Month: January 2011

Project finance success for NCB

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Compared to the relatively “mixed” experience of global markets, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed stability and growth in economic performance during 2010. The economy and stock market has outperformed other countries in the region which reflects customer and business index confidence in both the regulatory handling of the economy and the general financial health of business across The Kingdom. The Government’s $400bn injection into the economy over the course of  five years has resulted in a number of major infrastructure projects being financed and the effects of this is already working through the system. Indeed, NCB has secured a number of leading project finance mandates in 2010 and this has helped establish us as the number one project finance institution across the Gulf region.

More lending is also working its way through the economy and banks are being encouraged and are responding to the need to support businesses, large and small, with their growth plans. Indeed, 2010 has been a record year for NCB’s Corporate Banking Sector in terms of lending to our customer base. This reflects both our appetite to support Saudi business and our robust financial capital and liquidity position.

Indeed the relative strength of The Saudi Economy has seen many customers adopt a “Flight to Quality and Safety” in their financial approach and planning with significant growth in loans and deposits being experienced.

This is certainly the case at NCB and we put this customer “vote of confidence” down to our ownership, the strength of our financial performance and the resilience of our core franchise.
 
Economic challenges
There still remain risks in the system both internationally and domestically. Abroad, the fundamental core issues of unemployment, budget deficits, sovereign debt, political compromises and the constant media speculation on double-dip scenarios in economic indicators all combine to ensure that challenging times lie ahead and no country or region can be complacent about the future. Domestically, the key challenges for the banks are a low interest rate environment and a less than vibrant capital markets backdrop. These factors ensure that revenues will continue to be under pressure in 2011.

At NCB, we believe we are a portfolio of businesses and that being pro-active – we have the ability to quickly move on opportunities that present themselves and leverage our financial performance. We have done this in 2010 and will do so again next year.
 
International expansion
The Saudi banking sector is still very profitable and competitive. NCB has a market leading position in a number of key business lines but we never take our position for granted and treat all competition with the utmost respect.
We concentrate on our own performance and how we can make things better and that is why we place a great deal of importance on the customer experience, service quality and our investment in people. We believe that allied to our brand franchise – these areas differentiate our performance and continue to make NCB the leading Bank in Saudi Arabia.

Internationally, our majority shareholding in Turkiye Finans (acquired in 2008) continues to perform well. Turkey continues to be an emerging economic success story and our presence in the country can only be mutually beneficial moving forward.

NCB continues to assess potential future geographic expansion opportunities but they have to be right for our franchise, bring value to our shareholders and fit with our strategy of becoming the premier financial services group in the region.
 
NCB in 2010
NCB has performed well in 2010 and we have grown market share, attracted more customers to our business and enhanced the health of our core business.

Our balance sheet continues to be strong, service quality indicators are positive and key business relationships have deepened thus generating increasing revenues and better understanding of customer needs.

Retail distribution has grown, consumer finance has benefitted from the new mortgage product and treasury services in volatile international market conditions have been well sought and valued by customers. Corporate banking has enjoyed an impressive year and will be a key component of our 2011 growth plans.
 
Islamic banking performance
2010 has been about reinforcing NCB’s strong leadership and commitment to Islamic Banking. A leader in the provision of Islamic Investment Products, NCB launched the world’s first Shari’ah Compliant Real Estate Fund and was the first Saudi bank to provide its clients with a wide range of Shari’ah compliant funds. As a result, NCB is today still the kingdom’s largest Shari’ah compliant fund business and the world’s largest Shari’ah compliant asset manager.  In addition, NCB developed and offers the first and largest listed Shariah equity fund in the world and the capital preserve fund is used by many leading financial institution worldwide.

Our ongoing drive in retail distribution growth means that we are still one of the leading providers of Shari’ah compliant products to customers. In the corporate sector, our project finance support of key infrastructure projects in 2010 has overwhelmingly been done via Shari’ah Compliant product and this has been a source of great pride and achievement to us.   
 
Electronic distribution channels
Providing customers with new ways to do business with us has seen a rapid increase in our “e” capability across the NCB Group. In retail, corporate, investment banking and consumer finance we have invested in new technology and systems that now mean that over 80 per cent of transactions are now conducted by our two million plus customers through alternative delivery channels. At the same time, our 282 branches across the kingdom continue to provide quality service and access to banking for many of our customers both in main centres and remote locations.
 
Sustainability
Our strategy on sustainability focuses on people, profit and planet. As the first company in Saudi Arabia to produce an internationally accredited sustainability report in 2008 and the winner of The King Khaled Award for Sustainability and Business Excellence in 2008 and 2009 – NCB firmly believes that building a sustainable company that supports its economy, society, people and environment is of paramount importance.

As a financial services company our carbon footprint is relatively small but we believe that we can and should endeavour to act on what we can influence within our own organisation such as re-cycling, printing, water consumption and energy usage. We also can help raise awareness through our leadership position on the issue and we shall continue to pursue this across our diverse range of stakeholders.

Our objectives for 2011 are to continue to be financially resilient, prudent in decision-making, grow our core franchise, develop our people and at all times manage risk in an appropriate and responsible manner.

Abdulkareem Abu Al-Nasr is CEO of National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia

BESI targets securities takeover

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Part of a 140-year-old banking group, BESI believes that it is vital to develop and maintain long-term relationships with its clients. As such, BESI has developed a multi-product approach which includes sector, industry and geographic specialisation.

BESI’s core product areas are: M&A, Project Finance and Securitisation, Acquisition Finance, Capital Markets and Private Equity products.

BESI, over the few years, has developed a significant international franchise, building its presence in the UK, Spain, Poland, the US, Brazil and Angola. BESI, like its parent, is committed to expanding its international activities, based on selective opportunities.

The Bank’s international strategy is focused on markets with either cultural, trade or historical links with Portugal.

BESI’s feels confident of the success of its overall product and market strategy, having achieved its highest ever consolidated income of €229m in 2009, a 20 percent increase on 2008.

Capital markets
Over the past few years, the Bank has built a sizeable capital markets business, leveraging its extensive experience as Portugal’s leader in privatisations and capital market placements generally.  

In 2009, over 60 percent of BESI’s banking income was generated outside Portugal, of which 35 percent from capital markets. Given the resurgence of capital markets activity globally, the Bank believes this will be one of its key areas of growth.

The Bank recently acted as a lead manager for the Portuguese Government’s 10-year €3bn benchmark bond, which generated a total demand of €13bn. The Bank’s participation in this successful transaction helped secure confidence in the European bond market and also re-emphasised investors’ long-term belief in the strength of the Portuguese economy.

Critical to the expansion of the business was the access to an international distribution platform.  In 2010, ESIB announced the acquisition of 50.1 percent in Execution Noble Holdings Ltd (EN) to provide a Tier 1 capability distribution in equities, derivatives and expanding into fixed income in London, New York and Hong Kong.

BESI will therefore have access to an established large and mid-cap pan European secondary equities and research business. In addition, Execution Noble includes a highly rated Indian research product which will combine neatly with ESIB’s differentiated emerging market offering, built around Brazil, Poland, Angola (expanding into Africa) and now adding India and Hong-Kong.

M&A growth and development
M&A has also been a vital part of BESI’s product offering. BESI once again was nominated for Euromoney magazine’s ‘Best Bank in Portugal’ award for excellence, in addition to the ‘Best Bank for M&A Advisory in Portugal’ Real Estate Award this year.

As global economic recovery gathers pace and as cross-border activity between Iberia, the US and Latin America increases, M&A opportunities will continue to emerge and BESI is well placed to position itself competitively in this space.

Given the globalisation of the Portuguese economy, the Bank is also building an international network to ensure that capital-exporting markets can be made available to all its clients.

In the same way that BES, its parent retail bank, has adopted the South Atlantic triangle of Iberia-Brazil-Africa as a focus for its operations, BESI has followed suit, expecting this region to be a significant area of growth for the Bank.

Project and acquisition finance
BESI is a global player in project and acquisition finance in the renewable energy, infrastructure and transportation finance sectors. There are a growing number of financing opportunities, related to public-private partnerships, for key infrastructure projects that are less dependent on global growth. BESI’s powerful presence in emerging markets then gives bank full access to what they believe will be a strong deal flow.

BESI cites their successful commercial banking operation in Angola as a perfect example, as the country has experienced an economic renaissance since the end of the war in 2002.

Following BES’s success in the area, BESI is also supporting a new direct presence for its investment banking operations in Luanda, which is currently underway.

Geographic strengths
Over the last ten years, BESI has invested in international expansion, leveraging a long-standing leadership position in all key investment banking product areas in its domestic Iberian market, with its depth of knowledge of certain emerging markets.

The Bank now offers innovative financial solutions across three continents: Europe, the Americas and Africa.

The Group has had a presence in Brazil for over 30 years, and BESI now has nearly 200 professionals based in its São Paulo office, offering a full range of investment banking services, complemented by asset management, private banking and private equity activities.

BESI has over time leveraged on the close relationship it has with its Iberian clients that started to expand to Brazil, among which we find several of the major Portuguese companies: Portugal Telecom, EDP, Brisa. We highlight the M&A advisory to Portugal Telecom on the sale of its Brazilian subsidiary Vivo – the largest M&A transaction in Brazil in 2010 to date. BESI has also been growing its local footprint, with an increasing involvement with Brazilian companies.

BESI’s focus on Brazilian players that have business relationships and/or are expanding into Europe and Africa, enables the bank to leverage on the BES Group’s presence in these continents, as through the latter BESI also has access to a differentiated African network including Angola, Mozambique, Libya, Morocco, Cape Verde and Algeria.

After the success of the Banco Espirito Santo Angola operation, BESI has applied and is waiting for approval to open its own branch in the country.

The North American operation have also been expanded with the opening of a representative office in Mexico, a joint project with BES, which will support business development efforts for the banks’ Advisory, Global Trade Finance, Project Finance, Corporate Finance, Treasury and Capital Markets services.

This expansion will strengthen the Bank’s ties to Latin America, enabling it to more effectively provide its clients with access to the growth prospects of the region.

The opening of this new office is integral to the development of global banking operations for both BESI and BES, serving as a hub for business development in Central America and the Caribbean Basin.

‘One stop shop’ Polish operations
The flow of Portuguese companies into Poland and BESI’s established experience in infrastructure and renewable energy project finance, led BESI to set up operations, originally through a joint venture in 2005, and from 2008 through its own branch, in Warsaw.

In 2008, BESI launched its own local brokerage activity, which has given the branch the chance to develop a local ‘one-stop shop’ strategy.

In terms of M&A, in 2010, BESI supported the purchase of a Polish construction company by a Lithuanian buyer. BESI also participated in the financing a motorway construction company, and was part of the Project Finance consortium for the production of a 120 MW Margonin windfarm, in the north west of the country, for EDP Renewables.

In terms of Acquisition Finance, BESI advised on the financing of the purchase of a school books’ company and is advising a consortium in the privatisation of a major Polish utility.

With the help and backing of a strong international investment bank, present in the major international finance centres, BESI is taking advantage of the current Polish economic momentum and offering a ‘one stop shop’ service to local businesses.

An award-winning New York branch
With New York being the gateway to the world’s financial markets, BESI felt the importance of having a branch in this city. The New York branch concentrates on wholesale banking, mainly in the US and Brazil.
Less than two years since its doors opened, the New York branch has already accumulated a number of significant achievements, including ranking as number one Bookrunner for Syndicated Loans in 2010.

Also, despite the current adverse market conditions, in 2008 the Branch achieved a 223 percent YoY in results, reinforcing its role in the development of the BES Group’s international strategy as a whole.

The launch of the New York office was in fact split into two, with the first half of the year focussing on identifying strategic clients and transactions in North America. The bank concentrated on renewable energy sector and made social infrastructures the priority in Canada.

During the latter half of the year, New York widened its focus of activity, including transport and more typically traditional energy sectors, and also expanded its geographical reach to the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America.

BESI’s recent expansion moves
In February, BESI announced an offer to acquire 50.1 percent of Execution Noble, a London-based pan-European securities distribution platform. For BESI, Execution Noble provides a top quality international distribution platform and investment banking team, allowing it to operate through the key financial markets of London, New York and Hong Kong.

It also enables it to establish an enlarged international securities business, leverage its primary and secondary fixed income and equities presence in Iberia and its primary origination capabilities in Europe and Emerging Markets, in particular Brazil and, increasingly, Africa.

The combination of BESI’s Iberian and emerging market banking expertise and Execution Noble’s distribution capabilities should allow the Bank to become an international reference player in investment banking. With offices across the world in Lisbon, London, Madrid, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, New York, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Warsaw, the joint headcount will be close to 1,000.

We expect continued recovery of leading economies in 2010, albeit at different paces, and with varying risk factors. Within this context, BESI is confident of its growth strategy – developed on a mix of ambition and prudence.

For more information contact Tara Jones, Head of International Capital Markets
Tel: +351 21 21 330 2175|; E-mail: tjones@besinv.pt

Qatar to soften oil and gas dependency

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While several countries in Europe and the Americas struggle to leave recession behind, many of the resource-rich economies in the Middle East are enjoying unprecedented growth rates. Contained within only 11,500 sq. km of land, for example, the small peninsular nation of Qatar has the world’s second highest per-capita income and the second fastest growing economy.

With oil and gas accounting for over 50 percent of the country’s GDP, 85 percent of exports and 70 percent of government income, Qatar’s economy did feel the pinch of the latest global economic meltdown — when growth in GDP slowed from an estimated 11.7 percent in 2008 to 9.5 percent in 2009.

That trend is expected to be reversed in the current financial year as global demand for hydrocarbons increases. Yet despite having sufficient proven oil reserves to meet current output levels for at least another 37 years, the Qatari government has embarked on an ambitious plan to diversify the country’s future economy away from its dependence on oil and gas.

“There are many different opportunities for investment in Qatar,” explains Shahzad Shahbaz, CEO of QInvest. “Clearly, energy and energy-related industries will remain a significant opportunity, but there will also be huge investments in infrastructure to build airports, roads, power, sewage and water facilities. The government is also promoting Qatar as a financial centre, particularly in asset management and insurance, and a longer term objective is to diversity the economy into education, health, science and technology, sports and culture; and to create a knowledge economy through strong research and development capabilities. There is a lot happening in this country.”

QInvest, Qatar’s largest investment bank, was licensed by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority in April 2007 with authorised capital of $1 bn. In three short years it has grown to employ over 130 employees with investments in the region and also internationally.  

Timing is everything. Although the world’s economy was looking bleak for investors, the turmoil in financial markets in 2008/9 meant that many talented individuals in the finance sector were displaced. With his ambitious strategy backed by a high growth economy, Shahbaz had a competing proposition and was able to attract many top quality individuals to the firm. “I think we have a good mix of international and regional experience on our team,” he says.

“We see that as one of our key strengths.”

His enthusiasm for doing business in the region, which QInvest defines as the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, South Asia and parts of South East Asia, is well founded. With a relatively young population, the region has a growing workforce and limited pension liabilities. Governments in the region are turning their attention to the huge capital resource available to them for the development of infrastructure, creating investment opportunities on a large scale.

Within this environment, the development of sophisticated regional investment banking services has been relatively slow, so Shahbaz sees opportunities for growth in his sector being disproportionately high even against the high growth rates enjoyed by the rest of the economy.

This prosperity and the investment opportunities in the region are naturally attracting the major global banks but, according to Shahbaz, these are mainly interested in the top end of the market. Beneath that top tier there is a large sub-market of regional suppliers and investors that is hungry for business.  “The global banks will always be here and doing business in this region,” he notes, “but there is also room for a well sponsored, well capitalised regional bank with good quality people and strong governance.”

But while QInvest is clearly focussed on developing its business and being relevant to clients and investors within its defined geography, the bank also has part of its sights firmly pointing outwards. Believing that linkages into international markets will enable them to provide better investment opportunities and services to their regional clients, QInvest has already acquired a significant holding in two financial services businesses outside its region.

The acquisition in 2009 of 44 percent of Panmure Gordon, a London based investment banking firm with offices and subsidiaries in the US and Europe, gives QInvest important linkages into the major capital centres of London and New York. The company’s longer term vision, which anticipates huge opportunities in the emerging markets of Asia, is behind its second major investment in early 2010 of a share in Ambit, a leading investment bank based in India.

“Our vision is to develop an emerging market strategy which we can then link into the major financial centres in Europe and the US,” explains Shahbaz. “Other than the major global investment banks, there are not many others who are doing this successfully or effectively.”

