The Last Kim of Pyongyang?
January 21st, 2012
Via Foreign Policy, an interesting report on the possibility of North Korea following Myanmar’s gentle path towards liberalization. As the article notes: For more than two decades, Myanmar was a pariah state ruled by military generals that suppressed political dissent, straitjacketed the media, persecuted ethnic minorities, and — despite resource riches — failed to improve […]
Read more »Frontier Markets Up The Ante On Political Risk In Mining
January 18th, 2012
Courtesy of The Financial Times, an article on mining firms’ increased interest in frontier markets. As the report notes: Mining companies have been busy scouring investment frontiers that they once avoided. The world’s seven largest gold-producing companies are all developing major projects in frontier markets, including Papua New Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, and Ecuador. Geologically-attractive deposits […]
Read more »Myanmar: Poised On Cusp Of Growth?
January 17th, 2012
Via USA TODAY, an interesting article on Myanmar’s growth prospects. As the report notes: In saffron robes and flip-flops, Buddhist monk Ashin Uttama browses the feast of cheap Chinese electronics assembled for a trade fair in Rangoon, Burma’s commercial capital. A tablet computer would let him scroll through the sutras he must chant daily, and […]
Read more »Myanmar: Frontier Banking
January 13th, 2012
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on Myanmar’s nascent banking sector. As the article notes: For all the hoopla surrounding Myanmar as the new Wild West following its half-century of isolation, a truly frontier market is its banking sector – ATMs became available just two months ago. But one bank has picked up the […]
Read more »Stop / Start: Myanmar’s Investment Liberalization
January 12th, 2012
Via The Financial Times, a report on Myanmar’s uneven path towards more liberal foreign direct investment policies. As the article notes: The “will of the people” is not a phrase you hear very often in government communications about foreign direct investment in Myanmar. But that is the reason the nominally civilian government of president Thein […]
Read more »North Korea: Authoritarian Capitalism
January 11th, 2012
Via Forbes, commentary on the future of free enterprise in North Korea. As the article notes: “DOES THE DEATH of Kim Jong Il portend any change in foreign trade and investment with a range of “enemies,” including the U.S.? Maybe. Dear Leader’s anointed successor, third son Kim Jong Un (a.k.a. “Brilliant Comrade”), is believed to […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.