Pacific Tycoon – Investor Red Alert

I see that some unscrupulous financial websites are taking money to send out promotions today for Pacific Tycoon. DO NOT RESPOND. DO NOT INVEST. You are being treated with utter contempt as a reader of these sites and should unsubscribe at once. And here is why.

Pacific Tycoon claims to offer you a “safe” 12% yield ( that is the bold headline) for giving it your money which it will then use to lease out shipping containers and you get at least a 12% profit on the trade. Woopey do. Now go read the small print at the bottom.

a) This is not a regulated offering so if you lose your dosh you have no come back.
b) The 12% is dependent on company performance. The very small print notes: “Prospective investors should also note that the return of 12% p.a is guaranteed by Pacific Tycoon and is subject to performance of the company.”

And since this is a private company based in Hong Kong how are you going to check on that performance? Oh this is just Tom bleating on and he has made it all up. Er.. no. Do a google search. This is what the French equivalent of the FSA says:

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and Institut d’Emission d’Outre-Mer (IEOM) hereby draw the attention of the public to the activities of the company PACIFIC TYCOON, headquartered at the following address: Level 10, World Wide House, 19 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong. This company advertises, notably in New Caledonia, for the acquisition of maritime containers to be rented out. PACIFIC TYCOON proposes two types of lease, one promising a guaranteed yield of 12% and the other, described as “aggressive” and offering a “high yield”. In the light of the information at the disposal of the AMF and the IEOM, it would appear that PACIFIC TYCOON is proposing investments that fall within the scope of intermediation in miscellaneous assets. The AMF and IEOM hereby warn you that the company PACIFIC TYCOON has not been authorised to propose investments in “miscellaneous assets”. Therefore, the information documents and “standard” contracts handed out to investors have not been examined by the AMF.In addition to its remit of protecting savings invested in financial instruments, the AMF also regulates “intermediaries in miscellaneous assets” (see Article L 550-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code), meaning “1- any person who, (…) on a usual basis invites third parties to subscribe to life annuities or to acquire rights to movable or immovable assets when the purchasers do not perform the management thereof themselves or when the contract offers a buy-back or exchange option with revaluation of the capital invested; 2- any person who collects funds for this purpose; 3- any person responsible for the management of such assets”. By the terms of Article 550-3 of the Monetary and Financial Code, intermediaries in miscellaneous assets are required to draw up a “document to provide all information that might be useful to the public about the proposed operation, the person taking the initiative of the operation and the manager”. The AMF and IEOM therefore urge investors not to respond to the investment offers made by this company and not to pass them on to third parties in any form whatsoever.

You can read the piece in full HERE.  

As to the maths? Well here is a perfectly reasonable piece of analysis I lifted from the internet after about 30 seconds searching:

I've done some research on Pacific Tycoon and I fail to understand their returns. For example the 2012 lease rate for a 40' dry container is approx. 1.55USD per day (Source: Market Analysis Containerisation International). This would yield a return of 565.75USD pa assuming you could lease all year round. Now Pacific Tycoon promote a guaranteed return of 12% pa and up to 27% pa with their aggressive plan. Their cost of for 1 container is 3,800USD with a return of 12% pa equal to 1,062.86USD. Pacific Tycoon take approx. 70% of the lease rate in order to manage the lease and payout to investors from 27-12%. So this would mean their lease rates would have to be 6.7 times the industry's rates equal to 3,790USD pa which I think is not achievable. Can anyone add to this?

Er... I do not think that I need to go on, do I? Oh heck why not... So why not check out the website that lists every container company in the world. Er no Pacific Tycoon? Well maybe its parent company Moritzclear Logistics SA. Er...no. There is a Moritzclear Research SA based in Belize.

I have not got all day to chase this one up but it strikes me that anyone investing in this scheme is asking for trouble. You can check out that website HERE.

Meanwhile some people in financial services wonder why they are not universally trusted? Taking money to send this sort of crap out to readers who trust you might just be part of the explanation.

You can read more about this fraud HERE