In addition to geographic reach, each of the two investments brings good strategic fit in specific business areas. Panmure Gordon has a strong brokerage business which complements the evolving brokerage activity of QInvest, and it provides a network of distribution centres in the European and American markets. The investment in Ambit not only provides QInvest clients with access to opportunities in the high growth Indian market, it enables QInvest to benefit  from that growth by gaining access at an early stage.

Solid foundations
Being an Islamic investment bank, QInvest operates within the investment guidelines set out in Sharia’a law which proved robust through the crisis.

Islamic finance does not, however, prohibit an investor from realising a return. There are many Sharia’a compliant ways to construct a transaction which will be able to extract a return, including profit and loss sharing or the sale and buy-back of assets. “What you can’t do is finance something for purely speculative purposes or something where there is no underlying asset,” Shahbaz observes. “That is the strength of Islamic finance. If you look at some of the problems that caused the recent international financial crisis, they were caused by speculative lending where there were no underlying assets.”

Increasing numbers of non-Islamic companies are accessing the benefits of Sharia’a compliant investments. As more people come to understand instruments like the Sukuk, a bond structured in the Islamic manner, organisations raising capital through Islamic structures gain access to a broader pool of investment capital, since both Islamic and non-Islamic investors can participate.

QInvest provides a full range of investment banking, investment management, brokerage and wealth management services to its clients. In addition, the firm has its own private equity strategy which sees it building the beginnings of an investment fund. Initially the investments are being made directly from QInvest resources but Shahbaz expects to get other investors to participate.

The first two investments for the fund were made in 2010. In April, the company acquired a 40.8 percent stake in Intercat Hospitality and Butlers Dry Cleaning and Laundry Services (the “Group”), one of the UAE’s leading outsourced business services companies. “These sectors are developing rapidly and Intercat and Butlers are the leaders,” comments Shahbaz. “We invested in them because the company has very good management and a business in this sector will grow in this region as infrastructure grows.”

More recently, QInvest acquired a 28 percent stake in Asian Business Exhibition & Conferences Ltd (ABECL), India’s leading exhibitions and conferences organiser. “We see India as a high growth market and this company is the market leader in this sector,” says Shahbaz. “This investment fits well with our strategy of supporting well-managed companies with strong growth potential in the MENASA region, and demonstrates our confidence in the Indian economy and our appetite to deploy capital in the country.”

With its wealth of talent and international reach, QInvest is ideally placed to take a leading role in the development of the communities in which it operates. As part of the company’s corporate social responsibility commitment, QInvest has developed a programme of activities that includes funding for a range of charitable, educational, social, cultural and sporting organisations and events. Among these is the annual Qatar Global Investment Forum, the second of which was recently held in Doha. The event attracted over 350 delegates from 30 countries keen to share some of their latest thinking on investment strategies in Qatar, the region, and more internationally. Closer to home, QInvest has set up the QTalent programme; that consists of Qatari Development Programme (QDP), Graduate Development Programme (GDP) and Internship Development Program me (IDP); for spotting and developing high potential talent who will form the future of the growing finance industry in Qatar. 

With all of this activity taking place in less than three years of starting business, some might consider it a bit premature to be thinking of realising the firm’s value in the market, but the QInvest team have that on the cards as well. “It is very much in line with our initial investment proposition that we offered to all those who backed the bank,” Shahbaz points out. “An IPO is very much on the agenda but the timing is still undefined. Definitely not before the end of 2011; probably sometime in early 2012, but it all depends on how we are progressing with the implementation of our strategy, and the market conditions at the time.”

Export credit guarantees

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At issue is a little known agreement between the US and the EU dating back to the 1980s determining which airlines can access export credit guarantees – in essence a cheaper form of financing than commercial bank loans.

While originally designed to encourage plane makers Boeing and Airbus to create manufacturing jobs – by supporting sales to airlines in countries where political risk meant commercial bank loans were unavailable – its scope has widened in recent years, and western airlines are claiming the market has become distorted.

Central to this has been the so-called ‘home country rule’ – a verbal understanding between the US Ex-Im Bank (the US government’s official export credit agency) and its UK, French and German counterparts – that prevents support for purchases of Boeing and Airbus aircraft by companies based in any of the four countries concerned, as well as Spain.

US and European airlines have recently been crying foul, arguing the cheaper financing available to their (principally) foreign competitors has been exacerbated by the recent downturn in the business cycle and enabled the latter to build-up their fleets more efficiently. Complicating matters further has been the growth in the number of open skies agreements giving foreign airlines ever greater access to US and European markets.

So seriously is this issue being taken that in August James May, President and CEO of the Air Transport Association (ATA), wrote to US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, noting that over the decade 2000-09, the US Ex-Im Bank provided guarantees backing $45.7bn in financing for more than 800 large civil aircraft – more than the mainline fleets of every individual US airline. In financial year 2009 alone it made $8.6bn available to support sales of 143 aircraft to 17 foreign airlines and five leasing companies.

The level of US Ex-Im Bank support has been roughly matched by credit supplied by the export credit agencies (ECAs) of the UK, France and Germany – all nations where Boeing’s competitor Airbus has a presence. UK credit agency ECDG alone announced financing for Airbus aircraft amounting to £6.32bn from 2000-08, or over $9.6bn at the then exchange rate.

Unintended consequences
The ATA estimates that subsidised aircraft financing by the Ex-Im Bank has added approximately 17 percent to the capacity of Ex-Im financed carriers on US international routes compared to the level these carriers would fly in the absence of such guarantees. As a result, foreign carriers with Ex-Im subsidised financing have taken market share from US airlines, reduced employment at US carriers by more than 6,000 jobs and caused income losses of over $500m annually, it claims.

As Mr May puts it: “The damage caused by subsidised financing is exacerbated during declines in the business cycle because ECA credits and guarantees immunise borrowers from market conditions.’’

He added that during the recent downturn, US airlines cut capacity by eight percent and were forced to lay off thousands of employees; yet large aircraft production remained at record highs and the large aircraft market grew by over 10 percent.

In addition he noted that in 2009, when Delta Airlines and Dubai-based Emirates Air were each seeking financing for three Boeing 777 aircraft, Emirates, through Ex-Im Bank support, was able to obtain its financing at an interest rate of 3.47 percent, compared with 8.11 percent for Delta.

Figures show the top five largest airline beneficiaries of US Ex-Im guarantees from 2000-09 were: Air India ($3.94bn), Ryanair ($3.81bn), Emirates Airlines ($2.87bn), Korean Air ($2.51bn) and Thai Air Asia ($1.68bn).

China Airlines ($1.50bn) was ranked seventh. The top 20 beneficiaries received a total of $30.0bn of guarantees; total US Ex-Im came to $44.4bn, while total European Ex-Im was $44.0bn.

The data, compiled from information available in the annual reports of US Ex-Im, assumes European export credit financing was approximately equal to US Ex-Im financing over the same period.

Meanwhile, in its document “Request for Level Playing Field in Aircraft Financing,” the Group of Airbus Home Country Airlines estimated the annual financing advantage provided by export credit guaranteed financing at $4.2m per annum on the purchase of an Airbus A380 financed over 12 years.

Responding to more general criticism about airline subsidies, Emirates, which has raised $22bn to date for aircraft financing purposes, counters it has always obtained funds on a commercial asset-backed basis and that no financing has been obtained from Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) or the Government of Dubai, at concessional rates.

“Export Credit Agencies are a legitimate and internationally accepted support mechanism to boost manufacturing sectors and exporters in Europe and the US,” Emirates said in a statement. “Emirates, like many other airlines, uses ECAs as part of its broad financing structure. EU/US export credit agencies have supported just over 20 percent Emirates aircraft financing to date and are likely to remain in this range in the future.”

Yet just as Boeing and Airbus unsurprisingly seek to protect their existing turf, so they face a commercial threat in the single-aisle jets market, with Canada’s Bombardier hoping to promote its CSeries plane as a modern, more fuel efficient alternative to the ancient Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

While there are more restrictions in place for large planes, when it comes to government backed loan guarantees to aid aircraft sales, there is greater flexibility for smaller sized regional jets.

Bombardier last year sought to have the CSeries designated as a regional jet. Boeing and Airbus in turn have claimed it encroaches on the large aircraft category. And for good reason as the Montreal-based firm is not bound by the same rules as Boeing and Airbus, giving it an unfair edge since CSeries planes could in theory be offered to a US carrier or an airline based in a country that’s home to Airbus production.

As debate rages in this particular segment of the market there is little doubt the CSeries will pose a commercial threat.

Decision time in Europe
Meanwhile, British Airways CEO Willy Walsh used a recent speech at the European Aviation Club in Brussels to hammer home the export credit finance point, claiming, like his American counterparts, that his airline’s ability – and those of some other European airlines – to fund the acquisition of new aircraft is handicapped by the more generous financing rates available to carriers from other countries, both inside and outside of the EU.

“We believe these guarantees are not operating in the way they were intended – and therefore urge the EU to amend the rules to remove the competitive distortions that have developed.”

Mr Walsh, who is also the current chair of the Association of European Airlines, said it was especially worrying to see Europe “funding the expansion of Emirates,” which is growing so rapidly some say it could change long haul aviation in the way Ryanair and other no-frills carriers have transformed short haul flying.

“It’s about time Europe makes up its mind what it wants from its airline industry,” he said. “The liberalisation of the market has brought about huge efficiency benefits, a stream of product innovations, lower prices and consumer choice. Yet all along the line these benefits are being eroded by heavy-handed and inappropriate regulation in some areas, and a reluctance to tackle structural deficiencies in others.”

US and European airlines finally seem to be waking up to addressing the issue after 24 carriers, including Air France, EasyJet, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines, recently forged an alliance and called for a 20 percent cap on aircraft deliveries financed with ECA-backed loans, higher export credit premiums and fees to neutralise any interest rate advantage they yield, lower maximum loan-to-value ratios and restrictions on ECA-backed loans to airlines or lessors based in high-risk countries. Boeing for its part has gone on record as supporting the 20 percent cap as ‘reasonable.’

European carriers, at least, also have EU Regulation 868 as a potential fall back, given it allows for the imposition of protective duties on foreign carriers using subsidies or other forms of “non-commercial advantage” to undercut prices.

The big question though is whether US and European governments have the stomach to change the status quo – the lucrative Gulf market being a case in point. Here, Airbus has total orders of 191 planes from Emirates, 133 from Qatar Airways and 59 from Etihad Airways.

Longer term though, it will become more difficult for European carriers to have enough customers to maintain existing flight schedules to destinations such as Hong Kong, as the balance of power gradually shifts and stopover traffic increases in the Gulf at the expense of traditional cities such as London, Paris and Milan.

Good things come to those who wait

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After the United States, China is the second largest economy in the world. It has long been recognised as the fastest-growing globally, having recorded annual average growth rates in excess of 10 percent over the last quarter-century. In Q2 2010, China’s economy was valued at $1.33trn, and it is estimated that by the end of the year the nation’s total GDP will be approximately $5.7trn. Given these impressive figures, for many years global financial institutions have been holding their breath, waiting for an opportunity to tap into such a potentially lucrative market.

Their wait has been a long one. It was in 1978 that investors first pricked up their ears, when China began to make wholesale reforms to its economy in order to address its burgeoning social and economic problems. One key aspect of such a restructuring was that – for the first time in the 20th century – the government began to encourage foreign trade and permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in the areas of the country where it was most needed.

Following this, throughout the 1980s, the number of regions that could accept FDI grew and China began to adopt some ‘western’ principals, particularly in the fields of legal and financial infrastructure, which were key to handling FDI.

Recent developments within China’s financial infrastructure have left the door ajar for international banks, wealth managers and fund management firms to make their moves.

Banking
The Chinese banking sector has traditionally been dominated by four institutions: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the Bank of China, and the Agricultural Bank of China. Today these banks hold between them more than half of China’s total banking capital.

However, change is afoot. Recent years have witnessed a glut of high-value IPOs, which have seen the top five Chinese banks raising almost $60bn. Capping this trend, in July this year, the Agricultural Bank of China achieved a $19.2bn public listing, valuing the company at approximately $128bn – bigger than the likes of Goldman Sachs or Citigroup. These listings have allowed international investors to take significant shareholdings in the Chinese banking industry.

Of course, doing business in China has often been fraught with difficulties, with excessively high minimum capital adequacy requirements proving prohibitive for foreign firms. But, in 2001, upon accession to the World Trade Organisation, the Chinese government consented to the creation of a more level playing field for foreign banks.

Whereas some British banks have been well established in China for some time – HSBC and Standard Chartered have managed operations for over a century – these have been the exception to the rule. The figures show that today overseas banks are taking full advantage of this new freedom. According to figures published by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), between 2003 and 2008 foreign investments in Chinese commercial banks stood at $783m, and the number of Chinese banks with foreign capital grew from just five to 32.

And the expansion has continued. To date, foreign banks from 12 countries have established a total of 28 foreign-funded banks, in addition to two joint-ventures and two overseas-funded finance companies. In total, 196 foreign banks from 46 countries have set up 237 offices in China.

The boom in commercial and investment banking has already begun, but there remains a huge opportunity in the localised retail banking sector. In 2007, HSBC was the first bank to receive approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to establish a bank in rural China, and although the hook has not yet caught, given China’s eye-catching demographics, many others are sure to follow.

Fund management and private equity
The fund management industry in China has played an increasingly important role with the Chinese economy over the last 10 years. Formally established in 1998 when the government launched the first batch of six fund-management firms, China is currently home to some 60 fund management organisations, bearing total assets under management of some Yuan Renminbi (RMB) 2.3trn (around $350bn).

The private equity (PE) industry, as a sub-sector of general fund management, is also in overdrive. A report published in August by M&A advisory firm China First Capital, details how China is flooded with PE capital ready for investment, having raised over $50bn over the last four years.

Driving this innovation is the Chinese government, which in 2007 pushed through a Partnership Enterprise Law, effectively imitating a western LLP structure and thus allowing the development of PE and venture capital investment into China. Steps have also been taken to ensure a sound and accountable professional services environment, allowing for the development of a supporting legal, accountancy and corporate finance services community.

The enormous flow of capital is not looking to dry up. As recently as August this year, CDH Investments, one of China’s leading PE firms – with $4bn of committed capital – closed its fourth investment vehicle on $1.46bn.

Furthermore, according to Deloitte’s annual Private Equity Confidence Survey, published in September, over three-quarters of respondents expected levels of PE investment to increase over the next 12 months, and not one respondent predicted it to decrease.

Another big attraction for foreign investors is sure to be the forthcoming launch of what will prove to be the largest pool of investment capital within the global PE industry. With assets of close to $120bn, China’s National Social Security Fund is mandated to commit over $3bn a year in new capital for PE investment in China.

Currently the fund is in the process of selecting suitable private equity fund managers and fund-of-funds to make investments on its behalf.

Given the government’s commitment to supporting the industry and with such prizes at stake it is no surprise that international funds are flocking to China, hungry for a piece of the pie.

However, they now have a great deal of competition on their hands. Until now, many domestic Chinese PE funds have operated on an opportunistic basis, aiming to make a ‘quick flip’ of an entrepreneurial business into an IPO, but without fully grasping the long-term effectiveness of a sustainable PE investment model.

But now, many Chinese funds have become enlightened and are contending on a credible – if not financial – level with the international funds. One of the key ways they are gaining a competitive advantage is by setting up RMB-denominated funds, which are able to invest more quickly and effectively into local businesses than foreign USD funds. Furthermore, their understanding of the dynamics of their home market often surpasses those of funds that fly in from London or New York. In short, local players have the advantage of speed of execution and local knowledge.

As testament to this, Deloitte’s survey states that “2010 will be remembered as the year the RMB funds found their pace and became a major factor in China’s capital landscape.” Also according to the report, “In the first half of the year, some 32 new PE funds were set up, 26 of which were RMB denominated.”

However, the foreigners are fighting back. It is for this reason that it is widely believed that Carlyle, one of the largest global PE players, is looking to launch a RMB fund, and Reuters reports that major US investor Blackstone has this year made a further three additional commitments to its $732m RMB-denominated fund.

As the Deloitte report also points out, “Foreign funds have encountered regulatory and market challenges in meeting their RMB funding goals.” Nevertheless, foreign-run RMB funds have raised a disclosed RMB 23.8bn ($3.5bn) to date.

