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NASA awards grant for 3-D food printer; could it end world hunger?

Liu-Yue (Louie) Lam — Sat, 25 May 2013 03:00:21 +0000

By Eric Pfeiffer, From Yahoo! News ,

Call it food for thought. Or perhaps thought for food: NASA has given a six-month grant to a company developing what could be the world’s first 3-D food printer. And the project’s developer, reports Quartz, an online digital news site, believes the invention could be used to end world hunger.

Quartz explains that the printer is the brainchild of mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor. Being developed by Contractor’s company, Systems & Materials Research Corp., it will use proteins, carbohydrates and sugars to create edible food products.

Contractor says one of his primary motivations is a belief that food will become exponentially more expensive in the near future. The average consumer, he told Quartz, will need a more economically viable option.

Some alternative food source options that may be used with the printer include algae, duckweed, grass, lupine seeds, beet leaves and even insects, according to TNO Research, which is working with Contractor on the project.

“I think, and many economists think, that current food systems can’t supply 12 billion people sufficiently,” said Contractor. “So we eventually have to change our perception of what we see as food.”

One of Contractor’s first prototypes will be a 3-D pizza printer, and he hopes to begin building it over the next couple of weeks. Contractor, reports Quartz, explained that it will print “a layer of dough, which is baked at the same time it’s printed, by a heated plate at the bottom of the printer. Then it lays down a tomato base, ‘which is also stored in a powdered form, and then mixed with water and oil.’” Lastly comes the “protein layer.”

Contractor also hopes that people will be able to share recipes via an open source coding system.

“One of the major advantages of a 3-D printer is that it provides personalized nutrition,” Contractor told Quartz. “If you’re male, female, someone is sick—they all have different dietary needs. If you can program your needs into a 3-D printer, it can print exactly the nutrients that person requires.”

NASA is certainly a believer: The six-month grant comes to $125,000. The agency specifically interested in using the 3-D printer to feed astronauts on long space voyages.

“Long distance space travel requires 15-plus years of shelf life,” Contractor said to Quartz. “The way we are working on it is, all the carbs, proteins and macro and micro nutrients are in powder form. We take moisture out, and in that form it will last maybe 30 years.”

The 3D food printer schematic (SMRC)

Some 3-D printer food made from meal worms (TNO research)

Stressed Out? Eat Chocolate, Consider Chocolate Stocks

Aidualc — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:33:28 +0000

Chocolate can provide many heath benefits including reducing wrinkles, keeping you slim, and reducing the risk of heart failure in women.

Now according to a research study by the Swinburne University, in Melbourne, Australia which will be published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, dark chocolate can calm you down. The study showed that the cocoa polyphenols in chocolate significantly increased the calmness and contentedness relative to placebo of the participants. So now is chocolate the new health food?

Chocolate may provide calmness to your portfolio in addition to your mood. There are over a dozen chocolate and candy stocks listed at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, with half a dozen paying dividends.

One example is Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF), based in Durango, Colorado, which makes and markets creams, mints, and truffles. The company, founded in 1981, has over 300 franchise locations in 40 states, plus Canada and the United Arab Emirates. The stock trades at 29 times trailing earnings and 14 times forward earnings. The company provides a tasty yield to its shareholders of 3.6%. For the latest reported quarter, total revenues increased 4.3%.

Of course, there are the ever popular Hershey Bars. Hershey (HSY) is the famous chocolate company, founded in 1894. It is the largest manufacturer of chocolate in North America and one of the largest chocolate and candy companies in the world. It is famous for its Hershey’s Kisses which were invented in 1901 and the chocolate chips that were released in 1928. The stock has trailing price to earnings ratio of 32, and a forward PE of 23. The yield is a decent 1.9%. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 5.4% on a 11.7% boost in revenues.

Another large chocolate producer is Nestle (NSRGY), which sports a trailing PE of 20 and a forward P/E of 17. This Swiss chocolate manufacturer was founded in 1867. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 14.8% on a 12.8% rise in revenues.

If you want to see a free list of the publicly traded chocolate and candy stocks, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. The list, which includes several companies that pay dividends, can be downloaded, updated, and sorted.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

http://stockerblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/stressed-out-eat-chocolate-consider.html

My (very) early retirement at 33

Aidualc — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:19:57 +0000

Ed Hawkins decided a life of leisure would be wasted on his old age. So he opted to quit his job now and save the rat race for later. And he’s not the only one.

Cast your eyes over your workplace. You might see 100 or so people. Statistically five of your busying or bone-idle brethren will be dead before they reach retirement age.

Could be you. Could be me, I thought. So at the age of 33, I decided to retire. Last August, I gave up my job as a journalist, rented out my London flat and with my girlfriend – who heartily agreed with the plan – moved to the south-west of France. Hectic city life and economic blues were swapped for country walks and fireside chats.

Fear – and yes, OK, a tinge of weariness – was the catalyst. I worried that I was wasting the best years of my life blinking at a computer screen. And that when eventually I did pack up work, I would have hours to kill but only aching, weary joints to strike a feeble blow.

Even the Office for National Statistics backs up this notion. The healthy life-expectancy of the average UK male is 74. This is three years younger than the recently-hiked state pensionable age. Besides, in these times of austerity who knows how long we may be forced to work… 70? 75?

The solution seemed obvious, if a little risky: retire now and work later. Youth is wasted on the young, they say… but surely retirement is wasted on the old?

Many will think us foolhardy, as did some of our friends and family, not to mention bosses. But I’ve discovered we’re not the only ones who’ve chosen to live like pensioners, decades before our time. Having been in France for six months, we’ve met other couples who want to enjoy life in their prime and received news of friends back home who’ve likewise ditched high- powered careers.

These are not work-shy layabouts or trustafarians, either. They are ambitious professionals in their mid-30s or early 40s.

As for me, I have worked hard. I started as a journalist at 17 and had not stopped since. Early shifts, night shifts, weekends, Bank Holidays and Christmases: check.

