Multiple initiatives are now converging to galvanize unprecedented investment activity focused on the infrastructure and trade links between Asia and Europe (Eurasia). China has taken the initiative in capitalizing new development banks – the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Silk Road Fund – designed to modernize and expand the ancient Silk Road transport web that linked East Asia with the Mediterranean. China’s “One Belt – One Road” concept projects massive infrastructure expansion – on both the traditional land routes plus the Indian Ocean “Maritime Silk Road.” This is not a one nation project but involves a synergy of nations throughout Europe and Asia. America and Europe’s involvement are a key factor in bringing great technological and corporate resources to help build and develop the new Eurasian 'Economic Corridor'.This new economic push to link the countries of Eurasia by high-speed rail, expanded trucking routes, and modernized air and seaport facilities will open up huge investment opportunities, drive technology assistance programs, and generate a proliferation of new manufacturing and service industries in all the countries in-between. The 4,000-mile original caravan road linked ancient Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arabic, Greek and Roman civilizations and was later popularized by the Italians with Marco Polo’s trade initiatives with the Emperor of China. The modern Silk Road nations comprise a population of 3 Billion and a market that is unparalleled in both scale and potential.
The Government of China has established the 'One Belt, One Road' development strategy and framework (“OBOR”) to bolster Eurasian economic connectivity and cooperation. The OBOR strategy underscores China’s push to assume a more substantial role in global affairs and its desire to continue the development of mega cities in Western China by providing more efficient transport modes for new mega production centers, as well as long term access to food, energy and industrial production.The OBOR initiative seeks to create an economic land belt that traverses countries on the original Silk Road through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, and Europe ('Eurasia'), as well as an economic maritime road that links China’s port facilities with the African coast, crossing the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.Kazakhstan, Mongolia and other Eurasian countries are seeking ways to leverage the OBOR initiative, with a focus of diversifying their economies away from natural resources. The region has already experienced substantial initial development-related investments, including through infrastructure PPPs, to support OBOR.
The Company currently seeks investment in the following development-related sub-sectors through its family of funds:
The Company intends to leverage its proprietary international and local network to actively monitor, pursue, and execute the most favorable investment and exit options for individual fund portfolio investments, including trade sales to strategic and financial buyers and IPOs. When selecting potential investments, the funds seek to apply a “bottom-up” selection process that incorporates macro-level views in the evaluation process and combines bottom-up analysis of the investments’ fundamentals with relevant market fundamentals, while providing a “top-down” macro overlay to provide country/regional, sector, and project/company size perspectives in identifying international/local cyclical and thematic trends that are indicative of intrinsic value.
New Silk Road Driven | Eurasia Focused | Frontier Market Investing
EurAsia Frontier Fund
“History never repeats… but it rhymes”
– Mark Twain