Where Opportunity Is Found - Research & Analysis on Thomson Reuters Corporation (USA) and Iron Mountain Incorporated - msnbc.com

HONG KONG — This morning, www.MarketFoundations.com announced new reports highlighting Thomson Reuters Corporation (USA) (NYSE: TRI) and Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM). Free research downloads are available at www.MarketFoundations.com/index.php?coa=TRI&cob=IRM.

With markets in correction mode, investors are looking to quantify an accurate model, weighing positives and negatives of the months ahead. Upcoming negative pressures include China's slowdown, the European recession, the end of the Fed's Operation Twist stimulus program, continued geopolitical risks, election uncertainty, and potential 2013 budget bombshell of tax hikes and spending cuts. Meanwhile, positive offsets are driven by central banks (particularly China) cutting rather than hiking rates, deceleration in fuel and food prices, increase in consumer sentiment and resulting retail sales, signs of improvement in housing sales and new strength in auto production schedules.

Despite the current situation, our team continues to identify high momentum situations with growth potential -- there remains strong opportunity within careful discretion.

Market Foundations is releasing new coverage on Thomson Reuters Corporation (USA) for its current position within the technology industry. Thomson Reuters Corporation (Thomson Reuters) is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals. The full research report on Thomson Reuters Corporation (USA) (NYSE: TRI) is available here: www.MarketFoundations.com/index.php?coa=TRI.

Market Foundations has released research on Iron Mountain Incorporated for its changing role within the technology industry. Iron Mountain Incorporated (Iron Mountain) provides information management services. The Company offers records management services, data protection and recovery services and information destruction services. It has a diversified customer base consisting of commercial, legal, banking, healthcare, accounting, insurance, entertainment and Government organizations. The full research report on Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) is available here: www.MarketFoundations.com/index.php?cob=IRM.

About Market Foundations
By providing members with financial information services, we provide the foundation investors need to build investing intelligence. The difference between consistently making good investments or bad investments is nothing more than the right information at the right time.

© Marketwire 2012

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CORRECTED-GE sees $3 bln in Australia gas opportunities-report - Reuters

SYDNEY May 23 (Reuters) - Conglomerate General Electric Co (GE) sees A$3 billion ($3 billion) worth of business opportunities in the Australian gas market "in the next few years", the Australian newspaper reported.

John Krenicki, chief executive of GE's Energy division, was quoted as saying the company rates Australia as one of its top ten markets, as the country heads to become the world's largest producer of liquified natural gas (LNG) by 2017.

GE last week bid for Australian mining equipment firm Industrea Ltd in a deal estimated at around A$470 million offer..

GE said last year it aimed to raise revenue at its energy division by at least 8 percent in 2012, and was targeting $60 billion in revenue from the unit by 2014.

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UPDATE 2-Nomura Q4 jumps on market boost, risks remain - Reuters UK

* Q4 net 22.08 bln yen vs 14.9 bln yen consensus

* Stock and fixed income trading, mutual fund sales provide boost

* Overseas deal mandates promising sign for banking fees

* Analysts see big profit improvement in year to March 2013

* Insider-trading probe in Japan seen as overhang on brokers (Recasts, adds CFO and analysts' comments)

By Nathan Layne and Emi Emoto

TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Nomura Holdings booked its biggest quarterly profit in 2-1/2 years on Friday, beating expectations on stronger Japanese stocks and trading gains, while cost cuts and overseas deals lay the foundation for an expected jump in profitability this year.

Japan's top investment bank is still struggling with big losses in Europe and remains vulnerable to a pullback in the Nikkei stock average, which has slipped 5 percent since the start of April. It also faces the risk of sanctions in an ongoing insider-trading probe

But its second straight quarterly profit and the largest since July-September 2009 shows Nomura has stabilised its operations after a rocky 2011 when tough conditions prompted it to launch a $1.2 billion cost-cutting plan and Moody's to cut its credit rating to one notch above junk.

Net profit came to 22.08 billion yen ($273 million) in the January-March fiscal fourth quarter, up 86 percent from 11.9 billion yen a year earlier. The result handily beat market expectations for a profit of 14.9 billion yen, according to a Reuters survey of seven analysts.

"The momentum from the fourth quarter is still with us," Nomura Chief Financial Officer Junko Nakagawa told a news conference. "The operating environment is tough but there are several deals that should translate into good business opportunities."