And what was it all for? I got halfway up the ladder and realised I’m afraid of heights – or to be precise, professional responsibility and the attendant drudgery. It should not matter that I feel this way. I am not married, I don’t have kids and am damn lucky to be solvent. This is the time to relish temporary freedom.

Any doubts, fortunately, were allayed when it transpired that with careful budgeting and income from my flat, a simple, stress-free life in France was a realistic possibility. Simple being the operative word. With a tight budget, the customary trappings of London life would have to be forgotten. We found a cosy gîte near Toulouse and travelled down in our beaten-up VW camper, an obstinate vehicle that occasionally required a push start.

So here we are, having spent the winter wining, walking and reading books by the wood burner. Stress has been reduced to wondering whether the fire will condescend to spit and crackle into life.

The summer promises the chance to perfect my petanque game with the locals, to lounge by the pool and taking supper on sun-baked terraces.

Our friends joke that we are a “bit young to be living like pensioners”, but we counter that by telling them the daily grind seems a generation away.

Certainly those who have also opted out share that view. Yvonne and Iain Morton live in the next village and gave up their jobs as IT consultants in the City for la vie Francaise. They began a Grand Designs-style building project in 2003, converting disused tractor sheds into a home. In 2009, when Yvonne, 43, took redundancy, they moved here full-time. Iain stopped work 18 months ago when he was 43.

“Working in the City was full-on,” Yvonne says. “I spent the last five years always on call. I travelled a lot and saw more of Heathrow than home. I was on my BlackBerry at six in the morning and it was the last thing I checked at night. Enough was enough. So I’ve retired. Now we grow our own vegetables, go skiing in the Pyrenees in the winter or swim every day in the summer.

“It’s relatively cheap to live here. Baguettes, wines and cheese don’t cost that much. We have an income from rental flats in London so we don’t need to work. Iain takes on contract work now and then to keep his hand in or if it’s an opportunity to work with people he really likes. And I know I can always do the same.”

The ability to return to work was a safety net which allowed another friend, Leonora Landau, 33, to leave her job as a lawyer for “retirement” in Argentina. “I knew I could always return,” she says. “And I don’t believe these days that people have to stay in the same line of work for 30 years.

“This isn’t something older generations understand, though. When I told my dad, he said: “Don’t be so ridiculous”. I think he just couldn’t understand why I wanted to do it at this time of my life when I should be settling down. He’s worked in the same office for his entire career and couldn’t understand the concept of this break.”

Instead of returning to a “cold” London flat on a Monday night, Leonora was able to enjoy the “outdoor” culture of Buenos Aires. “You pack more into the days,” she says. “You eat late, have a drink outside at a bar or go to a tango club. It beats a grey, wet London.”

There are risks, of course. I am not as fortunate as Yvonne and Iain, who can take on a contract whenever they fancy. Work is certainly not guaranteed when I decide to return to London.

There is also a question mark about successful repatriation. If a job is found, how to overcome the daily grind of self-doubt, to tolerate the early-morning starts and office politics once more?

Still, it will surely be worth it for the sweltering Monday afternoons when I can sit by the pool with a vin rouge in hand, listening to the rustle of hazy vineyards. Normally at that time I would be slumped at a desk, listening to the hack and whirl of the coffee machine. Now honestly, which would you prefer?

A longer working life

A man or woman in their early thirties will reach their state pension at 68, a year later than people in their 40s and two years older than those in their 50s.

The number of people taking early retirement in the UK is decreasing. Between December 2012 and February 2013, 1.37m people took retirement before the age of 65, down 109,000 from the same period the previous year.

The decrease reflects the gradual change to the state pension age – from 60 up to 65 – for women born on or after 6 April 1950, resulting in fewer women retiring before turning 65.

The average life expectancy for a UK male is 78, with females outliving them by four years. But healthy life expectancy is just 64 for men and 66 for women, two or four years before 20 or 30-somethings get their state pension.

Imogen Blake

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/my-very-early-retirement-at-33-8583307.html

Lion’s Den: Drink up

Brian Andreosky — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:17:43 +0000

…well, maybe down.

East African Breweries Ltd

As a recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest I learned two things rather quickly. One, people are generally more laid back than those of us hailing from the East Coast and two, they take their beer REALLY serious. Finding a new fondness for the multitude of craft brews available in Portland, I wondered how far the hops obsession may stretch. So when I recently read of the stock price run-up in Kenya-based, East African Breweries, I thought I’d take a closer look.

East African Breweries Limited (EABL) manufactures branded alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Along with its subsidiaries, the Company is involved in the marketing, brewing, manufacturing and selling of drinks, glass containers, malt and barley. EABL’s core brands include, among others, Tusker, Pilsner, Bell Lager, Guinness, Malta Guinness, Alvaro, Uganda Waragi, Senator, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff Ice. While the Company has been Kenya’s best performing stock over the past month, +14.8%, you may wish to take a sip of something else in the near term.

Despite a one year sales increase of +23%, EABL may have run its course for the time being. With a P/E ratio of 32.8x, the multiple reflects a significant premium currently paid vs. EALB’s industry peers. Furthermore, the Company’s D/E of 379.1 (MRQ) is certainly not for the risk-averse, especially given the fluctuations of an industry whose consumers lean towards the bargain conscious.

Overall, the beverage alcohol market has seen positive growth across Kenya and other EALB markets. This should continue, given the young demographics and growth prospects of the region. Such a robust market has led EALB to follow a mission consisting of strategic acquisitions and increased process improvement initiatives throughout their markets. However, these initiatives come with a cost. Premium products force many to seek out cheaper, unregulated brews. These unregulated brews have become a problem not only for EALB’s bottom-line (as they lose market share), but also for the health of those who consume these products. The existence of such illicit products also brings increased government regulation. Keep an eye on recent increases in excise duty within EALB’s markets as continued excises will likely add downward pressure on future sales.

