Kith Meng (Owner of Royal Group of Companies: CTN, MobiTel-012,
the Camlot lottery company and a 45% stake venture with Australia's ANZ Bank
and the head of the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce)
Southeast Asia
Sep 1, 2007



The rise and rise of a Cambodian capitalist
By Shawn W Crispin

PHNOM PENH – Kith Meng's is the bold new face of Cambodian capitalism. Widely considered the country's richest entrepreneur, the Sino-Khmer businessman presides over a sprawling business empire held under his Royal Group of Companies which has leveraged into and helped drive Cambodia's recent economic boom.

With impeccable political connections - including not least his role as a personal advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen - Kith Meng, 37, has secured a growing trove of lucrative government



concessions, licenses and land deals that his Royal Group has in sometimes controversial fashion translated into big business profits.

Those include his controlling stakes in CTN television, mobile telecom leader Mobitel, the Camlot lottery company and a 45% stake in a commercial banking joint venture with Australia's ANZ Bank, where he serves as board chairman and reportedly drives strategic decision-making.

Last year he purchased the swanky Cambodiana Hotel, newly established the Infinity Insurance company and accumulated extensive property holdings and development concessions in the capital Phnom Penh, in what his critics contend are often opaque deals brokered with various line ministries. (Kith Meng could not be reached through his Royal Group for comment.)

His growing service sector empire has drawn both favorable and unfavorable comparisons to neighboring Thailand's telecom tycoon-cum-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's commercial and political ascent. He reportedly will seek a seat on the national senate at upcoming elections and some Phnom Penh-based analysts see him one day as a potential successor to the 55-year-old Hun Sen, who they note rose to political prominence through his military prowess rather than business acumen.

A former refugee from political violence, Kith Meng's is one of Cambodia's most compelling rags to riches stories. His father, Kith Peng Ike, a Sino-Khmer businessman and landlord, was singled out as a "class enemy" during the Khmer Rouge's genocidal purges and he reportedly died from starvation in one of the radical Maoist group's labor camps.

Kith Meng and his family fled the country for Australia, where he was raised and educated. He returned to his war-torn homeland in the early 1990s to help his elder brother, Sophan Kith, to develop the resurrected family business, which upon reestablishment was first known as the Royal Cambodia Company. The enterprise started modestly, supplying furniture, food and office equipment to the United Nations authority that ushered Cambodia's rocky transition from civil war to parliamentary democracy.

In 1991 the Royal Group won the rights to distribute exclusively Canon copiers throughout the country and it quickly spun those monopoly revenues into a joint venture in 1993 with Motorola to establish one of Cambodia's first wireless communication networks. It later did a deal with Luxembourg's Millicom International Cellular, which over the years has grown into the country's leading mobile telecom outfit, Mobitel.

In 1994 Sophan Kith died under mysterious circumstances and, peculiar to cultural norms of seniority as the youngest sibling, Kith Meng took control over the family business. He now serves as both the company's chairman and chief executive officer and his cut-throat approach to business expansion has rapidly transformed the Royal Group into Cambodia's leading service sector conglomerate.

Young gun
As a Western-educated, 37-year-old entrepreneur, Kith Meng's resume stands out among the older generation of ethnic Chinese businessmen who dominate Cambodia's traditional economy. Cambodian politicians have long relied on Sino-Khmer businessmen to run crucial sectors of the national economy, similar to the ethnic-based government-business nexuses seen in Thailand and Indonesia.

In Cambodia that privilege comes with a royal title known as Okhna, which is bestowed on those who make sizable financial contributions to the royal family. Kith Meng is believed to be one of the youngest businessmen to ever receive the honorific and his meteoric commercial rise includes his recent selection as the head the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce.

