Vang Vieng district authorities have made improvements to various facilities and services in the hopes of making a great first impression on visitors during Visit Laos Year 2024.
Cotti Coffee, the New Vanguard of the Industry, Boasts Over 5,000 Outlets in Less Than a Year.
In August 2023, Cotti Coffee announced its global expansion strategy, marking its formal entry into the international arena. Concurrently, it launched a global partnership recruitment initiative and has already established multiple outlets in South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, and Canada.
Since its establishment, Cotti Coffee has been driven by its mission of “enabling customers to enjoy a comfortable coffee lifestyle” and its mantra of “Drink Cotti, Feel Younger”. The company is committed to providing customers with high-quality, cost-effective, and convenient coffee products, complemented by Western-style light meals and desserts. With its youthful and chic brand experience, Cotti Coffee has won widespread adoration from its customers.
The brand’s remarkable store performance and validated business model underscore its rapid ascendancy in the industry. Cotti Coffee’s success can be attributed to a combination of strengths, including innovative business strategies, robust supply chain capabilities, an intelligent digital platform, and an unparalleled product and service experience.
Unlike traditional franchising or direct management models, Cotti Coffee has adopted an innovative partnership approach. Initially, the company forgoes any franchise-related fees, opting instead for a profit-sharing arrangement, aiming to share risks with its partners and maximize each party’s strengths. Additionally, Cotti Coffee has instituted a lifetime partnership system, ensuring the longevity of the business locations and sustainability of the business collaboration. If a partner chooses to exit, the company offers a depreciation buy-back option for the equipment, which significantly reduces the barriers for potential partners to enter and sustain their business. This model exemplifies a sustainable, century-long business model that is built to last.
For the international market, Cotti Coffee has introduced both single-store partnerships and regional partnership models, offering more flexible collaboration methods catered to the diverse needs of its partners. Under this arrangement, the company provides support in branding, supply chain, operations, and digital platforms. Partners can select the manner and scale of their collaboration, ensuring both modularity and adaptability. Regional partners benefit further from model store incentives, regional exclusivity, and revenue sharing from both store operations and expansion, thus empowering small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs.
Cotti Coffee boasts an integrated coffee bean roasting facility that combines research, production, and quality control, accompanied by a production facility for related materials. With an annual output of 45,000 tons, it stands as China’s largest individual coffee roasting factory. To further solidify its supply chain prowess, Cotti Coffee is in the preparatory stages of establishing coffee bean and raw material supply chain bases in South America, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and other regions. By amassing global top-tier resources, the company is building a robust foundation of global supply chain infrastructure and capability to support its international expansion.
Leveraging a fully digitalized platform, Cotti Coffee taps into its innate internet advantages. Customers can place orders online via the app and pick up in-store, eliminating the inconvenience of in-store queues and long wait times, and vastly improving in-store efficiency and service consistency. Moreover, through insights drawn from big data analysis, Cotti Coffee can offer personalized recommendations for its customers, offering a plethora of benefits.
Furthermore, Cotti Coffee consistently offers an innovative product and brand experience. Committed to offering coffee with great value for money, the company meticulously selects only IIAC Platinum and Gold Award-winning 100% Arabica coffee beans, ensuring premium quality in every cup. Beyond its dedication to timeless coffee classics, Cotti Coffee also boasts a variety of innovative drinks, including fan favourites such as Coco Cotti, Cheese Latte, and its Sparkling Cold Brew series. The offerings are revamped weekly, ensuring they meet the ever-evolving preferences of diverse consumers. Alongside its extensive beverage range, Cotti Coffee also features muffins, hotdogs, and other light meals as a parallel growth strategy to its coffee and beverage lineup. By presenting an ever-changing combination of food and drinks, Cotti Coffee fulfils the diverse situational needs of consumers, crafting products that are both a daily necessity and frequently desired.
With a keen understanding of coffee consumption trends, Cotti Coffee is committed to continuous innovation, broadening its product range, and adopting a “survival of the fittest” approach. Its goal is to consistently deliver high-quality, cost-effective, and convenient products to coffee enthusiasts. Concurrently, Cotti Coffee strives to fortify its strengths in branding, digitalization, and supply chain management, propelling small and micro enterprises and individual entrepreneurs towards effortlessly realizing their coffee business aspirations.