For those barflies out there who still need a taste and cannot access the Nairobi, Uganda, or Dar Es Salaam Exchanges, take a look at Diageo (DEO; $123.16, 5/22/13) of which EALB is a subsidiary. You will not only get exposure to the high growth markets of East Africa, but also a consistent performer in Diageo.

Meet Britain’s wealthiest hedge fund chiefs: male, rich and Tory donors

MarketAngel — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:14:55 +0000

A secretive Tory party donor who made a fortune betting on the collapse of the Greek economy has been named the UK’s wealthiest hedge fund manager.

Alan Howard, founder of Brevan Howard, has seen his personal fortune grow to £1.5bn, up from £1.4bn in 2012, to top the Sunday Times list of Britain’s 25 richest hedge fund managers for the second year in a row.

Howard, the publicity-shy son of an engineer, is the 48th richest Briton, according to the list, and is friends with George Osborne. He is followed by fellow Tory donor Alexander Knaster, a Moscow-born US citizen who is based in London and heads Pamplona Capital Management, who has a personal fortune of £1.09bn.

Knaster, who gives discreet advice to rich Russians on where to put their money, is one of the Conservatives‘ most generous donors. He gave £100,000 to the party in 2011 and chipped in a further £50,000 for the Tory-led “no to AV” campaign that helped inflict a crushing defeat on plans for an alternative voting system.

Behind him is Michael Platt, founder of BlueCrest Capital, who has £950m in the bank, up from £650m. Platt, again a Tory donor, began dabbling in financial markets while in his teens and claims to have made thousands buying shares in privatised utilities. The Preston-born financier owns a Bombardier Challenger private jet and contemporary art including Paul Fryer’s sculpture of a gorilla on a crucifix.

“In the last 10 years the hedge fund people [have been] making more impression in the list,” said Philip Beresford, who compiles the Sunday Times Rich List. “They seem reasonably resilient in terms of preserving or increasing their wealth.”

But London-based hedge fund managers were “relative paupers” compared with their counterparts on Wall Street, he added. Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s highest-earning hedge fund managers is topped by Carl Icahn, who made $20bn (£17.1bn) speculating on cars, gaming and energy, and legendary financier George Soros, who has amassed $19.2bn.

Spokespeople for Howard, Knaster and Platt declined to comment.

David Harding of Winton Capital, who recently said the rich must “pay their share” of taxes to be accepted by society, saw his wealth shrink to £700m from £800m.

The typical hedge fund manager is an Oxbridge-educated male in his late 30s to early 50s. Beresford said it appeared “a macho culture that attracts macho men”.

The only woman on the list is Nichola Pease, who shares £450m with her husband, Crispin Odey, founder of Odey Asset Management. They are known as the “Posh and Becks” of the money markets. Pease, a scion of the family behind Barclays, was one of only six women in the 1000-strong intake on the graduate trainee scheme at investment bank Kleinwort Benson in 1983. But as a former non-executive director of Northern Rock, she has not escaped blame for failing to spot the bad lending that led to the first bank run in Britain in more than 150 years.

Her husband, a hunting and shooting aficionado, made a fortune predicting the boom for insurance companies after 9/11.

In 2010 Odey threatened to leave the UK over the 50% tax rate, but has chosen to remain close to his country estate in the Forest of Dean, where he is reported to be building a £120,000 Palladian chicken house.

“The much talked about and feared exodus to Geneva has not happened,” said Beresford. “It is true Alan Howard is there, it is true Michael Platt is there. But there are precious few others who have left the delights of the city of London for the climes of Geneva.”

A spokesperson for the Robin Hood tax campaign said the hedge-fund fortunes were further evidence that a tax on financial speculation was needed. “The fact a small cabal of speculators has clocked up such colossal wealth when the rest of the economy is struggling beggars belief.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/19/hedge-fund-wealthiest-tory-donors

3 Reasons to Travel While You’re Young

Liu-Yue (Louie) Lam — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:10:48 +0000

by Jeff Goins,

The other night, I had a conversation with a young woman who had a number of decisions ahead of her, one of which was whether she should go to grad school or travel the world. I told her to travel. Hands down. No excuses. Just go. The results are worth the costs.

She sighed.

Photo credit: kokorowa (Creative Commons)

“Yeah, but…”

Never were more fatal words spoken:

Yeah, but… what about debt?
Yeah, but… what about my job?
Yeah, but… what about my boyfriend (or dog or car or whatever)?

“Yeah, but…” is pernicious. Because it makes it sound like we have the best of intentions when really we are just too scared to do what we should. It allows us to be cowards, while sounding noble.

Most people I know who waited to travel the world never did. Conversely, plenty of people who waited for grad school or a steady job and traveled still did those things — eventually. Be careful of the yeah-but. The yeah-but will kill your dreams.

I was so stirred by this conversation that I shared it with a group of 30 young adults last night, many who were asking these very same questions.

The life you’ve always wanted

When you get older, life seems to just sort of happen to you. Your youth is a time of total empowerment. You get to do what you want.

But as you mature and gain new responsibilities, you have to be very intentional about making sure you don’t lose sight of what’s important.

So if you still have a reasonable amount of control over your circumstances, you should do what really matters. Because life won’t always be just about you.

During early adulthood, your worldview is still being formed. It’s important to steward this time — to give yourself opportunities to grow. A good way to do that is to travel.

So, young person, travel. Travel wide and far. Travel boldly. Travel with full abandon.

You will regret few risks you take when it comes to this. I promise you that. There are three reasons to travel while you’re young:

1. Traveling teaches you to live an adventure

When you look back on your life, you will have moments of which you are proud and maybe a few you regret. It’s likely that the following won’t be on the latter list:

Bicycled across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Appeared on Italian TV.
Hiked a Mayan ruin.
Learned Spanish in three months.
Toured Europe by train.

They’re not on mine (fun fact: I’ve done all of the above). So what, then, will be? What choices will you regret making? Holding back. Being afraid. Making excuses. Not taking more risks. Waiting.

