Leopard Capital to launch $75 mln Laos, Cambodia fund

Eyes investment in banks, agriculture, energy sector

BANGKOK, July 11 (Reuters) - Frontier markets investor Leopard Capital plans to launch a $75 million fund targeting investments in financial services, agriculture and power in Laos and Cambodia to tap the two countries' strong economic growth, it said on Monday.

The two impoverished Southeast Asian countries are slowly emerging as investment destinations.

Laos opened a stock market in January on which two stocks are traded. Cambodia officially opened a bourse on Monday although trading is unlikely until the end of the year at the earliest.

Some global investors that have targeted emerging markets in recent years to escape the sluggish prospects of developed countries after the financial crisis are now looking to move further into exotic places promising fast growth.

Cambodia begins to attract money

June 5 2011
By Peter Shadbolt
Financial Times

Cambodia, once regarded as a spill-over investment from Vietnam, is showing signs of standing on its own feet as frontier funds start to produce strong returns.

Frontier investors such as Leopard Capital – a private equity fund which launched a potential $100m Cambodia-focused fund in 2008 only to close with $34m – is now finding renewed interest in the country, holding the door open as other regional funds begin to sense an opportunity.

Vietnam’s largest asset manager, Vinacapital Investment Management, in January announced it would be expanding into Cambodia with a pledge to invest $100m, launching a dedicated fund targeting real estate, infrastructure, hospitality and agriculture investments.

“On the face of it, it is looking like a great opportunity,” says Kathleen Ng, managing director of the Centre for Asia Private Equity Research.

Cambodia’s surge coincides with developing energy

08/31/10
By Jason Wulterkens
Benzinga.com

Leopard Capital founder and CEO Douglas Clayton’s latest investment commentary and newsletter opines on what the future holds for foreign direct investment into Cambodia:

“There are some hopeful signs for future FDI, mainly from Asia. New foreign business registrations surged 42% in 1H10, led by investors from China, Vietnam and Korea. Vietnam officials said their businesses intend to invest $1.3 billion in Cambodia over the next two years in seven industries, including oil, power, mining, and rubber. China’s cumulative investments in Cambodia have now reportedly reached $8 billion, making it by far the largest investor. China has been the dominant infrastructure banker and contractor here, like in most frontier economies, and recent news suggests no change to that policy. China has just agreed to finance and construct the $26 million first phase of Phnom Penh’s second river port, which will triple the port’s capacity. China’s Ex-Im Bank will also finance Huadian Power’s US$412mn, 338-MW hydropower project in Koh Kong province, which when completed in 2014 will nearly double Cambodia’s current generation capacity.”

Per this latter point, electricty prices in Cambodia (the average price of electricity in Cambodia is approximately $0.16 per kilowatt/hour and as high as $0.90 per kilowatt-hour in remote rural areas) remain the highest in the ASEAN region. Moreover, the Koh Kong project is one of fourteen similar plans associated with the government’s efforts (all being developed by Chinese firms) to triple the country’s energy output from around 808 megawatts in 2009 to nearly 4,000 megawatts by 2020 (equal to estimated consumption) and supply 70 percent of the population with electricity. That said, however, because hydropower can only be used at full capacity for the duration of Cambodia’s rainy season, and can only be run at one-third capacity the remainder of the year, private funds are also being channeled to the development of coal-fired power plants (per analysts, Cambodia features extensive hydropower resources and poentially large coal and natural gas deposits which have yet to be fully developed).

A relatively mature energy industry is a fundamental catalyst to ensuring an ensuing flow of foreign capital and investment, not to mention its role in helping the government provide services to rural communities. According to the ‘Energy Outlook for Asia and the Pacific’ report released in November 2009 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Cambodia’s primary energy demand – driven primarily by the increasing demand for electricity – is expected to grow at 3.7 per cent per year from 2005 to 2030, outpacing the regional average of 2.4 per cent. In March, the government noted that Cambodia had spent $59m USD on electricity imports from Thailand and Vietnam in 2009. By 2017, however, it says it hopes to be a net-exporter.

Cambodia: Asia’s mini-tiger

August 25, 2010
By Tim Johnston
Financial Times

Could frontier market Cambodia become a serious contender for Asian tiger status? The country certainly has a buzz about it: flights into the capital are filled with businessmen, the once rural outskirts of Phnom Penh are fast turning into one big construction site, and the roads of the city centre are gridlocked with Lexus four-wheel drives.

