• Company provides end-to-end management, across numerous systems, for medicinal marijuana financial operations
• Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions’ system tracks sales and tax collection
• Its Green platform is a full-featured electronic payment and FinCEN compliant payment system

Incorporated in 2013, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) specializes in state-of-the-art financial services. These services are structured to serve the medical cannabis and banking industries. The company provides end-to-end management, across numerous systems, serving the state-sanctioned medical marijuana industry.

The availability of marijuana payment solutions is increasing (http://ibn.fm/VkPHi). Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions is bringing to the marketplace the first and only complete card processing operation of its kind. The company offers a proprietary, fully integrated payment solution for customers and licensed medical cannabis establishments through its Green platform. This platform is a top-tier, level-one gateway payment processing system. The system tracks sales and tax collection and eliminates the need to deal in cash-only transactions.

A major problem with cash-only transactions is the threat of crime, including robbery and break-ins. As noted by ‘Cannabis Thoughts & Opinions: Challenges of Cannabis Payment Processing’ (http://ibn.fm/Og329), “Unfortunately for cannabis businesses these kinds of threats are very much a reality; and all because they do not have the same access to all the business banking facilities and services that non-cannabis related businesses do.”

The Green platform creates a cash-free transaction environment with electronic money management. This processing solution provides premier security. In addition, it has the capacity to abide by all regulatory frameworks. For a business, the Green platform essentially provides a virtual banking system, as it is both the merchant provider and the gateway. It handles financial compliance so that a business can easily spend or withdraw funds directly from its Green account. Additionally, businesses can transfer funds to another bank account. The offering of these features is consistent with the Medical Cannabis Payments Solutions vision to be at the leading edge of creating secure financial solutions for the cannabis industry.

The company’s comprehensive card processing operation provides businesses with an advanced client management system. The Green platform is a full-featured electronic payment and FinCEN compliant payment system, and most point-of-sale systems can be set up with the company’s gateway. Green is free to set up. Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions provides free technical support to connect a business’s point-of-sale system. Green can enhance a business’s system with additional features.

The company has now made its services available to the whole industry. State-licensed marijuana companies can now sign up through Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions’ website for its banking and financial processing system. This has produced significant traffic for its website as businesses look for comprehensive payment processing solutions to meet their specific needs.

In a news release, Jeremy Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of REFG, stated, “We are very excited that the amount of online applications has exceeded our expectations. We are excited to bring our services to the industry and to bring increased value to our shareholders.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Take.green

• Zero Cost Program requires no upfront expenditure from customer
• Cost savings and environmental friendliness make for ready market
• Debut as retail electricity provider complements energy savings solutions

If, as one quip goes, “A bargain is something you can’t use at a price you can’t resist,” then the steal of a deal Zenergy Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: ZNGY) is offering has to be an anomaly because of its undoubted usefulness. The Texas-based outfit offers a suite of cost-saving energy solutions to customers across America. Its Zero Cost Program allows corporate clients to upgrade their energy devices to more efficient, cost-reducing appliances, at no additional expense. The program reduces utility bills by 20-60 percent on average by furnishing energy conservation, smart controls and efficiency-based products and services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal end-use customers. With both individual and corporate customers more environmentally aware and cost-conscious than ever before, Zenergy’s energy-saving solutions are likely to find a ready market. Having become a utility company via its acquisition of a Retail Electric Provider (REP), the company plans to deliver retail energy as well.

Zenergy’s Zero Cost Program is the real deal. Most “save money” promotions involve an outlay of cash, justified by the fictional claim, “You can’t afford NOT to buy!” However, the Zero Cost Program is different, requiring no upfront expense. It is a turnkey solution, which enables the upgrade of older, inefficient energy infrastructure and allows for the retrofitting of HVAC and refrigeration motor controllers, load factor improvement technologies, building automation systems, weatherization-based technologies, smart controls, LED lighting and other energy-saving solutions, all at no upfront cost to the customer.