While you’re young, you should travel. You should take the time to see the world and taste the fullness of life. It’s worth whatever investment or money or sacrifice of time that may be required on your part.

This is not about being a tourist. It’s about experiencing true risk and adventure so you don’t have to live in fear for the rest of your life.

2. Traveling helps you encounter compassion

In your youth, you will make choices that will define you. The disciplines you begin now will be with you for the rest of your life.

Traveling will change you like little else can. It will put you in places that will force you to care for issues that are bigger than you.

If you go to southeast Asia, you may encounter the slave trade. If eastern Europe, you may see the effects of genocide and religious persecution. If Haiti, you’ll witness the the ugly side Western paternalism.

Your heart will break.

You will begin to understand that the world is both a big and small place. You will have a new-found respect for the pain and suffering that over half of the world takes for granted on a daily basis.

And you will feel more connected to your fellow human beings in a deep and lasting way. You will learn to care.

3. Traveling allows you to get some culture

While you’re still young, you should get cultured. Get to know the world and the magnificent people that fill it. There’s nothing quite like walking alongside the Colosseum or seeing Michelangelo’s David in person.

I can describe the city of San Juan and its amazing beaches and historic sites to you, but you really have to see it for yourself to experience it. You can read all the books in the world about the Great Wall of China or The Louvre, but being there is a different story.

The world is a stunning place, full of outstanding works of art. See it. Do this while you’re still young. Do not squander the time. You will never have it again.

You have a crucial opportunity to invest in the next season of your life now. Whatever you sow, you will eventually reap. Please. For your sake, do this. Because you won’t always be young. And life won’t always be just about you.

So travel. Experience the world for all it’s worth. Become a person of culture, adventure, and compassion.

“What if I’m not young?”

Travel, anyway. It may not be easy to do, but find a way to get out of your comfort zone. It’s really never too late.

But if you haven’t gotten sucked into the routine of life yet, I implore you — travel. It will never be easier than it is right now for you to do that which really matters.

From http://goinswriter.com/travel-young/

James Passin, the American Who Bought Mongolia

Liu-Yue (Louie) Lam — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:09:49 +0000

By Brett Forrest, From Bloomberg,

Photograph by Max Sher for Bloomberg Businessweek

The Mongolian Stock Exchange occupies a single room inside a gray building that once housed a children’s movie theater, just off Sükhbaatar Square in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. On any given day, it’s quieter than the nearby National Library, as 20 or so traders in cubicles click away softly on their laptops. This muted bourse hardly seems a place to make a fortune, but James Passin, who needs no prompting to declare that he’s “super bullish on Mongolia,” swears it is. Passin, who’s just flown across 12 time zones from New York City, has as much reason to promote Mongolia’s potential as any foreign investor in the country. His future is riding on it.

Passin, 41, has at least $130 million in three funds that he oversees for his employer, Firebird Management, a Manhattan firm that specializes in emerging markets. Passin controls four companies listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange—in coal, fluorite, and real estate—as well as an undisclosed number of private enterprises. His placements make Firebird one of Mongolia’s largest and most diversified foreign private equity funds.

Until a few months ago, many other international investors shared Passin’s enthusiasm for the Mongolian market. The country, with a 17.3 percent growth rate in 2011, had the fastest-growing economy in the world. A sparsely populated nation of 3.2 million run by communists until 1990, Mongolia has discovered a bounty of natural resources. Lying on an ancient seabed, where sedimentary basins cooked carbon for millennia, the country has about 130 billion tons of coal. Iron, copper, uranium, silver, fluorite, and many other minerals are also in abundance. The estimated value of it all runs into the trillions of dollars.

In the last year, however, the Mongolian government decided to redraw its policies on mining and foreign investment. The Strategic Entities Foreign Investment Law, which the Mongolian Parliament passed last May, dictated, among other things, that any transaction of more than $75 million involving a foreign entity was subject to government approval. In December the president’s office released the draft version of a minerals law that would introduce tougher regulations and higher taxes while giving the government free stakes in many mines. Among Mongolians, the new laws reflect a fateful debate: Are foreign companies and investors grabbing too much, swiping the nation’s birthright? At what price growth?

The new restrictions have halted the development of Oyu Tolgoi, Mongolia’s biggest industrial project and the largest untapped copper-gold mine on earth. Rio Tinto (RIO), the world’s second-largest mining company, has sunk $6.6 billion into its development. Oyu Tolgoi was scheduled to begin production this year, but the project is now in limbo. Many who recognized Mongolia’s potential have quickly retreated, unsure of how the country wants to proceed.

Yet here’s Passin, confidently strolling the floor of the exchange, predicting a boom. As the traders stare blankly into their monitors, where the odd transaction registers now and then, Passin looks on with a smile. “I think a multiyear bull market is starting,” he says.

The Soviets engineered Ulaanbaatar for a population of 400,000. Now the city holds three times that number. On the streets, you spend half your day in traffic. There are few stoplights. Cars crawl past crumbling Chinese and Russian buildings, which are reflected in the glassed facades of several new office towers. Although Ulaanbaatar lies 800 miles from the sea, a skyscraper in the shape of a sail sits in the middle of the city, as in most every other aspirational metropolis in the world.

Passin favors a restaurant in the city center called Modern Mongol. In a private room on the second floor, he’s joined by Batbaatar Badan, a director of one of Firebird’s holding companies. Over a variety of meats and dumplings, Passin explains how he ended up Mongolia’s die-hard bull.

After earning a philosophy degree from St. John’s College, he joined Firebird in 1999, specializing in acquiring equity in natural resources, particularly in Africa. He worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, and Somalia. “We identified underperforming companies and became aggressive,” he says. In 2005, Passin’s friend Asashoryu Akinori, a Mongolian sumo champion, invited him to Ulaanbaatar. “It was very sleepy,” Passin recalls. “The market was primitive. But I sensed the changes that were coming.” He speaks quickly, rattling off figures and data. Keeping up with him requires considerable energy.

