Asia World Group ( my, အာရှဓန ကုမ္ပဏီ) is a Burmese

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...

. It is Myanmar's largest and most diversified conglomerate, with interests in industrial development, construction, transportation, import-export, and a local supermarket chain. About half of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

's investment in Myanmar (totaling US$1.3 billion in 2000) comes from Asia World affiliates.

Corporate history

Services

Asia World is one of a few private companies in Myanmar that are involved in port management. According to the Myanmar Port Authority (MPA), Asia World's subsidiary Asia World Port had the largest share of country's freight market in the fiscal year 2012–13, handling 45 per cent of goods that passed through Yangon. In addition to freight handling, Asia World Port handles general goods at Myanmar. In August 2011, Asia World was one of four companies to be granted government licences to import and sell fuel in the country. Asia World's controls includes the following enterprises and businesses: *Asia Light Supermarket -

Lanmadaw Township Lanmadaw Township ( my, လမ်းမတော် မြို့နယ်; MLCTS=lam: ma. taw mrui. nai; ) is located in the western part of downtown Yangon, and shares borders with Ahlon Township in the west, Latha Township in the east, Seik ...

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

*Asia World Industries Limited, Hlaingthaya Industrial Park, Rangoon *Asia World Thilawa Deep Sea Port *Hledan Centre Condominium - Rangoon

Business practices

The company's founder,

Lo Hsing Han Lo Hsing Han or Law Sit Han ( my, လော်စစ်ဟန်, ; ; ca. 1930s – July 6, 2013) was a Burmese businessman and drug trafficker. He later became a major business tycoon across Burma, with financial ties to Singapore. He was an ...

, is an ethnic Kokang Chinese who controlled one of Southeast Asia's largest heroin trafficking armies. Ten more companies in the group are owned in Singapore, under the name of Cecilia Ng (Ng Sor Hong), Steven Law's wife, who US government officials allege operate an underground banking network that helps transport drug money from Burma to Singapore. The company is associated to the

United Wa State Army The United Wa State Army (; my, ဝပြည် သွေးစည်းညီညွတ်ရေး တပ်မတော်, ), abbreviated as the UWSA or the UWS Army, is the military wing of the United Wa State Party (UWSP), the ''de facto' ...

. Asia World is widely believed to have committed

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...

to fund its activities and business expansions. Six subsidiary companies of Asia World, including Ahlone Wharves, Asia Light, Asia World Company, Asia World Industries, Asia World Port Management, and Leo Express Bus, are currently sanctioned by the British government as part of investment bans in Burma. Since 2008, Asia World and its subsidiaries, including those run in Singapore, have been part of American targeted sanctions.

Notable projects

Asia World paved and widened the

Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second S ...

that links Myanmar to China in 1998. The company has also operated toll booths on

since 1998. In 2000, Asia World constructed a major road connecting the port city of

Pathein Pathein (, ; mnw, ဖာသီ, ), formerly called Bassein, is the largest city and the capital of the Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar (Burma). It is located 190 km (120 mi) west of Yangon within Pathein Township on the bank of the Pathe ...

to the beach resort of

Ngwesaung Ngwesaung ( my, ငွေဆောင် ) is a beach resort located 48 km west of Pathein, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. The 10,732 people town is located within Ngwesaung Subtownship, Pathein Township. The beach is 5 hours drive, with no tr ...

. Between 2007 and 2008 Asia World was responsible for a major expansion project at Yangon International Airport. The company, with the technical assistance of Singaporean firm CPG Consultants, was also responsible for developing and constructing Nay Pyi Taw International Airport, which opened on 19 December 2011. In August 2013, Asia World was granted permission by Myanmar's government to distribute electricity to 37 towns in the Eastern Bago region of the country. Asia World was one of two major contractors (the other being

Htoo Group of Companies The Htoo Group of Companies (HGC) is a Burmese holding company, with headquarters at 5 Pyay Road, Hlaing Township, Yangon, Myanmar. HGC is the parent company of Air Bagan, a privately held Burmese airline company. The company has several subs ...

) to build the country's new capital at

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city o ...

, including the National Landmark Garden. The company, with the technical assistance of Singaporean firm CPG Consultants, was also responsible for developing and constructing

Naypyidaw Airport Naypyidaw International Airport officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw , ( my, နေပြည်တော် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လေဆိပ်; previously known as Ela Airport), is located 16 kilometres (10 mi) southea ...

, which opened on 19 December 2011. Asia World was responsible for a major

Yangon International Airport Yangon International Airport ( ) is the primary and busiest international airport of Myanmar. The airport is located in Mingaladon, north of central Yangon. All ten Myanmar carriers and about 30 international airlines operate at Yangon Intern ...

expansion project, including the construction of a new international terminal (opened May 2007) and extension of existing runways (completed July 2008). The company has also partnered with China Power Investment Corporation to build controversial dams (including the

Myitsone Dam The Myitsone Dam ( my, မြစ်ဆုံ တာတမံ ; 'Confluence Dam') is a large dam and hydroelectric power development project which was planned to be built in northern Myanmar (also known as Burma). The proposed construction site ...

) along the

Irrawaddy River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Orig ...

Kachin State Kachin State ( my, ကချင်ပြည်နယ်; Jingpho language, Kachin: ), also known by the endonym Kachinland, is the northernmost administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east ...

. In Yangon, the company has stakes in supermarkets, office towers, condominiums and road construction. In 2011, it partnered with the

Yangon City Development Committee Yangon City Development Committee ( my, ရန်ကုန်မြို့တော် စည်ပင်သာယာရေး ကော်မတီ, abbreviated YCDC) is the administrative body of Yangon, the largest city and former capital of M ...

to upgrade Strand Road. The company is also involved in garment industries, beer production (Tiger Beer), paper mills, palm oil and infrastructure development. Asia World has also operated a port in Yangon's Ahlone Township since 2000 In July 2010, the government granted Asia World control of

's passenger services operations and management, including collections of departure taxes.

References

{{reflist, 2 Companies based in Yangon Conglomerate companies established in 1992 Companies of Myanmar Economy of Myanmar 1992 establishments in Myanmar