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Successful road show in India to showcase Mauritius as the undisputed platform for investing in Africa

St Kitts & Nevis: Fee Increase with effect 1st January 2012

Bulgaria: Finland Softens Stand on Bulgaria’s Entry in Schengen

Bulgaria: Moody’s upgrades Bulgaria’s rating to Baa2

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Successful road show in India to showcase Mauritius as the undisputed platform for investing in Africa

Officials of the Board of Investment, accompanied by a strong private sector delegation from the financial services industry in Mauritius, are on a road show in Mumbai and New Delhi from 23 November. The objective of the mission is twofold. First to comfort Indian investors that Mauritius is a clean, trusted, proven and secure jurisdiction for international investment structuring and management. Second, to show Indian investors the vast opportunities in Africa and how Mauritius can effectively be used as the platform for their Africa related ventures. Read More

St Kitts & Nevis: Fee Increase with effect 1st January 2012

The Citizenship by Investment Unit is planning to implement a fee increase to both the SIDF and Real Estate options. The amounts will be as follows:

Increase in Due Diligence fees payable on file submission for either SIDF or Property purchase

• Main Applicant - USD $7,500
• Dependent above 16 years - USD $4,000

Increase in government fees for property purchase and related changes

• Main Applicant - USD $50,000
• Spouse – USD $25,000
• Child below 18 years – USD $25,000
• Child above 18 years – USD $50,000
• Minimum property purchase amount increase USD $400,000
• Subsequent property buyer can apply for citizenship (2017)
• Two or more applicants may jointly purchase 1 property with minimum investment USD $400,000 per family

Increase in SIDF donation amount

• Single - USD $250,000
• Applicant with up to 3 dependents - USD $300,000
• Applicant with up to 5 dependents - USD $350,000
• Applicant with up to 7 dependents - USD $450,000
• Additional per person above 7 dependent - USD $ 50,000
• Each dependent above 18 yrs - USD $ 50,000

In addition to the above fees the CIU may also request applicants from January 1st, 2012 to travel to St Kitts & Nevis to personally collect their passports. This is not confirmed as of today, but we will inform all our clients once this information is confirmed or comes into effect.

Bulgaria: Finland Softens Stand on Bulgaria’s Entry in Schengen

Finland’s Minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb announced on November 14 that the country is now looking for a compromise on Bulgaria and Romania’s entry in Schengen, as quoted by Reuters. According to Stubb, this will be the two-pack approach where first the air-and-sea borders are open, and then a decision is taken on the land borders.

The first stage should take place in March 2012, while the decision on the land borders will be taken four months later, in July 2012, according to Stubb. Now the only opponent within the EU is the Netherlands.

Bulgaria: Moody’s upgrades Bulgaria’s rating to Baa2

Officials from Moody’s Investors Service motivated the upgrade of Bulgaria’s government debt ratings to Baa2 from Baa3 with three arguments:

• effective fiscal consolidation supplements,
• strengthened institutional capacity, and
• strong liquidity and capital buffers of both the financial system and the government.

The upgrade comes 4 months after their initial announcement for this action. According to Moody’s, the rating outlook is stable.

Details on the ratings rationale are available here.