- Over 170 senior executives from Myanmar and overseas attend online Investor Conference by largest Myanmar-focused fund
- Guest of Honour, His Excellency U Thaung Tun, Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, shares positive economic outlook, and welcomes Ascent Capital’s efforts in Myanmar
- 2021 expected to see investment growth continue on the back of the increasing pace of notable investments and M&A deals during 2020
- Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT), financial services and consumer sectors predicted to see the most investments or M&A transactions in the next two years
YANGON/SINGAPORE, 14 January 2021 – The Myanmar Economic Relief and Reform Plan will help the nation’s economy recover strongly in 2021. This positive message was expressed by guest of honour His Excellency U Thaung Tun, Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, at the inaugural Investor Conference held online by Ascent Capital in December. “It will ensure we will recover as expected by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to growth of around 6 per cent to 7 per cent,” he said in his address during the virtual Zoom event, attended by over 170 senior executives from Myanmar and overseas. “We have established an economy that is today poised to deliver opportunities which those of a generation past could have only dreamt of,” he added.
The Union Minister outlined how the Myanmar Economic Recovery and Reform Plan will prioritise economic sectors like manufacturing and services in the year ahead, while measures such as civil service reforms and digital transformation are also being focused on by the government. He highlighted how renewable energy tenders represent excellent investment opportunities and stated: “This is an exciting time to invest in Myanmar.”
Ascent Capital’s Investor Conference also heard from high-profile speakers including Mr Newin Sinsiri, Country Director for Myanmar, and Mr Joel Mangahas, Principal Country Specialist from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), U Minn Naing Oo, Managing Director of Allen & Gledhill (Myanmar), and Mr Janeshwar Pachigolla, Partner and Head of M&A at PwC Myanmar.
Overall, the event saw a mood of cautious optimism and in a poll of Conference delegates, “business as normal” was expected in Myanmar from Q3 2021. In another poll, the Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) sector was predicted to see the most investments or M&A transactions in the next two years.
Ascent Capital’s Founder and Managing Partner, Mr Lim Chong Chong outlined the firm’s three-point strategy to add value to Myanmar businesses: “As a long-term investor, we can provide patient, long-term growth capital to support Myanmar companies to grow and scale their businesses,” he shared. “Second, we bring management and technical expertise, including through our network of investors, to support Myanmar companies to transform, professionalise and corporatise their operations. These include the area of digitalisation, which we strongly believe will become even more critical in a post-COVID-19 Myanmar. Third, we can support Myanmar companies to connect to international markets, export their products and services, and bring more international partners to Myanmar companies, to support the growth of their business domestically.”
His Excellency U Thaung Tun expressed his support for Ascent Capital’s efforts in Myanmar: “I do appreciate the positive impact you and your team are making — through, quality, responsible, values-based investments — contributing to launching a new generation of successful, sustainable business ventures in Myanmar as well as helping existing companies to transform and achieve greater heights.”
