Chinese Private Security Moves Into Central Asia
July 8th, 2019
Via The Diplomat, a look at the expansion of private Chinese security companies in Central Asia: As Kyrgyz President Soornbay Jennbekov pushed efforts to make the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway a reality, a private Chinese security company signed deals to protect the contested project for China Railway Group. The 2016 Chinese embassy bombing in Bishkek heightened risk perception among […]
Read more »Geopolitics and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
July 8th, 2019
Via The Geopolitical Monitor, a look at the geopolitics around the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB): In June 2015, the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was agreed to by representatives of 50 countries in Beijing, China. The Bank started operating in January 2016 and its first four loans – totaling USD 509 […]
Read more »Frontier Markets: Rapid Growth Propelled by Reform
July 6th, 2019
Via Hubbis, some interesting commentary from 15 gatekeepers, asset managers and CIOs during a private and off-the-record discussion on the development of frontier and MENA markets: The topics covered included the key reasons for investment in frontier markets, their high growth but low correlation to global equity markets, the rationale for alpha strategies and the sustainability of […]
Read more »Technology’s Impact On Myanmar
July 4th, 2019
Via KrAsia, a look at how technology can impact a frontier market like Myanmar: Just six years ago, in 2013, a mobile user in Myanmar had to pay USD 250 for a SIM card—this in a country where the average annual income was less than USD 200. For most people in Myanmar, the internet was a […]
Read more »Rise of A Vietnamese Corporate Empire
June 29th, 2019
Courtesy of The Financial Times (subscription required), an interesting look at Vingroup, a growing Vietnamese conglomerate which makes everything from smartphones to schools: Several weeks ago, I travelled east from Hanoi, through industrial estates and rice paddies, to the port of Haiphong in northern Vietnam. My driver took me over a causeway to Cat Hai […]
Read more »Digital Silk Road: China’s Dream of Conquering Asia
June 26th, 2019
Via The Asia Times, an article on China’s efforts to build a China-centered transnational network infrastructure to reboot globalization Geopolitics is all about leverage and geo-economics is all about bargaining on the leverage. The relative peace in the world today exists between the thin line of leverage and bargain, especially in the case of the ongoing […]
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.