News Summary: Myanmar gets its 1st investment bank
NEW VENTURE: Alisher Ali opened Myanmar's first-ever investment bank with $1 million of his own money. By the time Mandalay Capital closed its fundraising last month, Ali had raised $25 million.
UNDERDEVELOPED: Decades of isolation have left Myanmar with feeble banks, questionable courts, entrenched corruption and an underdeveloped mobile phone network. It also has no regulation for investments, or even a provision for an investment bank in existing financial services law.
UNTAPPED POTENTIAL: Ali sees Mandalay Capital as a bridge between foreign investors keen to find their way into Myanmar and local companies that need capital and guidance.
