DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 22 Oct 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Singapore malls roll out experiential attractions to draw customers
With the disruption posed by e-commerce, retail malls in Singapore are rapidly evolving beyond mere sales to introduce experiential- and activity-based concepts to entice returning customers, said a new paper by real estate consultancy Edmund Tie. While Singapore’s GDP (gross domestic product) and household incomes have steadily recovered since the 2009 global financial crisis, rising at a compounded annual growth rate of over 4 per cent, retail and F&B (food and beverage) growth has not kept pace…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-malls-roll-out-experiential-attractions-to-draw-customers
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/malls-turning-to-experiences-activities-to-woo-back-customers-report

Vanuatu citizen pays S$32m for TwentyOne Angullia Park penthouse
A Vanuatu citizen, Xie Zhijing, is paying S$32 million or S$4,146 per square foot for the remaining penthouse at the freehold TwentyOne Angullia Park. This is 25 per cent lower than the S$42.9 million or S$5,560 psf that fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho – more commonly known as Jho Low – shelled out for the development’s other penthouse in 2013.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/vanuatu-citizen-pays-s32m-for-twentyone-angullia-park-penthouse

International Press Building in Kallang up for sale with S$30m guide price
International Press Building, an industrial property at 26 Kallang Avenue, has been launched for sale at an indicative price of S$30 million, sole marketing agent Savills Singapore said on Monday. The detached six-storey property, located in the central region of Singapore, occupies a total site area of about 54,000 square feet (sq ft). It has a gross floor area of 134,000 sq ft and a plot ratio of 2.5 under the 2019 Draft Master Plan.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/international-press-building-in-kallang-up-for-sale-with-s30m-guide-price
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/international-press-building-up-for-sale-with-30m-guide-price

JTC goes beyond landlord role to play matchmaker
Over the past year or so, industrial estate developer JTC has been looking to be more than a landlord – by actively linking its customers to potential partners which can help them to adopt more advanced technology and ease their talent crunch. To date, it has approached around 300 companies out of the 14,000 or so across its estates, forming a group that it dubs a partners network, Mr Alvin Tan… https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/jtc-goes-beyond-landlord-role-to-play-matchmaker

Singapore Economy

Singaporeans expect inflation to inch up to 3.2% in coming year: DBS-SMU poll
Singaporeans believe overall or headline inflation will rise slightly to 3.2 per cent over the next 12 months. This is up from the 2.9 per cent predicted rate polled in the previous quarter, under the Singapore Index of Inflation Expectations by the Singapore Management University (SMU) and DBS Group Research.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singaporeans-expect-inflation-to-inch-up-to-32-in-coming-year-dbs-smu-poll
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/sporeans-see-inflation-rate-of-32-in-next-12-months-poll

Companies’ Brief

Keppel faces shake-up with Temasek’s bid for control
Barely four months after a mammoth property merger led by Temasek Holdings was done and dusted by sector heavyweight CapitaLand, Singapore’s state-owned investment firm is shaking things up again – with a surprise S$4 billion partial offer for Keppel Corp, another long-standing asset in its portfolio. With trading in Keppel’s stock halted on Monday, it was announced that Temasek, the conglomerate’s 20.5 per cent…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/keppel-faces-shake-up-with-temaseks-bid-for-control
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/temaseks-keppel-move-may-have-sembmarine-in-its-sights
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/flash-keppel-soars-16-sembmarine-up-2-on-the-back-of-temaseks-bid
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/temasek-in-41b-bid-for-majority-control-of-keppel-corp
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/temaseks-408-billion-bid-for-keppel-could-signal-consolidation-say
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/temasek-makes-s41-billion-bid-take-control-struggling-keppel-corp

Westgate consolidation, Funan reopening boost CMT Q3 revenue
CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) on Monday posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 3.06 Singapore cents for its third quarter ended September 30, 2019, up from the 2.92 Singapore cents paid out a year ago. Q3 gross revenue was S$201.1 million, an increase of 17.9 per cent from a year ago. The increase was mainly due to the completion of the acquisition of the balance 70 per cent interest in Westgate on Nov 1, 2018.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/westgate-consolidation-funan-reopening-boost-cmt-q3-revenue