The Zero Cost Program was developed based on an industry standard agreement known as a Managed Energy Services Agreement (“MESA”). Under the MESA, Zenergy acts as an intermediary between the customer and the utility and develops, procures financing for, and installs and maintains energy efficiency measures and equipment at the client’s facilities. The MESA is expected to last a minimum of five years, with an average of a seven-year duration. A MESA is a variation of an Energy Services Agreement (ESA), which is rapidly gaining popularity.

Under an ESA, an energy provider sets a floor for the customer’s energy consumption and lays out projected savings after retrofitting. After the retrofits are installed, actual energy and cost savings are measured. The customer then pays the ESA provider a charge per unit of energy saved that is set below its baseline utility price, resulting in immediate reduced operating expenses. The ESA payment can be structured either as a percentage of the customer’s utility rate or as a fixed dollar amount per kilowatt-hour saved. The ESA provider retains ownership and maintains the equipment throughout the ESA to ensure reliability and performance.

New efficiency measures can be added throughout the duration of the contract, at the end of which, the customer can elect to purchase the equipment at fair market value, extend the contract or return the equipment. Unlike an ESA, under a MESA, the energy provider assumes the broader energy management of a customer’s facility, including the responsibility for utility bills.

With the announcement of its recent acquisition of Enertrade Electric, a Texas-based Retail Electric Provider (http://ibn.fm/l8xsG), Zenergy can now provide that broader range of services. Its Zero Cost Program is also taking off; the company announced that it had signed up several new clients this year, one of which is Tanglewood Resort & Conference Center (http://ibn.fm/x0RIn). Through its Zero Cost Program, Zenergy will provide an entire suite of conservation-based products and services to enable the Tanglewood facility to achieve its sustainability goals while hoping to enjoy a positive bottom line as well.

For more information, please visit www.ZenergyBrands.com or www.WhatisZenergy.com and connect with the company on its social media accounts:

Facebook:  Zenergy Brands

Twitter:  @ZenergyBrands

Instagram:  @ZenergyBrands

YouTube:  Zenergy Brands

• MCOA has engaged a highly experienced direct-to-consumer marketing firm to handle retail marketing and advertising for hempSMART™
• Company’s branded CBD products take aim at $3.7 billion wellness industry
• MCOA is one of the first companies to offer hemp-derived CBD products through an affiliate marketing program

Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC: MCOA), a corporation engaged in the research and development of health and wellness-targeted legal hemp-based consumer products along with other endeavors in the legal cannabis market, recently announced that it has engaged direct-to-consumer marketing firm Eddy Pham & Company to manage retail marketing and advertising for its hempSMART™ branded products (http://ibn.fm/1cUE0).

hempSMART is one of MCOA’s key companies, delivering a line of hemp-based cannabinoid products that target general health and wellness. These products combine the most effective ingredients and wellness technologies with hemp-derived cannabinoids to create products that are ideally formulated and geared toward consumers who are conscientious about their health.

Eddy Pham & Company will deliver a fully integrated, multichannel transactional marketing campaign for the hempSMART product line, focusing on digital advertising, content marketing, infographics, customer incentives, customer acquisition, an expansive social media presence and search engine marketing and optimization that includes in-depth research and analytics. Eddy Pham & Company will further provide outsourced customer assistance and fulfillment services for hempSMART orders resulting from the campaign.

Eddy Pham & Company brings extensive expertise to the table, and it has overseen the manufacturing of more than 160 products. This expertise makes the firm well prepared to help foster the success of the hempSMART product line—from building of brand equity to boosting overall sales. Eddy Pham & Company will leverage its partnerships in the transactional industries to assist in bringing hempSMART to the attention of consumers who are seeking natural, hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) and other cannabinoid products.