All told, there is a massive opportunity for international funds to make their move on the sizeable Chinese PE playing field. However, in order to play their part they will need to act fast to compete with the growing masses of local funds and – perhaps more importantly – get to grips with an unfamiliar environment.

Wealth management
According to Celent, a research consultancy firm focused on the financial services industry, wealth management services provided by Chinese banks have shown impressive growth in recent years and have an even greater potential going forward. In 2007, for example, the size of the market for individual wealth management in China was over $350bn – more than double that for the year 2000. Furthermore, this figure is expected to double again by 2014.

Celent’s research reveals that at the end of 2007 China boasted almost half a million individuals with a net worth of more than $1m – an increase of over 20 percent from the previous year. Also, the number of ultra-high net worth individuals (those with assets exceeding $30m) now exceeds 6,000.

According to UKTI statistics, the wealthiest one percent of Chinese households own more than 70 percent of the country’s total personal wealth. Over the past five years the astronomic rise in the number of millionaires has meant that China now holds the global rank of fifth place in terms of the number of millionaires. All told, China’s richest people have an aggregate wealth of more than $2trn.

The concentration of wealth among such a small proportion of the population makes China a huge market for wealth management services – in fact the second largest in Asia outside Japan.

Unsurprisingly, there is a sizeable opportunity for international firms to take a foothold in China’s wealth management market, and there are opportunities to exploit such a market.

Economists have long commented that many of the local banks lack a sufficient portfolio of investment products to cater for the increasingly affluent class of Chinese high net worth individuals. Also, as investments through private structures such as venture capital trusts are not fully available to the wealthy, the best that they can achieve is high interest rate accounts offered by local banks. As such, there is an enormous opportunity for foreign private banks – especially those that have lost clients in their home markets thanks to cautionary measures caused by the recession – to enter the market with their full portfolio of products and services to cater to the needs of private banking customers.

Potentially lucrative
Over the past few years China has experienced a continued expansion and diversification of financial players seeking to take a share of the market. As the sophistication of domestic investors has improved, so too has the window for foreign financial investment widened, as many sectors of the economy have become more liberalised.

Against the backdrop of global economic turmoil, China’s economic growth remains impressive, and international investors of all kinds will continue to find China hard to ignore – especially if opportunities remain thin on the ground in their home markets.

Gold up; emerald down

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Ireland’s property market crash has exposed years of reckless lending and has forced the government to nationalise large parts of the banking industry, leaving the taxpayer with a bill of €50bn or more to clean up the mess.

The scale of the disaster is unprecedented in Ireland. By 2008, some 40 percent of Irish banks’ loan books were related to real estate, equivalent to some €160bn. Much was lent at high loan-to-values and when the market crashed, borrowers swiftly saw equity wiped out, leading to breaches of debt terms. The banks, in effect, became the owners of so many billions of euros borrowed against poor quality property and land that their own balance sheets were unlikely to cope.

And that’s not all. Morgan Kelly, a professor of economics at University College Dublin who predicted Ireland’s property collapse, is forecasting that a new wave of toxic debt related to domestic mortgages could sink the country entirely.

He believes that Irish households are stretching themselves to the maximum to pay mortgages they cannot afford because of the stigma attached to default. “That will change,” Professor Kelly wrote in the Irish Times in November. “The perception growing among borrowers is that while they played by the rules, the banks certainly did not, cynically persuading them into mortgages that they had no hope of affording.”

Professor Kelly’s comments have been seized upon as evidence that the country’s financial woes will get worse before they get better. He says the cost of the bank bailout, estimated at €50bn, will be far higher than the government has admitted, with losses at Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland equalling those of toxic bank Anglo, leaving the taxpayer with a €70bn bill – nearly 50 percent higher than estimated. And there are concerns that the wrong banks may have been supported. While Allied Irish and Bank of Ireland have received billions in state aid to cover their dud loans to bankrupt construction tycoons, Irish Life & Permanent has received no bailout help, even though it is the most exposed to Ireland’s depressed market for residential property.

Bleak expectations
The Irish banking crisis has also been compounded by revelations that banks failed to take out insurance to protect themselves against losses on their mortgages, increasing the cost to taxpayers of rescuing them. Irish banks used to ask customers to take out compulsory mortgage insurance but this practice was abandoned at the height of the boom by most lenders. There is about €148bn of mortgages outstanding in the Irish market.

Professor Kelly was vilified when he warned of a property crash in 2007, earning the nickname “Dr Doom” for his gloomy – but accurate – predictions of economic woe. Now he has painted an even bleaker picture of the future and suggests that hundreds of thousands of people will go into mortgage default. “The gathering mortgage crisis puts Ireland on the cusp of a social conflict on the scale of the Land War,” he said, in reference to public defiance
in the 19th century when tenants refused to pay their rents.

Yet the country seems ill-equipped to deal with the problem, and some critics point out that the European Central Bank’s decision to pursue policies that favour Europe’s economic powerhouses like France and Germany, are having a detrimental effect on countries like Portugal, Greece, Spain and Ireland. The interest rates charged on the treasuries of Ireland, as well as fellow indebted eurozone members Portugal and Spain, have been rising ever since German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in October that she expected any future EU bailouts to come with new rules requiring bondholders to absorb some losses.

Economists warn that a rise in ECB base rates, potentially late next year, is the biggest threat to bank mortgage books. A rise in these rates will hit tracker mortgage holders, many of whom took out their loans in the last few years of the boom when prices were at their highest and deposits at their lowest.

The combination of bank bail-outs, government debt, collapsed property prices and a rising ECB interest rate all spell calamity for Ireland’s financial services sector and for its investor attractiveness. By the beginning of November, shares in Ireland’s banks had hit record lows and national borrowing costs had reached new euro-era highs as the government presented its latest plans for financial survival to the EU’s economic commissioner.

Furthermore, investors are shunning Ireland’s government and bank debt in expectation that the country will eventually require a bailout by the EU and International Monetary Fund, as happened to Greece in May.

The bad bank
Economists say that Ireland is experiencing by far the greatest scepticism from would-be lenders, who look with horror at the country’s projected deficit of 32 percent of GDP – a modern European record. While Ireland says it has sufficient cash until mid-2011 and has announced plans to resume bond auctions in January, its bank stocks and bonds have been dropping since Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced plans at the beginning of November to slash £5.16bn from its 2011 deficit – double his previous target. Lenihan said he wants to cut the 2011 deficit to 9.5 percent and reach the EU’s limit of three percent by 2014. The European Commission thinks it can be done, but few others are so sure.

The government has made efforts to try to stem the crisis and to increase the flow of credit through the Irish economy. The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) was created in late 2009 and will function as a “bad bank,” acquiring property development loans from Irish banks in return for government bonds – which may lead to a significant increase in Ireland’s gross national debt.

There are five participating institutions in NAMA – Allied Irish Banks, Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Irish Nationwide and EBS. The original book value of these loans is €77bn (comprising €68bn for the original loans and €9bn rolled up interest), though the current market value is estimated at €47bn as many of the loans are now non-performing due to debtors experiencing “acute financial difficulties.”

NAMA is buying the loans at an average of 52 percent discount to November 2009 values, paying an estimated €35bn for the €73bn of loans. Initial discount estimates were 32 percent.

There are up to 10 years to work out the loans, although there are goals of repayment of 25 percent by 2013 and 80 percent by 2017. It is hoped to make a profit of at least £1bn by the end of NAMA’s life.

Lenihan said the banks would have to assume significant losses when the loans, largely made to property developers, are removed from their books. If such losses resulted in the banks needing more capital, then the government would insist on taking an equity stake in the lenders. Economist Peter Bacon, who was appointed by the government to advise on solutions to the banking crisis, said the new agency has the potential to bring a better economic solution to the banking crisis and is preferable to nationalising the banks.

NAMA has caused equal measures of anger and worry in Ireland – anger that taxpayers could be saddled for years to come with debts on ill-timed investments made by property tycoons who have evaded the fallout and are still living in mansions, while there is a worry that these property loans could capsize the economy. The agency also has its critics: Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has said that the plan amounts to “squandering” public money to bail out the banks.

The agency is also likely to face criticism when deciding which schemes should be supported through new capital.

Many development sites, particularly on un-zoned land, will not be viable, and also offer no income to service interest, which means that they will be unlikely ever to cover the associated debt – not exactly the news that taxpayers and investors have wanted to hear. As much as €33bn of the land and development schemes are expected in Ireland, with another €10bn in Great Britain and €3bn in Northern Ireland. Some will be partially complete; others simply unwanted farmland standing fallow. Some observers point out that the political aspects of what stays and what goes may be heightened by the fact that many loans have personal guarantees from borrowers.

Potential opportunities
Yet besides the political sensibilities that the agency has to navigate, it is the operational side of the organisation that is causing most concern at the moment. Investors who have come to Ireland to carry out commercial property deals looking for a return over five or seven-year investment periods have given up due to the length of time it takes to complete transactions – or even get them started. One fund manager said, “We have put real estate investment in Ireland on indefinite hold.” Instead, fund managers may look at markets like France and Poland to pick up bargains.

There is little doubt that there are bargains to be had for investors who stayed out of Ireland during the boom. For example, in upmarket Booterstown in south Dublin, Irish Nationwide is selling two-bedroom apartments at €289,000 – 50 percent below prices in the same neighbourhood three years ago. Meanwhile, receiver Martin Ferris & Associates is behind a plan to sell 30 apartments at Blakes Road in Mulhuddart, west Dublin, for less than €1.9m – or €63,000 each. The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) reckons that such sales are at or below build cost, even reckoning land values at zero.

Domestic property professionals are unwilling to talk down NAMA but this is hardly surprising as the €81bn property vehicle will be by far the biggest user of professional services for a decade. But off the record, many say that NAMA is, at best, slow moving. “People are saying that NAMA is a white elephant, and like an elephant, it is proving difficult to shift in a hurry,” said one source.

A civil engineer for all seasons

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Prasert Bunsumpun
Age: 58
Education:
Harvard Business School
MBA, Utah State University
Career highlights:
2003 President and CEO, PTT Group
2001-2003 Senior Executive Vice President, Gas Business Group, PTT Public Company

When Prasert Bunsumpun, then 51, was appointed President of Thailand’s national energy company, PTT Plc in 2003 it was yet to join the ranks of the Fortune 500 elite. By 2004, it was listed at 456. Later in 2005 PTT was ranked 373; by 2006 it had climbed more than a hundred places to reach 265; 2007 saw it at 207; PTT had reached 135 by 2008 and in August 2009, Fortune 500 magazine ranked it 118 and recently 155 in 2010 among the world’s largest companies. Under Prasert’s bold, industry-smart leadership, marked also by an intuitive politically nuanced style, PTT today is Thailand’s fully-integrated energy company with leading position in exploration and production, transmission, petrochemical, refining, marketing and trading of petroleum and petrochemical products.

So what of the man behind the company’s impressive transformation from a small, state-run enterprise to an oil and gas group with investments in Exploration and Production (E&P), refining, and petrochemicals? Now in his second term at 58, Prasert Bunsumpun is variously described as tireless, focused and adept at selling his often visionary and occasionally radical ideas.

A 1977 MBA graduate of Utah State University and an Advanced Management Programme certificate holder of Harvard Business School in 1998, Prasert Bunsumpun entered the high-octane world of petroleum products at the age of thirty in 1982, joining the then Petroleum Authority of Thailand, later to be privatised in 2001 as PTT Public Company Limited, but with the Thailand Ministry of Energy holding a controlling interest. A former director of Siam City Bank, Prasert is also known for his financial acumen and his ability to recognise an acquisition bargain.

Described by those who remembered him at the time as “quiet and determined” Prasert would not really find his stride and the opportunity to exercise his special talent for decisive leadership until he took over the helm of PTT as its president in 2003. The responsibilities of the job that involved safeguarding and developing much of the nation’s vast energy assets while balancing the often pressing demands of a volatile global energy market and juggling the necessity to play to the political balcony, require special qualities.  Resilience, tenacity, a big picture mindset while still grasping the details, are all part of the mix. Add in a Bill Clinton-like ability to ‘compartmentalise’ and Buddha-like, to live in the moment, and the secret begins to emerge.

Prasert would though, be the first to point out that we’re all different and clearly there’s no one formula that guarantees success as a business leader. Whatever the complete recipe in his case though, it appears to have worked remarkably well.

His first notable recognition came in 2005 when he garnered a clutch of awards – Corporate Executive of the Year by Asia Money magazine; Asian Best CEO in Oil and Gas Business 2005; Thailand Best CEO 2005 by Institutional Investor Magazine; Thailand Business Leader of the Year 2005 by CNBC; and Best CEO of the Year 2005 by Stock Exchange of Thailand Awards 2005. There was more to come in 2008 when he shared the Oscar of the energy sector – Platt’s Global Energy Award for CEO of the Year.

In 2005 also, BusinessWeek placed PTT at the top of its list of Asia’s 50 best firms and said this about the company and its president: “with the spectre of $60-$70 oil hovering over energy-hungry Asia, a mad scramble is under way by regional oil and gas companies to lock up resources overseas and ramp up refinery capacity at home.”

“The unassuming civil engineer”, the article continued “is president of PTT Plc, a $15.7bn state-controlled energy giant that is enjoying windfall profits at home thanks to inspired management and spiraling gas and diesel fuel prices. The Bangkok company’s second-quarter profits alone rocketed 30 percent, to $449m, while sales jumped 50 percent. And no wonder, since PTT makes money all the way from the wellhead to the gas pump.

“PTT is now leveraging its supercharged shares – up 40 percent over the last year – to develop oil and gas assets from Algeria to Oman. ‘We want to have at least 20 percent of our revenues coming from international operations within five years,’” says Prasert.

The BusinessWeek article concludes, “In many ways, PTT is emblematic of the sudden fortune visited upon hundreds of companies supplying Asia with the energy it needs to stoke its growth. What sets the Thai company and a handful of other top performers apart is a shared drive to prepare the stage for future growth through rapid acquisitions while maintaining stellar profits and rich shareholder returns.”

Awards, peer and public approbation have no doubt been welcome by the PTT president and CEO. If nothing more, they suggest he must be doing something right, but what has his much vaunted ‘visionary’ leadership actually done for PTT? Even a cursory glance at the fortunes of the PTT Group during his tenure show they have improved massively. Under his unerring guidance the group now controls a vast network of interrelated companies in oil, gas exploration and production, transmission petrochemical, refining and marketing and trading of petroleum products. The Group’s revenue in 2009 amounted to $46.04bn with a net income of $1.73bn. Unsurprisingly the awards for PTT in 2009 also kept coming.

Achieving success in the high stakes and high pressure world of energy inevitably invites the “What’s your secret?” line of questioning. Prasert Bunsumpun would likely attribute his success to an overriding objective of attaining sustainable growth.  To do that, he has said that he focuses on leadership development, employee competency improvement, and creating a culture of innovation. Part of that, means a strong adherence to good corporate governance and from every individual, a firm commitment to corporate social responsibility.  

Prasert believes that any organisation is only as good as the sum of its parts and in his case this means ensuring transparent management practices in everything it does. Prasert has high ethical standards, values he expects of all those he works with and which are now enshrined as part of PTT’s core values and culture. Employees with a former ‘public servant’ mindset now see themselves as professionals working in a very professional organisation.

Part of this change in attitude no doubt stems from the very hands-on approach Prasert uses when dealing with, and motivating staff.

In 2009, besides monthly labour relations meetings, PTT, led by its shirt-sleeved president instigated head-to-head meetings to get immediate feedback from staff on their opinions from important strategic decisions to the more mundane matters of administration and welfare.  Effective communication, believes Prasert will lead to positive relations, taking the organisation to agreed unified goals. Nothing new in that of course, but making it work in the Thai culture where the boss is generally obeyed in silence and where opinions, even when sought are seldom forthcoming, is something to be roundly applauded.

In matters of earning staff loyalty, the PTT president displays an instinctive understanding of the European notion of business democracy where everybody is equal, eats in the same canteen, and the bosses at every stage of the hierarchy are accessible and the really big boss is more accessible than most. Again this is contrary to the traditional Thai cultural mores where senior figures are not only obeyed, but expected to remain distant.

Prasert is also seen at many company functions and makes regular visits to companies under the PTT umbrella.

Further insight into the Prasert management style is seen in his reported comments on what he describes as a ‘Learning Organisation.’  “To become a Learning Organisation, we rely on human intelligence. Learning is an ongoing, lifelong process”.

Expanding on his theme of building competent and righteous members of PTT and of society,  Prasert talked about  the company’s core values summarised in that very apt PTT acronym, ‘Spirit’ – synergy, performance excellence, innovation, responsibility for society, integrity and ethics, trust and respect.

