Yoma faces new landscape on its path of diversification

ANDREW Rickards, the chief executive of Yoma Strategic Holdings, is fond of telling people that he wants to turn the real estate company into the Jardine Matheson of Myanmar. His choice of Jardine Matheson, the storied conglomerate of the Orient, is well thought out, because history is littered with the debris of failed or struggling diversified groups such as Korea's Daewoo or Brazil's EBX Group.

Yoma's diversification efforts offer exciting exposure to the expected growth of Myanmar's economy. But as the diversification becomes more substantial, the company and shareholders will have to watch out for the pitfalls of conglomerates.

Yoma, one of the purest listed Myanmar plays in the world, has been stepping up its diversification over the past year.