As Eddy Pham & Company carries out its comprehensive and impressive marketing strategy for hempSMART, MCOA foresees hempSMART becoming a North American leader among hemp-based cannabinoid companies.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com

• Specializes in reducing utility expenses from 20% to as much as 60% through cutting-edge Zero Cost Program™
• Recently acquired Enertrade Electric LLC, a Texas-based Retail Electric Provider
• Global market for energy-efficient building technologies expected to reach $360 billion in 2026, while energy efficient devices market expected to reach $908 billion by 2022
• The tech savvy market is choosing energy efficient devices in effort to reduce carbon footprint and save money

Zenergy Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: ZNGY) is the nation’s leading next-generation energy and technology company operating in the emerging smart energy, conservation and utility industries. Headquartered in Texas, Zenergy provides an entire suite of conservation-based products and services that enable clients to achieve sustainability goals, reduce carbon emissions and improve their bottom line. The company’s cutting-edge Zero Cost Program™ reduces utility expenses by 20 percent to 60 percent by offering energy conservation, smart controls, and efficiency-based products and services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal end-use customers.

The Zero Cost Program™ is a financing mechanism that allows customers in the commercial, industrial and municipal industries to reduce water, natural gas and electricity expenses by implementing proven conservation technologies at no out-of-pocket cost to the customer. The Zero Cost Program™ enriches businesses by immediately reducing energy consumption through the use of smart controls, building automation, LED lighting solutions, refrigeration optimization, efficient water system and EC motor control systems, demand-side management and load factor correction.

A unique managed energy services agreement allows a portion of these utility savings to be retained by Zenergy’s partner that is financing the upgraded, retrofit equipment and installation costs until a specified repayment period ends. After that, clients reap all the financial rewards of the technologies implemented, which Zenergy estimates should range between 25 percent to 45 percent in total utility costs.

Residential customers seeking out cost-effective energy savings can also choose from a suite of “Smart Home” products including home automation, security monitoring and energy conservation services that can be controlled 24/7 from the comfort and convenience of smartphones or internet-connected smart devices. Zenergy’s residential program offers partnership opportunities for homebuilders and residential multifamily real estate developers to provide smart home technologies to high-end customers.

Zenergy Brands acquisition of Enertrade Electric LLC, a reputable, fully operating, licensed Texas-based Retail Electric Provider (REP), further increases the company’s value proposition. Zenergy CEO Alex Rodriguez said this new subsidiary adds an essential complementary service to the company’s suite of smart energy products and services.

“Since our founding, our vision has been to converge smart controls (home and building automation) with energy conservation and retail energy to deliver the comprehensive smart energy service to customers,” Rodriguez said.

On a global scale, residential and commercial buildings account for nearly 45 percent of the world’s total energy consumption. Improving the energy efficiency of these homes and buildings is often a more affordable way to reduce harmful gas emissions while minimizing the need for new energy production. According to Navigant Research, global revenue for energy efficiency commercial building retrofits alone is expected to grow from $71.4 billion in 2016 to $100.8 billion in 2025. At the same time, the energy efficient devices market is expected to reach a market size of $908 billion by 2022. Increasing demands for reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions along with concerns over climate change are contributing factors driving the market’s overall growth.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ZenergyBrands.com

• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is a lead sponsor of ‘The Hemp Farming Act of 2018’, which would remove hemp from scheduled list of controlled substances, making it a legal crop

Global Hemp Group, Inc. (CSE: GHG) (FRANKFURT: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF) is joining other leaders in the hemp industry through its anticipation of the impending Senate bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, that would remove hemp from the scheduled list of controlled substances in the U.S. and, instead, make it an agricultural commodity (http://ibn.fm/gZ44Z). “It’s now time to take the final step and make this a legal crop,” Sen. McConnell said during a press conference (http://ibn.fm/Y4tKZ).

The Hemp Farming Act of 2018, if passed, would bring hemp farming into the mainstream. Time quoted Eric Steenstra, president of advocacy group Vote Hemp, as saying, “This is a huge development for the hemp industry. Sen. McConnell’s support is critical to helping us move hemp from research and pilot programs to full commercial production.”