As Cambodia becomes more integrated into the global economy, Kith Meng has emerged as the government's de facto spokesman for selling the country to potential foreign investors as a profitable and desirable place to do business. He is regularly seen on local television wining and dining foreign business delegations. On the Royal Group's website is a pitch to potential foreign investors to help build its proposed Royal Caesar Casino, which it's billing as "the largest and most dazzling gaming facility in the Cambodia hemisphere".

Beyond the diplomacy and hype, there is much more at play to Kith Meng's growing prominence than mere spin-doctoring. Some political analysts contend that Hun Sen has played an instrumental role in cultivating and mobilizing the young entrepreneur's modern business image in a vigorous public relations effort to shirk his and his government's notorious reputation as the "Mafia on the Mekong".

Cambodia emerged from nearly three decades of civil war only to become known as a regional hub for illicit business, including rampant money laundering, drug smuggling, human trafficking and illegal logging. Hun Sen and his Cambodia People's Party's (CPP) have been directly linked to shadowy figures reputedly involved in illicit businesses, including his established ties to businessman Theng Bunma, who has contributed millions of dollars to the premier's past election campaigns and also implicated by US authorities for alleged drug trafficking.

As Cambodia's aboveground economy booms, state concessions are no doubt providing rich new sources of legitimate revenues for Hun Sen's government. It is unknown whether Kith Meng contributes funds directly to his CPP, but his concession payments to line ministries are no doubt bolstering state coffers. One Phnom Penh-based Western businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity and claims to have personally conducted the due diligence research on the Royal Group's recent joint venture with Australia's ANZ Bank says that his in-depth investigations failed to turn up any "dirty laundry" in Kith Meng's past or present business dealings.

Reborn landed gentry
That's not to say his business practices lack for controversy. Kith Meng's style has reportedly ruffled feathers among the more established Okhna represented in the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, whereby the older generation of Sino-Khmer businessmen have bristled at his perceived patronizing lectures about globalization and at what some of them reportedly view as his overly direct Western-style of interaction.

Whether those complaints stem from genuine pique or instead heartfelt fear of Kith Meng's expanding reach into other Okhna's once monopolized markets is unclear. One Western aid agency representative, who spoke with Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, says that soon after launching last year’s joint venture with ANZ Bank, Kith Meng pushed to expand the bank's local branch network much faster than ANZ first planned. That aggressive strategy, it turns, has paid off handsomely through a fast growing market share of deposits and the lion's share of loans in the nascent home mortgage market.

Other times, critics say, Kith Meng's Royal Group pushes too hard. In June 2006 police armed with batons, tear gas and AK47 assault rifles evicted at least 20 families from a contested land plot worth several million dollars next to Phnom Penh's Preah Monivong Hospital which the government had controversially awa

NEAK OKNHA KITH MENG NEW PREXY OF CAMBODIA
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Neak Oknha Kith Meng was elected new President of the
Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce and automatically of the
Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, CACCI Primary Member
at a General Meeting of the Chambers on 6 July 2005.
Mr. Meng is the Chairman and CEO of the Royal Group of
Companies. He has a rich background in business
entrepreneurship having been Director of Kith Import & Export
Pty Ltd. Canberra, Australia; COE Co., Ltd. Thailand (Clay
Potteries & Artificial Flowers Manufacturer); Royal Cambodia
Co., Ltd. (Import of Canon Office Equipments and Motorola
Radio Communications products); Royal Cambodia Bank and
Royal Bricks Manufacturer.
He is also concurrently the Chairman and CEO of Royal Cambodia Co., Ltd.; and
Chairman of the following companies: CamGSM Co., Ltd. (MobiTel); Royal Telecam
International (Tele2); Royal Group Lottery Co., Ltd. (CamLot); Cambodia Television
Network (CTN TV21) and ANZ Royal Bank, Cambodia.
He has received the following awards: Corporate Citizenship Award granted by
Royal Government of Cambodia; Awarded Dignitary Sowathara Medal Thipadin Rank
and Dignitary Sowathara Medal of Sena Rank by the Royal Government of Cambodia
for contribution to Nation Building; granted (Oknha) Title by Royal Decree by H.M. King
Norodom Sihanouk; designated Special Economic Adviser to the First Prime Minister &
2nd Prime Minister of Cambodia. He was subsequently granted the (Neak Okhna) Title
by Royal Decree of H. M. King Norodom Sihanouk; and Dignitary Medal of
MOHASEREYWAT Rank Highest Honor granted by H.M. King Norodom Sihanouk.
Mr. Meng studied at Melba High School in Canberra, and the Copland College ACT
Australia. He finished his B.S. Economics & Political Science at the Australian National
University, ACT Australia. While his mother tongue is Cambodian, he speaks, reads and
writes fluently in English.
He is active in sports. He jogs and plays golf and table tennis. He was born on
September 1, 1968 and is a citizen of both Cambodia and Australia

