Greater China Corporation
Corporate Headquarters
One Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 1010
New York, New York 10020
Tel: (212) 765-4547 Fax: (212) 218-4223
GREATER CHINA CORPORATION LTD.
Business Overview - October 2008
Greater China Corporation Ltd. (“GCCL”) is being relisted as a publicly traded Venture Capital Company domiciled in Bermuda with a wholly owned subsidiary, Greater China Corporation (“GCC”) in Delaware. Corporate offices are located in Rockefeller Center, New York City. Even though the name is linked to China its activities are global. GCCL draws upon its valuable network of directors and advisors and access to financial and strategic relationships to build successful enterprises around proven entrepreneurs. GCCL provides a disciplined and supportive system for developing these companies and achieving a timely liquidity event. This exit can be through sale of the company to a financial or strategic buyer, through a public listing supported by a distribution of some of GCC’s ownership of the company to GCCL shareholders or through a roll-up into GCCL on an exchange of share basis.
GCCL is different from traditional Venture Capital companies in several important ways:
1. It is a corporation and not a fund. A fund is limited in its life (usually 7-10 years) which often forces the timing of investment and divestiture decisions that may not be optimal for creating value.
2. As a corporation, GCCL has the flexibility of adding or changing management, directors, advisors and shareholders at any time; whereas a fund is normally locked into its management and ownership structure.
3. As a public company, liquidity is continually available to shareholders and reflects the value of underlying holdings, unlike a fund where liquidity and value are only achieved at the time of sale and distribution of holdings.
4. GCCL is focused on starting companies around successful entrepreneurs and opportunities and not investing in existing companies. The founding of a company represents the lowest cost of entry and therefore the highest potential return. A typical VC firm invests in existing companies, at a higher valuation and often with a requirement to spend additional resources correcting mistakes that could have been avoided if the company had been started with the right initial ingredients.
GCCL had a number of underlying projects and companies that are currently under development - some of these on a fast-track basis. These include:
1. TongRenTang GCC formed the TongRenTang Wellness Corporation in partnership with TRT USA Corp. This business, owned equally by the two partners, is developing spa-like wellness centers based upon the treatments and products of China’s famous herbal medicines. TongRenTang is China’s oldest and most prestigious brand name. The company was started in 1669 under the Qing Dynasty. Today it is a $10 billion business in China and internationally.
A major international hotel group has submitted a proposal to GCCL for a joint-venture TongRenTang Wellness Spa.
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2. Dragon Beach Development Corporation GCC developed this company with Tano Capital, its financing partner, and Global C&D, Inc., a real-estate development company with major activities in Vietnam. An agreement has been signed with the Province of Quang Nam for the development of 1,000 + acres of prime beach-front property which includes a petition to the Central Government for nine major casino/hotel licenses. Tano was started by Charles Johnson, who was Co-President of Franklin Templeton Investments (NYSE:BEN), (Franklin-Templeton.com), with $600 billion under management.
This project has been approved by the Province of Quang Nam and all required VN Ministries and a final Investment License is expected to be received during October 2008.
2. Greater China Art Fund (“GCAF”) GCC has reached an agreement to form GCAF with New York’s leading contemporary Chinese art gallery, the Elizabeth Wang Gallery. GCAF is designed to become a publicly traded company and to attract both collectors and investors from China and Asia. GCAF has several unique features:
a. Generates current income from leasing and sub-leasing art, often providing an option to purchase.
b. Ability to finance major art lease contracts to provide additional working capital.
c. Acquires art directly from artists on a basis that provides them with a steady income, health insurance and retained ownership of selected works.
d. Works with museums to lease their excess art to provide them with income, and then sub-leases this art to clients.
e. Works with collectors to acquire and lease art thereby providing them with income that can offset expenses for insurance, etc.
f. As a public company is able to swap art for stock allowing diversification and liquidity for collectors.
g. Open to all types of quality art forms that have a verified commercial value, and not restricted specifically to Chinese or Asian art.
A presentation of GCAF to investors and collectors is being made at the Harvard Club NYC on October 28th.
4. SOLAR*MAGIC This unique system, invented by one of Greater China’s Advisors, has three advantages over conventional solar systems: a) A revolutionary new design in photovoltaic cell processing which is significantly more efficient than other competing systems. b) A proprietary auto-tracking system that physically rotates and follows the sun from morning until evening and makes further adjustments for daily and seasonal changes, also increasing efficiency dramatically. c) immediate conversion of solar energy into usable A/C electricity that can flow directly into a home or building, thus avoiding utility company charges. The net result is a system that provides 65% more cell efficiency and 5 times more electrical capacity than competing systems.
Solar*Magic has the additional feature of being able to utilize the Internet for generating sales, advisory income and add-on opportunities. For example there is a small charge (currently $50) to advise web-users how to quickly compute which configuration is best for their application without having to do hours of complicated research on their own. Then, if they like the proposed solution and price, it can be bought and shipped on-line. These individual sales lead to additional opportunities for Solar*Magic for add-on sales and consulting as well as for equity participation in new projects.
GCCL is in current negotiations for a public offering for Solar*Magic on the London Plus market which is scheduled to be completed by mid-January 2009.
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5. China Automobile Recreation Club (“CARC”) This organization (or “Club”) gives members, for $100 per year, the right to access a growing number of retreats located within easy driving distance of the 30 plus cities in China with a population of one million or more. Each site is located in a beautiful natural setting such as on a lake, by the mountains, on a river, or at the shore. Most Chinese have never had the opportunity to go to such naturally-beautiful areas and the Club sites are ideal for an affordable weekend or family vacation.
The villages where these sites are located are eager to supply the land on a low-cost participating lease basis since they will provide local employment. This is a very high priority for provincial and national government departments and local banks which are very supportive of this initiative.
Each location has camping and family-type housing, sports activities, and nature walks, etc. The sites themselves can earn good profits from usage fees. However, the annual membership fee is the real cash cow. With more than 250 million Chinese now part of a growing middle-class, it doesn’t take a large percentage of these, when multiplied by the $100 per year membership fee, to add up to substantial annual earnings. Travel (AAA, etc.) and other membership organizations are being approached as marketing partners.
GCCL has a 50% interest in this project and the business and financing plan is now being completed in China under the direction of one of GCCL’s Advisors.
The benefits of doing offerings like these in conjunction with Greater China (GCCL) are the following:
1. Greater China owns a portion of each of its underlying companies (usually10%-50% or more). At the time of a public offering GCCL distributes part of its holdings to its shareholders (1,000 right now, expected to quickly grow to 5,000-10,000 or more with advanced publicity and renewed public trading of GCCL from its Bermuda domicile). This means that at the time of a public offering of the GCCL entity, the new public company starts out with a large dedicated group of supportive shareholders, many of whom will want to increase their stake by participating in the IPO or adding to it later. In addition, GCCL has an ongoing vested interest in helping to support and grow the company since this represents a (liquid) asset of the GCCL that is reflected in its own market valuation.
2. Greater China shareholders are delighted with this process since not only do they benefit from the rising value of GCCL as the value of its holdings in the underlying companies increases but they also benefit from receiving a diversified portfolio of exciting growth companies through the shares they receive as distributions from GCCL and can add to in the IPO or after-market. |