Trading commissions were boosted by the recent uptick in Japanese shares, with daily turnover on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rebounding to above 1.5 trillion yen in February and March from below 1 trillion yen in December, an 8-year low.

The solid quarter also reflects an increase in sales of mutual funds through banks and its nationwide network of 179 branches, including 300 billion yen alone for one Australian bond fund launched by its asset management arm.

Nomura's fixed income operations pitched in as well, echoing trading conditions seen in results from Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and some other U.S. banks. Net gains on trading at Nomura came to 99 billion yen, marking that category's best performance since October-December 2010.

PROMISING SIGNS, RISKS

Nomura has pointed to recently secured mandates in a handful of key deals as a sign it is gaining some traction in an overseas expansion built on the purchase of the European and Asian assets of failed Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Those contracts include advising mining group Xstrata on its mega-merger with commodities trader Glencore , and serving as joint bookrunner on Spanish bank Bankinter's 1.0 billion euro bond in March.

So far in 2012 Nomura ranks ninth globally for advising on mergers and acquisitions, up from 13th in 2011 and a lowly 32nd in 2007 before the Lehman purchase, Thomson Reuters data shows. It remains the top investment bank on Japan-related deals.

"From now on it's important that Nomura continues focusing on incrementally growing revenue in its overseas banking business at the same time as trying to maintain the positivity from Japanese retail returning to the market," said Makarim Salman, head of Japan financials research at Jefferies in Tokyo.

Factoring in the higher fees and the benefits of its cost-cutting, the market expects Nomura to have its best year in six in the current year to March 2013, with 11 analysts forecasting an average 86 billion yen profit.

But like other global investment banks, Nomura has dialed back its risk-taking in the wake of the European debt crisis and to prepare for tougher capital requirements and regulatory restrictions on proprietary trading.

That could hinder the efforts of CEO Kenichi Watanabe to address its relatively weak earnings power. Nomura registered an annualised return-on-equity of 0.6 percent, compared with Goldman's 12.2 percent.

After a blistering rally in the first three months of the year, investors are once again focused on the perceived limits to Nomura's earnings potential. Ahead of the results, the stock closed on Friday at 330 yen, well off the 11-month high of 417 hit on March 19.

Daiwa Securities Group is also thought to be on a recovery path, with analysts predicting a return to profit this year after two years in the red, helped by its recent move to scale back overseas, and firmer Japanese stocks.

On Friday, Daiwa posted a net profit of 10.9 billion yen for January-March, returning to the black after five quarters in the red.

Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, Australia's top investment bank Macquarie Group reported a second-half net profit of A$425 million, just ahead of analysts' expectations.

ESCALATION OF PROBE

A probe by Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) into insider trading, launched in 2010 amid suspicious trading around a string of public stock offerings, is seen as a risk for all major brokers in the nation.

On Wednesday the regulator sent officials to Nomura's offices in an escalation of its investigation into the broker's suspected involvement in leaking inside information, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The SESC suspects that a Nomura employee tipped off a fund manager client about at public offering of energy firm Inpex in 2010, sources have said. The regulator is also looking into the possibility of insider trading around a share offering by Tokyo Electric Power. Nomura was an underwriter on both of those offerings.

CFO Nakagawa said that so far there has not been a major impact on Nomura's operations, but declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation.

"Earnings beat the consensus mainly due to a strong market recovery in the quarter. But the outlook looks unclear with share prices in a downward trend since April," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

"We also cannot be optimistic now because the market is nervously watching the developments of the insider trading investigation. Nomura's business could severely be affected if the probe develops in some serious way." ($1 = 80.7900 Japanese yen) (Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo and Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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FEATURE-Start-up firms bloom in wake of Arab Spring - Reuters UK

* Arab Spring underlines need to create jobs

* So governments, aid donors focus more on smaller firms

* This is drawing fresh interest among investors

* State welfare spending creates new business opportunities

* Government tenders become more transparent

By Mirna Sleiman

DUBAI, April 11 (Reuters) - Jordanian entrepeneur Majied Qasem waited three years before arranging outside funding for his start-up company, d1g.com, an Arabic social media and content-sharing platform. He finally succeeded in September 2011, eight months after Arab Spring uprisings erupted in the region.

