BVI Company News

Youpublish.com, a company owned by the BVI Holding called ITCCYL Ltd., and led by Utah businessman Roice Krueger, has launched a Web site that allows anyone to publish a book online, or upload videos, music, photos or any other digital products.

In May this year, the company opened a retail shop that allowed to think that it is going to compete with the likes of Amazon.com, but not the BVI-controlled company launched a distinctive  feature – the ability to publish any digital file at no cost to the creator, who will retain copyrights, and has the option to distribute his products for free or set a price and receive 50% of any sales revenue.

Self-publishing is available from a number of companies and their websites, including also Amazon. This company sees as one of its advantages the ability for the self-publishers to get to the huge marketing machine – Amazon.com, and it keeps 20% of the sale price of a book when it is sold through its e-stores, or 40% when sold through Amazon.com, plus takes a fixed fee for printing charges.

Youpublish.com hopes to receive its dividends from publishing online any digital materials, and by providing the 50% commission to the creator. The customers can create their own online libraries and leave their comments about the quality of the works, for other readers to see them.

The site of Youpublish.com is still evolving, and the founders are holing to improve the search engine and add more social networking feature and perhaps on-demand printing. The site is even planning to include the ability for a group of people to come together and write a book.

The company, owned by the BVI consortium, has no central office and is run with independent consultants. Web developers out of an office in Salt Lake City, and two marketing-support people  are working in Los Angeles.

Australia’s second-richest man, gaming and media magnate James Packer, whose joint venture with Lawrence Ho Yau-lung is making billions of dollars of investments in Macau, currently is in talks for building a US$1.5 billion casino resort in the Philippines.

The Philippines is one of several Asian countries aiming to take piece of gaming tourism boom in Macau. Last year, legislation was passed in the jurisdiction that allows issuing gaming licences to private firms, and Mr Packer is now revealed as the owner of British Virgin Islands-registered Bloomsbury Investments – one of four private development companies tipped by state company Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp (Pagcor) to obtain gaming licence for a number of Las Vegas-style mega resorts in Manila Bay. It is worth noting that three of these four firms have ties to Macau.

The BVI company of Mr Packer has already submitted a  US$100 mln deposit towards plans to develop a 1,700-room resort and convention centre complex. Now, since foreign investors could only take control over up to 49% of the Manila Bay projects, Mr Parker is negotiating to secure a local partnership with the Alvarez family, which owns the Columbian Autocar Corp., the largest manufacturer and distributor of autos and buses in the Philippines.

Mr Packer has joint venture partnership with Mr Ho whose Melco International Development formed an exclusive partnership with Crown (formerly Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd) to develop casino projects in the region. Each of these companies has a 37.9% stake in Nasdaq-listed Melco Crown Entertainment (Macau), which operates the US$58 mln Crown Macau on Taipa Island, and builds the US$2.3 billion project called the City of Dreams. However, current Philippine project, initiated by Mr Parker personally, did not involve the joint venture.

Last week Vietnam’s Export Import Commercial Bank (Eximbank) said that it has raised its capital base by 1/3 after ending its share sales to foreign investors. Its registered capital rose 33.3% in the end of May, as it ended selling shares to Sumitomo Mitsui, Japan’s third largest bank.

Eximbank sold 5% of stake to British Virgin Islands-registered VOF Investment Ltd, 4.5% to MAE under South Korea’s top mutual fund Mirae Asset group, and 0.5% to Mirrae Asset Maps Opportunity Vietnam Equity Balanced Fund1.

Recently British Virgin Islands company Starbay Holdings Ltd. received an investment license to start up the Dai Beach Resort project in Phu Quoc district, more than US$1.6 billion worth. The license was issued by the Kien Giang People’s Committee at the international conference devoted to tourist real-estate investment opportunities.

The project that will be commenced by the BVI company will include hotels, rest-homes, golf course, villas, department stores and other services.  Construction site will be located on 540ha area of Dai beach, Ganh Dau commune in Phu Quoc.

Mr Martin H.Kaye, General Director of Starbay Holdings Ltd., informed that it took the company four years to receive the license. According to the plan, the project will be completed in five phases until 2020.

Africo Resources Ltd., a Canadian TSX-listed mineral company focused on developing, acquisition and exploration of metal and gold assets in Africa, announced that it  has entered into a Subscription Agreement for a private placement of CAD$100 million at a price of $2.50 per unit with Camrose Resources Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The main shareholder of this BVI company is a trust for the benefit of family members of Dan Gertler.

By the terms of agreement, each unit will consist of a common share and one half of a share purchase warrant, and each whole warrant will entitle Camrose to acquire an additional common share at a price of $3.50 per share for an eighteen month period following closing.

There is number of conditions that should be satisfied for the completion of the private placement – including termination of Africo’s Shareholders Rights Plan Agreement, regulatory approval and the approval of Canadian company’s shareholders.

After the placement is completed, BVI-incorporated Camrose Resources will own approximately 60% of the outstanding share capital of Africo. It will also have majority representation on the Board of Africo, and the right to participate in future financings in order to maintain its percentage equity ownership.

