account the two lumpy projects approved in last year’s Q1 i.e. PRPC’s project in Johor and LNG9’s project in Sarawak, Q1 2016 showed a decrease from RM69.8 billion in comparison as these two projects alone amounted to RM35.3 billion.

    “ I would like to highlight that without the two big projects, Q1 2016 actually shows an overall increase of 8.1% from RM34.5 billion last year,” the minister added.

    Services sector

    The services sector attracted the largest portion of approved investments in the first three months of 2016, amounting to RM27.6 billion. A total of 1,088 services projects were approved, creating 20,200 employment opportunities, the largest potential employer in the economy.

    “Foreign investment in the services sector surged by 112.1% from RM3.3 billion in Q1 2015 to RM7.0 billion in the same period this year.

    “We are seeing more foreign participation in distributive trade, education services, global establishments, financial services and real estate sub-sectors,” explained Mustapa.

    Distributive trade saw an increase of 992% of foreign participation from RM101.5 million in Q1 last year to RM1,108.7 million in Q1 2016.

    The increased investments from regional and international retailers have boosted Malaysia’s ranking to third position in the 2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) by A T Kearney.

    For the education sub-sector, the increase of 672.7% of foreign investments from RM19.3 million in Q1 2015 to RM149.2 million in Q1 2016 reflects Malaysia’s success in accelerating the process in making the country a regional education hub of excellence.

    The private education sector will complement the government’s efforts in providing access to quality education to the people.

    As to date, there are 501 private higher institutions that offer a wide range of disciplines at every level of education, including short-term and professional courses certificate, diploma, degree and post-graduate degree qualifications.

    Global establishments and end-to-end global supply chain management services are fast becoming important components in the Malaysian economic backbone.

    In Q1 2016, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) approved a total of 60 global establishments with investments of RM5.6 billion.

    The lion share of these was from six principal hub projects with total investments worth RM5.5 billion. These investments were in the industries of aerospace, electronic & electrical (E&E), food & beverage as well as resource-based industries.

    The principal hub initiative is among the high value-added services that are currently promoted by Malaysia.

    Manufacturing sector

    Investments in the manufacturing sector for January-March 2016 totalled RM8.9 billion from 170 projects. The approved manufacturing projects are expected to generate about 19,650 employment opportunities.

    “Despite the decrease in investments in this sector for the first quarter of this year, it is noteworthy that Malaysia has attracted significant investments in the transport equipment industry, with a spike of 1,584% from RM40.1 billion in Q1 2015 to RM675.7 billion in Q1 2016.

    Other industries which recorded high growth rates were paper, printing & publishing (944.0%), food (550.0%), leather & leather products (162.3%), chemical & chemical products (159.1%), scientific & measuring equipment (78.8%), and rubber products (57.1%).

    Regardless of a lower investment value in Q1 2016, the E&E industry emerged as the main contributor to the total approved investments in the manufacturing sector compared to the corresponding period last year.
    Most of the high quality projects in E&E are concentrated in solar, fabricated wafers and semiconductor devices.

    Primary sector

    Malaysia continued to register a lower investment in the primary sector due to the challenges in global crude oil prices. Investments in this sector recorded a total of RM874.9 million in Q1 2016.

    The mining subsector led with approved investments of RM692.2 million, mainly from oil and gas exploration activities.

    Approved investments in the plantation and commodities subsector totaled RM129.0 million. In Q1 2016, a total of RM53.7 million investment was approved in the agriculture subsector.

     

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  • Japan to invest in fire extinction technology in Indonesia

    Japan to invest in fire extinction technology in Indonesia

    The Investment Coordinating Board said a Japanese company engaged in fire extinction technology is interested in investing Rp600 billion in Indonesia.

    The Head of the Board, Franky Sibarani, in a press release received by Antara here on Monday, said the potential investors will build a forest fire prevention system and develop this technology in Indonesia.

    “This business will deal with ways to prevent forest and land fires by applying such technology,” he added.

    Sibarani informed that the company already has a local partner, a fact that will help them realize the investment.

    The Japanese company is currently reviewing two locations that could be used to set up its operations here. These sites are in Sei Mangke Industrial Area, North Sumatra and Tanjung Api-Api Industrial Area, South Sumatra.