The company now has over 35 million page views per month, with growth in traffic stimulated by online debates about a wide range of political and social issues, says Qasem, 40.

Like many entrepreneurs in the Arab world, he believes the region's political and economic upheaval has helped rather than hurt his business, by creating fresh demand for his products, persuading investors to seek new opportunities, and making governments more sympathetic to the needs of start-ups.

"Investors historically targeted well-established companies that had very low risk and provided high returns. But now, after the Arab Spring, investors are pouring the same amounts of money into multiple smaller companies, betting a few of them will see a remarkable success story," said Qasem.

"We're seeing unprecedented amounts of money paid by investors, governments and development funds to seed start-ups and small firms."

The economic damage caused by the Arab Spring has not yet faded. Egypt and Tunisia are coping with waves of industrial unrest as they seek to rebuild their tourism industries and lure back foreign investors. Libya is recovering from a civil war, while sectarian unrest still weighs on Bahrain's economy. In countries such as Jordan, governments have boosted welfare spending to try to buy social peace, undermining their finances.

But a positive result of the turmoil is that in some ways, conditions for entrepreneurs are improving, officials and businessmen say. Previously, start-up firms were sometimes discouraged by authorities as threats to small groups of privileged businessmen cooperating with authoritarian regimes. Now they are more often welcomed as tools to create jobs.

Arif Naqvi, group chief executive of Abraaj Capital, the Middle East's largest private equity firm with over $6 billion under management, said one of the most dramatic changes in the region's economic thinking since the Arab Spring was the realisation that smaller firms, not big state-linked ones, would be the engine for growth because they could create more jobs.

"I'm a great believer that the Arab Spring has more in common with the Occupy Wall Street movement, the street riots in London, and the food riots in Mumbai than it had with political change," said Naqvi.

"Mohamed Bouazizi wasn't sending a political message when he set himself on fire. He wanted to work, to live and to survive," Naqvi added, referring to the Tunisian vegetable seller whose suicide in December 2010 triggered the upheaval in the region.

FUNDING

Difficulty in obtaining loans from risk-averse Arab banks, which often focus on serving large clients, has long been a major obstacle to setting up businesses in the region. Foreign aid donors such as the European Union, the United States and multilateral lending bodies have stepped up efforts to fill this gap since last year.

Mouayed Makhlouf, regional director for the International Finance Corp, a unit of the World Bank, said the IFC had invested $2.2 billion in the Middle East and North Africa since January 2011, becoming a significant source of capital for private firms.

"Back in 2005 we were doing in the range of $300 million in MENA. We're now allocating more than $2 billion a year," mainly investments in small and medium-sized enterprises, he said, adding that the IFC saw investment opportunities in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco.

While endorsing the idea of developing smaller firms, cash-strapped governments in oil-importing Arab countries have mostly lacked the resources to give them more access to funding. Distracted by political change, parliaments in those countries have been slow to make legal changes that would help start-ups, such as reforming tax and labour laws.

But governments in wealthy Gulf states, seeing unemployment as a potential source of social unrest, are paying more attention to funding smaller firms. Last year, the state-affiliated Saudi Industrial Development Fund began guaranteeing as much as 80 percent of commercial bank loans to small firms, up from 50 percent previously.

Increased government support is in turn encouraging more private investors within the Middle East to consider funding start-ups, businessmen say.

Abraaj, through its $650 million Riyada Enterprise Development Fund, has invested in 13 SMEs since 2009. It says the fund screened over 400 companies for possible investment in 2011, roughly four times the number in 2010.

"Large pools of money are being set up to invest in the right venture. More than before, investors believe in the economic, social and financial value of seeding start-ups," said Fadi Ghandour, founder and chief executive of Dubai-listed logistics company Aramex.

Ghandour, along with Abraaj's Naqvi, founded a fund in 2010 which acts as an "angel investor" in Middle Eastern start-ups. It has so far made investments in over 40 companies, more than half of the deals closing in 2011.

TECHNOLOGY

Some entrepreneurs think the Arab Spring is creating business opportunities for them by refocusing the attention of governments on mass living standards and social welfare.

Two such entrepreneurs founded Agricel in Dubai earlier this year. The company is promoting a soil-less, water-saving farming technology which it says can be used in arid terrain including deserts as well as urban areas.