In a June 2009 meeting organised by Thailand’s Institute of Directors the PTT leader voiced his opinion about the right course of action in times of financial crises. “Cash is the first priority in a time of crisis and because of high uncertainty, firms have to plan for different scenarios and conduct a stress test,” he said

Prasert noted that since the eruption of the worldwide crisis late 2008, PTT had moved the quickest to raise funds from the market, totalling more than Bt100 billion thus far.  “It will issue more debentures very soon just before government bonds flood out the market,” he said.

“On the other hand, it is also important to look for opportunities,” he continued. «We must clean the house, developing personnel, restructuring, consolidating and reviewing operations, while also seeking opportunities. The last crisis had helped PTT grow several times. We can grow several folds this time because we are much stronger. There are more opportunities,” he said.

“We are aiming to turn the downturn into our turn,” he said, adding “communication is key.”

One example of Prasert’s leading-by-example method is his active support of the Thai government’s Energy Industry Act that sought to promote energy security for the nation through transparency in the provision of services, fair prices for consumers and licensees, and an equitable network access for competitors, although this law would mean more regulations to deal with for PTT’s gas business.

Bold decisions when other leaders might be inclined to be more conservative are also a mark of the Prasert style. His determination to build PTT through both organic and inorganic growth led for example to PTT investing  almost $5bn in expanding gas pipeline networks to double capacity to stimulate the economy, improve domestic gas development, and increase PTT’s corporate value. This was in spite of the fall in demand following the 1997 Asian crisis. Since then, the demand for gas has risen rapidly, suggesting that in five years the pipeline will be fully utilised.

M&A has also been a strong vehicle for PTT growth under Prasert. Refineries and petrochemical ventures have been acquired and restructured during down cycles and nurtured to top performing companies in their market sector. An example is Prasert’s turnaround of Rayong Refinery Company (RRC), which PTT bought from Shell during the crisis and then successfully listed. In 2007, Prasert further strengthened RRC by merging it with Aromatics (Thailand) Public Co., Ltd., to finally become PTTAR, Thailand’s largest integrated aromatics refinery. Merger master Prasert later brought NPC (National Petroleum Corporation) and TOC (Thai Olefins Co.) together to become PTT Chemical, PTT’s petrochemical flagship company. Today, the two companies generate some 40 per cent of PTT’s earnings.

CSR fundamental to ptt’s sustainable development
A fundamental commitment to CSR that sees the implementation of good governance and  social and environmental practices as a priority,  has long been established at PTT.  Reflecting the strong personal commitment and support from the current PTT president, a comprehensive CSR programme is now in place. The importance of the active promotion of  a management and employee culture that embraces a socially responsible mindset at individual level has been the hallmark of the Prasert approach to making sure Good Corporate Governance and CSR translate into sustainable development for all concerned.

Today at PTT, not only is there an extensive and far reaching CSR programme in place that stretches across all its operations, it is one marked by a carefully planned framework that meets international CSR standards of reporting to maximum practical effectiveness across all business units. The objective is to lower PTT Group risks and to satisfy all stakeholders while providing maximum benefits to the community.

A response to global warming
The very nature of its business means that PTT has a major responsibility to take its response to the complex challenges of combating global warming very seriously. At every level, PTT has shown that it is committed to systematic management of this issue from carbon footprint management, including reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, to public educational campaigns.

Wider initiatives include promising research projects such as  the application of biogases derived from industrial wastewater – expected to begin commercial production in 2011 – and  construction of a prototype plant for bio-hydrogenated diesel and biojet, produced from diverse raw materials.

Another notable success has been a reforestation project in honour of His Majesty the King involving more than 400,000 acres. In the area of social and community development, an excellent example of PTT’s effort in 2009 was its cooperation with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in supporting the Sirinath Rajini Mangrove Ecosystem Learning Center in its efforts to preserve the Pranburi estuary mangrove forests.  Another highly successful project, and one which took the 2009 Platts Global Energy Award, was PTT’s Sufficiency Path Project involving 84 sub-districts in Thailand.  More recently PTT joined four other companies at a major industrial park in the province of Rayong committed to lifting social and environmental standards for local communities as well as transferring knowledge and experience.

PTT president Prasert Bunsumpun said the project was designed to give an example to other enterprises of all sizes in Rayong and elsewhere. “We met and agreed to join forces. We aim to share our experience in environmental care with others. We hope this will turn Rayong into the most liveable province. Rayong will become a green industrial town, an example for other provinces in terms of sustainable coexistence of factories and communities,” he said.

FX platforms target white labelling

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Since its inception, Squared Financial Services (Squared) has continually invested in its product offering, technology and people, as it strives to become the platform of choice among all participants in the EFX market space. Today, the results of this investment are plain to see, as Squared Financial is poised to reap the rewards of its pursuit of excellence.

Squared was founded in 2005 by its current chairman, Philippe Ghanem, and director, Georges Cohen. It is an independent, full service broker headquartered in Dublin and is regulated (and MiFID authorised) by the Financial Regulator in Ireland.

At the very beginning Squared evolved from its founders’ frustrations as professional traders. The platforms Messrs Ghanem and Cohen were using did not give them the freedom, functionality or competitive pricing that their individual styles required. The decision was made to develop their own platform and Squared Financial was born.

Since then, Squared has continued to develop and enhance its platform and after considerable investment in late 2009, its executives believe it is in an extremely strong competitive position – nimble enough to adjust to individual clients’ needs with a product to compete with the very best in the market place.

Squared’s proprietary platform, Squared Trader, provides round the clock ECN-style (variable spread) precision FX trading from execution and reporting right through to settlement. Competitive access to the world’s largest FX liquidity providers is through Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, RBS, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Nomura – with more to come. They also use non-bank liquidity providers to deliver a product appropriate to different trading styles – this, says Mr Ghanem,  is one of Squared’s keys to success.

“We recognised very early on that price and depth were our key USPs in terms of  product, and in order to keep them competitive we had to enter into consultative relationships with our bank liquidity providers,” he says.

“In order to enhance these relationships further it was essential that we developed a separate stream, outside of our major bank relationships, for our more aggressive order flow.”

Squared Trader users can choose from a range of multi-panel trading modules to reflect their preferences and strategies. Squared Trader has the ability to quote for different trade sizes, both in the normal quote window for the best bid/ask for a particular size and a different window is available so that the best bid/ask and the best prices for each bank at those sizes is shown.

Both spot and forward transactions are supported and the swaps window allows the user to price these via a ‘Request for Quote’ and then to execute via the online platform.

For asset and money managers there is a unique multi-allocation grid, allowing an executed trade to be split between multiple managed accounts according to allocations defined by the manager – one click trading for multiple client accounts.

They also have an Order Management System which operates similar to an exchange. As soon as an order limit is reached it is executed immediately. Also on offer is a cross currency margin netting functionality which allows clients to offset long and short positions, in different currencies, against each other, allowing the individual client to optimise their margin levels or trading power.

Throughout the trade process clients have access to trade confirmation and reporting facilities. Trades are confirmed within milliseconds as soon as they are hedged with Squared’s trading counterparty and Straight Through Processing considered a vital offering in today’s market.  A variety of real time and historical reporting tools are also available, providing a complete audit trail of all executed trades.

In addition to trading and confirmation, Squared recognise the importance of the highest level of client support and service and have a 24 hour multilingual team available to deal with queries or execute trades on a client’s behalf.

There are, however, certain areas of the business that are always a concern for any EFX broker. John Miles, managing director, believes this can sometimes be the key factor that distinguishes one provider from the other.

“Whether you are providing institutional type spreads to high net worth individuals, the very best in client service and support to asset managers or user friendly ultra-fast execution on tight spreads and large volume to institutions, there are always two areas of EFX trading that can catch you out – slippage and latency,” he says.

“We at Squared recognise that unless these are eliminated from the trade cycle clients will ultimately lose confidence in the platforms functionality and to this end, this elimination remains a constant priority on the technology side of the equation.”

Major changes have occurred in the way banks provide rates in the FX market. In mid-2010 the number of prices per second (ticks) sent by banks to Squared’s servers had increased 5 fold in some instances, over the levels seen in 2008. The direct consequence of this phenomenon, if not addressed, would be a significant decline in price validity and an increase in slippage and requotes on trades. This, for some providers, has induced a lot of uncertainty among their professional users relying on automatic FX trading systems and day traders dealing with high volume per trade.

Latency is also a critical issue for all traders since it creates risk no matter where it is introduced into the trading cycle. It can be affected by a number of factors – the client’s own system and quality of internet connection, the architecture of the liquidity provider’s system and its connection, as well as the computing time of the EFX broker’s platform itself. Squared admits that some of these factors are outside of their control for obvious reasons – and hence there is a certain amount of latency that will never be eliminated – but it is continually investing in ways to reduce it to an acceptable level.

One method adopted to address this issue was the design of a proprietary trading algorithm and several trade execution modes which enabled traders to execute trades with the minimal amount of slippage. Because the market has developed and the number of ticks has increased dramatically from only a few years ago, Squared is continually upgrading to higher speed data lines from the liquidity provider to its servers and, in some cases, to its clients.

Squared’s innovative business model provides complete transparency throughout the trade cycle: no fixed spreads, streaming prices from the world’s largest liquidity providers, no speculative positions against the client and no competing with their positions. Its best of breed platform gives the end user the opportunity to see the depth of the market and enough liquidity is available to accommodate any category of client.

FX broking has developed to a very diverse and sophisticated level, with clients demanding more and more from their providers. Squared has moved progressively with this demand, continually investing in platform evolutions in order to meet client needs and those of a rapidly changing trading environment.

White labelling is one area which is experiencing dramatic growth and evidence of Squared’s professionalism and adaptability was witnessed by the recent awarding of a large deep white labelling contract in the UAE. As Philippe Ghanem points out, “the awarding of this project was testament to our ability to deliver, in record time, exactly what the client required. To win this contract against competition from some very well known larger institutions, and the professionalism of the team from inception to delivery of this, is indicative of where Squared currently stands in this market place.”

Squared recognises that it operates in an exceptionally competitive market place. As the market changes, continual evolution is paramount but the future is looking bright – after a year of investment in technology there is a renewed focus on sales, there are more white labelling projects in the pipeline, its Dublin operations are expanding, and there are plans for a London representative office in early 2011. Its “wait and see and move late” approach to the EFX market will have reaped its dividends and further success will ensue.

For more information tel: +353 1 6621913; jmiles@squaredfinancial.com;
www.squaredfinancial.com

All hands on deck

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A provider of world class international shipping and transportation services, Qatar Navigation was named Best GCC Cargo Shipping Company 2010 as part of the World Finance GCC Trade & Industry Awards Programme for this year. When the firm was founded in 1957, the Qatari economy was in urgent need of an organisation that would cater to its growing shipping and transportation requirements. Originally, it focused solely on marine transport, shipping and travel agencies, but has grown its range of business operations considerably over the past 53 years. As well as these three original areas of operations, it now also works in offshore support services, port services, ship repair and fabrication, logistic services, commercial activities and real estate.

As such a key player in many aspects of the national economy, health, safety and environmental considerations are of the utmost importance to Qatar Navigation. It is fully certified by Lloyds Register for work at all of its fleet of ships and floating docks. It is also ISO 9001:2008 certified and has been for the past seven years. In addition to this, the company has developed its own internal safety management systems, which ensure staff are fully trained in the use of protective clothing and equipment. The corporation also carries out continuous quality assessments and uses this data to maintain its leading position in the market.

While the recession did reduce freight volumes and prices, the company was still able to achieve strong results due to its diversified activities and strategic investments. In fact, rather than seeing the downturn as a challenge, Qatar Navigation took it as an opportunity instead. One of the most important developments in the company’s history – the successful acquisition of Qatar Shipping Company (Q Ship) – took place during this difficult period, in April 2010. This has created a major new regional shipping and transportation force, with interests in a number of different market segments. Q Ship brings with it five tankers, eight harbour tugs and two LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) carriers, enlarging group shareholding interest in a total of nine LNG (liquefied natural gas) tankers and four large 82,000cbm LPG carriers. Through its subsidiary Halul Offshore Services Company, the organisation now also owns a total of 32 offshore support vessels, and one dry cargo vessel in the fleet, the 2009-built, 57,000dwt bulk carrier, Qatar Spirit.  

In order to facilitate continued growth, the organisation has hired external consultants to assist with the management of its long-term strategy. They have been charged with evaluating and assessing existing and potential business segments with an eye to carrying out any restructuring, as well as overseeing the continued integration of Q Ship into Qatar Navigation. It is a three-pronged project: study all the businesses and, based on core competencies and market analysis, identify which businesses to grow, and which to possibly divest from; study all the internal departments and processes; and develop a strategy and organisation structure for the company. The project commenced in September 2010 and is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2011.

There have been a lot of other changes and improvements recently. The company completed construction of the 52-storey Navigation Tower building, which was to house its management operations. However, as it was able to find one tenant to rent the whole tower, it was decided that it would make better business sense for Qatar Navigation to rent the whole building to this one tenant and move into the Al Jazeera Tower in West Bay itself, which it did in September. The firm has also invested in new IT systems and software, created new departments and hired additional staff. This final element – personnel – is a vital component of the organisation’s continued growth and success; indeed, as with many companies of its size, its people are its biggest asset. As such, finding well-qualified staff is a key goal on an on-going basis. Fortunately, Qatar is a hotbed of talent when it comes to entrepreneurs and top-level management and all members of the Board of Directors are well known and talented local businessmen. Their experience in the Qatari markets, the logistics and transport business and their knowledge is invaluable in driving forward the business. Additionally, this expertise has been drawn upon by Lloyds Register and the American Bureau of Shipping, with the firm actively participating in their technical advisory committees.

The continuous evolution and development of the company is extremely important for its continued success. As such, it has a number of major projects currently on the table that are at different stages of the planning process.

Once they have come to fruition, they will increase the firm’s market share and strengthen its position as a major player in the local and regional markets.

Outside of Qatar Navigation’s own investments, there is another major project that, when it is completed, will provide a major opportunity for the business. Construction of New Doha Port is due to commence in Q1 2011 and is scheduled for completion in 2023. This development is vital for the sustainable growth of the local economy and will transform Qatar into a major transit hub. It is envisaged that this port will act as a gateway for export products manufactured in the Special Economic Zone. This area is next to the site of the new port and was itself developed specifically to be a location for export-oriented industry. The company will seek to gain mutual benefits from involvement in the completed port by bringing its knowledge and experience in cargo handling and port management services to the table. The firm has been carrying out cargo handling services in Mesaeed Port and the existing port at Doha for over 15 years and its expertise in the area is second to none. The new port is designed to meet Qatar’s requirements for the foreseeable future and will attract major liner operators to start calling at Doha directly. This means that the port will become a major hub, which, in itself, represents a great opportunity for the expansion of Qatar Navigation’s logistics and feedering services too.

While the increased openness of the Qatari economy and the unprecedented economic boom in the country have brought tremendous benefits to Qatar Navigation, there have been challenges as well. Increased prosperity and a greater amount of freedom in the market have led to more international companies establishing a presence in Qatar. This has brought with it increased competition, but where Qatar Navigation excels is in offering a unique, knowledgeable, established and reliable service. By the effective use of these skills, it has succeeded in maintaining a good market share in all of its activities, as well as facilitating the continuous expansion of its activities through the introduction of new services and products.

The firm can only see competition increasing in the future as an inevitable outcome of a growing economy – however it is a welcome challenge. Through continuous investment in its staff, levels of quality and health and safety, as well as technology systems, it has anchored itself firmly in the centre of the shipping and export industry. There are many opportunities on the horizon for Qatar Navigation and, through strong strategic alliances and with the continued support of the Qatari government, this newly award-winning firm will continue to pursue success.

Walmex bullish in operations merger

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One thing that hasn’t changed though is Walmex’s rapid growth and impressive financials as it continues to spice up the retail market in Central America. The challenge for Scot now, is to keep this Latin American retailing success story on track.

In a country famous for its chilli peppers, it is only fitting that giant Latin American retailer Walmart de Mexico – or Walmex – has been hot on the acquisition trail. In the twelve months to April 2010, Walmex was doing some shopping of its own, acquiring 519 retail stores spread across Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, right through Central America. The stores were bought for an estimated $2.6bn – part shares, part cash – from Walmex’s US parent Walmart Stores, which has a 31 percent stake in the Mexican Stock Exchange quoted company.

