Censere
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Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere, will be discussing Portfolio Valuation for Private Equity Funds at the annual CVCFO conference in Shanghai on 7th September 2012 in Shanghai. For further information please check the CVCFO website.
Analyst First is a human-focused, exploratory and intelligence-based analytics group. Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere is the head of the Singapore chapter and will explain its functions during the inaugural meeting on September 11th, 2012. Dr Eugene Dubossarsky, the founder of the Analyst First movement will also be present to give a presentation on analytics.
Brett Shadbolt is quoted in an IAM Magazine Blog article IP as the new currency debated in Singapore.
Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere, will be speaking about valuation of IP at the Europe Asia Patent and Patent Information Conference 2012.
The conference will be held at Resorts World Convention Centre, Resorts World Sentosa, on Friday, July 13th 2012.
Censere is pleased to announce that we have established an office in Seoul, South Korea
This is our 11th office and continues our objective of building a comprehensive Asia Pacific network to assist clients across the region. Contact details for our Seoul office are as follows:
Censere Korea Inc.
#322 KS Bldg, 738, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-080 Korea
Jean-Baptiste Roy, Senior Manager at Censere, will be presenting at a lunchtime seminar organised by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Macao on Thursday, May 10th 2012 from 12.30pm to 2.00pm.
The event, titled "Maximizing the Revenue from your Intellectual Property" will cover valuation, taxation and transfer pricing issues for IP. For further information and/or registration details please download the program here.
Transfer pricing refers to the way that multinationals price all transactions (goods, services, royalties, interest etc.) between related entities. Transfer pricing is a primary concern for tax authorities that want a fair share of tax revenue and for multinationals that want a true measure of their profit driving activities. Such transactions need to be priced on an “arm’s length” basis and multinational taxpayers are faced with significant compliance obligations and penalties to ensure compliance with this principle.
Since 60-80% of the value of an MNC is considered to lie in its intangible assets, it is no surprise that the OECD and tax authorities globally are now particularly focused on this aspect of transfer pricing. The potential risks can include disallowance of tax deductions for license fee/royalty payments paid to related parties, arguments for significant exit taxes where intangibles are moved between group entities and claims for increased profitability in local distributors due to the presence of local marketing intangibles.
The banks and project financiers who apply LCOE to their models typically hire consulting firms to generate LCOE analyses in order to help them make investment decisions. Some large developers such as Siemens and General Electric, they have internal teams performing the service internally. LCOE analysis is not only valuable for developers and bankers; it is also useful for policy makers, with particular regards to industries reliant on government incentives, like solar energy.
With Australia leading the way in developing unconventional gas reserves in Queensland and across Australia, other regional players are trying to follow in Australia’s footsteps.
Coal Bed Methane in Australia
Australian exploration companies have focused on developingCoal Bed Methane (“CBM”) reserves and have been credited for being the most mature industry players in the field of unconventional gas (“UG”)within the region. With three sanctioned Liquefied Natural Gas (“LNG”) export projects utilising reserves in Queensland, the next 5 years will see investment of over $50bUSD, these developmentswill supply more than 25m metric tons of LNG annually to increasingly energy starved Asian buyers.
The rapid pace of PE business developing in China has seen the regulatory regime struggling to keep up.With no coherentlaw or regulation governing PE in Mainland China at a national level, the government has taken initiative by appointing the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) to take a leading role in forming a new regulatory environment for Private Equity and Venture Capital in China.
The recent outcry for regulation is due to Limited Partners(“LP”)[investors] becoming caught up in funds mimicking Ponzi-schemes, promising extravagant returns and attracting investors by flooding them with early high dividends that abruptly end as soon as the fund is closed for investments. Thisisa worst case scenario, but it illustrates the fundamental problems the Chinese Private Equity industry is facing; a lack of transparency and oversight. Also, the basic economics of the Chinese investment climate proves to be another problem; with too much capital to be invested, unsophisticated LP’s are often lured into these deals as PE’s renownedfor delivering extraordinary returns to its investors internationally.
HKEx endorses wider Intellectual Property disclosure.
Can a wider disclosure of IP bring benefits to a launching business? The HK Exchange believes so. The recent guidance note from HKex in relation to Main Board Listing Rule Appendix 1 - Part a Paragraph 28(4) - and GEM Listing Rule Appendix 1 - Part a Paragraph 28(4) – encourages listing companies to disclose how IP impacts their business and its profitability.
What’s the reason behind this initiative? Generally, wise investors know that IP portfolios do not automatically translate into profits. Only companies that effectively manage and grow IP are the ones capable of generating superior returns.