During Passin’s early visits to Mongolia, he befriended Robert Friedland, the founder of Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines, now called Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ), who was negotiating with the government for the right to develop Oyu Tolgoi in the Gobi Desert. “I saw that OT would transform the economy and mark a great boom,” Passin says. “I saw that it was going to go from an economy dominated by meat and cashmere to an economy dominated by the mining business and financing.”

He focused on Mongolia’s immature stock exchange. It was a repository of insider deals—the maximum penalty for violating the securities law was less than $1,000—and on many days, saw no trading at all. When there was action, buyers often unloaded shares immediately upon purchase, feeding volatility. Fearing taxation, companies preferred not to disclose financial information; nor were they compelled to do so, meaning that all growth was speculative. Yet where others saw a den of thieves, Passin recognized an opportunity, believing many listed firms were undervalued.

Through a series of holding companies, Passin and Firebird began buying significant numbers of shares. They faced no regulatory resistance. “It was very easy for them to acquire shares block by block,” says Saruul Ganbaatar, the chief regulatory officer of the Mongolian Stock Exchange. Eventually Passin amassed majority stakes in several companies—“Carl Icahn-style,” as he says. Passin followed a simple formula: “Take control. Purge the board. Inject capital.”

This approach bore fruit with Sharyn Gol, a major open-pit coal mine near the Russian border. When Passin took control, the mine was valued at $8 million. In 12 months, its value had soared to $280 million. This legitimized the exchange. “Firebird’s involvement helped guide other foreign investors to the market,” Ganbaatar says. “That drew interest generally.” Firebird’s companies became the first in Mongolia to bring in international auditing firms to examine their books.

Photograph by Max Sher for Bloomberg BusinessweekPhoto Essay: Firebird Management’s Die-Hard Mongolia Bull

The Mongols had never encountered anyone like Passin. Infected with the fatalism of the previous communist regime, they were only just learning the ways of modern industrial development. Although Passin’s results spoke for themselves, not everyone was pleased with the way he achieved them. “People take what he says personally,” one Ulaanbaatar investment professional told me. “He says, ‘You’re wrong,’ and people don’t like to hear that they’re wrong. But he has a lot of experience in emerging markets, so he knows what he’s doing.”

Passin wasn’t the only foreigner with capital who identified Mongolia’s promise. Locked away in pastoral isolation for centuries, its infrastructure a testament to neglect, Mongolia was just beginning to locate the treasure hidden beneath its rolling, empty plains. A democratically elected government gave investors confidence in the institutions that would protect their stakes. Foreign investment poured in, boosting the economy, until the government hit the brakes, stopping many second-wave investors in their tracks.

Larry Ewers, the owner of the Energy Group of South Texas, in Corpus Christi, is one. At the urging of his attorney, Houston lawyer Robert Painter, who also represents Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Ewers visited Ulaanbaatar in 2011. “I was tremendously impressed with the Mongolian people,” he says. “They are eager to do business.” Upon returning to Texas, Ewers recruited about 20 investors and signed letters of intent with the Bodi Group, one of Mongolia’s largest consortiums. They’ve forged an agreement to fund a coal mine, four power plants, and a coal-to-diesel operation. Ewers is also considering deals in rare-earth minerals, gold, and copper, as well as a development to export coking coal to China and Japan. Ewers says his group is prepared to invest roughly $1 billion. “We think the opportunities are unbelievable,” he says. “We think it is an opportunity that comes around very seldom. We’re very serious about it. But we’re in a holding pattern. We can’t move forward without knowing the outcome of the mining law.”

While others wait and see, Passin has barreled ahead. Under license, Firebird’s Mongolian mining companies have already drilled 100,000 meters (328,084 feet) in exploration, hoping to repeat the success of Sharyn Gol. Since it opened in 1965 under Mongolia’s command economy, Sharyn Gol has been the major supplier of thermal coal for Mongolia’s north and central regions. During the transition to a market economy in the 1990s, Mongolia fell on hard times, the population in jeopardy of freezing through the winters. The state pushed Sharyn Gol’s directors to produce more coal. Reserves dwindled, and many at the mine feared it had given all it could. “The government thought it was dying,” Batmunkh Batkhuu, Sharyn Gol’s chairman, told me. “The company was in survival mode.”

In 2010, Passin and Firebird took it over, amassing a controlling stake through the Mongolian Stock Exchange, where Sharyn Gol had ended up after state privatization in the ’90s. “James was very brave,” Batkhuu said. “We didn’t have the money to put into coal exploration.” Firebird raised a $6 million bridge loan, which funded 17,000 meters of exploratory drilling. Passin’s geologists discovered a cache of 330 million tons of coal, 300 million tons more than the company’s previously known reserves.

The snow-driven journey from Ulanbaatar to the Sharyn Gol pit takes five hours along a barely navigable road. In time, Sharyn Gol appears on the horizon. Pinched by a series of peaks, several smokestacks pump tumbling black clouds into the sky.

Jim Goldie, the mine’s chief operating officer and a native of Queensland, Australia, lights up when I hand him the bottle of Johnnie Walker Black he’d requested over the phone. “The carrot that got me here was developing this into a superpit,” he says. “We’re planning on doing 1 million tons this year.” Goldie has worked in mines for 30 years, in copper, gold, and coal in New Guinea, Indonesia, Laos, and Kyrgyzstan. Nothing prepared him for this ruggedness and isolation.

Outside his office, in the cold, he points to a tumbledown building nearby. “There was a huge coal dust explosion there,” he says. “It blew the top eight stories off the building.” Snow flurries are falling lightly upon our hair and clothes. As is coal dust. It is hard to tell one from the other.

We hop in Goldie’s jeep. He gestures to his driver. “Tugi’s learning some English,” he says. We embark on a tour of the mine and an explanation of how Passin’s efforts have saved it. Tugi guides the jeep down into the pit. It’s about a kilometer from one end to the other. Goldie says he will tap into Sharyn Gol’s newly discovered reserves next year and points to a 40-meter seam of coal, a rich, clearly defined deposit in the wall of the pit. “I’ve been to 100 mines,” he says, “and I’ve seen that maybe two, three times. We’re doing about 3,000 tons a day now. I want to do 15,000 a day. And we can do it.”