MLT’s Q2 DPU up 3.4% on contributions from new, existing assets
Stable performance across all its markets coupled with new portfolio assets boosted Mapletree Logistics Trust’s (MLT) second-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.025 Singapore cents, up 3.4 per cent from 1.958 cents a year earlier. Gross revenue for the three months ended Sept 30 rose 14.2 per cent to S$121.8 million, contributed by higher revenue from its existing properties in Hong Kong, as well as the completed…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mlts-q2-dpu-up-34-on-contributions-from-new-existing-assets

MLT proposes private placement to raise some S$250m
Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) is proposing a private placement to raise around S$250 million to partially fund its acquisitions, the trust’s manager said on Tuesday. It plans to list between 154.6 million and 158.3 million new units, at an issue price ranging between S$1.579 and S$1.617 per new unit.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mlt-proposes-private-placement-to-raise-some-s250m

Frasers Commercial Trust declares stable Q4 DPU of 2.4 S cents
Frasers Commercial Trust’s (FCOT) distribution per unit (DPU) was unchanged from a year ago at 2.4 Singapore cents per unit for its fourth quarter ended Sept 30. Gross revenue inched up 1.3 per cent to S$32.9 million for the quarter, from S$32.5 million a year ago, the commercial real estate investment trust’s (Reit) manager said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday morning.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/frasers-commercial-trust-declares-stable-q4-dpu-of-24-s-cents

Unitholders give overwhelming support to merger of Ascott Reit, A-HTrust
Unitholders of Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit) and Ascendas Hospitality Trust (A-HTrust) have given overwhelming support to the proposed merger of the two entities. The resolutions were passed in two separate extraordinary general meetings on Monday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/unitholders-give-overwhelming-support-to-merger-of-ascott-reit-a-htrust

ESR seeks up to HK$11.4 billion in year’s second-biggest HK IPO
ESR Cayman, a logistics real estate developer, is seeking to raise as much as HK$11.4 billion (S$1.98 billion) in what could be Hong Kong’s second-biggest initial public offering this year. The company and some shareholders including Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs Investments Holdings (Asia) are offering 653.7 million shares at HK$16.20 to HK$17.40 apiece, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/esr-seeks-up-to-hk114-billion-in-years-second-biggest-hk-ipo

Cromwell E-Reit completes 19m euro divestment of French industrial property
Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (Cromwell E-Reit) said on Monday that it had on Oct 18 completed the divestment of its Parc d’Osny property in France for 19 million euros (S$28.9 million). Parc d’Osny, which was sold to Arc Eiffel Investissement, is a light industrial property located at 9, chaussée Jules César, ZAC des Beaux Soleils, 95520 Osny.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cromwell-e-reit-completes-19m-euro-divestment-of-french-industrial-property

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Retail woes have warmed tenant-landlord relationship
In an interview featured in The Business Times last month, CapitaLand Group’s president of Singapore and international, Jason Leow, spoke about how the group treats its retail tenants as partners. “When the retailers do well, we do well. We have to help them….” said Mr Leow, who also oversees the Group Centre of Excellence for Retail Innovation and and sits on the board of the manager of the group’s sponsored Reit CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/retail-woes-have-warmed-tenant-landlord-relationship

Property agent suspended, fined S$30,000 for faking offers to get bigger commission
[Singapore] A property agent has been fined S$30,000 and suspended for 12 months for faking offers and counteroffers in a private property transaction in a bid to get a bigger commission for himself at the expense of his client. It is the highest sentence meted out so far to a property agent by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), the statutory board that regulates the real estate agency industry.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/property-agent-suspended-fined-s30000-for-faking-offers-to-get-bigger-commission
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/property-agent-faked-offers-in-bid-to-get-bigger-commission
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/propnex-property-agent-james-ngu-fined-suspended-commission-12020174
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/property-agent-fined-s30000-suspended-12-months-over-unethical-bid-pocket-bigger