Along with execution of the Subscription Agreement, Camrose Resources (BVI) has loaned Cdn $2 million to Africo. This loan will mature at  the completion of the Subscription Agreement or the termination of the Subscription Agreement, or on August 31, 2008. Also, the BVI company has entered into an agreement to acquire the outstanding shares of Akam Mining Sprl, Africo’s subsidiary which holds, indirectly through Swanmines Sprl, the Kalukundi property. Camrose and Africo have entered into an agreement pursuant to which Akam will unequivocally confirm ownership of 75% of the outstanding shares of Swanmines. Africo is advised that Camrose anticipates completing the transactions with Akam shortly; the completion of the private placement and the Akam Agreement will result in Camrose owning approximately 63% of the outstanding share capital of Africo.

Additionally, Africo has agreed to acquire a 75% interest in the Mashitu property, which consists of an exploration permit for copper, cobalt, gold and nickel, and covers approximately 34.82 square kilometres, from the BVI company’s affiliate. The purchase price will be based on a valuation to be prepared by an independent expert agreed to by the parties, and will be paid in common shares of Africo at a price per share of $2.50.

San Diego-registered Iomega Corporation, which is a worldwide leader in innovative storage and network security solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, consumers and others, has announced that it has received an unsolicited non-binding indication of interest from EMC Corporation. In this indication, EMC said that it is ready to offer to acquire the outstanding common stock of Iomega for $3.25 per share, assuming a total of approximately 54.8 mln outstanding shares.

Iomega’s board of directors decided however that EMC’s proposal would not reasonably constitute a superior proposal, within the meaning of the share purchase agreement between the selling stockholders Iomega, Cayman Islands-based ExcelStor Great Wall Technology Limited and ExcelStor Holdings Limited, Chinese companies Shenzhen ExcelStor Technology Limited  and Great Wall Technology Company Limited, and British Virgin Islands-based ExcelStor Holdings Limited.

Iomega and the selling stockholders including the above-named BVI company executed a share purchase agreement in December 2007, in connection with a business combination. Now, Iomega and the selling stockholders are preparing the required filings for obtaining the necessary regulatory and stockholder approvals for the business combination.

Probably, good times have started for football club Queens Park Rangers (QPR), with such investors as Formula One tycoons Bernie Ecclestone (worth £2.25 billion) and Flavio Briatore (worth £110 million). There is one more new investor of the club – a well-known Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

It is known that Briatore and Ecclestone have pledged to return the club into a Premier League force within the next three years. They completed their £14 million takeover in November, and spent £690,000 to acquire their 69% majority stake in the club. Ecclestone bought 15% for £150,000, while Briatore, through his British Virgin Islands-registered company Sarita Capital, bought 54% for £540,000. However, since the time of this deal with BVI company he has sold on 20% of his stake to Lakshmi Mittal. Mittal, who is the richest resident of Great Britain worth about £19.25 billion, has spent only £200,000 to purchase this stake.

However, Mittal is not likely to spend so much money and probably will remain a silent investor in the project, leaving Briatore and Ecclestone to push the non-successful club to the Premier League.

Also, Briatore and Ecclestone have made no attempt to pay off a £10 million loan to the ABC Corporation which carries a punitive  £1 million annual interest charge – that is a massive burden on a team with an annual turnover of £10-£15 million a year. Another £2 million is owed to former director and major shareholder Antonio Caliendo who waived £4.5 million of loans he was owed when he sold out to Briatore and Ecclestone.

Now it is the question whether Mittal, Ecclestone and Briatore are prepared to highten their investment and to put the club on the highest level.

Malaysian businessman Datuk Ishak Ismail has exited the property holding company Land & General Berhad (L&G), after British Virgin Islands-registered Unioncity Enterprises Ltd., associated with him, disposed of 60.64 million shares. Following the sale that took place on September 30, 2007, the BVI company reduced its stake to 23.68 million shares.

Unioncity Enterprises became a substantial shareholder of L&G in May 2007, after it acquired a 6.35% stake; on August 2007, it raised it to 84.31 million, or 14.09%, and became the single largest shareholder of the company. BVI company’s interests in L&G rose after Hong Kong-based property tycoon emerged as a substantial shareholder in the former, after he acquired an 8.35% stake through the company Mayland Parkview. In October, its stake has increased to 11.03%, and made 66 million shares.

There was a talk that Mayland Parkview and BVI-registered Unioncity could compete for control over the company.

The government of India, has approved the proposal of the British Virgin Islands-registered company Passport Global Master Fund SPC Ltd., to buy a 5% stake in Delhi Stock Exchange for the amount of  Rs 10.61 crore ($2.5 million).

The BVI company became one of 4 foreign investors that have picked up 5 per cent stake in DSE. Other purchasers are Mauritius-based Wilmette Holdings, Kuwait-based Noor Financial Investment Company, Kuwait Privatisation Projects Holding and Ikarus Industrial Petroleum Company of Kuwait.

It is interesting that, having accepted the proposal of Passport’s BVI entity, government had rejected the proposal of Passport Investments, Mauritius, to invest in DSE.

Manufacturing company Deswell Industries, Inc., registered in the British Virgin Islands, has made an announcement about the acquisition of additional 24% interest in Integrated International Limited – the holding company for Deswell’s electronics and metallics subsidiaries. The BVI company already has  76% interest in Integrated, so now it becomes its 100% owner.

Purchase price for the 24% interest makes 632,080 common shares of Deswell and a cash payment in the amount of approximately US$413,578 to the minority shareholders of Integrated.

Deswell Industries will hold its 2007 Annual General Meeting on October 9, 2007 in New York.