It’s not clear how much all this effort will ultimately earn Sharyn Gol’s investors. A depressed international coal market and a slowing economy in China, Mongolia’s main trade partner, have eroded Passin’s portfolio. From a high of $280 million, Sharyn Gol’s market cap has fallen to $60 million in two years. “We’re looking at someone who has already taken a chance on the country and has taken a very substantial hit,” says Jackson Cox, chief executive officer of Woodmont International, a consulting firm with offices in Ulaanbaatar. “I’m sure this has not been the best 12 months for James.”

“I don’t have worried investors,” Passin says, but he acknowledges “there is some concern. They read the papers.”

As Tugi drives out of the pit, Goldie talks about Passin. “In my long career,” Goldie says, “he’s up there with the best small investors I’ve ever seen.” Privateers line the road leading to the front gate. They’re waiting to buy coal at the spot-market price, peering onto the territory of Sharyn Gol with hollowed, darkened faces. A cow moves down the road behind them. Goldie exhales. “I came here for the great weather, the clean air, and the beautiful town,” he quips. He claps Tugi on the shoulder. “What do I always say?” Tugi speaks his English now, in unison with Goldie, as the two men draw out the words: “Beautiful Sharyn Gol.”

On the plains 30 miles east of Ulaanbaatar stands a 250-ton steel statue of Genghis Khan on horseback, 15 stories high. For many Mongolians, this statue, just a few years old, has become a pilgrimage site. In trying and changing times, Genghis Khan provides a reminder of what a Mongol is: a warrior, fiercely independent.

Passin regards the statue from a less epic perspective. Squinting up at it, he says, “I see this as a dividend play.” In 2009 the company charged with building the monument floated around 30 percent of its value on the Mongolian Stock Exchange. Passin snapped up almost the entire initial public offering, providing the capital necessary for construction.

We enter the base of the statue. “We’re not going to make 10 times the stock on this,” he says. “I hold the shares because I’m bullish on Mongolia generally.” So bullish, in fact, that he plans to raise an army. The statue’s management company is building 10,000 soldiers, a life-sized force in the spirit of Qin Shi Huang’s terra cotta warriors, to be arrayed around the pedestal of the monument. Tourists can pay to have soldiers carved with their own likeness. Passin is considering ordering soldiers molded after him and his employees, a Firebird battalion. “It seems a little grandiose,” he says. “But I’ve been thinking about it.”

Passin’s abiding confidence in Mongolia continues to set him apart. Share prices of Mongolian companies have fallen roughly 70 percent in the last year. Cox estimates that Mongolia’s political maneuvering is responsible for at least an extra 30 percent devaluation. “That equates to between $2 and $3 billion,” Cox says. “That’s money that was in this market and is now gone. The markets are pricing at a risk premium in Mongolia.”

With foreign direct investment down more than 50 percent in the initial months of 2013, the government is taking steps to reverse the trend. The presidential Cabinet has floated a proposed law that would erase the need for private companies to petition for state approval of investments. The Mongolian deputy minister of development, Chuluunbat Ochirbat, has announced a plan to submit this legislation to Parliament by the close of the current session on July 10. Another law under consideration would allow for the dual listings of international companies with operations in Mongolia. And the president’s controversial draft mining legislation now appears unlikely to reach the Parliament floor.

Passin believes much of the country’s wealth remains untapped. He enthuses about a drilling operation that’s exploring the Gobi Desert’s copper belt. The Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper mine, whose development remains on hold, “is just the beginning,” he says. “I think there could be three, four OTs just waiting to be discovered in the desert.”

He climbs the stairwell up through the statue, reaching the top floor. We pass through a door and walk out onto the observation deck, a recessed platform carved into the horse’s mane. The stern face of Genghis Khan, in immense proportion, looms over us. Over dinner three nights before, Passin compared himself to the Mongol warrior. “Genghis Khan was able to build an empire by not imposing a foreign culture. It was not built on his iron will but on astute politics. … He didn’t impose religion, diet. He imposed law; he imposed taxation. He understood their social needs. He instituted a meritocracy.”

Passin adds, “I think what I’m doing is inherently Mongolian. The essence of what I’m doing is nomadic, the ability to rapidly increase equity value. I can’t think of a place with more opportunities. I’ll be here until I’m dead or no longer interested in continuing to invest.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-16/james-passin-the-american-who-bought-mongolia

Dambisa Moyo: Search For Alpha Leads To Frontier Markets In Africa

Brian Andreosky — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:42:02 +0000

Summary: Frontier markets like Rwanda are actually offering higher equity market returns than developed and emerging markets.

Dambisa Moyo: Search for Alpha Leads to Frontier Markets in Africa

Heda Bayron

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame recently wrote a bullish op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about the “new lions of Africa,” referring to African economies — Rwanda included — that are poised to follow the growth path of the East Asian “tiger” economies of the 1980s and 1990s, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Only 20 years ago, thinking of Rwanda in these terms would have been absurd. In 1994, the country was in the midst of a genocide. But in April 2013, Rwanda tapped the international capital markets for the first time with a $400 million sovereign bond issue.

Africa’s troubled history and high risk premiums are enough to discourage investors from investing in economies like Rwanda, but as international economist Dambisa Moyo argued at the 66th Annual Conference in Singapore, such frontier markets as Rwanda are actually offering higher equity market returns than developed and emerging markets.

Consider this: The MSCI Frontier Markets Index is up 9% year-to-date, while emerging markets have returned –4% year to date. Not too shabby in this low-yielding environment. No wonder, then, that Rwanda’s bond issue was highly oversubscribed.

Only $4 billion are invested in frontier markets today, said Moyo. Yet frontier markets have as much or even more upside than emerging markets: good public finances, growth prospects, young demographics, and potential for high productivity. In this low-yield environment, Moyo says the search for alpha leads to the frontier markets, and Africa is home to many of these economies.

