Intrasia Capital co-hosts 'Asia meets Africa' event
October 7, 2009
Asia, a dynamic source of investment, funding and manufacturing; Africa, widely acknowledged as the continent of underdeveloped potential.
What common denominators can map the route to this potential? Singapore as Asia’s greatest services centre and Mauritius as the investor friendly conduit to the African potential.
Four aggressive and focused, interrelated corporate groups have come together to present what they conceive is a great opportunity for both nations to benefit from their location, and investment regime to open the African and Indian Ocean Rim to explosive interchange with Asia.
This is not just about banking it is about opportunity.
Intrasia Capital recently co-hosted a presentation on the theme “Asia meets Africa” in collaboration with AfrAsia Bank Limited and Intercontinental Trust Limited from Mauritius and the Superwoman Group from Australia. Held on the 6th of October at the Art House in Singapore, this event brought together over 150 Singaporean and Malaysian professionals from the financial services industry. The presentation highlighted the many unique business growth opportunities between Asia and Africa; a growing phenomenon often called “south-south” or “Indian Ocean Rim” trade. Using their own experiences of working together, the companies showcased the various opportunities, facilities and advantages of using Mauritius as a robust, professional platform for outbound investments into Africa while acknowledging Singapore as a natural spring board to and from Asia.
In his introduction, the event’s moderator, Graeme Robertson from Intrasia Capital spoke about the parallel between Singapore as a gateway to Asia and co-operation with Mauritius as the gateway to Africa. “Let us not focus on competition but cooperation – where Singapore can benefit both from the international tax-effective corporate structure of Mauritius towards investment in Africa and its central location as a service centre for the Indian Ocean Rim, as well as providing Mauritius with the facilities for onward investment in Asia.” added Mr Robertson.
By video, Mr Maurice Lam, Chairman of the Mauritian Board of Investment and a Director of AfrAsia Bank Limited, introduced Mauritius’s development as a growing business and financial hub.
Five years ago, using Singapore as a model, the Mauritius government started a program to reform the economy of Mauritius so that it becomes more opened to the world and has a business climate conducive to doing business. The aim was to transform Mauritius into a platform for global business with a particular emphasis on services. “Mauritius is now ranked 17th in the World Bank Doing Business 2010, a confirmation the much improved business climate in Mauritius. It is becoming the base for Asian companies doing business in Africa.” said Mr Lam.
As far as the Mauritian Global Business sector is concerned, there are presently around 35,000 businesses and investment funds engaged in a wide range of global activities making use of the Mauritius global financial services platform. More than 550 investment funds alone with a Net Asset Value in excess of USD50 billion has made Mauritius the number one investor into India over the past decade and is the conduit for tax effective investment in Africa.
From one of Mauritius’ leading international management companies, Mr. Ben Lim, CEO of Intercontinental Trust Limited, spoke about Mauritius as the new international financial centre and further gave an overview of the tax and treaty advantages of using this Indian Ocean Island as a platform for outbound investments into both Africa and Asia. Mr Lim said, “China has chosen Mauritius as a base for its expansion into the African continent. Through the Jin Fei project, China will invest over S$ 1 Billion in Mauritius over the next five years. The Mauritius set up will give China duty free access to Africa and the USA through the regional association Mauritius is a member of including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (“COMESA”) and the Southern African Development Community (“SADC”).”
Ms Anna Borzi AM, Head of Superwoman Global Funds, identified women as a powerful investing force. Women, she outlined, are informed and concerned investors, particularly with regard to food security and humanitarian issues. This had particular resonance, she said, with Superwoman’s launch of a world first wholesale Global Food Security Fund in Mauritius. Ms Borzi also drew attention to the World Summit on Food Security being held next November in Rome, underlining the extremely timely and pressing nature of this issue. Packets distributed by Ms Borzi contained an average daily rice intake and proved a potent symbol of food security as a global issue demanding action.
Mrs Borzi also elaborated on the benefits of Mauritius-Singapore-Australia linkage. “The advantages and effectiveness of Mauritius as a domicile for Superwoman’s Food Security Fund is a reflection of both the quality of its services and its location.” said Ms Borzi.
