Myanmar telecoms: boom times ahead?
Myanmar’s government on Tuesday took its first big step towards promised liberalisation of the country’s long closed telecommunications market, with a surprise announcement inviting foreign tenders for two national telecoms service licenses. Continue reading »
Private equity: the last frontier
A year ago, who would have thought Myanmar would be in the spotlight on the private equity stage? It turns out that those PE funds with an eye on geopolitics, are also seeing potential in the Middle East and north Africa in the wake of the Arab Spring . Continue reading »
What might the US buy from Myanmar?
Myanmar used to be a major exporter of many products – from rice to clothing to its world-famous red rubies. But crippling sanctions left the country with few willing buyers aside from China and India who just wanted fuel or food.
That looks set to change with the US about to lift restrictions on exports from the country. But what might US consumers actually buy from Myanmar? Continue reading »
Guest post: muscling into Myanmar’s surprisingly crowded business world
By Udayan Chattopadhyay of Ergo
The US’s decision to suspend some key sanctions against Myanmar is the latest and perhaps most prominent endorsement received by that country’s new quasi-civilian regime.
Global interest has surged, due to Myanmar’s vast untapped natural resources, underexploited agricultural sector and huge underemployed labor force. While there is justifiable excitement – the IMF expects 6 per cent economic growth this year – those new to Myanmar will find that it is hardly virgin territory. Continue reading »
Myanmar: Japan makes up for lost time
After the debt, the deluge? Three months after Japan agreed to waive much of the money owed to it by Myanmar, clearing the way for normalised economic relations after a 25-year lending freeze, Japanese companies are beginning to make up for lost time.
On Tuesday Marubeni, Japan’s fifth largest trading house, said it had been awarded a contract to overhaul a gas-fired power plant it built seven years ago, before tighter Western sanctions took hold. Continue reading »
A businessman’s guide to Myanmar, British-style
After years of taking the hardest line against Myanmar of all European Union member states, the UK is clearly trying to make up for lost time.
Spurred, perhaps, by a growing sense of competition as business missions flood into Myanmar from various parts of the world, the British embassy in Yangon has taken the unusual step of putting out a “Burma business guide” – a thoughtful, 22-page run-down on dos and don’ts for aspiring investors and traders. Continue reading »
Fund file: Myanmar tempts but is tough
Now that even opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is calling for sanctions to be suspended, the prospect of Myanmar opening up for western foreign investment seems tantalisingly close, as a report in Monday’s FTfm reveals. Continue reading »
Guest post: Myanmar has much to offer but a long way to go
By Julian Mayo of Charlemagne Capital
I spent a few days in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, just before this month’s elections. It was my first visit since 1985. Back then, there were one or two flights in a day from Bangkok on small planes. One could only stay a week and there were no more than 4,000 foreigners in the country at any time. There are still only 300,000 visitors a year, compared with 19m in Thailand.
This time I arrived on an Airbus 300, packed with western tourists and some Thai, Burmese and Chinese businessmen (all with local SIM cards) – and six saffron-robed monks. Continue reading »
Myanmar: welcome to the sell-side
Myanmar’s “coming in from the cold” took another baby step forward this week – though you may not have spotted it.
Tucked in the beyondbrics inbox on Thursday morning was the most rare type of email: a Myanmar research note. In fact, it was Nomura’s debut note on the southeast Asian country. Continue reading »
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