The 519 Walmart Centroamerica stores added to Walmex’s existing portfolio of over 1,400 store and restaurant outlets, operating under a number of brands, including Walmart, Bodega Aurrera, Superama and Suburbia. It makes the company, now named Walmart de México and Centroamérica, which traces its origins back to the Aurrera stores founded in the late 1950s (subsequently named Cifra, and then Walmex), and is headed up CEO, Scot Rank, one of the largest employers in the region, and the largest  private sector employer in Mexico.

Integration and differentiation
So what was the rationale behind the Centroamerica deal? “We have a long history of continuous profitable growth and we acquired Walmart Central America because we were convinced that there were important profitable growth opportunities in the region, and that we could drive synergies and improve Central America operations, an in this way we could thus drive incremental value for all our shareholders,” says Rank.

“It is worth noting that we have very similar customers across the two regions and that makes it easier to ensure you are giving value to those two customer segments.  And then there are important similarities between the Mexico and Central America operations. The company we bought is a multi-format company, a leader in its market, with a strong management team, and one that operates with negative working capital requirements.

Basically, we bought an attractive asset, that we believe can be improved, and that has significant profitable growth opportunities.

“It is also important to emphasise the opportunities that are there for the interchange of best practice between the two different regions as we integrate the countries.  There is a lot of learning around small formats, for example, which we are bringing to Mexico from Central America, helping us improve the quality of our small format business. So the integration is not just all about the challenges of standardising operating procedures, making sure that people have the same focus and the same outlook towards the business, and so on.”

As Rank points out, the numbers following the acquisition suggest that the integration is going well to date and appear to justify management’s decision to do the deal. Take the results for the first nine months of the year, for example, which were impressive and no doubt made appealing reading to investors. Total income was up by 6.1 percent, gross margin was up by 7.4 percent, and up by 22.2 percent from 21.9 percent year on year. General expenses were a fairly restrained 4.4 percent, against the 6.1 percent increase in sales.  As a result, EBITDA for the first nine months of the year grew 17.2 percent. Thus the story of the integration so far, says Rank, has been one of continued improvement.  

Making sure that the integration of retail operations in Mexico and Central America is a long term success means that Walmex must ensure it differentiates its value proposition and retail offerings from its competitors, while at the same time continuing to meet the needs of its customers across a number of countries.  So far, Walmex appears to have doing a good job meeting this tough challenge.

“Our knowledge of the customer and passion for constantly improving our value proposition is a differentiating factor,” says Rank. “For example, if you look at our multiformat approach, both Mexico and Central America are similar in the sense that they have diverse populations with different income levels. It’s income level that differentiates most customer behaviour. So we have a multiformat strategy that allows us to segment the market with sufficiently different and strong formats that target different income levels, different sizes of population, or different purchasing occasions.  In other words, we have clear and differentiated strategies for the different formats.”

Rank also highlights a number of other areas where he believes Walmart de Mexico and Centroamérica is outmanoeuvring its competitors, differentiating its market offering, and at the same time still meeting customers needs, not least in terms of providing value.

“Take price leadership,” he says. “We have been aggressively and consistently lowering prices. During the year we have increased our price gap versus our competitors, and we continue to grow sales at a faster rate than the rest of the market. Or look at the choice available to customers, through focusing on providing assortment and unique products in all of our different formats. A good example is Walmart Supercenter where we have prepared with a very good assortment for different purchasing occasions related to the Christmas season including at-home entertaining, travel, cold weather, decoration, gifts, Christmas trees and nochebuenas, and festive season dinners.”
Several other factors are also key, says Rank. The organisation is continually searching for ways to evolve and adapt its formats so that it can keep up with the customers’ changing needs. It is also important to deliver a consistent value proposition and strategy throughout the country and across territories and formats. And the store format needs to be kept fresh and updated, maintaining the level of shopping experience, which means an ongoing programme of store refurbishment, indeed store remodelling was up 21 percent in 2010 on the previous year.

Good housekeeping
Detailed attention to the customer value proposition is essential. But it has to be backed up with sound financial management, especially in a business operating on the scale that Walmex is. Rank is quick to stress the company’s solid financial position.

“We have a strong balance sheet with no debt, as of September 2010 our cash position amounted to $15.3bn pesos, that’s equivalent to $1.2bn dollars. That cash is generated from our operations, it is based on good close management of inventories to make sure we have negative networking capital, good management of our accounts payables, being very careful to make sure our investments have the highest possible return – all of our new business have higher returns than our base business – and an every day focus on not making decisions that are bad for the financial results of the company,” says Rank.

“And that cash our business is continuously generating allows us to have an aggressive pricing strategy, and to invest in new stores, remodel existing ones, invest in distribution, pay dividends and buy back shares – all at the same time. And we will continue investing because we are confident on the medium and long term prospects for the region.”

The recent growth figures underpin Rank’s bullish view. Installed capacity increased by 12 percent in self-service formats in Mexico, 11 percent for total Mexico and 3.5 percent in Central America. A new distribution centre opened in Villahermosa, Tabasco, and an existing distribution centre in Mexico City was automated.  Store refitting was up 21 percent. The company made an investment in 2010 to September of some $2.3bn pesos in buying back shares. The price differential between Walmex and the competition increased. And, on top of all this, Walmex paid a dividend of $5.7bn pesos, as part of its policy to pay 35 percent of the previous year’s earnings.

Delivering year-on-year sales growth and robust financials to date in 2010 is impressive given the difficult economic climate that Walmex has been operating in. It is true that while Mexico’s economy contracted by 6.5 percent in 2009 during its deepest recession in many years, there has been a stronger than expected rebound of the economy in 2010, and this encouraging bounce back has, no doubt, helped to support Walmex’s business. However, there is more than a recovering economy behind Walmex’s growth story.

“It is partly some of things I have mentioned already – focusing on the customer, a relentless search to improve our value proposition, price sensitivity, especially given that our customers now have less money to spend and are a lot more price-conscious,” says Rank. “Our Every Day Low Prices strategy, based on having the lowest cost structure in the market, allows us to consistently lower prices.  We compare prices every week, store by store and against the most relevant competitors. As a result, our price gap versus our competitors, as measured using AC Nielsen data, increased in 2010 compared to last year.”

It is an approach that has been well received by Walmex’s customers, as evidenced by sales that continue to grow at a faster rate than the market, both at comparable stores and for total stores. That’s on top of strong growth in 2009. So for the first nine months of the year comparable store sales for self-service formats grew by 2.9 percent, more than double the rate of growth of the industry as measured by Asociacion Nacional de Tiendas de Autoservicio y Departamentales (ANTAD – National Association of Supermarkets and Department Stores), which increased by 1.2 percent, excluding Walmex. And in terms of total stores, self-service formats in Mexico grew by 9.9 percent, which compares very favourably with the 5.8 percent growth of ANTAD members, excluding Walmex.

Looking to the future
With many successful organisations, one of their biggest challenges is maintaining that success over the long term. The same is true for Walmex. So far the business has managed to combine rapid growth and investment, with increasing return on investment at the same time. That’s not easy, and continuing to provide financial results that satisfy the investors may well be a tough task.

Inevitably, there will be a focus on continuing to excel at things that the business already does well. The focus on the results is aided, for example, by an approach that encourages the store associates to link their everyday actions to the broader business performance. Each store is measured against a business plan, and the company pays a cash bonus depending on whether certain targets are met or results exceeded. Then, on a weekly basis, the performance against the business plan is shared with all associates, as well as explaining exactly what needs to be done not only to meet that business plan, but to outperform it. Stock options aslo helps to increase the employees’ focus on and commitment to long term success.

The search for synergies between the Mexico and Central America operation will continue. At the moment the organisation is working on improvements in a number of areas including procurement, assortment, the value proposition of different formats, inventory efficiencies, logistics, and other areas of operations best practice.
Rank has some very clear ideas, though, about how the organisation will keep on improving its performance, where Walmart in Mexico and Central America goes from here, and what the future looks like.

To start with, he notes, there are opportunities to grow off of the existing base business, and to leverage the company’s leadership position and even extend its lead in the marketplace.

“We can leverage the advantage we have versus the rest of the market, we have a great financial position, we are investing more than other companies in the market, have been doing so over the last twelve months, and will continue to do so moving forward. We have a cost advantage with the lowest operating costs in the market. And then there are the multiple formats which allow us to grow more quickly than some of our competitors. So just growing the base business, by leveraging the advantage that we have versus the rest of the market, is key,” says Rank.

“Also we have comparatively low retail penetration at the moment. In Mexico, for example, in an estimated $241bn dollars market, 60 percent of that it represented by the informal market – so that’s a large part of the retail market here. As a formal retailer we have an opportunity to take market share from the informal retailers.”

The retail market in the region will also be growing substantially over the next decade, points out Rank.

There is a demographic bonus for Walmex. With a comparatively young population in Mexico and Central America, as that population ages over the next 15 years, it will bring an additional 25 million new customers into the market. So the demographics are very positive.

And it is worth remembering, notes Rank, that after the latest acquisitions Walmex is an international company trading in six countries, and every one of those countries offers strong growth potential.

“So, for example, there are still a lot of cities where we don’t have a presence. Today we operate in about 380 cities across the six countries, but in addition to that there are 300 towns and cities that we have identified where we could introduce at least one of our formats over the next few years. So that’s 300 cities where we can expand our operations as well,” says Rank.

“The future is about making the most of a combination of opportunities: the opportunity to grow the base business in cities where we are already operating, currently; and also the opportunity to take advantage of a retail market that will continue to grow substantially over the next ten to fifteen years.”

It sounds as if there are still exciting things in store for Walmex and its investors.

New Europe, new energy

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RFV Plc is one of the most exciting young Central European companies in a dynamic and developing energy sector. The company was established in 2000 by two Hungarian private investors, Csaba Soós and József Makra, as an energy service company. During its 10 years of operation the firm has evolved from a small enterprise into a regional company which finances and executes projects in the range of tens of millions of euros. The management are developing RFV into one of Central Europe’s leading alternative energy suppliers.

Since its foundation, RFV has been focusing on projects to reduce the energy consumption of its customers, resulting in lower expenditures and emissions. Although the company has several experimental projects in the energy sector, its current focus is district heat supply. RFV is modernising outdated and inefficient district heating systems and services as well as providing heat supply on the reconstructed system. Clients include municipalities, public institutions, industrial customers as well as households.

In most East and Central European countries public institutions and municipalities use obsolete and inefficient energy systems, which means a comprehensive upgrade to the latest technology will result in significant energy and cost savings. This encourages larger scale investments and provides excellent returns to investors. RFV’s goal is to play a pioneering role and become a regional market leader by applying world-class technologies and introducing alternative energy systems whenever possible.

“We were easily able to achieve 30 percent energy efficiency improvements in Hungary’s public institutional system during recent years,” says chairman Csaba Soós, adding that other countries in Central and Eastern Europe offer possibilities for even higher efficiency savings and thus a better return on investment.

Genuine sustainability
RFV always adopts a sustainable approach for locally applied energy solutions; the company’s sustainable ethos plays a key role in defining corporate vision and business objectives. The technologies used and RFV’s growth and operational excellence can be steadily maintained only by a sustainable business philosophy with an ongoing interaction with all stakeholders. The company believes that energy solutions must be provided by using an optimal energy mix: the right combination of fossil and renewable energy sources. Renewable and sustainable primary energy sources have been playing an ever growing importance in the company’s investments, whereas leveraging local biomass bases has often been a preferred and feasible option. RFV applies cutting-edge technologies for its modernisation projects, and after completion its long-term energy service contracts ensure a safe supply of energy for clients and an excellent return for investors.

Besides fossil fuel RFV is investigating alternative energy sources and  considers biogas, biomass and geothermal energy as having  heat services potential in specific regions of Central and Eastern Europe.

In order to maintain sustainable development and the ability to deal with technical, human and financial challenges, the company needs to continuously adapt to changes. Throughout 2010, several young and dynamic leaders have joined the company, who are not only able to keep up with the fast development of the enterprise, but have become the engine of continuous growth. As CEO Ákos Kassai defined the criteria of selecting manpower, “We understand that exceptional people make an exceptional company. In our selection process we rather focus on the personality of the candidates and often make some concession regarding the directional work experience.”

Such different approaches are represented in other corporate decisions as well. While most enterprises reacted to the long-lasting economic crisis by reducing their costs and investments, RFV chose a different path. In 2009 it strengthened its capital base, expanded its range of financing and undertook several large-scale heating modernisation projects, as well as extended its existing investment agreements. The company’s unusual approaches seem to have borne fruit, because by 2009 the company’s group-level revenues increased by 208.8 percent, with EBITDA increasing by 250 percent, and after-tax profit by 281.3 percent.

“Our strategy is to play a keystone role in the alternative energy business,” says Mr Kassai, “linking customers’ needs with locally available energy resources and best suiting technologies. This keystone strategy and transparency as the core of our corporate culture provide us long term competitive advantage to achieve sustainable growth even in time of economic crisis.” Constant renewal, innovation, technical excellence coupled with fast decisions and a unique corporate culture set a new growth path for the company, Mr Soós adds.

RFV has long used the capital market and bank funds to finance its investments. The company had an IPO in 2007 and SPO in 2009 amid the world crisis. In 2010, the growing number and size of projects necessitated a further increase in the number of banks financing the company. In order to make RFV’s liquidity easier to plan, as well as to significantly accelerate the planning and implementation processes for new projects, the company also started a bond programme. The bonds recently issued very successfully by the company are traded on the stock exchange and became a benchmark for its kind through Central Europe. There has not been a corporate bond program of this type on the Hungarian market in 16 years, so RFV again played a pioneering role in this field. The bond programme provides additional flexibility for the financing of RFV’s Romanian heating and district heating supply projects, as well as further diversifying funding sources. RFV’s contracts include long-term operation and maintenance as well, in addition to the modernisation of district heating systems.

On its way to emerging into a leading regional alternative energy company, RFV has recently won contracts for district heating development projects in three Romanian cities –Gheorgheni, Zalau and Tirgu Mures – and has a good chance to win contracts for other Romanian towns as well in future tender processes. But the young Hungarian company thinks even bigger. It considers Romania only a first step in its international map of expansion and plans to enter two more countries in the region in the next three years and then to enter a new market every 12-18 months.