On the banking sector, Mr James Benoit, CEO of AfrAsia Bank, elaborated on the range of products and services offered by the Bank to the investors. “Our focused approach on Private, Corporate and International Banking in the region has allowed us to grow successfully in only 2 years of operation. With the opening of our representative office in Cape Town, we are pursuing our strategy to be a regional player by being closer to our markets and filling a service gap that the current global crisis has created.” said Mr Benoit. “Working with Intrasia and groups like InterContinental, we can make Africa, the Last Emerging Market, the new opportunity for customers in Asia” he added.
In line with AfrAsia Bank’s strategy to promote Mauritius and be a regional cross border business hub, key staff from this banking institution have been to several continents including Europe, Africa and now Asia where they have hosted such types of seminars. On some other occasions, they have accompanied members from the Mauritian Board of Investment to promote the country as the ideal location for trade in the region and how AfrAsia Bank can help investors in their various sectors of activities.
Vitagrain could hold key to solving hunger woes
October 6, 2009
The Business Times Singapore – Chen Huifen
Undaunted by a lack of rice industry in Singapore, a group of businessmen here – including Transview Holdings chairman Tan Ching Khoon – have created a company that could hold the key to solving hunger problems worldwide.
Vita Grain Group, which is backed by US $60 million of funding, owns more than 20 different strains of hybrid rice seeds that give higher-yielding, healthier crops. In field trials, its hybrid lines have been shown to produce as much as 12 tonnes of rice per hectare a year – about three times the worldwide average yield of 3.5-4 tonnes per ha per year.
‘It makes the argument for hybrid so compelling that it’s almost become an international priority for governments,’ said Vita Grain chairman Graeme Robertson.
For example, a hectare of land would need about 20kg of a particular grade of hybrid rice seed to grow a crop. If two crops can be grown a year, 40kg of hybrid seeds would be needed. Since hybrid seeds can only be used once, at US $4 per kg of seeds, it would cost the farmer US $160 a year.
Normal rice grains may be free, but the annual yield of 2 tonne per ha per year achieved in many developing countries is significantly lower than the 10 tonnes per ha per year possible with Vita Grain’s hybrid seeds. Assuming the current raw rice price of US $200 per tonne, the output with hybrid seeds would have raked in US $2,000 for the farmer, while normal rice would only yield US $400.
Apart from its higher yield, Vita Grain’s hybrid seeds also boast of lower glycemic index (GI) levels (high GI food gives rise to diabetes and obesity). The company has already started mass production of the seeds on 50 ha of land in Mauritius. This will be raised to 500 ha of land by July next year and 1,000 ha of land by December next year.
‘More than 1,000 ha of seed land in Mauritius can produce, at 4 tonne per ha, 4,000 tonnes of hybrid rice seeds,’ said Mr Robertson. ‘And you need 40kg of hybrid seeds in one year to grow, say 10 tonnes of rice, but it’s probably 16 tonnes or higher than that. So the capacity is huge.’
The impact on food security issues could also be huge. Although the Singapore-based firm is yet to have formal discussions with authorities here, it says its priority will be to support stock-piling of rice in Singapore – which imports about 330,000 tonnes of rice a year – if the need arises.
The company counts geneticist Abed Chaudhury as its chief scientist and shareholder. Vita Grain is eyeing private equity firms with an interest in food security to raise a further US $10-50 million for expansion.
‘To develop 10,000 ha of rice would cost us about US $25 million. US $10 million of funding, plus our own investment, will cover that,’ said Mr Robertson. He forecasts a 25 per cent return on investment over the next two to three years.
With new investments, Vita Grain will be able to explore further seed production in Asia, the US and South America, as well as rice production using its own seeds. The company is also setting up a rice mill in Mauritius and is in talks with partners in Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique to develop rice production units that could, at the same time, improve the livelihoods of the local communities.
‘The risk is in infringement of our intellectual property because it takes many years of research and development to reach where we are today,’ said Transview’s Mr Tan, who is executive director of Vita Grain. ‘This is why our people are on the ground monitoring our programmes every day.’