Singapore, 3rd April, 2007 - In the past 12 months, 11 small medium enterprises (SME)s from various industries have made use of $20 million from The Enterprise Fund, which Hong Leong Finance is a sponsor investor of.

The Enterprise Fund which targets privately-owned companies with competent management teams, cash generative track record and proven business models, has a target fund size of $100 million.

The Enterprise Fund targets Singapore-based companies who exhibit good growth potential and have viable business plans for overseas expansion.

Overseas expansion is a key concern for SMEs, showed a recent survey. SMEs are being pushed overseas to survive, with about four in ten doing so in their first year of business, according to results from a DP Information Group survey.

One of the 11 SMEs who have made use of financing from The Enterprise Fund is CONSISTEL, a global wireless solutions provider and system integrator. “The Enterprise Fund is one of the very few programs in Singapore that can aid SME companies like CONSISTEL to grow it’s MNC growth.  Most other programs in Singapore either address the small entrepreneurs to start their business idea, or large international corporations to place their HQ in Singapore.  In our view, The Enterprise Fund, is probably the pioneer in enabling SME companies to fund their projects and business, as they grow. We aim to make CONSISTEL  wireless solutions to be come a Best of Class solutions Headquartered in Singapore.” said Mr. Masoud Bassiri, CEO of CONSISTEL. CONSISTEL currently has over 40 major mobile phone service provider customers throughout South Asia with offices in 10 countries.  The company has quadrupled it’s bookings and contracts in the past 12 months and collaborations with investors to grow the company is in full swing.

“We are happy that the Enterprise Fund has helped SMEs to expand. Having started out as an SME too, we understand the problems SMEs face. With the number of business set-ups reaching an all-time high last year, it is even more important for SMEs to be able to get funding,” said Mr. Ian Macdonald, President of Hong Leong Finance.

HLF, together with International Enterprise Singapore Holdings invested $10 million each into The Enterprise Fund when it was initiated last year.

The fund is independently managed by a team of private equity fund managers from Crest Capital Partners. “My target for this year is for SMEs to use $40 million of this fund. (Insert more on how you intend to achieve it here),” said Mr. Peter Chan, Managing Partner, Crest Capital Partners.

For more information, please contact:

Liyana Othman
Public Relations Executive
Group Corporate Affairs
Hong Leong Group Singapore
Tel: 6428 9305
Mobile: 81126594
Email: liyana@cdl.com.sg   

About CONSISTEL

CONSISTEL is a global wireless solutions provider and system integrator specializing in in-building wireless, revenue assurance and wireless network services ranging from business and technical consulting to network design, deployment and management.  CONSISTEL’s in-building solutions empower wireless operators to increase and enhance their coverage, especially in wireless blind-spot environments such as in-building and in-tunnel. CONSISTEL is also a leader in total revenue assurance solutions. Based on a fully integrated software platform, CONSISTEL offers one of the most powerful platforms available for end-to-end revenue assurance addressing leakage and fraud.
For more information, please visit http://www.CONSISTEL.com