Bringing Commerce to Cambodia
Ron Gluckman 02.11.08
Brash, ambitious, some say ruthless, Kith Meng is building an empire in the newest tiger economy.

A towel around his neck, the slight Cambodian in a sweaty Nike (nyse: NKE
 • news - people ) sports shirt shouts instructions into a cell phone. He's stomping across the spacious lawn of the Cambodiana Hotel with an arrogant swagger, like he owns the place. Which, in fact, he does.

He's Kith Meng, and that same swagger is on display practically everywhere you look these days in Cambodia. From hotels to telecoms and television, banking, insurance, even education, Kith's Royal Group has a finger in nearly every pot simmering in Asia's newest tiger economy.

Long derided as a backwater that utterly missed the Asian economic boom, Cambodia has been racing to make up for lost time. News that the economy surged by more than 13% in 2005 caught everyone's attention. But growth has averaged 9% annually since 1998, says Stephane Guimbert, senior country economist at the World Bank. That's the second fastest in Asia, after China. Last year growth may have hit 10%.

Granted, it's from a very low base, and exports are mainly textiles. But investment has picked up in the expectation that oilfields off the southern coast will be developed. Real estate is skyrocketing, faster than anywhere in Asia outside of China. And the country drew more than 2 million visitors last year for the first time. Plans call for a stock exchange to open in 2009.

Susan Schwab, who in November became the first U.S. Trade Representative to visit Cambodia, praises its liberal investment laws and a commitment to cleaning up rampant corruption. "This is a wonderful story, for any country, more so one so scarred by its past," she says. "If the buzz factor hasn't already hit, it's definitely developing." Her visit coincided with a landmark Phnom Penh investment conference. "We expected 300 people, but there were over 500," says Christopher Bruton in Bangkok, one of the organizers and a researcher and consultant in Cambodia for decades. "We have never seen such interest in Cambodia."

Kith happily notes: "Before, people used to think of this as a place of war and instability. But now we are part of the global economy, and everyone is coming."

When they arrive, many have no choice but to court Kith, who, more than any of the country's other tycoons, stands as the rugged role model for wheelers and dealers in this anything-goes, frontier economy. "He's a real rags to riches story," says Dean Cleland, chief executive of ANZ Royal, which is planting ATMs and the bank's vivid blue logo everywhere around Phnom Penh. Australian banking powerhouse ANZ holds 55% in the joint venture, with Kith holding the rest, but nobody would consider him a meek minority shareholder. "We have strong and rigorous board meetings," Cleland says.

The word around town is that the two sides battle constantly, with ANZ struggling to distance itself from a meddlesome Kith. "Who said that?" Kith snorts, temper flaring at any inkling of criticism. Yet he quickly calms down, chuckling as he concedes: "My role in the partnership is to push. And push. I'm like the driver."

It's clearly a role he relishes. And, whatever confrontations ensue behind closed doors, the combustive mix has propelled the venture into a lead role in a banking market that may be growing at 30% a year, fueled by the bubbling real estate market. Of course, Kith also claims plenty of prime Phnom Penh plots.

