Source: APM Page 1 APM visits Mongolia Mongolia Visit - The Country of Chinggis Khaan Christoph Eckart, fund manager of APM´s two microfinance funds, travelled to Mongolia in September 2014 to observe the microfinance sector and to meet with investee microfinance institutions and their micro clients. Below is one of Christoph’s reports on his visit to the region of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia and Darkhan in the North of the Central Asian country. September 2014 Portfolio Manager Microfinance Mag. Christoph Eckart Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH (APM) Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH | Schottenfeldgasse 20 | 1070 Vienna | Phone: +43 1 533 59 76 | www.absolutepm.at | [email protected]With an area of 1,6mil square kilometres Mongolia ranks as high as number 19 by country size, but with a population of only 3mil it also ranks number 140 by population – on average there are 2 Mongolians on one square kilometre of Mongolian land. To put this into relation, there are about 100 Austrians on one square kilometre in Austria. The main exports of this Central Asian economy are copper, coal, crude oil, cashmere, iron ore and gold, which are mainly bought by China, the UK and Russia. Its mineral wealth and geographical location make Mongolia an important partner for China and Russia, which was underlined by the state visits of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in August and September respectively. The GDP of Mongolia grew by 12% in 2013 as well as in 2012 and by a staggering 18% in 2011. So far in 2014, GDP slowed to below double digit numbers. This is mainly due to sluggish devel- opments of mining projects, which delay foreign direct investment and consequently also weigh on the currency. An example would be the uncertainties surrounding the further exploration of the Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine in the Gobi desert. From a demographic perspective GDP growth should remain substantial as the average age of Mongolians is as young as 27 years. The two Vision Microfinance Funds (“Dual Return Fund – Vision Microfinance” and “Dual Return Fund – Vision Microfinance Local Currency”) managed by Absolute Portfolio Management offer investors access to impact investments such as microfinance. The funds have a double bottom line strategy: On one hand maximizing its risk return profile for the benefit of the investor, and on the other hand maximizing the social outreach in breadth and depth to micro, small and medium enterprises in emerging and least developed economies. Through an investment in the Vision Microfinance Funds, loans to carefully selected microfinance institutions (MFIs) are financed, the MFI‘s in turn lend in the form of small credits (microcredits) to poor but economically active people locally. To date over 338 m USD have been handed out in the form of 353 promissory notes to 157 different MFIs in 41 countries. This meaningful and sustainable help for self-help permits families access to food, medical care and education for their children. Until today the lives of approximately one million people have been transformed with the help of the Vision Microfinance Funds.
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APM visits Mongolia - C-Quadrat · The nearby Erdenet Mine is currently the 4th largest copper mine in the world. Darkhan consists of industrialized buildings a.k.a. plattenbau with
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Source: APM Page 1
APM visits Mongolia
Mongolia Visit - The Country of Chinggis Khaan
Christoph Eckart, fund manager of APM´s two microfinance funds, travelled to
Mongolia in September 2014 to observe the microfinance sector and to meet with
investee microfinance institutions and their micro clients. Below is one of
Christoph’s reports on his visit to the region of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of
Mongolia and Darkhan in the North of the Central Asian country.