Hashtag: #CottiCoffee
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Houaphanh Authorities Halt Unregulated Production of Bamboo Shoots
The Office of Agriculture and Ministry in Aed District, Houaphanh Province, issued a notice on 23 August to curb the unregulated production of bamboo shoots due to concerns about their scarcity.
KPMG China Garners Outstanding Gold Award at the PCPD’s Privacy-Friendly Awards 2023
A recognition for commitment to governance
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 1 September 2023 – KPMG China is pleased to announce its privacy protection achievement through the Outstanding Gold Award presented to the Firm by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (“PCPD”) at this year’s Privacy-Friendly Award ceremony. This award recognizes KPMG China’s tremendous efforts in maintaining a high standard on the protection of personal data privacy. The award also demonstrates KPMG China’s strong commitment in matching up with client and employee expectations in privacy protection, which effort is worthy of public trust.
Under the theme of “Embrace Privacy Management Programme to Gain Trust and Benefits”, the 2023 Privacy-Friendly Awards aims to recognize the commitment of enterprises, public and private organizations as well as government departments in “Privacy Protection Measures”. “Privacy-Friendly” Certificate is presented to the organizations to recognize their efforts in promoting the protection of personal data privacy and championing the importance of setting up a Privacy Management Programme (“PMP”).
Ivy Cheung, Managing Partner, Hong Kong, KPMG China says: “At KPMG China, we are committed to safeguarding the personal data of our clients, employees and other related individuals. The implementation of the PMP at KPMG China demonstrates our strong commitment to risk management and governance under ESG. The Award injects new impetus for the Firm to continuously foster our efforts in data privacy and information security protection, and to further enhance the public’s trust and confidence in KPMG China, strengthening our competitiveness so as to set us apart.”
Benjamin Tang, National IT Security Officer, KPMG China says: “Governance is an integral part of ESG. To garner customers’ trust, we have done more than what the law requires in terms of ensuring information security and privacy protection. We have integrated the PMP into our quality and risk management exercise with a series of privacy and security controls being implemented into our business and operation processes, which fully exemplify our efforts and competitive edge in terms of governance.”
Tan Poh Hua, National Privacy Liaison Officer, KPMG China says: “KPMG China performs privacy risk assessments on client projects involving in the collection and processing of personal data . Since the implementation of the PMP within the Firm, privacy protection awareness among employees has been heightened to such an unprecedented level. Our employees have now begun to embrace the true value of conducting privacy risk assessments. It is very encouraging to see this positive development happening in KPMG China as a result of implementing the PMP.”
Inaugurated by the PCPD in 2021, the Privacy-Friendly Awards recognizes the efforts made by organizations in protecting personal data privacy, and enable enterprises, public and private organizations, as well as government departments to showcase their achievements in privacy protection.
Hashtag: #KPMGChina
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About KPMG China
KPMG China has offices located in 31 cities with over 15,000 partners and staff, in Beijing, Changchun, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian, Dongguan, Foshan, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Hangzhou, Hefei, Jinan, Nanjing, Nantong, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Taiyuan, Tianjin, Wuhan, Wuxi, Xiamen, Xi’an, Zhengzhou, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR. Working collaboratively across all these offices, KPMG China can deploy experienced professionals efficiently, wherever our client is located.
KPMG is a global organization of independent professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. KPMG is the brand under which the member firms of KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”) operate and provide professional services. “KPMG” is used to refer to individual member firms within the KPMG organization or to one or more member firms collectively.
KPMG firms operate in 143 countries and territories with more than 265,000 partners and employees working in member firms around the world. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. Each KPMG member firm is responsible for its own obligations and liabilities.
KPMG International Limited is a private English company limited by guarantee. KPMG International Limited and its related entities do not provide services to clients.
In 1992, KPMG became the first international accounting network to be granted a joint venture licence in the Chinese Mainland. KPMG was also the first among the Big Four in the Chinese Mainland to convert from a joint venture to a special general partnership, as of 1 August 2012. Additionally, the Hong Kong firm can trace its origins to 1945. This early commitment to this market, together with an unwavering focus on quality, has been the foundation for accumulated industry experience, and is reflected in KPMG’s appointment for multidisciplinary services (including audit, tax and advisory) by some of China’s most prestigious companies.
