SHELL COMPANIES

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A shell corporation (aka International Business Corporations - IBCs -, Personal Investment Companies - PICs -, front companies or "mailbox" companies) is defined in Barron's Finance & Investment Handbook as "a company that is incorporated but has no significant assets or operations. Shell corporations are not in themselves illegal, and they may have legitimate business purposes. However, they are a main component of underground economy, especially those based in tax havens.

A classic tax evasion operation, called transfer pricing, is based on the buying and selling through tax haven shell companies to disguise true profits. The firm does its international operations through this shell corporation, thus not having to report to its country the sums involved, avoiding any taxes. Oxfam International calculates that the flux of money flowing out from developing countries and deposited in tax havens at $50 billion a year - nearly the size of the $57 billion annual global aid budget, of which $35 billion is evaded by foreign corporations, often through transfer pricing .

Purposes

Such corporations may be formed for several purposes:

• Legally, to obtain financing prior to starting operations.

• Fraudulently, as fronts to conceal tax evasion schemes.

• Money laundering

• Tax avoidance, taking advantage of the existence of 250 free zones and tax havens, 95% of which are former British, French, Spanish, Dutch or U.S. colonies or concessions that remain dependent on the former colonial powers.

• By secret services. See e.g. torture flights, where the CIA used a shell company to hide ownership of aircraft.

SOLAR COLA as an INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY?

The soft drinks market is a tough place to do business, unless you have something different to offer and the marketing muscle to match. 

For nearly 100 years Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola have dominated the marketplace with similar products.  Each company spends around $600-800 million dollars a year to maintain its market position. The advertising centers around sport and music, with a scattering of irregular television campaigns. Each company launches (or attempts to launch) new brands every year.  So far, they have not proved as successful as their regular cola brands.

Red Bull, although in a different drinks category, spends not quite as much on advertising , but has managed to acquire instant status and volume sales from sponsoring formula one, the Darpa Desert Challenge, and now the New Jersey MetroStars football team.

Solar Cola, apart from it's contemporary name, is a healthier cola based drink.  Just as refreshing, it contains a unique blend of added ingredients as an aid to good health and energy levels.  The company contributes to and sponsors alternative projects, to include this website, featuring movies, music and several thousand pages of general information, which generates in excess of 3 million visits a month already.  Recent acquisitions include the rights to the Solar Navigator World Electric Challenge - 2009/10, and also the new Bluebird Electric land speed record car for 2007/8.  The company may also sponsor the London to Brighton Solar Car Run in 2008 (dependent on the number of university entries received). 

It is thought that this marketing strategy will equal several hundred thousand dollars of conventional Ad Agency spending.  As an example of the kind of media coverage such nautical antics generate, you have only to look at the newspapers when Ellen Macarthur completed her world circumnavigation.  The same holds true for Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

The design of the Solar Cola can is copyright protected, with trademark applications in the USA, Australia and Europe pending in Class 32 and granted rights in the UK.  Introduction of the drink is held in abeyance pending official launch of one or other sponsored projects, which will be activated when the time is right, such activation to coincide with the market introduction of the drink.

Solar Cola PLC is shortly to be activated for online investment as their trading arm.  The company is forecast to produce excellent results for investors, with sustained growth to be followed by an eventual flotation on the Stock Markets of the world in the next few years.  At this point estimates suggest investors will reap substantial gains - in line with international Licensing expectations.

Solar Cola Ltd is managing the funding requirement for the trading company.  They are looking for medium term or seed investment between £4-5 million to kick start phase two of the venture.

If you are a Business Angel, or Equity House, looking for an opportunity with the potential for good returns, please contact SOLAR COLA LTD for details of their business plan.  Or for and informal chat, please ask for the funding project manager: Nelson Kruschandl

+ 44 (0) 1323 831727

+44 (0) 7905 147709

MONEY FINDER

LINKS:

• "Offshore banking, the secret threat to America", Hound Dogs, 2003

• National Centre of Competence in Research - Financial Valuation and Risk Management

• "Offshore accounts: No longer an easy option"

• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Offshore banking

• Caribbean Financial Action Task Force - works with IRS and others.

• Untraceable Digital Cash, Information Markets, and BlackNet by Timothy C. May

• Principles for a free, powerful and stable monetary system for the digital era by S. Poirier

• Flood Control on the Information Ocean: Living With Anonymity, Digital Cash, and Distributed Databases by Michael Froomkin

• Status Report on Free Market Money from The Indomitus Report

This material and any views expressed herein are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed in any way as a prospectus or offer.  Please contact the company concerned for information of any business opportunity or specific program. Before investing in any business, you must obtain, read and examine thoroughly its disclosure document or offering memorandum.

A taste for adventure capitalists

Solar Cola - the healthier alternative

This website is Copyright © 1999 & 2006  NJK.   The bird logo and name Solar Navigator are trademarks. All rights reserved.  All other trademarks are hereby acknowledged.       Max Energy Limited is an environmental educational charity.

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