BVI Company News

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.

BVI-registered A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd., providing distributed power generation systems in China, has announced on June 2 that its shares are upgraded to trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, under the symbol APWR.

The Chairman and CEO of the BVI company, Jinxiang Lu, noted in his comments that, as the NASDAQ Global Select Market was created for companies that meet the most stringent requirements, this upgrade of A-Power Energy “reflects company’s continued growth and enhanced market value.” He also said they are pleased to have met the financial and liquidity requirements that enable shares to be traded along with NASDAQ’s top companies.

Common stock of A-Power was listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market prior to the upgrade.

Diguang International Development Co., Ltd., manufacturing company located in Shenzhen and having its sales and marketing subsidiary registered in BVI, made an announcement on June 5 that its newly developed LCD-TV LED backlight module received a Design Innovation Award. The award was granted by the conference committee of the China Optoelectronics and Display Exposition (also known as 2008 CODE). One of company’s subsidiaries, Shenzhen Diguang Electronics Co., Ltd., displayed this modules ranging in size from 1 to 42 formats at this trade show, which was held at the Shenzhen Convention and Expo Center in May 23-26, 2008.

Company’s CEO and President, Song Yi in his speech thanked the conference committee for granting this high-level recognition to their technology innovations in television backlights.

On May 28, 2008, Diguang International Development Co., Ltd. announced that its CEO and President, Song Yi, has issued a letter to shareholders, providing updates on company initiatives in Liquid Crystal Modules, new Strategic Business Units, and LED general lighting.

In the letter, Mr. Song Yi expressed company’s sympathy with victims of the massive Sichuan earthquake, and a combined management/employee/company disaster relief contribution. He pointed out that none of Diguang’s facilities were influenced or impaired by the catastrophe. Further on, he outlined the company’s achievements in the first quarter of 2008, including 139% net sales increase, compared to the first quarter of 2007, and formulated strategies to address the challenging environment of the LCD industry which has become highly competitive in the last few years.  Among the strategies outlined by Mr. Song there is creation of a consignment model with the company’s major OEM customers for liquid crystal modules.

Mr. Song also informed in the letter about the success of company’s restructuring into Strategic Business Units (SBUs), each with its own independent responsibility, to achieve more profits. He stated that, in the first quarter of 2008, “all three of operating regions were not only profitable, but better prepared to profitably grow their respective operations”.

He also said that one of the most exciting initiatives of the company resulted in a pilot program “to supply their LED general lighting technology to a 6,000 square meter area in Xiangfan, a city of 6.5 million people and the second largest city in Hubei Province’”. According to Mr. Song, Diguang will have an opportunity to bring its leadership in LED general lighting to many other municipalities and government departments.

Diguang International Development Co., Ltd. is an emerging Chinese leader in the manufacture and supply of CCFL and LED backlights for liquid crustal displays industry, located in Shenzhen and having its sales and marketing subsidiary registered in the British Virgin Islands.