According to a UBS note to its clients today, the country is starting to make a roar, albeit small. And when it comes to manufacturing, Cambodia is fast becoming a ‘mini tiger’.
According to Jonathan Anderson at UBS in Hong Kong, Cambodia’s manufacturing base has significantly benefitted from the globalisation boom of the past decade.

The country has quietly established itself as a “mini-tiger” in textile processing and assembly, a fact generally overlooked by most investors including ourselves.

So is Cambodia poised to take on official emerging market status? Not yet.

Cambodia’s manufacturing sector is growing at an astonishing rate - in real terms (the Cambodian currency) it has more than quadrupled in the last decade, but as a manufacturing economy it still has some way to go: manufacturing still represents less than 15 per cent of GDP according to the latest figures from the ADB.

But Cambodia is quietly attracting more and more attention. In 2008, Leopard Capital launched the country’s first dedicated fund, and although the $34m raised was a long way short of the $100m it was aiming for (it was after all the middle of the global crisis), it plans to launch another $50m fund later this year to be split between Cambodia and Laos.

In today’s UBS note, Anderson has taken a look at the extent to which developing economies dependent on manufacturing have expanded their manufacturing exports relative to GDP over the last decade. The standouts were Cambodia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Thailand and Vietnam, all of which increased their exports by more than 25 percentage points.

While Cambodia becoming a tiger overnight may be premature, the note certainly offers some food for thought.

Catching Cambodia on the cusp of development

February 14 2010
By Elaine Moore
Financial Times (UK)

Douglas Clayton, founder of frontier market fund manager Leopard Capital, has a habit of relocating to the country he believes is on the cusp of development. Right now, his home is Cambodia.

“It’s fun to be in countries that are changing rapidly,” he says. “Cambodia is where Thailand was 30 years ago, and where Vietnam was 15 years ago. There is a lot going on.”

Leopard Capital manages funds in what it calls “overlooked, transitional economies”. It boasts contrarian investor Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom newsletter, as a non-executive director and seeks to invest in start-ups as well as existing businesses in South East Asia.

In April 2008 it launched the Leopard Cambodia Fund, which closed in January 2010 with more than £34m (€39m $53m) to invest in a variety of multi-sector Cambodia projects. Mr Clayton says a second Cambodian fund is planned for later in 2010.

Investors tend to have some knowledge of Asian developing economies and tolerance for the idiosyncrasies that investment in these countries involves.

Cambodia’s economy is, at around $8bn (£5bn, €6bn), smaller than some multi-national companies, and with per capita gross domestic product of less than $800, it is still one of the poorest countries in the world.

Another obstacle to investment is the lack of transparency and endemic corruption in the country. The 2008 Transparency International survey ranked Cambodia 166 out of 180 countries.

“The legal system in Cambodia is a work in progress but it gets better every year,” says Mr Clayton. “Cambodia is no worse that any other south-east Asian developing country and most importantly, the government wants to attract foreign investment.”

In fact, Mr Clayton rates Cambodia alongside Hong Kong and Singapore as one of the most open countries to do business in. Corporate income tax is 9 per cent and there are no laws against 100 per cent foreign ownership of companies, although land can only be fully owned by Cambodians.

After it was ravaged by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s Cambodia has experienced 30 years of remarkable growth and has attracted a steady stream of investors lured by the country’s political stability under long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, and the potential for its undeveloped natural resources.

The capital city may still lack a coherent public transportation system or large shopping centre, but its transformation from ghost town to thriving city is used to illustrate Cambodia as a post-war success story.

Between 2000 and 2007 the country’s economy grew by 9.5 per cent a year, second only to China.

When the Cambodia fund was launched by Leopard Asia in April 2008, the founders planned to raise $100m, with a projected investment return of 30 per cent.

But as the global recession took hold across Asia, interest in frontier funds such as the Leopard Cambodia Fund, which require investors to tie in their money for relatively long periods of time, dwindled, and the group decided to close the first fund and invest the money.

So far the largest investment made has been $5m to CamGSM, which operates Cambodia’s largest mobile phone network. As with many developing countries, landline coverage in Cambodia is fairly sparse, but mobile phones are widely owned.

