Censere
Analyse - Appraise - Assist - Advise
Forensic Director, Peter Coleman, attended the 9TH Djakarta Mining Club Networking Event on October 30TH 2014 at JiExpo Kemayoran Jakarta. The function was held in conjunction with the Exhibition by Reed Panorama Exhibition, the "Mining and Engineering 2014". It was attended by over 70 attendees of both members and non members.
Since the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the underlying principles of financial reporting have been moving towards the concept of fair value from historical cost. Advocates believe fair value based reporting can provide more relevant, useful, and comparable information on the value of a company and its assets and liabilities. Critics counter that earnings and other financial metrics are too vulnerable to short term changes in market expectation and sentiment, which have an impact on fair value. Regardless whether you agree or disagree with the fair value concept, the best approach is to be proactive when dealing with it, so that there are no surprises. Instead of passively waiting for, and being adversely affected by valuation results, it is wise to plan and prepare in advance. In what follows we will examine several critical areas of valuation for financial reporting that should be considered.
With its high melting point and corrosion resistance, nickel is a diversely used metal. Nickel could be found from over 300,000 products, from daily used coins to aerospace application. In the present article, Censere examines the structure of global nickel market and market dynamic in the Asia Pacific Region.
It is estimated that the total nickel reserves in the world is 75 million tonnes with major reserves is located at Asia Pacific Region. The two largest holders of nickel reserves are Australia and New Caledonia; their reserves are 20 million tonnes and 12 million tonnes respectively. In 2012, the world total mine production of nickel was 2.1 million tonnes, and the Philippines was the largest nickel producer in the year. In the Asia Pacific Region, Australia, China, Indonesia, New Caledonia and the Philippines, produced 54.6% of mine production of nickel and held 51.4% of nickel reserves in the world.
Censere CEO, Brett Shadbolt, and Forensic Director, Peter Coleman, attended the 2nd Annual Momentum Events Oil & Gas Anti Corruption event at the Hotel Icon in Houston, Texas on the 22nd and 23rd of September. Speakers at the event included US regulators from the Securities Exchange Commission and Department of Justice as well as leading authorities in Anti Corruption from oil companies, oil supply companies, NGOs and other private and public sector organisations concerned about the issue of bribery and corruption in the Oil & Gas industry. More than 80 delegates attended the event over the two days. Brett and Peter were the only representatives from the AsiaPac region and brought some very relevant insights to the interactive sessions during the event. Key issues that came out of the event included a clear message from the regulators that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act continues to be an important part of the United States Government's foreign policy and that US companies and foreign companies operating in this industry can expect increased scrutiny of their business activities in this high risk industry particularly in high risk countries. Fines in the order of up to US$500 million have been levied in recent times as well as the disgorgement of profits and other penalties. One critical statistic that was presented was that the average cost per day of a FCPA investigation is more than US$250,000 and many of these investigations will run for up to one year or more. Clearly the potential cost of failing to comply with the FCPA in the Oil & Gas industry should be a significant reminder of the need to comply. Censere has three of the most experienced FCPA investigators in Asia with Peter Coleman, Richard Batten and Rupert Utley.
As some of us may know, Malaysia announced an Intellectual Property (IP) financing scheme in 2013. The main idea being that the IP could be used as collateral for loans by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for business expansion. A number of government agencies, some sector/ industry focused, are encouraging innovation by providing support, training and funding ecosystem for sound business ventures.
For an IP financing scheme to succeed, the government support and participation was always going to be important. After all the government has largely a social and nation building motive unlike other financiers including, banks or investment funds/ venture capitalists, etc. which are answerable to their shareholders with profit maximization being the main motive. As such there is a difference between how risk may be perceived by the government vs other lenders. Although social agenda does not equate to lending to any venture or losing money and still requires careful consideration of the risks involved in lending. The valuation of the IP thus becomes important to understand the future potential, risks involved, amongst other things.
Censere Malaysia office staff are excited to be moving to a brand new building (Oval Damansara) in Kuala Lumpur.The new office will be more spacious to cater to our growth and will also have a training facility for up to 40 people. Oval Damansara is centrally located with a direct access to the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, KL Central as well as other business hubs in the city.
The new office reflects Censere’s strong growth as well as client commitment in Malaysia. Our office in Malaysia will be headed by Mr. Adie Gupta who has recently relocated from our Sydney office. Our new address in Kuala Lumpur from 15 October will be: 26-3A, Oval Damansara, Off Lebuhraya Sprint, Batu 7, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Censere Group continues its rapid expansion within the China region by adding 5 new staff to its technical team in Shanghai. The new staff, with backgrounds in the valuation industry, Big 4 accounting firms and International banks, will further enhance Censere’s operation in Greater China. Both Beijing and Shanghai offices offer a full range of our services including, Business Valuation, Property Valuation, Forensics Accounting, Operational Due Diligence and Research. We are excited about our new development in China and the contribution of our company to further regional growth within the financial services industry.”
On 3rd September 2014, Mr. Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere Group, was invited as a guest speaker and panelist to participate in the “1st Japan-ASEAN Business Forum in Singapore”. In this event, organized by ICMG Financial Services, Mr. Shadbolt discussed the challenges and opportunities of entering into ASEAN region as well as Greater China. He also emphasized on the importance of partnership with intermediaries, such as Taiwanese companies, in order to better access the Chinese market. The event was well received by the Japanese business community in Singapore.