Kunal G. Wadhwani, co-founder of Agricel, says the firm will offer the technology to Arab governments which, thanks to the political upheaval, have become more sensitive to the dangers of high food prices, water scarcity and mass poverty.

"Against the background of young populations and popular uprisings, and given the challenges of food security and water scarcity in the medium term, the region will benefit from our ability to aid new governments face these problems," he said.

Agricel's founders say they initially funded the firm themselves with support from family and friends, but recently obtained funding from a bank in Dubai. Wadhwani is a veteran entrepeneur who was involved in setting up a regional business information service a decade ago; his colleague Yalman Khan is a former investment banker.

Other firms think they will benefit because the government will get out of their way. Tunisia's revolution has removed the grip of businessmen close to former ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from the economy, says Ridha Charfeddine, founder of Unimed, a group of pharmaceutical laboratories in the country.

"Generally speaking, now that the rules of the game are clear, everybody is equal and has their chance," he said, adding that deals and tenders involving the government had become more transparent.

Partly as a result, he said, Unimed's revenues grew at a double-digit rate last year. The company obtained a fresh investment from Abraaj Capital and investment firm Proparco in April 2011 to support its expansion. (Editing by Andrew Torchia)

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Management Tip of the Day: Network intensely to find a job - Reuters India

Commuters make their way in the fog across London Bridge towards the financial district of London November 23, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Chris Helgren/Files

BOSTON | Mon Apr 2, 2012 6:58pm IST

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massive, highly deliberate outreach is the only reliable path to victory when it comes to networking as part of a job search and to find new opportunities, says Harvard Business Review.

The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters.

"The best way to find a job is through networking. But don't limit your outreach to close friends and current colleagues. Cast a wide net and reach people beyond your immediate circle.

Here are three steps to do that:

1. Broadly define your network. You have more contacts than you think. Consider former classmates, former colleagues, clients, and community acquaintances. When you make a contact, ask for introductions to others.

2. View discussions as learning opportunities. Approach meetings as conversations, not interviews. Ask about more than jobs. Ask about the industry, how to succeed, and how to position yourself.

3. Keep good records. Connecting with many people can be complicated. After each meeting, write down what you learned and what you'll do as a result."

Today's management tip was adapted from "Find a Job with Massive, Structured Networking" by Bill Barnett.

(For the full post, see: here)

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UPDATE 3-Fortis eyes US regulated business with $1 bln CH Energy buy - Reuters UK

* Offer at 11 pct premium to CH Energy's Friday close

* Fortis to assume debt of $500 mln on closing

* CH Energy shares trade $1.15 above Fortis' offer price

* Prefer to hold stock for 2-3 yrs - CH Energy shareholder (Adds investor and analysts comments; updates shares)

By Aftab Ahmed and Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Canadian utility Fortis Inc said it will buy New York's CH Energy Group Inc for about $1 billion to enter the U.S. state-regulated electric and gas distribution business that assures stable return amid weak power demand.

Fortis, which will also assume $500 million debt, will pay CH Energy shareholders $65 a share, representing a premium of about 11 percent to CH Energy's Friday's close.

CH Energy shares, however, were trading $1.15 above the offer price on Tuesday, indicating some investors were expecting a higher bid for the company.

"We would prefer being long-term holders, because we see an opportunity to take natural gas from Marcellus down to New York," said Mario Gabelli, the billionaire chairman of Gabelli Funds that is CH Energy's largest shareholder with a 10.36 percent stake.

Gabelli was referring to the gas-rich Marcellus shale fields in northeastern United States that has flooded the market with the clean-burning fuel.

"We would prefer to hold on to the stock for the next 2-3 years," he said.

Poughkeepsie, New York-based CH Energy's Central Hudson Gas & Electric is a regulated transmission and distribution utility serving about 300,000 electric and 75,000 natural gas customers in eight counties of New York State's Mid-Hudson River Valley.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Juan Plessis said that as the deal is expected to close within the next 12 months, there was enough time for other parties take a look at CH Energy.

The fragmented U.S. utility industry has seen a number of deals in recent years -- such as Exelon's $7.9 billion offer for Constellation Energy and Duke Energy's $13.7 billion bid for Progress Energy -- as companies look to save costs and prepare for stricter environmental regulations.