The fund has also invested $2m into Kingdom Breweries, a Cambodian beer brewery, which aims to produce high quality beer in a microbrewery in Phnom Penh; over $1m in Greenside Holdings to construct a rural power distribution system; and $1.5m for 24 per cent of a property project in downtown Siem Reap, near the tourist attraction of Angkor Wat.

The fund will also invest up to $4m into Cambodia Plantations to lease approximately 3,000 hectares of land to grow rice. The first harvest is expected in 2011.

Agriculture remains one of the dominant industries in Cambodia and a number of countries such as Malaysia and Korea have taken advantage of the cheap price of land to lease thousands of hectares to grow rice.

The second Cambodian fund is expected to continue investment in agriculture, as well as potentially including investment in Laos.

Before this is launched the group will focus on two new Sri Lanka funds. The private equity Leopard Sri Lanka fund aims to raise $100m, while the Leopard Sri Lanka Value fund will seek to raise $30m to invest in listed equity. Although Sri Lanka is a more sophisticated and larger economy than Cambodia, it has lacked investors while in the grip of a brutal civil war. Leopard Capital plans to invest in industries that were already well developed but came to a halt during the war, such as tourism, retail and agriculture.

“We are the first wave of money coming into the economy,” says Mr Clayton. “Once the world realises that this country is safe again this economy is going to take off.”

Once Optimistic, Equity Firms Now Struggling

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 October 2009

In 2008, Cambodia’s economy was one of the fastest growing in Asia. Back then, at least three major private equity firms opened for business, hoping to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in capital for investment in agriculture, real estate, hydropower and others.

These days, however, these firms say they’ve had a hard time wooing investors made nervous by the global economic crisis.

“Now we have postponed our fundraising because of the general economic crisis,” said Brad Gordon, managing director of Cambodia Emerald, which had hoped to raise $100 million this year.

Gordon, who has gone from private equity to business consulting, said his firm may start raising funds next year.

Meanwhile, Frontier Investment and Development Partners, which expected to raise $200 million, has also seen little funding.

“The economic crisis resulted in investors pulling back from investing in emerging market countries,” said Mavin Yeo, a managing partner for Frontier. “In Asia, they only look at China and India, even that it is tough. The less developed countries have found struggle to raise money.”

Leopard Capital so far has been the only one of the three firms able to raise capital, though they are well below their planned $100 million for 2009.

Leopard has raised slightly more than $28 million from investors in Europe, the US and Asia, said Douglas Clayton, the company’s CEO. The firm hopes to see $30 million to $40 million by the end of the year, still 60 percent below target, he said.

“I can’t say that it is easy to raise money, but it’s possible,” Clayton said. “Even if we don’t get any more money, we’re OK, as we were the first fund to make some investments.”

Leopard has invested in a residential estate in Siem Reap, a rice plantation in Kampong Chhnang province and a wine factory and electricity supplier in Kampong Cham province.

Equity firms can help raise foreign investment, and the stunted take-offs of Cambodia’s first three have been a loss to the economy, said Ros Seilva, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Economy.

Many developed countries have high numbers of private equity firms, but for a country like Cambodia, weakness in the rule of law can make investors wary, said Chan Sophal, a researcher for the Cambodia Development Resource Institute.

In 2008, Cambodia was ranked 166th of 180 countries by Transparency International, making it the second-most corrupt country in Asia, ahead of Burma. A World Bank business report for 2010 ranks Cambodia’s business climate 145th of 183 countries; in Asia, only in Laos is it harder to do business.

Still, Chan Sophal said, in the next five years, private equity firms should see more confidence in investors.

Cambodia: Investment Company Acquires Majority Stake in Kingdom Breweries

Source: Leopard Cambodia Fund

1 August 2009 - Leopard Cambodia Fund's investment committee has approved the Fund's fourth investment; $2 million for 55.5% of Kingdom Breweries Pte Ltd.

Guided by a chairman with 52 years of brewery management experience, Kingdom Breweries has a simple mission: to produce the best beer in the Kingdom, and win over a small but enthusiastic following.

The beer market here has been surging in recent years, but with half the local population still "under-age", consumption should double over the next 5-10 years as the kids grow up and everyone gets richer.

Kingdom Breweries aims to secure a foothold by producing high-quality craft beer in a microbrewery in Phnom Penh, in which visitors will be able to tour and taste.

Business: Welcome to the kingdoom of ... rampant corruption and crony capitalism

Cambodia Calls

MONDAY, JULY 27, 2009
By LESLIE P. NORTON
Barron's (USA)

Checking out Cambodia's nascent economy.