On 4th September 2014, Censere Singapore hosted a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of its new Forensic Services. With over 50 guests and clients packing the Singapore office, Mr. Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere Group introduced the new service offering adding that, “this will strengthen our existing due diligence capabilities and ability to serve our clients”. The key forensic directors leading the service are: Mr. Peter Coleman (Indonesia); Mr. Richard Batten (Thailand and Mekong Region); and Mr. Rupert Utley (Hong Kong & China).
On 3rd September 2014, Censere Academy Singapore conducted a three hour training seminar on Mining, Oil & Gas (“MOG”). The event was well attended, with participants coming from a range of backgrounds. The event was led by key experts in Censere’s MOG team consisting of Mr. Brett Shadbolt (CEO) and Mr. Shawn Morvotjoe (Associate Director), who shared their considerable knowledge and insights with participants. The Censere experts covered a range of subjects including: the life-cycle of an MOG company; valuation techniques for MOG; common issues in MOG valuations and resource & reserve measurement.
On 25th July 2014, Mr. Daniel Martin an Associate Director in the Censere Hong Kong office presented to a group of selected business start-ups at the Cyberport Entrepreneurship Centre in Hong Kong. These selected start-ups were all at different funding stages: some had received their first injection of external capital and others were still being funded by the founders. The three hour informal valuation session covered a range of valuation topics including: what is valuation (purpose and impact); valuation from a buyers and sellers perspective; the cost of a bad valuation; valuation techniques and justification of the business valuation.
The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry is an important segment of the tourism industry, and is a growing sector with great potential. The MICE industry comprises of the upper-stream (such as MICE activity organizers), midstream (such as accommodation, facilities and services suppliers) and downstream (such as adverting agencies, logistics services providers and travel agencies) industries. Therefore, the MICE industry involves a wide range of sectors such as tourism, hotels, transportation, catering, real estate and retail. A successful MICE industry is believed to have significant positive impact on a country’s economy. Apart from bringing significant economic benefits, such as national income and job opportunities, it also benefits a destination by providing opportunities for knowledge sharing, country brand development and network building.
By the end of 2011 total global proved recoverable coal reserves stood at 982,744 million tons. Europe (30.8%) and North America (27.5%) held the major recoverable coal reserves. At the country level, USA, Russia, China, Australia and India held the largest coal reserves and,in aggregate, held around 72.4% of the world’s total recoverable reserves. Mongolia has also proven to possess vast resources of coal. According to the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia, coal deposits can be found throughout the country.
Censere was recently invited by The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants ("HKICPA") to conduct a series of workshops for their members for the second year. The workshops were designed to provide participants with an integrated understanding of valuation, with a particular emphasis on the practical issues relating to valuation and valuation principles which underpin them.
We are pleased to announce the launch of our Forensics services. The development of a forensics team fits well with our objective of helping clients make better investment decisions while minimising risk.
We have several key people joining Censere to spearhead this initiative, with new Directors to be stationed in Bangkok, HK and Jakarta. This will strengthen our due diligence capabilities and enable Censere to provide additional services relating to:
• Fraud, corruption, anti-money laundering investigations
• Integrity risk advisory
• Expert witness and dispute resolution
Censere was appointed by China Molybdenum in its US$820m acquisition of Northparkes copper and gold mine. Censere conducted a valuation of the mine for disclosure purposes in accordance with Chapter 18 of the HKEX listing rules. Our report was including in a circular to shareholders in relation to the acquisition.
Censere was awarded the Quamnet Outstanding Services Award 2013 for Business Appraisal and Valuation Services. This is the second consecutive year Censere has won the same award. The winners list can be found here
Please Follow the link to an interview with Censere's CEO and Managing Director.
Censere's CEO, Brett Shadbolt, accepting the award on behalf of Censere, stated "we are extremely pleased to have received the Quamnet award for a second time, this is a trend we hope to continue".
Since the early 1990s, when the supermarket sector started to open to private and foreign investors, the Chinese supermarket sector has been expanding massively. In 1992 there were around 2,500 supermarkets in China, and following economic growth and urbanization, the number of supermarket increased fourfold by 2002. The growth trend continued and the number reached 38,554 by 2011. The compound annual growth rate from 2002 to 2011 was 15.82%. As a matter of course, sales volume has also increased significantly from RMB131.8 billion in 2002 to RMB339.8 billion in 2011. Today, the Chinese supermarket sector is quite mature and competitive.
With the second largest population in the world and a growing economy, India is a big water consumer. However, as a result of limited water availability and poor infrastructure, India faces a number of challenges. The Water Security Index, created by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), gives India an overall score of 1.6 which is low compared to other Asian countries. Among the five components of the index India gets the lowest scores for household water security, urban water security, and environmental water security. This indicates that India suffers from serious water problems including: (1) poor ability to satisfy household water and sanitation needs, and poor ability to meet hygiene requirements for public health in all communities; (2) insufficient urban water-related services, such as water supply, wastewater treatment, and drainage; and (3) river basins that are in poor health.
The IAIR Asian Awards took place on 22nd of November, 2013 at the Sheraton Hotels & Tower in Hong Kong. Censere has been awarded the 2013 Best Company for Sustainability Strategic Advisory (Asia Pacific) Award. The winners list can be found here