Global Hemp Group is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company with operations in Los Angeles and Montreal. It maintains a dual-phase growth strategy that requires acquisition and development in order to build a synergistic portfolio of companies within the hemp industry. To develop its business model, the company is pursuing joint ventures in the hemp industry, such as its ventures with Marijuana Company of America (OTC: MCOA) related to commercial hemp production on the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick, Canada.

In the future, Global Hemp Group intends to establish Hemp Agro-Industrial Zones (HAIZ) where it can develop industrial hemp cultivation as well as operate a variety of processing facilities that transform the hemp plant into sustainable materials that go into a myriad of finished products.

Brian Furnish, president of U.S. Hemp Roundtable, was cited by Time as saying, “The hemp industry is very grateful to Leader McConnell for his strong leadership over the years on behalf of providing Kentucky farmers — and the whole U.S. agricultural community — this exciting new economic opportunity.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GlobalHempGroup.com

• MCOA’s hempSMART™ brand is dedicated to scientific development of hemp-derived CBD-based nutritional products
• North American legal cannabis market projected to reach more than $22 billion by 2021
• Canada’s pending legalization of recreational cannabis for adult users in mid-2018 is expected to generate rapid market growth

Results of newly published cannabis industry reports suggest that consumers are not only active buyers of legalized medical and recreational cannabis in its many forms, but are increasingly choosing their purchases more carefully. Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC: MCOA) and subsidiary hempSMART™ have consistently focused on taking a stand for legalized consumer access to the highest quality, scientifically derived industrial hemp-based products (http://ibn.fm/YdSew).

The company’s carefully crafted affiliate program also allows interested consumers to become affiliates in a successful direct sales and marketing business model as hempSMART™ distributors (http://ibn.fm/i042f). MCOA’s unique hempSMART™ affiliate program offers participants the ability to sell a wide variety of hemp-based CBD consumer products for people and their pets.

The potential benefits of MCOA’s affiliate program are many for those who seek to participate in this booming sector of the legal cannabis industry. An article in Hemp Business Journal points out several recent industry revenue reports, including one from Arcview Market Research estimating that North American adult consumers will spend nearly $15 billion on legal recreational cannabis and more than $7 billion on medicinal cannabis by 2021 (http://ibn.fm/9n2DE).

On a global basis, according to data published by Energias Market Research, the medical cannabis market is expected to balloon from just over $8 billion in 2017 to more than $28 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 19.1 percent over the forecast period (http://ibn.fm/VmwXe).

MCOA’s stance on ensuring that its hempSMART™ range of non-psychoactive supplements is derived from the finest industrial hemp containing proprietary formulations centered on CBD (cannabidiol) remains firm. hempSMART’s new take on wellness products include formulations for brain health, full spectrum bioavailable CBD drops and pain capsules and cream with a blend of premium CBD and botanical supplements. Newly launched products include Pain Cream and full-spectrum hempSMART™ Pet Drops for dogs and cats.

“Our new hempSMART product is a natural option for pet owners who care about supporting their animals’ healthy energy levels as well as optimizing their health,” Donald Steinberg, CEO of MCOA, said in announcing the company’s expansion into the $70 billion pet care market (http://ibn.fm/3FLzC). “Our hempSMART product line will continue to expand to other popular areas of consumer interest to give our affiliates what they need to succeed.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com

• Strategy drives traffic to its website, as licensed dispensaries and other retailers seek access to the company’s comprehensive digital payment system
• Green is being offered to more than just medical marijuana retailers, available to the entire cannabis industry
• REFG’s integrated gateway Green system works with existing point-of-sale processing equipment

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) makes it easy for licensed merchants and dispensaries of marijuana to sign up online for its proprietary and comprehensive Green payment processing system, a full scale financial program for state-legalized cannabis markets (http://ibn.fm/6Be4Z).