Following closely on the heel's of our Shanghai expansion, Our HK office has also relocated to larger premises, but within the same building. We have moved from Unit B on the 9th floor of Tern Centre to the whole of the 3rd floor. Our new address is therefore:
Censere (Far East) Limited 3/F, Tower 2, Tern Centre251 Queen's Road Central Hong Kong
All other contact details remain unchanged.
As a result of continued growth in our Shanghai business, we have relocated our office as follows:
Censere Shanghai Office Unit H, 5/F, Crystal Century Tower No. 567 Weihai Road Jingan District Shanghai 200041
Please note that our contact numbers have also changed:
Tel: +86 21 3353 8720 / 3353 8290
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Censere Announces Strategic Alliance With Transfer Pricing AssociatesCensere is pleased to announce that we have entered into an alliance with Transfer Pricing Associates (“TPA”), the leading independent provider of global transfer pricing and valuation services.
This alliance will compliment both parties; increasing access to new markets in Europe, the USA, and Asia-Pacific.
Importantly, it will enable both firms to provide an integrated service offering to clients in Asia Pacific, EMEA, and the Americas, encompassing transfer pricing, customs, valuations, and due diligence services to meet the needs for best practice multi-disciplinary consulting services.
As Censere continues to expand, additional strategic relationships will be developed with leading organisations in order to extend the comprehensive service capability and the presence of Censere around the world.
Censere takes a look at changing environment for FDI in infrastructure.
The development of infrastructure in the Asia ex-China region has undeniably lagged behind the strong economic growth in the region.
The projected growth for the coming decade has put infrastructure investments on the radar of foreign investors who eye it as a “Trillion Dollar Holy Grail”. However, the question remains whether foreigners can participate and capitalize on the “brick-building” of Asia.
The Asian Development Bank estimates that USD$8 trillion will be invested in the region from 2011-2020 and that approximately 10% of these projects will involve FDI; with the remainder coming from public finances or local banks.
Energy demand is projected to double in Asia-Pacific by 2030. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for new and innovative ways to generate power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Solar energy has long been singled out as one of the strongest contenders amongst renewable energy sources.
Several technologies are currently being tested, but two forms have been commercialised for converting sunlight directly into electricity and now dominate the market:
Western executives have spent the last decade worrying about the threat of competition from China due to its access to cheap labour. Having been the home to manufacturing factories for companies like Apple, China’s competitive strategy up to now has been to compete on price. The current trend is leaning towards the next Apple being born in China due to the rapid increase in innovation and China’s desire to move up in the value chain – going from being a manufacturer of products to the inventor of the products.
Patent application has been an indicator heavily used to track innovation. It is no hidden secret that Chinese patent applications have now surpassed both Japan and the US due to its impressive 30% annual growth rate (vs Japan’s 4% growth rate).
The problem however with using patent application numbers as an indicator of innovation is misleading due to these three factors:
Commercialization of patents is lower than e.g Japan and Korea by 40%.Number of patents actually granted and cited by other patents is also lower reflecting lower quality patents than e.g Japan which is cited more frequently and has a higher success rate in granted applications.Patents that fulfill the above, fail to reach the market due to lack of an ecosystem built around the patent (e.g. bad licensing agreements and lack of framework to collect royalties among Chinese firms due to lack of expertise).However it is dangerous to dismiss the idea of China potentially becoming a legitimate patent powerhouse; there are early signs of a rapidly maturing market for IP. The high application number reflects Chinese firms starting to respect international IP regulations and the commitment it entails.
An example supporting this hypothesis is the ongoing international IP litigation between two Chinese companies; ZTE and Huawei, two companies with headquarters close to Shenzen. They are also a prime indicator of firms driving the heavy growth in patent application coming from China given their increase in R&D spending by 30-50% during the recession vs their Japanese counterparts who cut spending by more than 10-20%.
Censere CEO, Brett Shadbolt, is invited at the Canadian Chamber of Hong Kong on May 25th 2011
In any acquisition or investment situation, determining the price to pay is critical to ensuring long-term success. Valuation shouldn't just mean determining “what it's worth to me” but should also consider what it's worth to the counter-party and other third parties who might have an interest in the deal | competitors, regulators, etc. Each of these will have different opinions of value - valuation should be a strategic focus in any transaction.Investing in emerging markets like China results in an additional set of challenges, beyond that experienced in developed markets. Depth and maturity of markets, transparency, regulatory constraints, cultural differences, accounting/tax policy differences - all of these influence valuation.
To register: http://www.cancham.org/asp/calendar_detail.asp?item=B7ZADGEQT