Legal Awards 2011

Posted on by Ashton Wenborn

ARGENTINA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Marval O’Farrell & Mairal

Best M&A Firm   
Marval O’Farrell & Mairal

Best Tax Firm   
Alfaro-Abogados

Best Tax Consultant   
Hernán Verly, Alfaro-Abogados

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Marval O’Farrell & Mairal

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Estudio Alegria, Buey Fernández, Fissore & Montemerlo

Best Real Estate Firm  
Estudio Trevisán Abogados

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Clarke, Modet & Co

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Fortunati & Asociados 

Best Energy Firm   
Estudio Ymaz Abogados 

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Llerena & Asociados Abogados

Best Employment Firm   
Abeledo Gottheil Abogados

Best Individual Lawyer   
Juan P Duggan, Hope, Duggan & Silva

Best Shipping Firm   
Abeledo Gottheil Abogados

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
JP O’Farrell Abogados

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Diaz Bobillo, Richard & Sigwald Abogados 

AUSTRALIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Gadens Lawyers

Best M&A Firm   
Clayton UTZ

Best Tax Firm   
Thomson Playford Cutlers

Best Tax Consultant   
Rod Campbell, Alderson Campbell

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Alderson Campbell

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Minter Ellison

Best Real Estate Firm   
Jones Day

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Freehills

Best Energy Firm   
Blake Dawson

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Gadens Lawyers

Best Employment Firm   
Thomson Playford Cutlers

Best Individual Lawyer   
Steven W Fleming, Jones Day

Best Shipping Firm   
Holman Fenwick Willan

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Piper Alderman

AUSTRIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
BMA Brandstätter Rechtsanwälte GmbH

Best M&A Firm   
DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach

Best Tax Firm   
Sladek & Meyenburg

Best Tax Consultant   
Werner Minihold, Saxinger, Chalupsky & Partners Rechtsanwaelte GmbH

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Griss & Partners

Best Real Estate Firm   
Konrad & Justich, Attorneys at Law

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Schubeck & Schubeck

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Sladek & Meyenburg

Best Energy Firm   
Kaan Cronenberg & Partner

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach

Best Employment Firm   
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Best Individual Lawyer   
Dr Michael Meyenburg, Sladek & Meyenburg

Best Shipping Firm   
Schneider & Schneider

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Griss & Partners

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Sladek & Meyenburg

BAHAMAS
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Patton, Moreno & Asvat (Bahamas) Ltd

Best M&A Firm   
Callenders & Co Counsel and Attorneys Notaries Public 

Best Tax Firm   
Harry B Sands, Lobosky & Company

Best Tax Consultant   
Keith M Duncombe, Harry B Sands, Lobosky & Company

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Bahamas Law Chambers

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Lennox Paton

Best Real Estate Firm   
Bahamas Law Chambers

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Alexiou, Knowles & Co

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes

Best Energy Firm   
JD Sellier & Co

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Monique VA Gomez & Co

Best Employment Firm   
Bahamas Law Chambers

Best Individual Lawyer   
Elvis Hanna, Monique VA Gomez & Co

Best Shipping Firm   
McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
EP Toothe & Associates 

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Lennox Paton

BELGIUM
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Best M&A Firm   
Foley & Lardner LLP

Best Tax Firm   
Association Afschrift

Best Tax Consultant   
Thierry Afschrift, Association Afschrift

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
McGuireWoods LLP

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

Best Real Estate Firm   
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Crowell & Moring

Best Energy Firm   
Arnold & Porter LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Covington & Burling LLP

Best Employment Firm   
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP 

Best Individual Lawyer   
Timothy J May, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
Mul Law Offices

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Deloitte

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Lorenz

BERMUDA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Trott & Duncan

Best M&A Firm   
Mello Jones & Martin

Best Tax Firm   
Trott & Duncan

Best Tax Consultant   
Karen E Williams-Smith, Trott & Duncan

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Cox Hallett Wilkinson

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Lynda Milligan-Whyte & Associates

Best Real Estate Firm   
Marshall Diel & Myers

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Appleby

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Lynda Milligan-Whyte & Associates

Best Energy Firm   
Trott & Duncan

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Alexanders, Barristers & Attorneys

Best Employment Firm   
Mello Jones & Martin

Best Individual Lawyer   
Richard Thomas Horseman, Wakefield Quin Limited

Best Shipping Firm   
Mello Jones & Martin

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Cox Hallett Wilkinson

BRAZIL
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Tozzinifreire Advogados

Best M&A Firm   
Corrêa da Costa Advogados

Best Tax Firm   
Machado Associados Advogados e Consultores

Best Tax Consultant   
João A Branco, Deloitte

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Sonia Marques Döbler Advogados 

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Mayer Brown LLP

Best Real Estate Firm   
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Lanna Peixoto Advogados

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Sonia Marques Döbler Advogados

Best Energy Firm   
Veirano Advogados

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Teixeira Martins Advogados

Best Employment Firm   
Mayer Brown LLP

Best Individual Lawyer   
Hamilton Dias De Souza, Dias De Souza

Best Shipping Firm   
Garcia & Keener Advogados

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Deloitte

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Miguel Neto Advogados

CANADA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Lavery, de Billy, LLP

Best M&A Firm   
Miller Thomson LLP

Best Tax Firm   
Borden Ladner & Gervais

Best Tax Consultant   
Stephen J Fyfe, Borden Ladner & Gervais

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
McCarthy Tetrault LLP

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Gilbert’s LLP

Best Real Estate Firm   
Lawson Lundell LLP

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Miller Thomson LLP

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

Best Energy Firm   
Miller Thomson LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Lawson Lundell LLP

Best Employment Firm   
Ocana Law Group

Best Individual Lawyer   
Pierre Bienvenu, Ogilvy Renault LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
Ogilvy Renault LLP

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Hiscock & Barclay LLP

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Heenan Blaikie LLP

CAYMAN ISLANDS
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Thorp Alberga

Best M&A Firm   
Solomon Harris

Best Tax Firm   
Finab Legal Ltd

Best Tax Consultant   
Wilton G McDonald II, Finab Legal Ltd

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Turner & Roulstone 

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Solomon Harris

Best Real Estate Firm   
Giglioli & Company

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Charles Adams, Ritchie & Duckworth

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
J Barry Smith

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Ritch & Conolly

Best Employment Firm   
Samson & McGrath

Best Individual Lawyer   
George P E Giglioli, Giglioli & Company

Best Shipping Firm   
Giglioli & Company

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Mourant du Feu & Jeune

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Finab Legal Ltd

CHILE
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Carey Y Cia Abogados

Best M&A Firm   
Bofill Mir & Alvarez Hinzpeter Jana Abogados

Best Tax Firm   
Alcaíno Rodríguez Sahli

Best Tax Consultant   
Irene Mayans, Montt y Cia SA

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Rivadeneira Colombara Zegers Y Compania Abogados

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Bofill Mir & Alvarez Hinzpeter Jana Abogados

Best Real Estate Firm   
Puga Ortiz

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Alessandri & Compañía 

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Carey Y Cia Abogados

Best Energy Firm   
Carey Y Cia Abogados

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Cariola Díez Pérez-Cotapos & Cia Ltda

Best Employment Firm   
Montt y Cia SA 

Best Individual Lawyer   
Pedro Yaconi Valdebenito, Hermosilla Solis Levi Yaconi Donoso

Best Shipping Firm   
Bahamondez, Alvarez & Zegers Ltda

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Bahamondez, Alvarez & Zegers Ltda

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Arteaga Gorziglia & Cía Abogados

CHINA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Hastings & Co

Best M&A Firm   
Troutman Sanders LLP

Best Tax Firm   
Vivien Chan & Co

Best Tax Consultant   
Vivien Chan, Vivien Chan & Co

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Hastings & Co

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Alderson Campbell 

Best Real Estate Firm   
Foo and Li

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Albert Dan and Company

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Wilkinson & Grist

Best Energy Firm   
HJM Asia Law & Co LLC

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Ng & Co

Best Employment Firm   
Stephenson Harwood & Lo

Best Individual Lawyer   
Timothy J Unger, Andrews Kurth LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
Kao, Lee & Yip

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Pamir Law Group Shanghai Office

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Pamir Law Group Shanghai Office

COSTA RICA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Pacheco Coto

Best M&A Firm   
Cordero & Cordero Abogados

Best Tax Firm   
C & S Law Group – Attorneys At Law

Best Tax Consultant   
Gianfranco Rodriguez Bovieri, C & S Law Group

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Central Law

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
SPC Legal (Costa Rica)

Best Real Estate Firm   
Gutierrez Hernandez & Pauly

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Divimark Abogados

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Weinstok Abogados

Best Energy Firm   
Guardia & Cubero

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Zürcher, Odio & Raven

Best Employment Firm   
BLP Abogados

Best Individual Lawyer   
Alejandra Patiño, Weinstok Abogados

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Weinstok Abogados

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
FVS Attorneys at Law

CROATIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic Law Office

Best M&A Firm   
Zuric i Partneri LLC

Best Tax Firm  
Ana Sihtar Attorneys at Law

Best Tax Consultant   
Ana Sihtar, Ana Sihtar Attorneys at Law

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
IKRP Rokas & Partners

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Vukic, Jelušic, Šulina, Stankovic, Jurcan & Jabuka 

Best Real Estate Firm   
Babic & Partners Law Firm Ltd

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Law Firm Hanzekovic & Partners Ltd

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Matijevich Law Offices

Best Energy Firm   
Babic & Partners Law Firm Ltd

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Juric & Vrbanovic

Best Employment Firm   
Law Firm Hanzekovic & Partners Ltd

Best Individual Lawyer   
Emir Bahtijarevic, Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic Law Office

Best Shipping Firm   
Law Offices Miroljub Macesic 

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Law Offices Miroljub Macesic

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Studio Legale Sutti

CYPRUS
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Patrikios Pavlou & Associates LLC

Best M&A Firm   
Patrikios Pavlou & Associates

Best Tax Firm   
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Best Tax Consultant   
Christophoros Christophi, Christophi & Associates LLC

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Areti Charidemou & Associates LLC

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Andreas Sofocleous & Co

Best Real Estate Firm   
Anastasios Antoniou LLC

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
George Y Yiangou & Co Advocates & Legal Consultants

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Ierotheou & Kamperis Advocates – Legal Consultants

Best Energy Firm   
Ioannides Demetriou LLC

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Tornaritis Law

Best Employment Firm   
Nairy Der Arakelian-Merheje Law Office

Best Individual Lawyer   
Areti Charidemou, Areti Charidemou & Associates LLC

Best Shipping Firm   
Montanios & Montanios

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Kinanis LLC

DENMARK
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Logos Legal Services

Best M&A Firm   
Bruun & Hjejle

Best Tax Firm   
Nielson Norager

Best Tax Consultant   
Jeanet Høgh Sørensen, Advokataktieselskabet Lowzow & Monberg

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Rønne & Lundgren

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Norsker & Co

Best Real Estate Firm   
Norsker & Co

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Rønne & Lundgren

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Jonas Bruun

Best Energy Firm   
Bruun & Hjejle

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Lassen Ricard

Best Employment Law Firm   
Norrbom Vinding

Best Individual Lawyer   
Bent Lauritzen, Soby & Partners

Best Shipping Firm   
Advokataktieselskabet Lowzow & Monberg

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Logos Legal Services

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Philip Law Firm

EGYPT
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Al Tamimi & Company

Best M&A Firm   
Ibrachy & Dermarkar

Best Tax Firm   
Shalakany Law Office

Best Tax Consultant   
Mahmoud Shedid, Shalakany Law Office

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Al Tamimi & Company

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Hafez

Best Real Estate Firm   
Karim Adel Law Office 

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Ibrachy & Dermarkar

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Zulficar & Partners Law Firm

Best Energy Firm   
Al Kamel Law Office

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
SNR Denton

Best Employment Firm   
SNR Denton

Best Individual Lawyer   
Mr Karim Hafez, Hafez

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Karim Adel Law Office

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Hassouna & Abou Ali

ESTONIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Luiga Mody Hääl Borenius

Best M&A Firm   
Lextal Law Firm

Best Tax Firm   
Gencs Valters Law Firm

Best Tax Consultant   
Valters Gencs, Gencs Valters Law Firm

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Rödl & Partner 

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Luiga Mody Hääl Borenius

Best Real Estate Firm   
Law Office Ots & Co

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Gencs Valters Law Firm

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Rödl & Partner

Best Energy Firm   
Luiga Mody Hääl Borenius

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Lextal Law Firm

Best Employment Firm   
Law Office Ots & Co 

Best Individual Lawyer   
Jüri Nuut, Malsco Law Office

Best Shipping Firm   
Malsco Law Office

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Luiga Mody Hääl Borenius 

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Malsco Law Office

FINLAND
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Procopé & Hornborg Attorneys at Law Ltd

Best M&A Firm   
HH Partners

Best Tax Firm   
Reims & Co Attorneys at Law

Best Tax Consultant   
Kristian Georgs, Reims & Co Attorneys at Law

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
LMR Attorneys

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Attorneys At Law Borenius & Kemppinen

Best Real Estate Firm   
Attorneys At Law Borenius & Kemppinen

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Wrede & Co

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Procopé & Hornborg Attorneys at Law Ltd

Best Energy Firm   
LMR Attorneys

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Procopé & Hornborg Attorneys at Law Ltd

Best Employment Firm   
Attorneys-at-Law Juridia

Best Individual Lawyer   
Leif Itäinen, Peltonen, Ruokonen & Itäinen

Best Shipping Firm   
HH Partners

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Hannes Snellman Attorneys at Law

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Advocare – Patrick Lindgren

GERMANY
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Best M&A Firm   
King & Spalding LLP

Best Tax Firm   
PwC

Best Tax Consultant   
Dr Martin Weger, Kaye Scholer LLP

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Hemmelrath & Partner /Marccus Partners

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Michael Owens

Best Real Estate Firm   
Buse Heberer Fromm

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Holme Roberts & Owen Rechtsanwälte

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Jones Day

Best Energy Firm   
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Hengeler Mueller

Best Employment Firm   
Gliess Lutz

Best Individual Lawyer   
Prof Dr Alexander Hemmelrath, Hemmelrath & Partner

Best Shipping Firm   
Segelken & Suchopar

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
HGAS

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Reeg Rechtsanwälte

GREECE
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Koutalidis Law Firm

Best M&A Firm   
Koutalidis Law Firm

Best Tax Firm   
Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates

Best Tax Consultant   
George Ch Moukas, Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
KLC Law Firm

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Bahas, Gramatidis & Partners

Best Real Estate Firm   
Sarantitis Law Firm

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Karatzas & Partners

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Stavropoulos & Partners Law Office

Best Energy Firm   
KLC Law Firm

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Zepos & Yannopoulos

Best Employment Firm   
PD Law Offices

Best Individual Lawyer   
Kostas Loukopoulos, KLC Law Firm

Best Shipping Firm   
Timagenis Law Firm

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Tsibanoulis & Partners

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Papapolitis & Papapolitis

HUNGARY
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP

Best M&A Firm   
Hargittay Jarovinszkij

Best Tax Firm   
Nagy és Trócsányi

Best Tax Consultant   
László András Kelemen, Szabó Kelemen & Partners Attorneys

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Forgó, Damjanovic and Partners Law Firm

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Hargittay Jarovinszkij

Best Real Estate Firm   
Bogsch & Partners

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Kálmán, Szilasi, Sárközy & Partners

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Kálmán, Szilasi, Sárközy & Partners

Best Energy Firm  
Saxinger, Chalupsky & Partners Zimányi & Fakó Rechtsanwaelte

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Kovács Réti Szegheö Attorneys at Law

Best Employment Firm   
CHSH Dezsõ & Partners

Best Individual Lawyer   
Dr Zoltán Forgó, Forgó, Damjanovic and Partners Law Firm

Best Shipping Firm   
Simándi Bird & Bird

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Hargittay Jarovinszkij

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Bihary, Balassa & Társai Ügyvédi Iroda

ICELAND
Best Banking & Finance Firm  
Lex

Best M&A Firm   
BBA Legal

Best Tax Firm   
ADVEL Attorneys at Law

Best Tax Consultant   
Ragnar Gudmundsson, ADVEL Attorneys at Law

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Lex

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Logos Legal Services

Best Real Estate Firm   
Logos Legal Services

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Fjeldsted, Blondal & Fjeldsted

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Logos Legal Services

Best Individual Lawyer   
Skúli Th Fjeldsted, Fjeldsted, Blondal & Fjeldsted

Best Shipping Firm   
ADVEL Attorneys at Law

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Fjeldsted, Blondal & Fjeldsted

INDIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Schroff & Co

Best M&A Firm   
P&A Law Offices

Best Tax Firm   
Economic Laws Practice

Best Tax Consultant   
Dilip Kumar Niranjan, Singh & Associates

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Brus Chambers

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Patrick Mirandah Co

Best Real Estate Firm   
Advaya Legal

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Anderson & Anderson LLP

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Singhania & Partners

Best Energy Firm   
R Bhargavan & Associates

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Singhania & Partners

Best Employment Firm   
Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe

Best Individual Lawyer   
Gautam Khurana, India Law Offices

Best Shipping Firm   
Maheshwari & Co

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Singh & Associates Advocates and Solicitors 

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
India Law Offices

ISRAEL
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Gornitzky & Co 

Best M&A Firm   
S Horowitz & Co

Best Tax Firm   
Ernst & Young

Best Tax Consultant   
Meir Akunis, Meitar Liquornik Geva & Leshem Brandwein

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Moshe Kahn Advocates

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
S Horowitz & Co

Best Real Estate Firm   
Yehuda Raveh & Co

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Reif & Reif

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC

Best Energy Firm   
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm    
Yigal Arnon & Co

Best Employment Firm   
Weiss, Porat & Co Advocates & Notaries

Best Individual Lawyer   
Doron Kochavi, Kochavi Law Office Doron Kochavi, Esq

Best Shipping Firm   
Naschitz, Brandes & Co

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Meitar Liquornik Geva & Leshem Brandwein

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Yaacov Salomon, Lipschutz & Co

ITALY
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Gianni, Origoni, Grippo & Partners

Best M&A Firm   
Studio Legale Pedersoli e Associati

Best Tax Firm   
Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati

Best Tax Consultant   
Alice Venturini, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Studio Scognamiglio

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Studio Legale Irti

Best Real Estate Firm   
Freshfields

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Hammonds

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Studio Legale Grimaldi e Associati