REMEMBER FRONTIER MARKETS? Those in Pakistan and Vietnam, the high-octane sector of the developing world, promising even swifter growth than the more mature emerging markets?

They've been left in the dust this year as investors swarmed to so-called BRIC funds -- those that trade in shares of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese companies -- as well as to emerging-markets funds. The MSCI BRICs index has returned 53% in 2009, while emerging markets have returned 43%, and the corresponding frontier markets index, just 4.8%. (The Templeton Frontier Markets Fund is up 23%.)

Says Michael Hartnett, Merrill Lynch's global equity strategist: "Interest in frontier markets has lagged because of liquidity issues." But if enthusiasm about growth in China and almost anywhere outside the developed world gathers steam, expect new interest in frontier markets to jump.

David Wilton, chief investment officer of the International Finance Corp.'s private-equity and investment-funds department, thinks a change is already under way: "The mood has shifted noticeably from February. Now the listed equity markets have recovered, and they're thinking about investing."

The latest market to get attention is Cambodia, where a handful of investors familiar with Vietnam and Thailand are trying to set up funds. Cambodia is very poor, with rampant corruption and crony capitalism. But economic growth is robust, even if the economy is just $8 billion. Douglas Clayton, managing partner of Phnom Penh-based Leopard Capital, has raised just under $30 million and is trying to raise more; sitting on his board is markets commentator and Barron's Roundtable contributor Marc Faber.

Cambodia doesn't have a stock market yet, but Clayton believes it could by year's end. There are numerous foreign-sponsored companies, including banks and cellphone operators, though the economy is largely agricultural. The median age in Cambodia is 21, the lowest in Asia. Clayton reckons that about 70% of the population, which numbers 14 million, wasn't yet born during the horrific regime of the Khmer Rouge, estimated to have killed two million Cambodians.

"Cambodia is back open for business," says Clayton, who is applying for citizenship. "This is a failed state that's back on its feet."

Conservative investors aren't impressed. Says Peter Newell, managing director of Vontobel Asset Management: "We look for a $50 million bottom line, low leverage, high ROA [return on assets]. Can you find that in a frontier market? No. Not even in China, not easily."

David Wilton of the International Finance Corp. agrees: Investing in Cambodia may be, as he delicately puts it, "a wee bit nascent," and there are few deals to support private-equity funds. Still, Wilton concedes that the IFC is very close to seeding a fund to invest there.

Leopard Capital Weighs Investment Climate

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
14 July 2009

[Editor’s note: Leopard Capital is the only company in Cambodia raising funds from foreign investors for multiple sectors. Since its inception in 2007, Leopard’s manager partner, Douglas Clayton, has met with more than 500 wealthy investors from around the globe, though most have proved hesitant to invest in Cambodia. Clayton recently sat with VOA Khmer for an interview in Phnom Penh.]

Q. When you first began here two years ago, you expected to raise $100 million. How far have you come in that plan?

A. Well, two years ago when we started this fund, the world economy was much stronger. So we were more optimistic, but things changed, [and] we’ve raised $27 million. We are going to invest in around 10 businesses here. We have some 80 or 90 investors in our fund. So we have managed to persuade some of them to send their money to Cambodia.

Q. What is the difference in Cambodia’s investment climate from when you first opened your office?

A. Certainly, the economy slowed down a lot. It has become more difficult to raise money for any risky investment than it was two or three years ago. Globally, investors have lost a lot of money because of the stock markets coming down and the property markets coming down. So there’s less money for people to invest, and there is more caution for the money than before. They try to hang on to what they have, and they try not to take long-term risks. They want to be very liquid with their investments.

Q. You mention risky business. What are the risks to business in Cambodia that make it hard to attract investors?

A. Most foreign investors don’t know very much about Cambodia. Most of them have never been here, and they remember the old history of Cambodia thirty years ago, but they don’t know too much about the recent history. So we have to explain what has been going on here and how the country has changed, how it is developing. The hardest part is that most people consider Cambodia as a small country far away that they have never been in, and they generally have heard negative things in the last two decades. They haven’t heard the positive things going on here.

Q. In this economic crisis, what are the most risky Cambodian businesses to invest in?

A. I don’t know if I could answer which sector is the most risky. But certainly it’s all about finding businesses that can still prosper during the time of global recession. We could invest in agriculture; there’s always demand for food. Whether the economy is strong or weak, there is still some demand for rice.

