DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 13th January 2017

Top Story

Singapore dividend payout likely to be flat in 2017: Markit
IT’S going to be another lacklustre year for dividend investors, as total Singapore dividends in 2017 is projected to rise by just 0.6 per cent, barely improved from last year’s already weak 0.4 per cent rise. Expected ordinary dividends, excluding one-off payments, for 2017 is S$16.4 billion, compared to S$16.3 billion in 2016, according to financial services provider Markit. It’s a lot worse in US dollar terms as total dividends in USD are forecast to be down 5 per cent to US$11.3 billion.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/singapore-dividend-payout-likely-to-be-flat-in-2017-markit

Singapore Real Estate

Singapore investors pumped US$9.7b into Asia-Pac property in 2016
Singapore investors ploughed more capital into real estate in the Asia-Pacific last year than a year earlier, with land and offices topping their list of purchases, even as their acquisition fervour back home continued to ease. Data from Real Capital Analytics (RCA), which tracks portfolio or standalone acquisitions of at least US$10 million, showed that outbound real estate investments in the region by Singapore investors rose 31.8 per cent to US$9.7 billion, while domestic investments slipped 20.7 per cent to US$4.8 billion.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-investors-pumped-us97b-into-asia-pac-property-in-2016

One Tree Hill Garden to be up for en bloc sale
A boutique prime freehold residential development site in District 10 will come on the market when the collective sale of One Tree Hill Garden is launched within the next week. BT understands that the reserve price in the collective sale agreement signed by the majority owners of the three-storey walk-up apartments is about S$70 million. This translates to S$1,792 per square foot based on the land area of 39,063 square feet. An architect has been appointed by the owners to verify the building’s existing gross floor area and to ascertain the development baseline for the property, which will determine whether or not a development charge is payable to the state.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/one-tree-hill-garden-to-be-up-for-en-bloc-sale

Deferred payment plans at more condos
Developers of completed condominiums are again offering sweeteners to home hunters that proved successful in shifting unsold apartments last year. Real estate agents told The Straits Times that one of the latest projects to offer a deferred payment scheme – an attractive proposition to many buyers – is TG Development’s The Peak@Cairnhill II. Two other projects that have been on the market for some time – CapitaLand’s Sky Habitat and Ardmore Three by Wheelock Properties – also rolled out such a scheme recently to woo buyers.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/deferred-payment-plans-at-more-condos

Companies’ Brief

GLP shares close at year’s high on talk of potential suitor
News on Thursday naming several possible bidders for Global Logistic Properties (GLP) has sent the warehouse operator’s share price up 4 per cent to finish at S$2.61, a one-year high. Analysts note that competition for the company has turned its pricing “a little exuberant”. With 63.7 million shares traded, it was the second most active stock on the market, after commodities trader Noble Group. Bloomberg on Thursday reported that Blackstone Group is considering an offer for GLP, potentially pitting it against another US private equity firm Warburg Pincus and a separate Chinese group in the bidding for the S$12.2 billion warehouse company.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/glp-shares-close-at-years-high-on-talk-of-potential-suitors
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/blackstone-may-vie-with-warburg-china-group-for-glp

Mapletree Investments sells 2017’s first SGD bond
Mapletree Investments sold S$625 million perpetual bonds on Thursday, and this first Singapore dollar bond issue for the year drew a robust reception amid a rebound for local debt. Orders for the perpetual bond sale by the 100-per-cent Temasek-owned company reached over S$900 million. The final price was settled at 4.50 per cent, lower than the initial price guidance of around 4.7 per cent.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/mapletree-investments-sells-2017s-first-sgd-bond

Retail Reits post robust returns: SGX
Retail real estate investment trusts (Reits) have been the strongest performers among the bigger Reit segments, a Singapore Exchange (SGX) market update said. Total year-to-date returns for retail Reits – the largest segment of Reits by market capitalisation in Singapore – averaged 3.4 per cent, bringing their average 12-month return to 14.3 per cent. Over the past three years, this segment generated average total returns of 36.7 per cent, in addition to maintaining the lowest average debt to asset ratios, as well as having the second highest return on equity history among the five Reit segments.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/retail-reits-post-robust-returns-sgx

Views, Reviews & Forum

Singapore companies braced for challengers ahead: KPMG
Business sentiment on the ground in Singapore is chilly – worse than during the 2008 global financial crisis, a new survey has found. But even as companies face intense short-term pressures, they are preparing long-term growth plans. KPMG’s pre-Singapore Budget 2017 report, released yesterday, found 70 per cent of companies interviewed citing global economic volatility as their top business concern. Mr Chiu Wu Hong, KPMG head of tax in Singapore, said it is a spike from last year, when 50 per cent rated it a top concern.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/businesses-braced-for-challenges-ahead