New high-rises are rapidly reshaping a city skyline still dominated by a 15-story Intercontinental Hotel. But 40-story office, commercial and residential towers are on the rise. Just to trump them, Kith vows to build one 45 floors high. Then came the announcement last month that the 52-story International Finance Tower had gotten approval. Kith will surely adjust his sights higher.

Many of Phnom Penh's streets are still unpaved, and there isn't a single Golden Arches or Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ) yet. Hence, at the opening late last year of a Swensen's, a U.S. chain of ice cream parlors, none other than the U.S. ambassador and the commerce minister cut the ribbon. The hunger for fast food will be satisfied this year by the first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets opened by--who else? Kith, who also has the Pizza Hut concession.

"He's not an entrepreneur in the traditional sense of creating new businesses," notes one close friend. "What he does is go out and get the business that Cambodia needs. He brought in mobile phones, television, banking, insurance. He's the right guy at the right time."

Take ATMs. When ANZ opened in late 2005, there were hardly any in Cambodia. "We wanted to bring in 25," Cleland recalls. Kith wanted 100. "We ended the year with 52, which seemed a fair compromise," Cleland says. The number quickly topped 90 and will surpass Kith's goal any day.

Not that Kith is satisfied. Now he's barking about credit cards. No Cambodian bank issues plastic, not surprising considering the country's rather recent financial turmoil. Money finally returned to circulation after the Khmer Rouge outlawed currency, blew up the banks and turned clocks--and this war-torn nation--back to Year Zero.

Cleland says there may be 6,000 credit cards issued by overseas banks in the country. He reckons that cards rarely make financial sense until the number reaches 100,000. But Kith is guided by intuition, not market studies. "In his words, you cannot be the number one bank without credit cards," Cleland says. And guess what? "We're rolling them out in April," he notes.

The bank boss may not be very excited about the $1.5 million likely to be spent on the rollout, but he's quite satisfied with a profit of $541,000 for 2007--years before any profit was projected. All the more impressive, it comes as the bank plows cash into expansion. "This has been a good partnership, for both sides," Cleland says. " tends to be more cautious, but that definitely isn't his style. He's very aggressive, very bullish."

ANZ almost took a pass on Cambodia. "If not for Kith Meng, I don't think we'd be here," says Cleland. "A lot of people ask why ANZ is in Cambodia. The answer is that he went to Australia looking for a bank for the country. He made the rounds and came back and told us that of all the banks, we were the one that had said 'No' the most politely." Cleland says ANZ had previously assessed Cambodia: "It came up as a market that was too small, and it was too soon." Kith pressured ANZ to reconsider, suggesting that it fly people in for a new look. If they didn't like what they saw, he would pay for the trip. What ANZ saw was a huge cash economy bigger than what bank deposits indicated. "We caught the wave at exactly the right time," Cleland says.

ANZ may know banking, but Kith has the Midas touch in Cambodia. And he clearly stands apart from both the old money--made mainly in mining, logging and smuggling in the 1980s and 1990s--and the new entrepreneurs starting restaurants and tourism businesses. The older tycoons tend to be reclusive and tied by blood or marriage to the political leaders. In contrast the brash Kith is only 39, unmarried and linked to nothing but the pursuit of profit. Many call him the new face of Cambodian capitalism.