Q. In the middle of 2008, when the economic crisis was hitting, how many investors were you talking with?

A. I’ve been around the world four or five times marketing this fund, and I have probably met over 500 investors individually. These are large institutional investors that manage billions of dollars. I spoke at 10 or 12 conferences that I was invited to, to explain Cambodia with other speakers who explained other countries.

Q. Who were these investors? Where were they from? What were their views on Cambodia’s investment climate?

A. We have investors from all over the world, but the largest group and largest percentage is from Europe, European investors who are familiar with Southeast Asia, as many of them have come for holiday in this part of the world. But most of them would say something like, “I’ll have to come out to visit Cambodia on my next trip to Asia before I invest.” And then, after they don’t have to come to Cambodia, most of them don’t actually start investing. But at least they learn a little bit about Cambodia, and they know there is an opportunity to invest here.

Q. It seems that these investors are reluctant to invest in Cambodia. Can you identify reasons that have made them so hesitant to enter the Cambodian market?

A. Firstly, they’ll consider the very small economy of Cambodia. The total GDP here is around $8 billion or $9 billion. That’s about the size of one company in the West. So they think they should spend a lot of time to understand a tiny economy such as Cambodia. Secondly, they are worried about the rule of law. They read in the paper a lot of reports that the rule of law is weak in Cambodia, and they worry to invest here they might not be able to get their money back.

Q. What kind of law?

A. They are worried if there is a dispute with a fund or other local partners who they invest with, they are not sure that the court will be able to give a fair ruling. That not only happens in Cambodia, but in all emerging countries, where investors worry about contracts, resolution and disputed elements.

Q. What about corruption? A recent report by the World Bank and International Financial Corporation says corruption is still the most challenging aspect of investment in Cambodia.

A. Yes, it is a challenge in all markets, especially when we have underpaid government officials who have to find a way to support their family. So this is something that we have to manage and have to be careful of.

Q. What currently are the most favorable investment destinations?

A. Well, I think most people still focus on China and India. They like the large populations of these countries, the huge economies. These countries should be major players in the world economy.

Q. Can you sum up the positive and negative aspects of Cambodia’s investment market?

A. The bad things are what we have talked about: the rule of law, under-development, corruption and the small economy; the fact that most of the people are not very well off and can’t afford products and services; people widely dispersed around the country. The infrastructure is still not perfect. The cost of power, telephone, Internet, and transportation are all higher than other countries. Human-resources skill is another problem. Any business we do, we have to train a lot more than we would do in another place. We may have to import managers initially.

The positive side is that it is a country that has many business opportunities. In most countries, there will be rental car agencies, there is a bus pickup to town, but there are not in Cambodia. Many other Asian cities have this, but Phnom Penh doesn’t.

Secondly, we have a very young population here. The average age in Cambodia is 21, unlike many western countries, where the average age is 40, the time that you get ready for retirement. Cambodians are just ready to go to work.

Cambodian private equity fund closes on $27m

20/04/2009
Source: AltAssets.

Leopard Capital, a Cambodian private equity firm, has closed Leopard Cambodia Fund on $27m.

The fund's investor base is made up of institutional investors and high net worth individuals from Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia.

The fund, which was launched in March 2008 with an anchor investment of $1,000, will invest in private companies as well as real estate in Cambodia. In terms of company investments, the strategy focuses on venture, expansion and buy-out opportunities in the mid-market. The mandate allows the fund to hold either controlling or minority positions in its investments.

Targeted sectors include financial services, agriculture, food and beverage production, building materials, tourism, and property development.

Leopard Capital expects to take an active role in managing its investments by working closely with the investee companies' management teams on strategic and operational issues such as product development, marketing strategies, executive recruitment, and financial planning and controls.

Douglas Clayton, managing partner of the firm, said, "Fundraising was challenging in the past year's shell-shocked global environment, but we're delighted to have received enough commitments to build a viable portfolio. We look forward to rolling out some very exciting investments in the coming months.

"Cambodia is feeling the chill of the global depression through its garment and tourism sectors, and surely faces a couple of tough years ahead. This slowdown puts us in a favourable position to negotiate investments, as we can put cash on the table when few others are willing or able to.

"But the storm won't last forever and we believe this promising, resilient country will be among the first to sail through it. We hope to get invested before Cambodia's intrinsic secular growth drivers overcome the immediate cyclical headwinds."