    Sibarani explained that the raw material used in fire fighting technology can be procured from within Indonesia.

    “The Indonesian workers who will operate the technology would be first trained in Japan for at least six months,” he disclosed.

    An Indonesian official of the Investment Promotion Office in Tokyo (IIPC), Saribua Siahaan, remarked that this investment plan was quite interesting, considering that the Japanese investment in the country is largely in the automotive sector and its supporting components.

    “We are ready to help the company to realize its investment in Indonesia. This investment is also expected to contribute positively to the governments efforts to prevent forest fires,” he noted.

    Data obtained from the Investment Coordinating Board shows that in the second quarter of 2016, the realization of Japan investment in Indonesia had reached US$1.58 billion and covered 427 projects, providing jobs for 28,377 people.

    In 2015, the realization of Japanese investment amounted to US$2.87 billion with 2,030 projects and had absorbed 115,400 workers.

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  • Is There a Tech Bubble in China?

    Is There a Tech Bubble in China?

    Wealthy Chinese investors are in a bind. All the usual, typically safe investment vehicles—commodities, stocks, even stable real estate—have been anything but usual or safe over the last couple months. The Chinese economy has slowed and inflation has picked up, the yuan has been under pressure, oil has tanked, and gold markets have been rattled. Real-estate markets in previously inviolable zip codes like Manhattan, a longtime sure bet for foreign investors looking to park their money in the stability of multi-million-dollar apartments, have started to sway.

    With the new reality of so much risk and little hope for returns in these markets, Chinese investors are pushing their money toward technology start-ups, according to Reuters. Investments in these companies more than doubled last year, according to CB Insights research, leaping to $32.2 billion. So far this year, venture-capital investments have already climbed to $4.7 billion. That stands in stark contrast to the Shanghai Composite Index, which is down nearly 20 percent in 2016. Established-enough Chinese start-ups like the ride-hailing Uber competitor Didi Kuaidi have benefited the most. The company saw its valuation jump 25 percent to about $20 billion—dwarfing its American competitors.

    We’ve watched this movie before in the U.S. As investors got tired of waiting to wade back into the muck of traditional markets in the wake of the financial crisis, they looked for new places to strike gold. They set their sights out West, to Silicon Valley, pouring their money into small start-ups with huge funding rounds, hoping for a payday. The result was the birth of dozens of new billion-dollar companies. On a hope, a prayer, and the blood, sweat, and tears of many a millennial, these unicorns hung on and continued to raise money. But now, the chickens are coming home to roost.

    Last month, Fidelity marked down investments in 19 start-ups, including onetime Silicon Valley standouts Dropbox and Zenefits (the markdown, however, seems like the least of Zenefits’s worries). Millennial darling Snapchat got similar treatment from Fidelity last fall. Others, like Jawbone, and again, Zenefits, have laid off workers. Funding has started to dry up, yet even those able to raise capital are struggling. Oscar, the health-care app pegged to Obamacare exchanges, closed a round last month that boosted its valuation to $2.7 billion. But on Tuesday, the company reported that it was bleeding money, losing more than $100 million in 2015.

    American investors thought they were trading risky investments for the kinds of returns they could only dream of, but it appears the risk in their their start-up bets were just as great. Now, as Chinese investors make similar calculations, they may face a similar fate.

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  • Malaysia’s Ebizu raises $3m from Singaporean investors

    Malaysia’s Ebizu raises $3m from Singaporean investors

    Malaysia-based retail advertising and intelligence technology provider, Ebizu Sdn Bhd, has secured a round of Series A investment amounting to $3 million from undisclosed Singapore investors to fuel its regional expansion plans.

    Ebizu’s operations has grown to a team of 130 people spread across offices in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

    Established in 2013, Ebizu, an O2O (Online to Offline) solutions provider which specializes in retail advertising and location intelligence, has expanded within the Southeast Asia region. Co-founder Rohit Maheswaran said, the company has been aggressively enhancing its solution as well as expanding its beacon and retailer network in the past five months. “Behind all these, negotiations for investments were being conducted and we were glad to see so many interested parties. This round of  funding will help us maintain the intensity of our growth,” he said.

    “We emphasise on helping physical retailers and brands reach out and engage with their consumers, our product is evolving to become more data driven, so that merchants and brands can acquire and retain customers with more precision,” Maheswaran said.