“Africa is where the emerging markets were ten years ago,” said Moyo, author ofWinner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What It Means for the World, as well as other best-selling books.

The Zambian-born Moyo said that Africa has benefited from being “ring-fenced” from the global financial crisis and thus has been able to keep on growing while developed economies fell into recession. The continent has 1 one billion people and plenty of untilled arable land.

Chinese investors have been trailblazers in the frontier markets, especially in Africa.Export-Import Bank of China has lent more to Africa and Latin America over the past decade than the World Bank. Chinese projects in Africa tend to focus on meeting China’s strategic needs for energy, minerals, and food. Investors in Africa tend to focus on resource-related opportunities, but Moyo said Africa is more than a commodities play. About 80% of listed companies in Africa are non-commodity stocks.

Although Africa had been isolated from the global financial crisis, the continent’s deepening economic ties with China make it vulnerable to a slowing Chinese economy. Moyo said many governments in Africa are “woefully ignorant” of the knock-on effects on their economies from this slowdown.

Despite her bullishness on Africa — she favors investing in Ghana over Nigeria, for example — Moyo acknowledged the challenges of investing in Africa, including corruption and the lack of freedom, which she argued has been slowly improving over time, citing data from watchdog Transparency International.

When looking at the challenges and risks in Africa, it might be useful to put them in an Asian “tigers” context. Hong Kong struggled with a corruption problem until the 1970s, when the colonial government established an independent anti-corruption body that took on dirty cops, triads, and other groups. Robust laws and regulations and fair enforcement have played a key role in attracting foreign capital into Hong Kong and Singapore. South Korea, previously ruled by dictatorship, is now a vibrant democracy.

The question, then, is: Can Africa’s “new lions” manage to do the same?

China’s Top 10 Real Estate Developers for 2013

MarketAngel — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:08:55 +0000

A recent joint report published by two Chinese real estate groups ranks the top 500 property developers in China and compares their outlooks for the coming year. The report shows China Vanke keeping its top spot among the developers, and Mingtiandi is here to share the rest of the top 10 with you.

The report, “The Top 500 Chinese Real Estate Developers in 2013” was released by the China Real Estate Research Association together with the China Real Estate Industry Association. Overall, the report showed the consolidation that is happening in the market as the top 100 developers recovered more quickly during the second half of 2012, compared to their smaller counterparts.

For 2012, the total sales of the top 100 firms totaled 1,907.3 billion yuan, up 16.7 percent year on year. By comparison, the sales for China’s real estate developers in general only increased by 6.7 percent. Among the top ten developers, 2012 sales reached 797.37 billion yuan (US$128.3 billion), accounting for 32 percent of the total sales for the top 500 enterprises.

However, despite the positive sales figures, profits were on the way down in 2012. The survey showed that the net profit of the top 500 enterprises stood at 434 million yuan (US$ 69.83 million), down 18.64 percent compared with 2011.

The survey attempts to rank the companies on a variety of factors, including total asset value, total turnover and real estate sales revenues. And now, on with the top 10!

#10: Guangzhou R & F Properties Corporation

In 2012, the R&F Properties’ turnover reached 30.4 billion yuan (US$4.887 billion), up 11 percent compared with 2011.For 2013 the firm plans a healthy jump in sales to 42 billion yuan (US$6.758 billion) in 2013, up 23 percent compared with 2012.

#9: Shimao Property Holdings Limited

Founded in 2001, Shimao achieved sales revenues of 28.6 billion yuan (US$4.602 billion), up 10.1 percent compared with 2011. However, operating profits were only 10 billion yuan (US$1.61 billion), down 9.1 percent.

#8: China Resources Land Limited

China Resources Land Limited is the real estate flagship of China Resources (Holdings) Limited, a conglomerate investing in several industries. According to the company’s annual report, China Resources Land’s 2012 turnover reached HK$44.4 billion (US$5.714 billion), up 23.9 percent compared to the same period of 2011. For 2013 the company projects turnover of 40.1 billion yuan (US$6.447 billion).

#7: Longfor Properties Co. Ltd

Founded in 1994, Longfor Properties Co., Ltd achieved 2012 turnover of 27.9 billion yuan (US$4.488 billion), an increase of 15.8 percent compared with 2011. Additionally, sales volume exceeded 40.1 billion yuan (US$6.457 billion), up 4.9 percent on a year-on-year basis.

#6: Greenland Holding Group Company Limited

Founded in 1992, Greenland’s annual operating income was more than 243 billion yuan (US$39.1 billion), up 39 percent compared to the same period of 2011. The company’s real estate sales volume reached 105 billion yuan (US$16.9 billion), ranking No.2 in the industry.

Greenland also ranked number 483 on the 2012 Fortune Global 500 list.

#5: China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd

Founded in 1979 in Hong Kong, China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd is a subsidiary of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation. According to the firm’s annual report, its 2012 turnover was HK$64.58 billion (US$ 8.318 billion), up 25.8 percent compared with the same period of 2011.

#4: Dalian Wanda Group Corporation Ltd

Established in 1988, Dalian Wanda is best known now for its aggressive expansion into new markets, including the purchase of a US theatre chain and other overseas ventures. The company now owns 26 Wanda Plazas, 49 five-star hotels, 730 movie theaters, 40 stores and 45 KTVs.

By the end of 2012, Dalian Wanda’s assets reached 300 billion yuan (US$ 48.27 billion), up 50 percent compared with 2011, and its income stood at 14.17 billion yuan (US$ 22.8 billion), up 34.8 percent year-on-year.

#3: Poly Real Estate Group Co., Ltd

Founded in 1992, Poly is the real estate arm of government conglomerate China Poly Group. By the end of 2012, total assets of the Poly Group came to 378.6 billion yuan (US$60.9 billion) and net assets stood at 88.4 billion yuan (US$14.22 billion).