"CH Energy is a small utility and it's not that surprising they are being acquired, considering the on-going consolidation in the industry," Glenrock Associates analyst Paul Patterson said.

Fortis, which lost out to Gaz Metro for Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) last year, had said it could spend up to $6 billion to buy assets in the United States as opportunities in Canada were few.

"We originally thought a deal would be larger at about $3 billion to $5 billion range, but I think this gives Fortis a good opportunity to get a feel for the U.S. regulated market," Morningstar analyst Andrew Bischof said.

"I would not be surprised to see them do another small acquisition like this or may be even a larger one."

Fortis, the largest investor-owned distribution utility in Canada, serves more than 2 million gas and electricity customers. It owns and operates non-regulated generation assets across Canada, Belize and upstate New York.

The deal is expected to immediately add to Fortis' earnings, excluding one-time transaction costs.

"The purchase price has an implied PE of 25, which seems a little rich at first glance," Bischof said.

Canaccord's Plessis also said the deal was pricey, but in line with recent transactions such as Gaz Metro's buyout of CVPS and AltaGas' purchase of Continental Energy Systems unit Semco Energy Inc for $1.14 billion.

Fortis is being advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Lazard is advising CH Energy. (Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Don Sebastian)

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Asian firms in pole as Myanmar beckons - Reuters India

By Ploy Ten Kate and Yoko Kubota

BANGKOK/TOKYO | Mon Jan 9, 2012 12:22pm IST

BANGKOK/TOKYO (Reuters) - As Myanmar emerges from a half century of isolation, Asian companies with high tolerance for risk are sizing up business opportunities in what was once one of Asia's wealthiest nations.

But 'first mover' advantage won't necessarily count for much.

Shares in Singapore's Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd have more than trebled to 4-year highs in the past month after the company said it would develop land north of former capital Yangon into a project known as "Star City" that will include housing estates and shopping malls targeting a new middle class.

Yoma is just one of many Asian companies poised to move following three months of the most dramatic changes in the resource-rich country since the military took power in a 1962 coup in what was then Burma.

"Myanmar is now in everyone's spotlight," said Apisak Tantivorawong, president of Thai lender Krung Thai Bank Pcl.

Recent overtures by Myanmar's new civilian government include calls for peace with ethnic minority groups, some tolerance of criticism, an easing in media controls and more communication with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released last year from 15 years of house arrest.

On recent visits, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague have promised more support if Myanmar moves quickly on political reforms.

While many Western multinationals remain publicly cautious about the investment prospects of a country entangled in U.S. and European sanctions following years of human rights abuses, Asian firms hope to fill the void.

"Myanmar presents a relative low risk, high return proposition that is hard to ignore," said Krishna Ramachandra, head of corporate finance and investment funds at law firm Duane Morris & Selvam LLP in Singapore.

"I've had queries from corporate clients in infrastructure and construction who are keen to explore Myanmar for the simple reason it presents a compelling high investment growth strategy," he added.

Japanese businesses are among those looking to expand, and the two governments agreed last month to start talks on an investment pact.

Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano this week leads a delegation to Myanmar that includes officials from top Japanese companies such as Hitachi Ltd (6501.T), Toshiba Corp (6502.T), Mitsui & Co Ltd (8031.T), Itochu Corp (8001.T), JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp (8001.T) and Marubeni Corp (8002.T). Edano is expected to promote plans to develop Myanmar's infrastructure, and will offer to send Japanese engineers for technical assistance.

"Economic interest in Myanmar is growing greatly. We plan to move forward with talks, especially on infrastructure development, with various economic committees," Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Nippon Keidanren, Japan's biggest business lobby, told Reuters.

Japanese small- and mid-sized firms, especially in textiles and fisheries, want to set up production bases in Myanmar, and bigger firms are taking an interest, said Yoshihiro Araki, senior researcher at the Japan External Trade Organization.

"Other countries are rushing in," he said. "Japanese businesses are thinking they cannot lose this race."

LINGERING RISKS

But opaque foreign investment rules and a weak judicial system could keep some investors on the sidelines.

Don Lam, CEO of VinaCapital, Vietnam's largest asset manager, for example, sees opportunities in Myanmar's consumer goods and agriculture industries, but he also sees risks, saying Myanmar is at a similar stage of development as Vietnam in 1994, when the United States lifted sanctions against Hanoi.