<table class="vt tabular forum" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td>The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) declared on Thursday that the government decided to lease the 7,800-hectare Koh Rong Island, the largest island in Sihanoukville, to Oknha Kith Meng&rsquo;s Royal Group Company, for a duration of 99-year for eco-tourism development. On that same day, the government also declared the leasing of a portion of the Koh Russey Island in Sihanoukville to a French investment company.Kith Meng, the CEO of the Royal Group Company, signed the lease contract on Koh Rong Island on 28 February 2008 with Cham Prasidh, the minister of commerce and CDC vice-president.Suon Sithy, the secretary general of the committee for investment in Cambodia, declared that the development of Koh Rong Island is very large because the island extends over an area of 7,826-hectare altogether. He said that, even the Royal Group did not declare about the actual amount of investment funds now, but based on the negotiation results for the development of Koh Rong Island, the plan was to invest a huge fund amounting to several millions of dollars, because the investment was included in the contract and constitutes the government priority plan.Kith Meng did not make any declaration about the development plan of Koh Rong Island during the signing of the contract which was participated by several institutions involved. Suon Sothy added that, after the signing of the contract, the Royal Group has 18-month to cooperate with the planning committee to come with a study on the (development) master plan and submit it for review and final approval by the CDC.Suon Sothy also said that, (the CDC) places high hope on Kith Meng, who is a local investor and president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce with several successful businesses, will resolve the development issue with the people (living on the island) in a reasonable manner, and that he pushes the development plan of Koh Rong Island to fruition.At the same time, the CDC also declared that a 137-hectare portion of Koh Russey Island, in Sihanoukville, was also leased to the French Koh Russey Resort Company for a duration of 99-year for eco-tourism development.Suon Sothy said also that the plan for the development of Koh Russey Island is part of the government priority plan to serve the eco-tourism industry. The plan for the development of Koh Russey will requires a spending of $48 million. On this issue, CDC is confident that the French company which has sufficient experience in this field, will be successful in the implementation of its development plan. </td> </tr> <tr class="alt"> <td> </td> <td> Posted: Apr/06/2008 3:48 AM PST

Tourism: The islands of temptation
04 March 2008
By Ky Soklim
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from Khmer by Luc S&acirc;r

About 10 islands were already leased to private companies for tourist development. The government hopes to attract new visitors in this manner, but the protection of the environment should not be put in the back burner.

Two islands offshore of Sihanoukville were recently leased to private companies. Along with these 2 latest islands, the number of leased Cambodian islands and islets amounted to 11. At the end of 2007, six islands were leased to seven private companies. This phenomenon could accelerate: &ldquo;the development of islands becomes a catalyst for attracting more tourists,&rdquo; a communiqu&eacute; dated 28 February 2008, from the Council of Development of Cambodia (CDC) explained. This communiqu&eacute; was made public during the signing of the latest lease contracts for the two islands offshore of Sihanoukville. The kingdom &ndash; which attracted 2 million visitors in 2007, and 3 million are expected to visit in 2008 &ndash; seeks in fact to diversify its tourist attractions which, for the moment, is concentrated mainly on the Angkor Temple.

The Royal Group Co. Ltd. Telephone Company, led by Kith Meng, just obtained the lease of the Koh Rong Island. His project to develop an eco-tourist site extending over 7,826-hectare is estimated to cost several million dollars.

With similar objective, the Koh Russey Resort Co. Ltd. (KRRC) Now has access to 76-hectare of the total of 137-hectare of land on Koh Russey Island. KRRC plans to invest $48 million. The two concessions extend over a period of 99-year. Both of the leases underscore the lack of information regarding the upcoming development plan. None of the two investors want to reveal their plan.

Cambodia counts 55 islands altogether. &ldquo;They attract millionaires who want to settle there,&rdquo; said Touch Sieng Tana, a member of the committee for economic and cultural observation of the Council of Ministers. However, tourist development of these islands is not simple. &ldquo;They require experienced investors.&rdquo;

Moeung Sonn, Director of the Eurasie Travel agency, said that he is in favor of the diversification of tourist zones, but he reminded that the protection of the environment should not be neglected. &ldquo;Development and conservation must go hand in hand,&rdquo; he suggested. The CDC also adopts the same attitude. &ldquo;The investment zone and the protected zone must be separate from each other, deforestation must be avoided.&rdquo; Furthermore, these areas should not be filled nor built with concrete everywhere, otherwise, the tourists will flee from these so-called eco-tourist zones.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>