Bloomberg's Interview of Thomas Hugger, Executive Director of Leopard Capital

Thomas Hugger, Executive Director of Leopard Capital, was recently interviewed on Bloomberg TV where he discussed investment opportunities in Cambodia. The entire interview ("Cambodia's Investment Potential; Investing In Cambodia") can be viewed on Youtube.

Cambodian Elections...

Ahead of elections in Cambodia, the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets were reporting that Hun Sen was in a strong position to win despite the fact that corruption is widespread and the country consistently ranks low on corruption and economic freedom indexes. In fact, Cambodia was ranked as the 100th freest economy in the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom - just between Zambia (ranked 99) and Brazil (ranked 101); and 151st (together with Belarus, Côte d´Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, and Uzbekistan) out of 163 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2006. Either way, leadership stability suits investors just fine. In fact, the Financial Times recently quoted Douglas Clayton, the Founder of Leopard Capital, as saying:

"'Until a few years ago, Cambodia was not considered investable because of a perception of political instability and a weak legal structure,' says Douglas Clayton, who has been investing in south-east Asia for 20 years and manages Leopard Capital, a Cambodian fund. 'We can now predict who will be running the government for the next five or even 10 years - and a government that is pro-business - which isn't the case in Thailand, Malaysia or the Philippines.'"

Cambodia: The Next Frontier For Private Equity?

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 22 private equity fund managers visited Cambodia in May to scope out potential investment opportunities. However, given Cambodia's reputation as a frontier emerging market with weak business laws and corruption, finding enough suitable investments to absorb several hundred million dollars may prove to be a challenge. Nevertheless, Leopard Capital is seeking to raise US$100 million for its Leopard Cambodia Fund. The fund will seek out small and medium sized investments in a broad range of sectors such as financial services, infrastructure development, agro-industry, health care, tourism, human resource development, hotels, and property. Meanwhile, the Cambodia Emerald Fund which split from Leopard in 2007, is also aiming to raise US$100 million.