Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Investment bank opens in Burma

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Wednesday, 03 October 2012 13:46 Mizzima News    

Burma’s first investment bank, Mandalay Capital, started by an Uzbekistan man who was educated at Columbia and Oxford universities, has set up shop in Burma, in spite of the country’s still nascent investment laws.

Alisher Alihas

Investor Alisher Alihas has also raised $25 million for Myanmar's first dedicated investment fund, which closed its fundraising last month.

Ali, in an article on Tuesday in Businessweek.com, said that the investment bank, Mandalay Capital, would be a bridge between foreign investors seeking to find their way into Burma and local companies that need capital and guidance.

He said he modeled the bank on Eurasia Capital, a boutique investment bank in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, which has attracted loyal clients and awards since he founded it in 2008.

Mandalay Capital's five employees work out of a bungalow in a residential neighborhood, rather than an office, the article said.

Yangon has just 63,000 square meters (678,126 square feet) of office space: less than half as much as in a single skyscraper, Empire Tower in Bangkok, according to Colliers International, a real estate company. With such limited supply and rising demand, prices have shot up.

Rangoon is experiencing a rise in prices as western businesses prepare to move into Burma, which has been called one of the last frontiers of investment in the world with its population of nearly 60 million people in a nation where the average workers’ salary is less than US$ 150 a month.

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