Green offers its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) compliant system to not only medical marijuana retailers, but the entire cannabis industry. It enables dispensaries and related merchants to sell within a safe, non-cash environment. Green also offers cryptocurrency payment processing.

Green enables dispensaries and other merchants to do business in a digital environment. Not only can it process transactions with customers; Green can also handle all internal payments, such as payroll, accounts payable and any other payments incurred by a small business. All can be done within a secure, regulatory-compliant and cash-free system.

Patients and customers can sign up for Green online. Consumers are issued Green cards, which may be branded to the vendor, creating customer loyalty and repeat sales. The customer or patient can then pay directly from a bank account without requiring cash. The consumer may also sign up for Green at point-of-sale.

In a news release, Jeremy Roberts, CEO of REFG, said, “This fully concludes our transition from development stage and government relations to revenue stage. We’re excited to bring our services to the industry and to bring increased value to our shareholders.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Take.green

• CapitalCube.com performs billions of computations and delivers comprehensive analysis on more than 50,000 globally-listed stocks and ETFs every day
• Sophisticated, proprietary AI technology applicable to any data-driven industry
• Technology has vast applications across multiple industries

Data is nothing but drivel unless it’s collected, collated, analyzed, interpreted, managed and coerced into useful information. With the rise of computers, it sometimes seems as if we’re swimming in oceans of data, and making sense of it is beyond human ability. Machines may have created this mess, but now machines are poised to finally make sense out of all the bits and bytes. Machine learning, also known as artificial intelligence (AI), has evolved to mimic human cognitive functions such as learning and problem solving.

AnalytixInsight Inc. (TSX.V: ALY) (OTCQB: ATIXF) has developed and deployed a sophisticated, proprietary, artificial intelligence machine learning platform that turns big data into useful information. Data is transformed into insightful narratives, and workflow schedules are robotically analyzed for maximum performance. AnalytixInsight’s artificial intelligence technology can find meaning in numbers and data, transform the disparate information into plain English and deliver it as actionable insights. The technology is scalable and applicable to virtually any data-driven industry, such as finance, communications, health care, insurance or government. The company has already achieved strategic inroads in fintech, and it is developing workflow analytics solutions.

The company’s flagship product, CapitalCube.com, is a breakthrough artificial intelligence financial portal that provides comprehensive analysis by performing billions of computations and comprehensive analysis on worldwide stocks every day. AnalytixInsight’s cutting-edge financial portal provides on-demand fundamental research, portfolio evaluation and screening tools on over 50,000 global equities and North American ETFs. CapitalCube.com provides individual investors with the power of algorithms and analytics previously only enjoyed by Wall Street institutions. CapitalCube.com puts powerful information at the fingertips of individual investors, delivering accounting and earnings reports, in-depth analysis, peer-to-peer performance evaluations, dividend strength, and AI-derived information about potential corporate actions like dividend changes or acquisitions. These real time tools give individual investors the newfound ability to make highly informed financial decisions.

CapitalCube.com offers free access for basic financial information for users that sign on, and expanded access and detailed, shareable reports on companies for reasonable monthly or annual fees. The portal also publishes 3,000 articles daily and has content partners such as The Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters, and Yahoo Finance.

By turning vast amounts of raw data into actionable intelligence, AnalytixInsight is delivering the power of real time information to the fingertips of individual investors. With broad-ranging applications, AnalytixInsight’s technology could also reverberate far beyond individual investors.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.AnalytixInsight.com

• Company announces change in top leadership as it prepares to begin production this year
• North American, Asian Pacific asphalt consumption forecast anticipates expansion
• Petroteq Energy’s extraction lease in Utah expected to generate 87 million barrels of bitumen-rich oil

Utah’s northeastern desert wilderness features a variety of colorful geographic names, such as Whiterocks, Green River, Rainbow, Bluebell, Red Canyon and Flaming Gorge. In the midst of them sits the less-aesthetic-sounding Asphalt Ridge, which nonetheless has served for decades as a critical natural resource for surrounding communities that relied on its bituminous pitch to supply the local county with materials for asphalt road repairs. Now, companies such as Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSX.V: PQE) (OTCQX: PQEFF) are exploring its potential for supplying that bitumen to a larger world market in a pioneering, land-friendly way.