Former Thai Leader Thaksin Shinawatra, Jailed After Returning From Exile, Requests Royal Pardon

BANGKOK (AP) — Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who recently returned from exile and began serving an eight-year prison term, has requested a royal pardon, a senior member of the outgoing Cabinet said Thursday. Thaksin was moved from prison to a state hospital soon after his return last week for reported ill health.
Captiva Verde Wellness Closes Previously Announced Acquisition and Private Placement
- Acquisition expands Captiva’s health and wellness platform
Coquitlam, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – August 31, 2023) – Captiva Verde Wellness Corp. (CSE: PWR) (OTC Pink: CPVIF) (the “Company” or “Captiva“) is pleased to announce that, further to its announcement on August 2, 2023 of its intention to close, the Company closed (i) its acquisition (the “Acquisition“) of all of the issued and outstanding securities of Sonny Sports Enterprises, Inc. (the “Club“) and (ii) its previously announced non-brokered private (the “Private Placement” together with the Acquisition, the “Transactions“) of units of the Company (the “Units“) on August 31, 2023 (the “Closing Date“).
The Acquisition
The Company entered into a definitive share purchase agreement with the Club’s parent company and associated shareholders reflecting the terms of the binding letter agreement previously disclosed on August 2, 2023. As previously disclosed the Club is known as the Miami Padel Club of the Pro Padel League.
On the Closing Date, as consideration for the Acquisition, the Company issued and paid to the shareholders of the Club (the “Selling Shareholders“) an aggregate of: (i) 60,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company (the “Consideration Shares“), each at deemed issue price of $0.032; and (ii) US$1,500,000 cash.
The Consideration Shares were issued pursuant to Section 2.16 of National Instrument 45-106 — Prospectus Exemptions (“NI 45-106“) and are accordingly not subject to any resale restrictions under applicable Canadian securities laws. Following completion of the Transactions, the former shareholders of the Club will hold approximately 17% of the Company common shares on a non-dilutive basis. Accordingly, the Acquisition is not expected to constitute a “Fundamental Change” or “Change of Business” under the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the “CSE“).
A CSE Form 9 — Notice of Proposed Issuance of Securities (a “Form 9“) with respect to the Acquisition was posted on August 25, 2023 and a final Form 9 was posted on the Closing Date.
Detailed information about the Pro Padel League can be found at: https://propadelleague.com.
In connection with the closing of the Acquisition:
- Ronnie Strasser, a nominee of the Selling Shareholders, was appointed as a director of the Company effective as of the Closing Date; and
- the Company shall also adopt a restricted stock unit plan (the “RSU Plan“) with up to 10,000,000 restricted stock units (“RSUs“) under the RSU Plan to be granted to eligible participants pursuant to the policies of the CSE. The 10,000,000 RSUs will be administered by Strasser as a director of the Company.
The Private Placement
On the Closing Date, the Company issued to the subscribers under the Private Placement (the “Subscribers“) an aggregate of up to 90,000,000 Units, at $0.032 per Unit, with each Unit consisting of one common share in the capital of the Company (a “Unit Share“); and one common share purchase warrant (a “Warrant“). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share in the capital of the Company (a “Warrant Share“) at a price of $0.05 per Warrant Share for a period of 60 months from the Closing Date.
All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period ending on the date which is four months and one day following the issue date in accordance with applicable securities legislation. Proceeds from the Private Placement will be used for general working capital purposes and as a reserve for possible future acquisitions, including the Acquisition.
A Form 9 with respect to the Private Placement was posted on August 25, 2023 and a final Form 9 was posted on the Closing Date.
No finder’s fees are payable in connection with the Transactions. The Acquisition of the Club is an arm’s length transaction.
MI 61-101 Disclosure
The Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Ciachurski, and the Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Balic, subscribed for an aggregate 15,000,000 Units of the Company under the Private Placement, representing approximately 10% of the total Common Shares to be issued upon closing of the Transactions. The participation by such insiders in the Private Placement is considered a “related-party transaction” within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101“). The Company has relied on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 in respect of related party participation in the placement as neither the fair market value (as determined under MI 61-101) of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the transaction, insofar as it involved the related parties, exceeded 25% of the Company’s market capitalization (as determined under MI 61-101). The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing of the Offering as the participation of the insiders was not settled until shortly before closing.
