MF Global S'pore in go- kart sponsorship

Brokerage provides $70,000 to S'pore Racing Team

A SINGAPORE brokerage firm is spending $70,000 to sponsor a go-kart team which will represent the republic in an Asian championship.

MFGlobal Singapore Pte Ltd's sponsorship of the Singapore Racing Team will see the sixman team participate in various categories of the 2008 Asian Karting Open Championship (AKOC) to be held from June to December in countries such as Macau, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

The company is a subsidiary of MF Global, one of the world's largest brokers of exchangelisted futures and options.

Sponsoring the team is in line with 'MF Global Singapore's core values of speed, accuracy and commitment towards excellence which form the fundamentals for our success', explains its chief

executive Daniel Yeo, who adds that the sponsorship has no direct relation with this September's inaugural Singapore Grand Prix.

He says: 'We hope to also provide the much needed support for its team members and foster an appreciation for the sport of go-kart racing.'MF Global Singapore is a corporate derivatives clearing member of the Singapore Exchange and an approved securities broker-dealer. Since 1986, the company has been providing brokerage services to corporate and institutional clients, professional traders, asset managers and individual investors.

It says the sponsorship, which is for a year, will help to recognise young talent.

'We firmly believe that nurturing these talents by providing them with the right environment to excel will breed champions,' says Mr Yeo.

One such talent is Christian Villeneuve, whose father Charles founded the Singapore Racing Team.

Charles also happens to be a distant relation of Gilles Villeneuve, the Canadian F1 legend. Christian is 11 years old and will be taking part in the AKOC junior racing category. The young man moved to Singapore three years ago and is now a permanent resident.

This is not the first time MF Global Singapore is involved in sports sponsorship. It has sponsored ACI Singapore's (the financial markets association) charity golf tournaments in the past to help raise funds for the less fortunate.

With the current sponsorship of the Singapore Racing Team, the company also hopes to develop a passion for the sport of karting among Singaporeans.

'Go-kart racing has come a long way in Singapore since its early beginnings,' says Benjamin Goh, team director of the Singapore Racing Team. 'MF Global Singapore's involvement and recognition of talent in this sport will accelerate go-kart racing to the next level in Singapore.'