Petroteq Energy recently announced the appointment of David Sealock as the company’s new CEO (http://ibn.fm/iTYKd) to direct Petroteq’s efforts to capitalize on its two patents for extracting the bitumen from oil sands, using solvents in a way that avoids producing waste materials while utilizing energy in a highly efficient manner. On January 10, the Canadian company announced that it had been granted a Notice of Allowance by the U.S. Patent Office for its ‘Oil from Oil Sands Extraction Process’ patent (http://ibn.fm/bcoPh) and it had similarly received a Notice of Allowance from Canada’s Intellectual Property Office for an extraction process patent there. Petroteq has applied for patent protection in all countries with significant heavy oil assets, including Russia.

“As a company focused on the development and implementation of proprietary technologies for the environmentally safe extraction of heavy oils, we understand the importance of developing new technologies … to help companies in our industry to get competitive advantage and cost efficiency,” former Petroteq CEO Alex Blyumkin stated in a November news release (http://ibn.fm/aumuR).

The company’s extraction process uses no water, high temperatures or high pressures and produces no greenhouse gases. Up to 99 percent of all bitumen, heavy oil and lighter hydrocarbons are extracted, and up to 99 percent of the benign extraction solvents are recycled so that they can be sold or returned to the extraction point, according to the company (http://ibn.fm/dEfLF). Even before the patents were granted, Petroteq had tested its technical abilities at a separate Utah facility where it produced 10,000 barrels of oil in 2015.

The company is building a facility at its Asphalt Ridge lease site that it expects to increase its capacity by some 400 percent. A detailed study of the region’s mineral resources (http://ibn.fm/pchua) coinciding with plans by the federal government to turn management of the land over to the state of Utah in 1964 found that an estimated 697 million barrels of oil were located on about 5,200 acres with about 350 million barrels of recoverable surface reserves, and the study’s author noted that additional concealed saturated sand may be found by drilling in the region, and “inclusion of these lenses might double the total reserve figure given above.”

Petroteq estimates that its leased resources contain 87 million barrels that it will extract over the next two to three decades. The company is expected to begin commercial production this year, with a goal of 5,000 barrels of oil per day by 2019.

A forecast by the Freedonia Group researchers issued in 2015 anticipated that world consumption of asphalt bitumen would expand through 2019, particularly as strong growth in China and India continues to drive the Asia-Pacific region to levels exceeding those of the United States (http://ibn.fm/r3mp0). An expected rebound in the North American consumer market coinciding with the need to maintain the massive network of roads and highways crisscrossing the United States and its neighbors is expected to drive fresh demand, with an estimated three percent yearly increase through 2021, according to a similar report issued by the group last year (http://ibn.fm/b203m).

“We are on the verge of beginning our production phase at Asphalt Ridge,” Blyumkin stated in early March (http://ibn.fm/Xfzl4). “We completed reassembly and testing of the major process systems successfully and are in the final stages of pre-production testing of the utility system, bringing us one step closer to commercial launch at a time when demand for our products is on the rise.”

Blyumkin will continue to serve as the chairman of Petroteq’s board of directors as David Sealock assumes leadership of the company, according to the company’s March 27 announcement (http://ibn.fm/Kfs2d).