Leopard Capital will support the development of Cambodia's stock exchange, which is being developed with support from the Korea Exchange, according to a statement.

Last year, the firm reportedly competed to buy a stake in Acleda Bank, one of Cambodia's largest banks.

[Private Equity[ Fundraising [for emerging market like Cambodia] slows after record year

EMERGING MARKETS: Many first-time private-equity funds sprang up in developing countries like India and China, which appear ‘less severely’ affected by the meltdown

Tuesday, Dec 23, 2008
BLOOMBERG

Private-equity investors raised a record US$63.5 billion this year to buy companies in the developing world, especially in Asia, even as the pace of fundraising slowed amid the global financial crisis.

Private-equity funds focusing on emerging markets raised 7 percent more money this year, compared with the year-on-year increase of 78 percent last year, the Washington-based Emerging Markets Private Equity Association said.

“We’re seeing a leveling off in growth after several years of very dramatic increases, but have yet to see a decrease in capital being raised,” Sarah Alexander, president of the industry group, said an e-mail to Bloomberg News.

Private-equity investors have pushed into new markets as credit dried up after the US subprime mortgage market collapsed, slowing deal-making in the US and Europe. Announced private-equity deals, excluding aborted transactions, shrank to US$207 billion worldwide this year, less than a third of the US$674 billion last year, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

The funds focusing on Asia, excluding Australia, New Zealand and Japan, have raised US$37.1 billion since Jan. 1, accounting for 58 percent of total fundraising in emerging markets, said the industry group, whose members include private-equity fund managers and institutional investors.

Investors putting money in emerging-market funds “still have capital to commit in 2009,” Alexander said.

Investors see higher growth potential in developing markets, she said.

Funds that have come to the market in the last six months, particularly first-timers, will likely face a “much more challenging fundraising environment” amid the worst financial turmoil since the Great Depression, Alexander said.

“It’s reasonable to assume that the fundraising cycle will grow longer — potentially taking 18 months or more to achieve a final close on a fund,” she said.

Leopard Capital Ltd, which is targeting a US$100 million fund to invest in Cambodia by March 31, has raised only about a quarter of the amount this year.

“Next year, the world’s investment pie will be smaller and investors will be more discriminating on what fund strategies they back,” Phnom Penh-based Douglas Clayton said.

Many of the funds that managed to raise money in the second half of the year have already drawn commitments from investors “for some time” as they have been attempting to raise capital for at least a year, Alexander said.

Dhaka-based Asian Tiger Capital Partners, which aims to raise a US$50 million Bangladesh-focused private-equity fund, and Frontier Investment & Development Partners, which is seeking to raise US$250 million to invest in Cambodia, postponed their plans till next year.

Morgan Stanley Capital International’s Emerging Markets Index, a benchmark for equities in 24 developing nations, tumbled 53 percent this year.

Many of the first-time funds in emerging markets have sprung up in India and China, the world’s two fastest-growing major economies, and are seeking capital from local institutional investors that have been “less severely” affected by the global equity rout, Alexander said.

Actis Capital LLP, based in London, raised US$2.9 billion for an emerging markets private equity fund, which will allocate US$1 billion to India and US$600 million to China. New York-based Citigroup Inc said in May it raised US$500 million to invest in roads, ports and utilities in India.

Dubai Group in first Cambodia investment plan

Tuesday, 23 September, 2008
Bloomberg

SINGAPORE: Dubai Group, an investment company managing more than $40bn on behalf of the emirate’s ruler, said it may invest in Leopard Capital’s Cambodia fund, the group’s first investment in the Southeast Asian nation.

“We are interested in Cambodia,” said Lim See Teik, a senior private-equity analyst at Dubai Investment Group, the asset management unit, in an interview late on Friday in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, where he attended an investment forum organised by Leopard Capital. “There seems to be a lot of potential.”

The prospect of oil and gas development and political stability under the administration of Prime Minister Hun Sen are luring foreign investments in Cambodia. The economy of Southeast Asia’s second-poorest country, which abolished money and markets under the Khmer Rouge three decades ago, grew 9.5% a year from 2000 to 2007, the fastest pace in Asia after China.

Dubai Group has invested in other Southeast Asian countries, except for military-ruled Myanmar, said Lim, 41, who is based in Kuala Lumpur.