This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Jeffrey Ciachurski
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Cell: (949) 903-5906
Email: westernwind@shaw.ca
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release includes “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws (together, “forward-looking statements”). All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements with respect to the expansion of the Company’s health and wellness platform, closing of the Transactions, the appointment of a director of the Company, the payment of cash by the Company, the issuance of securities of the Company and the use of proceeds from the Private Placement. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “estimate”, “expect”, “potential”, “target”, “budget”, “propose” and “intend” and statements that an event or result “may”, “will”, “should”, “could” or “might” occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which the Company operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic, and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies. These include assumptions regarding, among other things: general business and economic conditions. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations include those described under the heading “Risks and Uncertainties” in the Company’s most recently filed MD&A (a copy of which is available under the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com). The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable law.
THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
35-Year-Old Man Lures and Kills Teenage Girl in Savannakhet Province
Local authorities in Savannakhet reported a tragic incident in which a 17-year-old girl from a farming community was found dead in a canal in Naphaek Village, Atsaphangthong district, on 30 August after being attacked by a 35-year-old man.
WatchFund, led by Dominic Khoo, Awarded Best Alternative Investment Manager for Greater China at WealthBriefingAsia Awards 2023
- WatchFund is the world’s largest luxury watch investment vehicle, which has outperformed other alternative asset classes at the awards
- This marks its third WealthBriefingAsia award win since 2020, strengthening WatchFund’s position as a trusted steward of alternative investments for investors
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 1 September 2023 – Leading alternative investment vehicle WatchFund has been named as Best Alternative Investment Manager for Greater China at this year’s WealthBriefingAsia Awards. Earlier, WatchFund was also named the Top Collectibles Advice Provider for Greater China in 2021 and the Best Alternative Investment Manager for Southeast Asia in 2020.

Dominic Khoo, founder of WatchFund and Southeast Asia’s only certified watch expert said, “It is an honour to receive the recognition given to WatchFund, which celebrates the track record of full investor alignment that our truly unique proposition offers – by giving investors up to double collateral as their investment grows. We will continue our commitment to be a trusted steward for our investors as a fund manager with unparalleled expertise for this asset class, which has shown to outperform other alternative investments.”
Andrew Deane, Group Head of Business Development for WealthBriefingAsia added, “WealthBriefingAsia were delighted WatchFund were once again winners in our WealthBriefingAsia Awards in 2023. The award was a testament to the firms detailed submission and long history in this unique sector of wealth.”

“WatchFund has consistently delivered strong returns for investors like me, even in an uncertain investment climate. It really speaks to the capabilities of Dominic and his team to understand investment-grade watches that I hold as collateral, when my goal is ultimately investment gains that beat the market,” said Jay Tan, an investor of WatchFund.
Amidst the volatile macroeconomic environment, investors continue to see value and remain invested in alternative funds for diversification, risk mitigation and maximisation of returns, with a higher proportion of investors signalling their desire to increase their allocations in alternative assets in the next three years. Globally, luxury watches are emerging as a strong alternative asset class due to stronger demand and their ability to deliver better price performance over the past five to 10 years.
In particular, Southeast Asia’s alternative asset management sector looks set to continue maturing and drawing more international capital as the investor and fund manager landscape becomes increasingly sophisticated. At the heart of the region’s growth is Singapore, which has seen its AUM in alternative investments grow by 16.4% in 2021, reaching USD 4 trillion, faster than the global AUM growth of 12%.
The growing potential of the alternative investments market and the strong demand for luxury watches, together with WatchFund’s expertise in the luxury watch investment space, cemented its win at the 2023 WealthBriefingAsia awards. WatchFund’s fully-aligned investor model, the only model in the world that survives solely on transaction fees with no annual fees, no fees upon entry and no markup on luxury watches, and its 10-year strong investment track record also played a crucial role in standing out against renowned institutional asset managers.
Domiciled in Singapore, a trusted financial hub in the region, WatchFund is poised to continue riding on the positive wave driven by investors in Asia looking to invest in alternative asset classes, the growth of the alternative investment industry and the strong ecosystem in Singapore supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Hashtag: #WatchFund #DominicKhoo #WealthBriefingAsia #BestAlternativeInvestmentManager
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.