Author Archive

South Korea Eyes Rich BRICS Road To Global South

Via Asia Times, an article examining how, while South Korea’s alignment with US-led West precludes formal accession, its active engagement with BRICS will bolster its status in the emerging multipolar order: In 2024, the BRICS nations continue to consolidate their influence in the global arena, collectively accounting for over 40% of the world’s population and […]

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JPMorgan Opens Offices in Kenya, Ivory Coast in Africa Push

Via Bloomberg, a look at JPMorgan’s growing interest in Africa: US lender hires ex-central banker to run business in Kenya Ex-central banker Montet managed Kenya’s foreign reserves JPMorgan Chase & Co. opened representative offices in Kenya and Ivory Coast as part of an effort expand in east and west Africa. The biggest US bank has […]

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Rare Earths and Rare Opportunities in Central Asia

Via Geopolitical Futures, a look at Central Asia’s rare earths potential: Central Asia has become more geopolitically important lately – not just as the underbelly of its economically challenged and politically isolated neighbor, Russia, but also as a transit hub that links China to Europe and as a supplier of raw materials that will fuel […]

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Rare Earths: How Beijing Tamed a Lawless Industry and Gained Global Influence

Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how Chinese state-controlled companies now run an industry once known for its acid pits, radioactive waste and smugglers: As recently as 2010, few industries were as lawless, and yet as central to the global economy, as China’s production of rare earth metals. Consignments of rare earths […]

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China Leveraging Laos To Link Up Its Southeast Asian Economic Interests

Via South China Morning Post, a report on China’s growing interest in Laos: China aims to scale up infrastructure construction in uniquely strategic Laos to accelerate trade and investment throughout Southeast Asia as Chinese businesses scout for space to grow offshore, analysts said. Premier Li Qiang said during a four-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation […]

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Meg Whitman’s Mission in Africa: American Tech Over Chinese

Via Blooomberg, an article on how the U.S. ambassador to Kenya – the former eBay and HP CEO – has made a priority of counterbalancing Chinese influence on the continent: When Meg Whitman was living in California and running first eBay Inc. and then HP Inc., the idea that Africa had some role to play in her businesses rarely crossed […]

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ABOUT
WILDCATS AND BLACK SHEEP
Wildcats & Black Sheep is a personal interest blog dedicated to the identification and evaluation of maverick investment opportunities arising in frontier - and, what some may consider to be, “rogue” or “black sheep” - markets around the world.

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.