"Coming in early doesn't necessarily mean you actually make money," he said. "Those who came to Vietnam in the early 1990s actually didn't make money until the rules and everything were cleared up. Only the second wave of investors, those coming in ... 10 years later, they actually made money."

"The challenge is similar to Vietnam in the early days, which is the evolution of legal structures," he said. "Once those clear up, major investors, institutional investors, will be more confident investing in Myanmar. At the moment, it's sort of in limbo."

Asked if he was ready to invest in Myanmar, he expressed caution. "It's way, way too early. We're taking it slow."

That sentiment is shared by Douglas Clayton, a former hedge-fund manager who is now chief executive and managing partner of Leopard Capital, a private equity fund focused on emerging Asian markets and backed by overseas investors.

"A lot of individual investors arrive hoping to buy a house in Yangon or some cheap beach land, and then discover that property can't be owned directly by foreigners. As Myanmar reforms its foreign investment laws, there'll be a wave of foreign direct investment into major sectors like banking, electricity, telecoms, Internet services and hotels," he said.

"Other investors will come looking for natural resources like mining and agricultural land. Myanmar simply needs everything."

But the government has a lot to do, he said.

"Myanmar needs to harmonize its foreign exchange rates and create a foreign investment code similar to other countries in Southeast Asia. The laws should be changed to facilitate foreign investment in real estate, for example. The government should make it as easy as possible for foreign investors to move through the investment approval process, and provide tax incentives comparable to other developing countries."

"Investing now is essentially speculating that a package of reform measures will be implemented, which will help make Myanmar's economic revival sustainable. More cautious long-term investors will prefer to wait for new laws to be passed."

One early mover in the agricultural sector is Escorts Ltd (ESCO.NS), a $135 million Indian farm machinery maker.

"Farming conditions are similar to India, and we ... have found ways to appoint a distributor/dealer," said Nikhil Nanda, joint managing director. "In terms of business, it's currently very small, but in terms of the future, Myanmar is a market that can have a decent demand prospect for us."

SANCTIONS ROLLBACK?

But there is some jostling for pole position to tap one of Asia's final frontier markets.

As big as France and Britain combined, Myanmar and its 60 million people sit at the crossroads between China, India and Southeast Asia, with ports on the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea, making it a vital energy security asset for Beijing's landlocked western provinces and a priority for Washington as President Barack Obama strengthens engagement with Asia.

"Those who were not likely to look at Myanmar as a business destination are now beginning to study business opportunities there," said D.K. Sarraf, managing director of ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of India's state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC.NS).

"As far as our interest is concerned, it would depend on how soon sanctions are lifted."

ONGC Chairman Sudhir Vasudeva told Reuters on Friday that his group, which has two gas blocks in Myanmar with production due to start in 2013, was looking at further opportunities in Myanmar. "It's an area of interest to us. It's close to home."

Western sanctions could begin being rolled back this year, possibly as early as April after Suu Kyi contests by-elections. If the April 1 election goes smoothly, and remaining political prisoners are freed, some expect the European Union to lift its sanctions later that month.

"The substantive release of political activists is probably the last real issue which needs to be resolved before Western trade, investment and development aid can be resumed," Derek Tonkin, Britain's former ambassador to Thailand and now chairman of Network Myanmar, a civic group, wrote in a recent report.

Some companies aren't waiting.

Stockbroking analysts in Bangkok expect at least three Thai companies - Italian-Thai Development Pcl ITD.BK, PTT Exploration and Production Pcl PTTE.BK and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl RATC.BK - to see a boost in their share prices this year as Myanmar develops its southern city of Dawei as a port and special economic zone in partnership with Thai firms.

"Myanmar's Dawei Special Economic Zone will present decade-long investment and growth opportunities for Thai companies if it gets going," said Citibank analyst Suchart Techaposai.

Italian-Thai, Thailand's top construction company, expects to sign loan agreements this year worth $12.5 billion to build a deep-sea port, industrial complex and power plants at Dawei.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation would likely provide most of the funding for the port along with road and rail links from Dawei, less than 300 km (186 miles) west of Bangkok, Italian-Thai Chairman Premchai Karnasuta told reporters on December 26.