Best Energy Firm   
Agnoli Bernardi e Associati

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Chiomenti Studio Legale

Best Employment Law Firm   
Studio Legale Pulsoni

Best Individual Lawyer   
Fabio Pulsoni, Studio Legale Pulsoni

Best Shipping Firm   
Studio legale Scognamiglio

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Deloitte

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Camozzi Bonissoni Varrenti & Associati

JORDAN
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Obeidat & Freihat

Best M&A Firm   
The Jordanian Counselor (JC LAW) Attorneys at Law & Legal Advisors

Best Tax Firm   
Dallal & Associates

Best Tax Consultant   
Rajai K W Dajani, Rajai K W Dajani & Associates

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Sanad Law Group

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Dajani & Associates

Best Real Estate Firm   
Dajani & Associates 

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Abu-Ghazaleh Legal

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
International Business Legal Associates (IBLAW)

Best Energy Firm   
Hammouri and Partners

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Zalloum & Laswi Law Firm

Best Employment Firm   
Jardaneh Law Firm

Best Individual Lawyer   
Yousef S Khalilieh, Rajai KW Dajani & Associates

Best Shipping Firm   
Jardaneh Law Firm

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Office of Anis F Kassim

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Office of Anis F Kassim

KUWAIT
Best M&A Firm   
Al Markaz Law Firm

Best Tax Firm   
Abdullah Kh Al-Ayoub & Associates

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
ASAR Al Ruwayeh & Partners

Best Real Estate Firm   
AlBisher Legal Group Anwar AlBisher, Talal AlBisher & Partners Attorneys at Law

Best Intellectual Property Firm  
Al-Hekook Advocates & Legal Consultants

Best Employment Firm   
SNR Denton

LATVIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Klavins & Slaidins (Lawin)

Best M&A Firm    
Rödl & Partner

Best Tax Firm   
Gencs Valters Law Firm

Best Tax Consultant   
Sanita Laiveniece, Gencs Valters Law Firm

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Liepa Skopina Borenius, Attorneys at Law

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Liepa Skopina Borenius, Attorneys at Law

Best Real Estate Firm   
Klavins & Slaidins (Lawin)

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Gencs Valters Law Firm

Best Employment Firm   
Rödl & Partner

Best Shipping Firm   
Skudra & Udris

LITHUANIA
Best M&A Firm   
Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiunas ir partneriai (Lawin)

Best Tax Firm   
Gencs Valters Law Firm

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiunas ir partneriai (Lawin)

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Norcous & Partners

Best Real Estate Firm   
Sutkiene, Pilkauskas & Partners

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Rödl & Partner 

Best Energy Firm   
Baltic Legal Solutions

Best Individual Lawyer   
Giedrius Stasevicius, Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiunas ir partneriai (Lawin)

LUXEMBOURG
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Wildgen, Partners in Law

Best M&A Firm   
Allen & Overy Luxembourg 

Best Tax Firm   
Loyens Loeff

Best Tax Consultant   
David Maria, Wildgen, Partners in Law

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Molitor, Fisch & Associes

Best Real Estate Firm   
Oostvogels Pfister Feyten Avocats à la Cour

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Plottke & Associates

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Kleyr Collarini Grasso

Best Employment Firm   
Adam & Bleser

Best Individual Lawyer   
Henri Delwaide, Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Dupong & Metzler

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen

MEXICO
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Enriquez, Gonzalez, Aguirre y Ochoa, SC

Best M&A Firm   
Baker & McKenzie

Best Tax Firm   
Jones Day

Best Tax Consultant   
Julian Nihill, Strasburger & Price, LLP

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Valdes Abascal Y Brito Anderson, SC

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Barrera, Siqueiros y Torres Landa

Best Real Estate Firm   
Mexico Legal Group, Hermosillo

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Thompson & Knight Abogados

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Valdes Abascal Y Brito Anderson, SC

Best Energy Firm   
Thompson & Knight Abogados

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Oscós Abogados

Best Employment Firm   
Goodrich, Riquelme y Asociados 

Best Individual Lawyer   
Darío U Oscós Coria, Oscós Abogados

Best Shipping Firm   
Noriega y Escobedo, AC 

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Baker & McKenzie

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Thompson & Knight Abogados

MOLDOVA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Vernon | David

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Turcan & Turcan

Best Real Estate Firm   
Vernon | David

Best Individual Lawyer   
Alexander Turcan, Turcan & Turcan

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Law Office of Victor A Levintsa

MONTENEGRO
Best Tax Consultant   
Christos Theodorou, IKRP Rokas & Partners (Podgorica)

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Law Office of Ana Kolarevic

Best Real Estate Firm   
Montenegro, Thompson, Montenegro & Genz

Best Individual Lawyer   
Ana Kolarevic, Law Office of Ana Kolarevic

MOROCCO
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Kettani Law Firm

Best M&A Firm   
Kettani Law Firm

Best Tax Firm   
Garrigues

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Benzakour Law Firm

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Mohamed Mehdi Salmouni-Zerhouni

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Ben Abderrahmane & Partners International Law Firm

NETHERLANDS
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Greenberg Traurig LLP

Best M&A Firm   
Boekel De Nerée NV 

Best Tax Firm   
Van Mens en Wisselink

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
KerkmanLaw

Best Real Estate Firm   
Russell Advocaten BV

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Howrey LLP

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Bird & Bird

Best Energy Firm   
Holland Van Gijzen Attorneys at Law & Civil Law Notaries

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Brada Kuttner Attorneys at Law Tax Attorneys

Best Employment Firm   
Russell Advocaten BV

Best Shipping Firm   
Veldhuijzen Evenboer & Nuiten Advocaten BV

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Ernst & Young

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Boekel De Nerée NV

NORWAY
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
DLA Piper

Best M&A Firm   
Bull & Co Advokatfirma AS

Best Tax Firm   
Haavind Vislie

Best Tax Consultant   
Odd Wisløff, Raeder Advokatfirma

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
DLA Piper

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Kluge Advokatfirma DA

Best Real Estate Firm  
Gram, Hambro & Garman Advokatfirma AS

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Advokatfirmaet Schjødt AS

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Wiersholm, Mellbye & Bech advokatfirma AS

Best Energy Firm   
Advokatfirmaet Selmer DA

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Advokatfirmaet Steenstrup Stordrange DA

Best Employment Firm   
Advokatfirma Kluge Ans

Best Shipping Firm   
Vogt & Wiig Law Firm

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Advokatfirmaet Schjødt AS

PERU
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Duany & Kresalja Estudio de Abogados

Best M&A Firm   
Marroquin & Merino

Best Tax Firm   
Rey & de los Rios

Best Tax Consultant   
Francisco Espinosa Bellido, Espinosa Bellido Abogados

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Estudio Mario Castillo Freyre

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Estudio Olaechea

Best Real Estate Firm   
Lazo, De Romaña & Gagliuffi Abogados

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Espinosa Bellido Abogados

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Estudio Olaechea

Best Energy Firm   
Rey & de los Rios

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm  
Jorge Avendaño · Forsyth & Arbe Abogados

Best Employment Firm   
Estudio Osterling

Best Individual Lawyer   
Victor Marroquin, Marroquin & Merino

Best Shipping Firm   
Fort, Bertorini, Godoy & Pollari Abogados

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Rey & de los Rios 

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Abogados & Consultores OMC

POLAND
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Kochanski Zieba Rapala & Partners

Best M&A Firm   
Marek Wierzbowski and Partners

Best Tax Firm   
Ernst & Young

Best Tax Consultant   
Artur Rogozik, TGC Corporate Lawyers

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Kubas Kos Gaertner

Best Real Estate Firm   
Kubas Kos Gaertner

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
WKB Wiercinski, Kwiecinski, Baer, SpK

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka

Best Energy Firm   
Wiercinski, Kwiecinski, Baehr

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
TGC Corporate Lawyers

Best Employment Firm   
Dewey & LeBoeuf Grzesiak SpK

Best Individual Lawyer   
Paweł Bajno, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
Kochanski Zieba Rapala & Partners

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Dewey & LeBoeuf Grzesiak SpK

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Drzewiecki, Tomaszek & Partners

PORTUGAL
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
J A Pinto Ribeiro & Associados

Best M&A Firm   
Pedro Pinto Reis & Associados

Best Tax Firm   
Deloitte

Best Tax Consultant   
Luiz Augusto Teixeira de Freitas, Teixeira de Freitas, Rodrigues e Associados

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Gouveia Pereira, Costa Freitas & Associados

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Soares Machado & Associados

Best Real Estate Firm   
Athayde de Tavares, Pereira da Rosa & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, RL

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Soares Machado & Associados

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Gouveia Pereira, Costa Freitas & Associados

Best Energy Firm   
AVM Advogados

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Athayde de Tavares, Pereira da Rosa & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, RL

Best Employment Firm   
Pereira de Almeida & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, RL Law Firm

Best Individual Lawyer   
Jorge Santiago Neves, Gómez-Acebo& Pombo

Best Shipping Firm   
AVM Advogados

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Teixeira de Freitas, Rodrigues e Associados

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Rolim, Godoi, Viotti & Leite Campos Advogados

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
William Fry

Best M&A Firm   
Holme Roberts & Owen Solicitors

Best Tax Firm   
Ernst & Young

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
William Fry

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Dillon Eustace

Best Real Estate Firm   
Duncan Grehan & Partners

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Holme Roberts & Owen Solicitors

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Mason Hayes+Curran

Best Energy Firm   
O’Donnell Sweeney Eversheds

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
LK Shields Solicitors

Best Employment Firm   
Mason Hayes+Curran

Best Individual Lawyer   
Ms Kathryn Murphy, G J Moloney

Best Shipping Firm   
G J Moloney

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Ernst & Young

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Dillon Eustace

ROMANIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Studio Legale Sutti 

Best M&A Firm   
CHSH Gilescu & Partenerii SCA Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati

Best Tax Firm   
Stoica & Asociatii Attorneys at Law

Best Tax Consultant   
Cristiana I Stoica, Stoica & Asociatii Attorneys at Law

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Pachiu & Associates

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Radu Taracila Padurari Retevoescu SCA in association with Allen & Overy LLP

Best Real Estate Firm   
Popovici Nitu & Asociatii

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Studio Legle de Capoa & Associati 

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen

Best Energy Firm   
Kinstellar SCA

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Salans LLP 

Best Employment Firm   
Vernon | David

Best Individual Lawyer   
Dana Isaroiu, Fine Law – Patrascanu & Associates

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Wolf Theiss

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Studio Legale Sutti 

RUSSIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
CMS Russia

Best M&A Firm   
Russin & Vecchi LLC

Best Tax Firm   
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Best Tax Consultant   
Maxim A Zgodko, LLM, Ackermann Bellmer

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Smirnov Davydov & Susskind Law Offices

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners

Best Real Estate Firm   
Norton Rose

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Gowlings

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Magister & Partners

Best Energy Firm   
Haynes and Boone, LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Russin & Vecchi LLC

Best Employment Firm   
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

Best Individual Lawyer   
Maxim A Zgodko, LLM, Ackermann Bellmer

Best Shipping Firm   
Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Pepeliaev, Goltsblat & Partners

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Alrud

SAUDI ARABIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Toban Law Firm

Best M&A Firm   
EK Partners & Al-Enezee Legal Counsel

Best Tax Firm   
Attayyar Law Firm in Association with Alem & Associates

Best Tax Consultant   
Dr Bader Al-Busaies, Fahad Al-Suwaiket & Bader Al-Busaies Attorneys at Law

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Law Offices of Dr Mujahid Al-Sawwaf

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Law Office of Hassan Mahassni

Best Real Estate Firm   
King & Spalding LLP

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Legal

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Fahad Al-Suwaiket & Bader Al-Busaies Attorneys at Law 

Best Energy Firm   
Al-Jadaan and Partners

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Hatem Abbas Ghazzawi & Co 

Best Employment Firm   
AL Jarbou Law Firm, in association with Torbey, Touma & Associates 

Best Individual Lawyer   
Babul J Parikh, Baker Botts LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
Law Offices of Dr Mohamed H Hoshan

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Law Offices of Dr Mohamed H Hoshan

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Latham & Watkins LLP

SERBIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati 

Best M&A Firm   
TSD Tomic Stevic Dulic 

Best Tax Firm   
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Kinstellar

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Patent & Trade Mark Agency Mihailovic 

Best Real Estate Firm   
Karanovic & Nikolic

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Law Offices Popovic, Popovic, Samardzija & Popovic 

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Kinstellar doo

Best Employment Firm   
TSD Tomic Stevic Dulic 

Best Individual Lawyer   
Aleksandar Preradovic, Harrisons Solicitors

SINGAPORE
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Duane Morris LLP

Best M&A Firm   
Shook Lin & Bok LLP

Best Tax Firm   
Arthur Loke & Sim LLP

Best Tax Consultant   
See Hua Chua, Raslan · Loong

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Patrick Mirandah Co (Singapore)

Best Real Estate Firm  
Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Allens Arthur Robinson

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
ATMD Bird & Bird LLP

Best Energy Firm   
Jones Day 

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Raslan · Loong

Best Employment Firm   
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Best Individual Lawyer   
Yong Chan Sim, Arthur Loke & Sim LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
Holman Fenwick Willan

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
White & Case LLP 

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
White & Case LLP 

SLOVAKIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Peterka & Partners vos advokatska kancelaria organizacna zlozka

Best M&A Firm   
Lansky, Ganzger & Partner Rechtsanwälte, spol sro 

Best Tax Firm   
Kinstellar

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Cechová & Partners

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Lansky, Ganzger & Partner Rechtsanwälte, spol sro

Best Real Estate Firm   
Ruzicka Csekes sro

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Konecna & Safar sro, advokatni kancelar

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
B & S Legal sro

Best Energy Firm   
Ruzicka Csekes sro in association with members of CMS

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
PRK Partners sro advokátní kancelár 

Best Employment Firm   
Peterka & Partners vos advokatska kancelaria organizacna zlozka

Best Individual Lawyer   
Rastislav Kuklis, Weinhold Legal vos

Best Shipping Firm   
Bird & Bird

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
PRK Partners sro advokátní kancelár

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Avocat sro

SOUTH AFRICA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Webber Wentzel

Best M&A Firm   
DLA Cliffe Dekker
Hofmeyr

Best Tax Firm   
Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs

Best Tax Consultant   
Blaize Vance, Bell Dewar

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
DLA Cliffe Dekker
Hofmeyr

Best Dispute Resolution Firm  
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

Best Real Estate Firm   
Deneys Reitz Inc

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Routledge Modise Attorneys

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
DLA Cliffe Dekker
Hofmeyr

Best Energy Firm   
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
DLA Cliffe Dekker
Hofmeyr

Best Employment Firm   
Werkmans

Best Individual Lawyer   
Johan Latsky, DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr

Best Shipping Firm   
Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Bowman Gilfillan

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Lindsay Keller Attorneys

SPAIN
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Marimón Abogados

Best M&A Firm   
Dr Frühbeck Abogados, SLP

Best Tax Firm   
Alemany, Escalona & Escalante Abogados, SLP

Best Tax Consultant   
José Ignacio Alemany Bellido, Alemany, Escalona & Escalante Abogados, SLP

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Howrey Martinez Lage, SL 

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Alfaro-Abogados

Best Real Estate Firm   
Mariscal y Asociados Abogados

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Fernando Scornik Gerstein

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Monereo Meyer Marinel-lo Abogados

Best Energy Firm   
Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm  
Mariscal y Asociados Abogados

Best Employment Firm   
Marimón Abogados

Best Individual Lawyer   
Elizabeth Dahl, Howrey LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
Fernando Scornik Gerstein

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Jones Day

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Jones Day

SWEDEN
Best Banking & Finance Firm  
Mannheimer Swartling

Best M&A Firm  
Pierce Atwood LLP

Best Tax Firm   
Setterwalls

Best Tax Consultant   
Hans M Carlsten, Lindahl

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
DLA Piper

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Hedberg & Co Advokatbyrå AB

Best Real Estate Firm   
KLA – Karlerö Liljeblad Advokatbyrå HB

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Advokatfirman Lindberg & Saxon

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Pierce Atwood LLP 

Best Energy Firm   
Advokatfirman Lindahl

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
DLA Piper

Best Employment Firm   
Hedberg & Co Advokatbyrå AB

Best Individual Lawyer   
Jonas H Westerberg, Lindahl

Best Shipping Firm   
Advokatfirman Lindahl

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Rydincarlsten Advokatbyra AB

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Linklaters Lagerlöf

SWITZERLAND
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Schellenberg Wittmer