In 2012, Poly’s revenue reached 98.9 billion yuan (US$15.91 billion) and net profit was 13.68 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion).

#2: Evergrande Group

Established in 1996, Evergrande is active in both residential and commercial real estate as well as tourism and even owns a soccer team. In 2012, Evergrande Group’s total assets were valued at 24.86 billion yuan (US$4 billion), and its sales volume was 92.32 billion yuan (US$14.85 billion).

#1: China Vanke Co., Ltd

Founded in May of 1984, China Vanke Co., Ltd. is the largest residential real estate enterprise in China, focusing on design, development, management and property sales. In 2012, China Vanke’s sales volume reached 141.2 billion yuan (US$22.7 billion), a rise of 16.2 percent compared to the same period in 2011. Vanke’s 2012 sales proved to be a new record for the industry as a whole.

http://www.mingtiandi.com/real-estate/cre-news/20130414/chinas-top-10-real-estate-developers-for-2013/

Never Mind Facebook; Winklevoss Twins Rule in Digital Money

MarketAngel — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:58:14 +0000

The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler — Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg — are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls.

The Winklevii, as they are known, have amassed since last summer what appears to be one of the single largest portfolios of the digital money, whose wild gyrations have Silicon Valley and Wall Street talking. The twins, the first prominent figures in the largely anonymous bitcoin world to publicly disclose a big stake, say they own nearly $11 million worth.

Or at least $11 million as of Thursday morning — when trading was temporarily suspended after the latest and largest flash crash left a single bitcoin worth about $120 and the whole market worth $1.3 billion. At one point, the price had plummeted 60 percent.

To skeptics, the frenzy over the bitcoin network created by anonymous programmers in 2009 looks more like the mania for Dutch tulip bulbs in the 1600s than the beginnings of an actual currency.

“To say highly speculative would be the understatement of the century,” said Steve Hanke, a professor specializing in alternative currencies at Johns Hopkins University.

Whatever else it is, bitcoin has become the financial phenomenon of the moment.

In addition to the identical twins, Silicon Valley investment firms, while not holding bitcoins, are starting to show interest in the technology.

On Thursday, a group of venture capitalists, including Andreessen Horowitz, announced that they were financing a bitcoin-related company, OpenCoin.

Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesA sticker on the window of a pub in Berlin signifies acceptance of bitcoin for payment. Few places accept the digital currency.

The New York Times

The Winklevosses say this week’s tumult is just growing pains for a digital currency that they believe will become a sort of gold for the technorati.

“People say it’s a Ponzi scheme, it’s a bubble,” said Cameron Winklevoss. “People really don’t want to take it seriously. At some point that narrative will shift to ‘virtual currencies are here to stay.’ We’re in the early days.”

While little is known about the creator of bitcoin, or if it even was a single person, the work involved serious programming chops, building a system that could live on borrowed computer space around the world. It was determined that only a finite number of bitcoins could be created — the count is currently around 11 million. New coins are “mined” by programmers who solve mathematic riddles and can sell their coins on upstart exchanges.

For now, there are few places where bitcoins can be used. One marketplace is an online bazaar, Silk Road, where narcotics are reportedly the main wares for sale. But bitcoin believers imagine a future where the e-cash can be used at their local Starbucks. The Winklevosses have paid in bitcoin for the services of a Ukrainian computer programmer who has worked on their Web site.

“We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error,” Tyler Winklevoss said.

This is not the brothers’ first gamble on an unproved technology. As students at Harvard, the twins founded a social networking site, ConnectU, and enlisted their schoolmate, Mark Zuckerberg, to help them build the company. After Mr. Zuckerberg went off to start Facebook, the brothers sued him, accusing him of stealing their idea — a story that was dramatized in the movie “The Social Network.” The case was settled with the brothers being given $20 million in cash and Facebook shares that are now worth more than $200 million.

They have parlayed that fortune into Winklevoss Capital. Their first two investments were in Hukkster, a start-up shopping Web site and SumZero, an online community for professional money managers.

The brothers began dabbling in bitcoin last summer when the dollar value of a single coin was still in the single digits. To keep their holdings secure from hackers, they have taken the complex codes that represent their holdings off networked computers and saved them on small flash drives, putting the drives, in turn, in safe deposit boxes at banks in three different cities.

It’s hard to verify how the Winklevoss holdings compare with other bitcoin players, given the anonymity of accounts, and the twins say they believe that some early users of the system probably have holdings that are at least as large.

A Maltese company, Exante, started a hedge fund that the company says has bought up about 82,000 bitcoins — or about $10 million as of Thursday — with money from wealthy investors. A founder of the fund, Anatoli Knyazev, said his main concern was hackers and government regulators, who have so far mostly left the currency alone.

These investments were all in an uncertain state on Thursday after the big price swings and the shutdown of trading on Mt. Gox, a Japanese-based company that claims to handle 80 percent of all bitcoin trades. Mt. Gox said in a statement that the problems were a result of the currency’s popularity, making it impossible to process all the incoming orders. It added that it was not the victim of hackers but “instead victim of our own success!”

The 6-foot-5 Winklevoss brothers were unfazed. The brothers said they took advantage of the low prices to buy more.

“It has been four years and it has yet to be discredited as a viable alternative to fiat currency,” Tyler Winklevoss said. “We could be totally wrong, but we are curious to see this play out a lot more.”

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/as-big-investors-emerge-bitcoin-gets-ready-for-its-close-up/

Bitcoin Reading List

• New York Magazine: The Bitcoin Apocalypse Is Nigh (April 10, 2013)
• Medium: The Bitcoin Bubble and the Future of Currency (April 3, 2013)
• FT Alphaville blog: When memory becomes money; the story of Bitcoin so far (April 3, 2013)
• The New Yorker: The Crypto Currency (Oct. 10, 2011)
• NPR’s Planet Money: What Is Bitcoin? (Aug. 24, 2011)
• The New York Times: Speed Bumps on the Road to Virtual Cash (July 3, 2011)