Despite that project, shares in Italian-Thai slid by more than a fifth last year. Ratchaburi did better, gaining 15 percent, and analysts see Dawei further boosting its stock price, which trades at 10.8 times forecast 2012 earnings, cheaper than China's Yangtze Power Co Ltd's (600900.SS) 11.6 times and India's Reliance Power Ltd's (RPOL.NS) 15.4 times, Thomson Reuters StarMine data show.

Many Japanese firms were slow to join a first wave of foreign investment in Myanmar in the mid-1990s led by Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Japanese firms opened offices there near the end of the boom in 1998. The economy then withered as the United States and Europe tightened sanctions, leaving neighbouring China as the dominant investor.

Takashi Fujino, a Keidanren official who visited Myanmar last year, said its big population and rich resources - from jade to offshore oil and gas and hydroelectric power - make it attractive to Japanese companies.

Myanmar has awarded 10 onshore oil and gas blocks to eight firms in its biggest energy tender in years, and is now offering nine offshore blocks, two Yangon-based sources with direct knowledge of the deals told Reuters on Friday. The winning firms were mostly from Asia, including PTT Exploration and Production and Malaysia's Petronas PETR.UL.

South Korean state-run Korea Resource Corp is looking to develop Myanmar's rare metals, which a spokesman describes as "an untapped and niche market", and some large listed South Korean companies are studying opportunities in resources development and infrastructure, said an official at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

(Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar in SINGAPORE, Prashant Mehra and Aniruddha Basu in MUMBAI, HyunJoo Jin in SEOUL, and John Ruwitch in HANOI; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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Brand Britain puts heritage on show in Olympic year - Reuters UK

Commuters walk past the Olympic Rings, the symbol of the Olympic Games, at St Pancras international station in London in this March 3, 2011 file photo.

Credit: Reuters/Eddie Keogh

By Avril Ormsby

LONDON | Sun Jan 8, 2012 2:15am GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain plans to beam pictures onto Rio de Janeiro's Sugarloaf Mountain and splash images promoting its heritage around airports across the globe as part of an international trade and tourism campaign centred around this summer's London Olympics.

The government has launched a 39 million pound "GREAT" marketing campaign in the hope it will maximise economic potential and generate long-term growth, giving a lift to an economy that has barely grown during the past year, a British minister said on Saturday.

A total of 17 cities around the world, including Los Angeles, Tokyo, Beijing, New Delhi, and Sydney, will be targeted in Britain's biggest marketing campaign in these locations.

It will also link up with international events such as the Oscars and New York Fashion Week.

"This is a huge, huge opportunity to bang the drum for Britain and for British business and if we didn't use the focus that is happening across the whole world on Britain and London, to do what we can to boost British business and jobs, the country would never forgive us," said Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt.

"This is our message to the naysayers who are saying we should be cutting back on investment, we're not just not cutting back we're actually increasing the amount of money going into it," Hunt, who will visit all 17 cities, told Reuters.

"We made a big call that this was going to be a very unique moment, a one-off moment, and therefore we should back it."

The cities were chosen because they offered the best potential for attracting investment, tourism or international students, Hunt said.

Britain also hopes to benefit from the Diamond Jubilee, celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 60-year reign.

The GREAT campaign is backed by leading British businesses as well as figures from the fashion world including Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood. A role is also being devised for the country's most famous fictional secret agent James Bond.

People arriving at 13 airports will be greeted by posters showing famous images including St John's College at Cambridge University, Stonehenge, Tate Britain and the British Museum.

It is expected to attract an extra billion pounds of inward investment and trade over the next year.

The government, which spent 9.3 billion pounds on the Olympics, also hopes to generate 4.6 million visitors during the next four years and 2.3 billion pounds of tourist spending as well as 60,000 new job opportunities.

"This isn't about six weeks of sport on television, although that will be hugely entertaining, this is about six years of business opportunities that we can get if we play our cards right," Hunt said.

He dismissed fears that tourists will stay away from Britain because of the Olympics and said the country had moved on from the "inevitable short-term impact" caused by last summer's riots in London and other English cities.

"I personally think that there will be less displacement than many people feel because London is such a huge cultural city, and there are going to be huge numbers of reasons for people to visit," he said citing exhibitions planned for its leading art galleries.

($1 = 0.6490 British pounds)

(Reporting by Avril Ormsby)

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