“We believe David’s aptitude and capabilities will allow us to take Petroteq to the next level as we make significant progress in our Utah facilities and also move forward on building our PetroBloq (logistics blockchain) consortium. He is a well-rounded leader that has been known for initiating innovative technologies for cost efficiencies. … He is an executive that understands the depths of corporate governance and the regulatory policies and procedures in running a publicly traded company,” Blyumkin stated.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Petroteq.energy

• Investments in European real estate record 22 percent increase during 2017
• American-Swiss Capital building portfolio of undervalued, high-rate-of-return properties
• Tivat, Montenegro, opportunities centered at Adriatic Sea’s Monaco-like coastline

Miami-based American-Swiss Capital, Inc. is preparing to take public its vision of an investment corridor to high-rate-of-return European properties, with the company’s recent registration statement seeking admission to the OTCQB tier of the OTC Markets Group, Inc. Marketplace. The stock quote request was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with an April 4 prospectus that identified a bid to offer a minimum of 1.25 million shares at $1 per share, with a maximum potential offering of five million shares.

American-Swiss Capital is built on the belief that the new venture’s knowledgeable team can identify profitable real estate investment opportunities designed to generate a high rate of return due to the properties’ distressed and undervalued qualities. The company’s current focus is on the European market – specifically properties in Tivat, Montenegro, where American-Swiss Capital has negotiated an agreement for a set of beachfront apartments, as well as land on the Tivat bay, where it aims to build villas in a gated community development that overlooks the Adriatic Sea.

Travel site Lonely Planet describes Tivat as an “erstwhile-mediocre seaside town” where visitors “could be forgiven for wondering if they’re in Monaco or Montenegro” because of the proliferation of super yachts in the bay, a posh promenade and rows of elegant buildings, thanks in large part to the redevelopment of the city’s old naval base into a first-class marina (http://ibn.fm/blO9n) – demonstrating the potential of the location’s Mediterranean climate (dry summers and mild, rainy winters), as it is already attracting “the uber-wealthy” and “less-loaded rubberneckers.”

The old-world charms of the vicinity include seafood restaurants and quiet mountainous hikes past picturesque stone homes, crumbling ruins, olive groves with man-powered mills and churches dating back to the ninth and 14th centuries, while nearby Kotar delivers more of the bauble associated with tourism hubs.

Montenegro presents an attractive business opportunity for foreign investors, and the country’s Montenegrin Investment Promotion Agency (“MIPA”) expresses its commitment to economic development by welcoming foreign investors.

American-Swiss Capital has negotiated a significant restructuring of the debt on the beachfront apartments with the mortgage holder. The 18 units at the heart of the coastline’s burgeoning tourism industry were built in 2012 but were never occupied. They range in size from 60 to 160 square meters, about 646 to 1,700 square feet, and the property has a private beach with a fixed pontoon boat berth. The separate gated community project is located on four acres where American-Swiss Capital anticipates building 30 villas of 360 square meters (about 3,875 square feet) on the Bay of Kotor. The proceeds from the direct public offering would be applied first to acquiring the land for the gated community, and then to building a prototype villa and retiring the apartments debt as proceeds become available (http://ibn.fm/K2Ft1). An April 10 Twitter post noted that the company is also scouting land for its next project, which it stated would be “HUGE!”

Real estate transaction volumes rose 10 percent worldwide year-over-year during the fourth quarter of 2017, amounting to full-year volumes of $698 billion for 2017, according to global market analyst JLL (http://ibn.fm/Gz8KB). The agency reported that, despite political uncertainties, investors have remained confident in the performance of the real estate sector – particularly in Europe, where all regions registered growth during the year. The United Kingdom led the continent’s performance overall with a 37 percent rise in annual volumes, but investor appetite for European real estate across the entire area still showed a healthy 22 percent increase for the year.

American-Swiss Capital is led by CEO John Karatzaferis, who served for 25 years as a consultant for several major organizations, including PeopleCo., AGWS, and NAB Bank in Melbourne, Australia. He is accompanied by Robert Sultani, a recently appointed director who is also a managing director of RCS Global Services, an international firm providing advisory, audit and training services with respect to the sourcing of natural resources. He has worked in the Middle East region since 1985 with companies in the telecommunications, information technology, petroleum, finance, software and petrochemical industries.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.AS-Capital.com