Best M&A Firm   
Baker & Mckenzie

Best Tax Firm   
Homburger AG

Best Tax Consultant   
Dr iur Jürg Plattner, Wenger Plattner

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Tavernier Tschanz

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Bihrer Attorneys at Law Ltd

Best Real Estate Firm   
MeyerLustenBerger

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Wenger Plattner

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Bär & Karrer AG

Best Energy Firm   
Lalive Attorneys at Law

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Niederer Kraft & Frey

Best Employment Firm   
Van Bael & Bellis

Best Individual Lawyer   
Dr Heinz Bloch, SNR Denton

Best Shipping Firm   
Winston & Strawn LLP

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
FBT Attorneys-at-Law

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Lenz & Staehelin

TANZANIA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Ako Law in association with Clyde & Co LLP 

Best M&A Firm   
Mkono & Co (Advocates)

Best Tax Firm   
Johnson Jasson & Associates, Advocates

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
CRB Africa Legal

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Mkono & Co (Advocates)

Best Real Estate Firm   
Mkono & Co (Advocates)

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Ako Law in association with Clyde & Co LLP

Best Employment Firm   
Ako Law in association with Clyde & Co LLP

Best Individual Lawyer   
Charles Rwechungura, CRB Africa Legal

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Mkono & Co (Advocates)

TURKEY
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Hergüner Bilgen Özeke

Best M&A Firm   
Esin Law Firm

Best Tax Firm   
Pekin & Pekin

Best Tax Consultant   
Orhan Yavuz Mavioglu, ADMD Law Office (Alkan Deniz Mavioglu)

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Cerrahoglu Law Firm

Best Dispute Resolution Firm  
Esin Law Firm

Best Real Estate Firm   
Esin Law Firm

Best Intellectual Property Firm  
Fazlioglu Law Office

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Elig

Best Energy Firm   
Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Moroglu Arseven

Best Employment Firm   
Bener Law Firm

Best Individual Lawyer   
Mr Gönenç Gurkaynak, Elig

Best Shipping Firm   
Karaman Law Firm

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Ehmet Gun & Partners

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Sahin Dursun Eren Ozfirat Attorneys at Law 

UK
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Ashurst

Best M&A Firm   
Allen & Overy LLP

Best Tax Firm   
Boodle Hatfield

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Best Real Estate Firm   
Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Herbert Smith LLP

Best Energy Firm   
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Best Employment Firm   
SJ Berwin

Best Individual Lawyer   
Kenneth R Thompson II, Reed Elsevier Group plc

Best Shipping Firm   
Ince & Co

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Simmons & Simmons

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 

UKRAINE
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Baker & McKenzie

Best M&A Firm   
Asters

Best Tax Firm   
Ilyashev & Partners

Best Tax Consultant   
Oleh M Malskyy, AstapovLawyers International Law Group

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Inyurpolis

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Ilyashev & Partners

Best Real Estate Firm   
Peterka & Partners LLC

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
BC Toms & Co 

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
BC Toms & Co

Best Energy Firm   
Integrites International Law Firm

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Sayenko Kharenko

Best Employment Firm   
Gvozdiy & Oberkovych Law Firm

Best Individual Lawyer  
Olena Kibenko, Inyurpolis Law Firm

Best Shipping Firm   
Hough, Heidingers, Yablonsky & Partners

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Ilyashev & Partners

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
IKRP Rokas & Partners (Kiev)

URUGUAY
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Posadas, Posadas & Vecino

Best M&A Firm   
Patton, Moreno & Asvat (South America) SA

Best Tax Firm   
ALS Abogados

Best Tax Consultant   
Virginia d’Isabella Cimarelli, ALS Abogados

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Guyer & Regules

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Olivera & Delpiazzo Abogados

Best Real Estate Firm   
Estudio Dr Mezzera

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Guyer & Regules 

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Fischer Abogados

Best Energy Firm   
Sanguinetti, Foderé & Bragard

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Rueda, Abadi & Pereira, Legal and Tax Advisors

Best Employment Firm   
Estudio Ruiz Lapuente

Best Individual Lawyer   
Nicolás Herrera, Guyer & Regules

Best Shipping Firm   
Perez del Castillo · Inciarte · Gari

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Olivera & Delpiazzo Abogados

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Estudio Dr Mezzera

USA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
Butera, Beausang, Cohen & Brennan Professional Corporation

Best M&A Firm   
Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Best Tax Firm   
Ernst & Young

Best Tax Consultant   
Thomas P Spellane, Gilbride, Tusa, Last & Spellane LLC

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Thompson & Knight LLP

Best Real Estate Firm   
Kaye Scholer LLP

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Kenyon & Kenyon LLP

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Mayer Brown LLP

Best Energy Firm   
Steptoe & Johnson LLP

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Sidney Austin LLP

Best Employment Firm   
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Best Individual Lawyer   
Kirk August Radke, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Best Shipping Firm   
AK Vladimirov Law Office (VLO) – USA

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Duff & Phelps LLC

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

VENEZUELA
Best Banking & Finance Firm   
De Sola Pate & Brown

Best M&A Firm   
Imery Urdaneta Calleja Itriago & Flamarique

Best Tax Firm   
Travieso Evans Arria Rengel & Paz

Best Tax Consultant   
Imery Urdaneta, Calleja Itriago & Flamarique

Best Corporate & Commercial Firm   
Travieso Evans Arria Rengel & Paz

Best Dispute Resolution Firm   
Imery Urdaneta Calleja Itriago & Flamarique

Best Real Estate Firm   
Abogados Klemprer Rivàs Perez Trujillo & Asociados AKRPT & Asociados 

Best Intellectual Property Firm   
Rodriguez & Mendoza

Best Competition & Anti-Trust Firm   
Hoet Pelaez Castillo & Duque

Best Energy Firm   
Mendoza, Palacios, Acedo, Borjas, Paez Pumar & Cia

Best Insolvency & Financial Restructuring Firm   
Ardila, Bauder, Mata & Peñaloza

Best Employment Firm   
Imery Urdaneta Calleja Itriago & Flamarique

Best Individual Lawyer   
Federico Araujo, Torres Plaz & Araujo

Best Shipping Firm   
Travieso Evans Arria Rengel & Paz

Best Transfer Pricing Firm   
Sabatino Pizzolante Maritime & Commercial Attorneys 

Best Foreign Investment Firm   
Badell & Grau

Europe’s time to learn

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Crises are a chance to learn. For the past 200 years, with the exception of the Great Depression, major financial crises originated in poor and unstable countries, which then needed major policy adjustments. Today’s crisis started in rich industrial countries – not only with sub-prime mortgages in the United States, but also with mismanagement of banks and public debt in Europe. So what will Europe learn, and what relevance will those lessons have for the rest of the world?

Europe’s contemporary problems offer striking parallels with previous problems on the periphery of the world economy. In successive waves of painful crisis – in Latin America in the 1980s, and in East Asia after 1997 – countries learned a better approach to economic policy and developed a more sustainable framework for managing public-sector debt. Today it is Europe’s turn.

The European crisis is coming full circle. Initially a financial crisis, it morphed into a classic public-debt crisis after governments stepped in to guarantee banks’ obligations. That, in turn, has created a new set of worries for banks that are over-exposed to supposedly secure government debt. Sovereign debt no longer looks stable.

One of the most important precedents is the debacle of Latin American debt almost 30 years ago. In August 1982, Mexico shocked the world by declaring that it was unable to service its debt. For most of that summer, Mexico, with a projected fiscal deficit of around 11 percent of GDP, was still borrowing on international financial markets, though at an increasing premium. Banks had reassured themselves with the belief that countries could not become insolvent. But then a wide range of inherently different countries seemed to line up like a row of dominos.

While Mexico had a petroleum-based boom in the wake of the second oil-price shock of the 1970s, Argentina suffered from economic mismanagement under a military dictatorship that then staged its disastrous invasion of the Falkland Islands/Malvinas. Brazil had experienced an earlier version of its current economic miracle, with stunning growth rates financed by capital imports. But in the end, these very different circumstances produced a common and inherently simple problem: over-indebtedness.

A Latin American default would have brought down the banking systems of all the major industrial countries, causing something like a replay of the Great Depression. Exposure to Mexican debt alone represented some 90 percent of the capitalisation of major US banks.

The solution that was eventually adopted was considered brilliant at the time, because it avoided formal default by any of the big Latin American borrowers (though Brazil briefly defaulted five years later, in 1987). It involved a combination of three elements: immediate international assistance, through the International Monetary Fund; severe domestic retrenchment, enforced by the highly unpopular conditionality of IMF programs; and additional financing provided by the banks.

There was no institutionalised write-down of Latin American debt until five years after the crisis, when a haircut no longer threatened banks’ stability. It was only at this moment that real lending for new projects could really begin. In the meantime, Latin America remained mired in what became widely known as “the lost decade.”

The contemporary European solution seems to be repeating the same time-buying tactics of the lost decade of the 1980s in the developing world. There is the same combination of international support, highly unpopular domestic austerity measures (which are bound to set off major protests), and the apparent absolution of banks from financial responsibility for problems that they produced.

Major European banks – in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France – have, like their 1980s predecessors, built up a gigantic exposure to what they erroneously thought was safe debt. A substantial immediate haircut on the sovereign debt of the vulnerable eurozone countries would be so destructive that it would set off a new round of bank panics. Recognising this problem, banks can hold their host governments to ransom. That is why the crisis has become a challenge for the UK, Germany, and France.

The Franco-German initiative unveiled at Deauville in early November, which would require some possible measure of restructuring for debt issued after 2013, tried to avoid the immediate shock of a haircut. But the pre-announcement of possible write-downs still led to a major wave of uncertainty about banks.

A long-term alternative requires some capacity to write down debt where it has reached excessive levels. But it is also necessary to establish an iron-clad guarantee of some part of the outstanding debt, in order to remove fear of a complete write-down.

A mechanism for dealing in an orderly way with sovereign bankruptcy would be a major contribution to global governance, and to solving a longstanding problem of sovereign-debt markets. Such proposals were widely discussed in the 1990s and early 2000s, and IMF Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger pushed a Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism that would have offered a legal path to imposing general haircuts on creditors, thereby ending the collective-action problems that impede the efficient resolution of sovereign bankruptcy.

If Europe could show – in the worst possible scenario of sovereign default – how such a process might operate, uncertainty would be reduced and markets would be reassured. And, in the longer term, we would have a viable international model of how to tackle severe sovereign-debt problems.

Harold James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University and Marie Curie Professor of History at the European University Institute, Florence. His most recent book is The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle.

© Project Syndicate, 2010

Ports gain in pro-business market

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Deemed one of the most prestigious projects in the Sultanate of Oman, the Port boasts the four largest shipping lines. Business is booming. Both its terminals saw double digit growth in the past five years, with general cargo growing at over 20 percent per annum, despite the onset of the recession.

We spoke to the CEO Peter Ford, about the secret of Salalah’s success, the company’s continued growth and expansion plans, and to find out what the future has in store.

Mr Ford joined the Port of Salalah from APM Terminals, which manages the Port, where he worked for more than sixteen years. He has as a wealth of experience in the shipping industry both on vessels and in terminal management; is a graduate of both the US Merchant Marine Academy and the Lloyd’s Maritime Academy; holds a BSc in Marine Transport and Business and an MBA in Global Management.

The Port of Salalah itself began operating in 1998, at what used to be Mina Raysut and developed with extraordinary speed. Its strategic location made Salalah an ideal location to tranship cargo to destinations such as the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, East/ South Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Now the biggest port in Oman and the second largest in the region, Salalah is thriving but the secret to its success is down to a number of different factors according to Mr Ford; location, expansion, good leadership and a pro-business environment.

Unique advantages
All the ports in the region are competing for business, but it is Salalah that has a number of unique advantages keeping it ahead of the competition; it’s main ones being its location, strong vibrant economy and its pro-business climate provided by the Omani government, Peter explains.

“We also ensure that Port of Salalah builds on its natural advantages and maintains high levels of productivity with state of the art equipment, a focus on innovation and a commitment to earning our customers.”

A new methodology is also being rolled out by the company. Lean Six Sigma has already been deemed a great success within APM terminals, its key features being to improve customer service, reduce waste and improve agility. Mr Ford added that:

“We will continue to improve efficiencies to both allow our existing customers the opportunity for consolidation and to take advantage of scale as well to attract new customers to our port.”

Tough on results
Leadership is a crucial part of the Port’s success, according to Mr Ford. He believes that it is his more inclusive style of leadership that is the most effective, balancing delegation and empowerment with accountability.

“We believe that the command and control version of leadership does not work in today’s workplace. The workforce is smart and they have opinions and views on the world and we should listen to the people doing the work rather than direct from the top down.

“I encourage freedom of thought amongst my managers and staff but I ensure that each one has the proper training and background as well as understanding their responsibility and accountability. I think for the most part my leadership style could be described as allowing individual responsibility but being tough on results.”

Expansion plans
Business may be going well, but there’s always room to build on the Port’s success continues the company’s CEO.

The key to further improving the Port’s success is to build on the fantastic location that Salalah already has and expanding when it comes to distribution, according to Mr Ford.

Both the Omani government and Port Salalah agree on the way forward following the company’s impressive growth to date.

“We cannot and will not rest on that advantage and both the government and the port plan to invest significant amounts in equipment, land and the ability to serve our customers.

“The vision of our business is to improve our levels of service beyond even what the current customer may desire in order to cater to the future growth they will deliver and attract new customers to Salalah.

“Between the government and Port of Salalah we have invested over $1.3bn in the current facilities. The government of Oman envisions the Port of Salalah to continue to maintain its premier position as a regional transshipment port and to also play an increasingly important role in the maritime trade of the world.”

The Port of Salalah is also committed not only to providing world-class port facilities, but also to creating new jobs within the country.

“With the continued support of the government we expect to act as a catalyst for the economic and social development of the southern region of Oman and provide career opportunities to Omani nationals.”

The secret of their success
In just one generation, Oman has become a role model for social and economic development. Ford praises the government and holds Sultan Qaboos in high regard, as he is of the opinion that both are responsible for the country’s success.

“There have been numerous remarkable achievements during the 40 year reign of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos particularly in education, health, human rights and the standard of living of its citizens.

“The government has built a business friendly environment and developed a national infrastructure which has facilitated the launch of numerous major projects.

“A focus on education, investing in people and a national system that believes the people should benefit from the country’s economic and social development has meant that the country has done nothing but succeed.

“I can only describe Oman as a shining star and congratulate the people on their success and his majesty on his leadership.”

Investment
Oman as a country has also a long history when it comes to private equity investment. It is considered a stable, low-risk country and Mr Ford believes that there are many industries that could benefit from setting up operations in Oman in particular.

“Clearly infrastructure in a developing country is long term and stable cash flow that is attractive to many types of investors.

“I believe Oman is an ideal fit for a regional distribution hub. This will benefit from Port of Salalah’s existing development plan and strategic location. We sit at the centre of the Asia-Europe trade and north south from East Africa and the Arabian Gulf, as well as India and Pakistan, so we find ourselves at the centre of some significant emerging markets that are incredibly attractive to the manufacturers of consumer goods.”

Oman’s also shares cultural similarities with the locations from which equity funds are managed, which is another benefit for those wishing to invest.

They wish to highlight and build on the benefits a world class port and free zone like Salalah can offer and also push its potential as an ideal warehousing location.

“By marketing ourselves with the Salalah Free Zone and offering attractive investment packages we believe we will attract significant interest from some of the world’s major manufacturers and distributors wishing to reach these markets.”

The port has also recently joined forces with a government entity called the Salalah Free Zone to try and attract major blue chip companies to come and set up in Salalah.

Mr Ford continues, revealing that Salalah has in fact just recently been ranked as the second best warehousing location in the region by LOG Middle East.

The Master Plan
So what does the future hold for the Port? More success if the past is anything to go by. Salalah is prepared for the future and their plans are focussed on growth, innovation and a commitment to their customers.

Mr Ford explains that they’ve recently completed a new 20 year master plan, outlining their future campaign for development and expansion.

The plan includes immediate expansion of their General Cargo Terminal, to handle up to 40 million tons of dry bulk commodities and over 5 million tons of liquid products annually, and, when required, an expected 6m TEU expansion at the container terminal.

“The tender process is finalised for the General Cargo terminal and 1.2km of multipurpose berths with drafts of 16 to 18m and work is expected to begin in the coming months.

“This expansion will lead to additional developments of bulk and liquid handling facilities and provide space for cruise and ferry facilities at the port.”