    He added that Ebizu’s brand new geo-behavioural intelligence and insights platform will help advertisers target online and offline ads better. Seeing the accelerated growth in digital ad spend and mobile advertising, Ebizu was formed to bridge the gap between brick and mortar retailers and mobile technology utilization.

    The company’s integrated retail solutions empower the offline retailers with knowledge of the customer’s journey, enabling retailers to reach and engage shoppers’ on-the- go with promotions, vouchers and loyalty campaigns, engaging them at the right time and optimizing sale conversions.

    Currently, Ebizu’s merchant network consists of 1,900 retail outlets with the target of 5,000 to be reached by the end of 2016. It also has around 5,000 geofenced points of interest and 10,000 BLE beacons installed across Malaysia and Indonesia, at the moment, with hopes to grow that network to 25,000 by year end.

    At the end of last year, it was named the 2015 Asia Pacific BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) in Connected Retail Company of the year by Frost & Sullivan.

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  • South Korea Now Fourth Biggest Foreign Investor in US Real Estate

    South Korea Now Fourth Biggest Foreign Investor in US Real Estate

    Over the past few years South Korea has invested billions of dollars in the real estate market in the United States. The country has always been a major investor but just recently the diversity and stability of the US market has made it increasingly attractive.

    Last year South Korea became the fourth largest foreign investor in office space in the United States but its interest isn’t confined to one particular type of property. Although commercial buildings are of major interest, investors are also putting money into data centres, retail and logistics.

    According to Commercial Property Executive, Koreans have been actively investing in foreign real estate since around the turn-of-the-century. Even though South Korea isn’t a small market, there is still a lot of interest in investing globally with investors looking to diversify their portfolio in order to get a better yield. Over the past year South Korean funds have made high-profile investments in the US market, attracted by the fact that the market in this country is very developed, offering more opportunities and more deals.

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    Most of the interest from South Korean investors is from global brands such as Samsung SRA and from pension funds, and is mainly centered in gateway cities. These cities include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Chicago, but there is also increasing interest in secondary cities that include Seattle and Denver. While there is considerable interest in commercial properties, this isn’t to the exclusion of residential properties, provided they are of the right type. This doesn’t always mean they have to have a huge price tag, although this is often the case. For asset management companies, prices can go up to $400 million and may start at $150 million.

    In spite of the interest from South Korean investors, there are various challenges that have to be resolved during transactions. These are mainly due to the difference in cultures as transactions in Korea are conducted in the way that is very different from the US. Even with these differences, there is expected to be continued growth in the amount of South Korean funds being invested in the US as there just isn’t as much opportunity in Korea as in foreign countries. Although this growth may be set to continue there are signs the Koreans are becoming more selective in terms of asset types and yield requirements as they are becoming more cautious.

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  • Major Asia investment for Michael Kors

    Major Asia investment for Michael Kors

    Michael Kors has paid $500 million in cash to acquire Michael Kors HK, the exclusive licensee of the company in China and certain other jurisdictions in Asia.

    Approved by independent members of the company’s board of directors, the acquisition is subject to adjustment.

    The greater China business generated total revenue of $197 million for the year ended March 31, with a network of 91 company-run retail stores and six travel retail locations across China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

    This fiscal year, the greater China business is expected to contribute about $200 million to retail net sales, reflecting sales for the 10-month period following the closing of the acquisition.

    Michael Kors chairman/CEO John Idol says the company is excited about acquiring its greater China licensee. “We have worked diligently over the past several years with our licensed partner in this region to build the infrastructure, establish the brand and grow acceptance of Michael Kors in the Chinese market.

    “We believe our brand is gaining strong momentum in greater China, making it the ideal time for us to integrate this territory into our business and capitalise on the enormous growth potential in this region.”
    CEO Neil Saunders of retail research agency Conlumino says the acquisition will allow the business to ramp up its pace of expansion in the region and, over the medium term, boost earnings potential.

    “It is fortunate Michael Kors has other regions to turn to for growth, with Asia having the most potential.”

    An award-winning designer of luxury accessories and ready-to-wear fashion, Michael Kors established his namesake company in 1981. Michael Kors stores can be found in Seoul and Tokyo.

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