DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 15th June 2017

Top Story

2017 GDP expectations raised but growth may be uneven: MAS survey
Private-sector economists have lifted their growth forecast slightly for 2017 from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent, led by an expected pick-up in manufacturing, according to a survey by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). But while the headline number has gone up, growth projections for most other sectors have been trimmed, signalling that economic growth is likely to be uneven. The latest quarterly MAS survey captured the median consensus of 21 private-sector economists who were polled in May this year.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/2017-gdp-expectations-raised-but-growth-may-be-uneven-mas-survey
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/economists-raise-singapores-2017-growth-forecast-to-25?login=true
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/economists-split-over-prospects-for-broader-economy
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/economists-raise-singapore-s-2017-growth-forecast-to-2-5-mas-8944546
http://www.todayonline.com/business/economists-raise-singapores-growth-forecast-25

May suburban condo rents down 4.8%: SRX
Private apartment and condo rents in the suburbs have fallen at a faster clip between May 2016 and May 2017 compared to units in the prime areas and city-fringe locations. Based on SRX Property’s flash estimates data for last month released on Wednesday, its rental index for non-landed private homes in the Outside Central Region or OCR eased 4.8 per cent year on year. This was followed by a 3.7 per cent decline in the index for the Core Central Region (CCR) and 3.2 per cent drop in the Rest of Central Region (RCR).
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/may-suburban-condo-rents-down-48-srx
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/rents-of-singapore-non-landed-private-homes-fall-in-may-hdb-flat-rents-up-srx
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/condo-rents-slide-further-hdb-rents-up-slightly-in-may
https://www.srx.com.sg/research/37742/non-landed-private-rents-decrease-by-08-hdb-rents-increase-by-07-in-may-2017

Singapore Economy

More perp deals hit the Singapore markets as interest rates remain low
A flurry of perpetual deals continue to hit the market as investors remain keen amid low interest rates. On Wednesday, Sembcorp Industries sold S$200 million NC3 perpetuals; this followed Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust’s S$120 million NC5.5 6.6 per cent issue on Monday. NC3 or NC5.5 means the issuer won’t call or redeem the perpetuals before year three or year 5.5. Perpetuals are a hybrid security with no fixed maturity.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/more-perp-deals-hit-the-singapore-markets-as-interest-rates-remain-low

Bond market volatility at lowest level in four years as Fed meets
Volatility in parts of the bond market is getting so low that some investors are taking it as a warning sign. Expectations for price swings in the market for Treasuries have shrunk to the lowest level in four years, raising concern that traders have become complacent and risk getting caught off guard when bonds start moving again.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/bond-market-volatility-at-lowest-level-in-four-years-as-fed-meets

Singapore firms fail to be proactive about risks
QBE Insurance’s The Risk of Regret report revealed that the top three risks encountered by businesses in the past 12 months were loss of income due to business interruption, business systems and computers getting hacked, and equipment breakdown. Yet, despite being acutely aware of such risks, many Singapore companies tend to take the reactive rather than proactive approach – addressing such risks only after experiencing an incident.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/singapore-firms-fail-to-be-proactive-about-risks
http://www.todayonline.com/business/local-firms-not-ready-deal-business-risks-report

Singapore Real Estate

More Singapore contractors, consultants venturing abroad and securing projects: BCA
More Singapore contractors and consultants are venturing overseas and securing projects there, as the latest Construction Export Survey by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) showed. They secured 594 overseas projects in 2015 compared to 289 projects in 2014, said the Construction Export Survey 2016, in which more than 1,400 Singapore construction and consultancy firms were surveyed.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/more-singapore-contractors-consultants-venturing-abroad-and-securing-projects-bca
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/more-spore-contractors-heading-overseas
http://www.todayonline.com/business/more-local-construction-consultancy-firms-venture-overseas

Ministerial committee studying options for Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s Oxley house
The future of the house at the centre of a dispute between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his siblings is being studied by a ministerial committee. The existence of the committee was disclosed yesterday by Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling, the PM’s younger siblings. In a Facebook statement, both said they were told by National Development Minister Lawrence Wong last July that “a ministerial committee had been set up to consider options with respect to 38, Oxley Road and their implications”.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ministerial-committee-studying-options-for-mr-lee-kuan-yews-oxley-house
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/pm-lee-not-involved-in-ministerial-committee-discussions-on-lee-8945620
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/internal-ministerial-committee-set-consider-options-and-implications-38-oxley-road-cabinet

Companies’ Brief

Analysts laud IOI Properties’ pick of Central Boulevard co-developer
IOI Properties’ roping in of Hongkong Land to co-develop Central Boulevard in Singapore has many positives, analysts say, as it would ease its cash flow burden and at the same time enhance the value of the development as direct underground and overhead links can be built to adjoining buildings held and managed by the latter. A memorandum of agreement was signed on Monday under which HKL’s wholly-owned subsidiary Hongkong Land International Holdings (HKLI) would acquire 33 per cent of the joint-venture company for the development of the white site – a development that should prompt a rerating of IOIP since “investors’ concerns over its gearing are now removed”, RHB Research said in a client note on Tuesday.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/analysts-laud-ioi-properties-pick-of-central-boulevard-co-developer

Cambridge Industrial Trust selling industrial property in Woodlands for S$17.2m
Cambridge Industrial Trust (CIT) is selling the remaining leasehold interest of an industrial property in Woodlands for S$17.2 million. Its manager Cambridge Industrial Trust Management Limited said that an option for the proposed sale was signed on June 14, without identifying the buyer. The book value of the property is S$17.2 million.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cambridge-industrial-trust-selling-industrial-property-in-woodlands-for-s172m

World Class Global’s IPO over-subscribed
The property arm of jeweller, Aspial Corp, has seen brisk demand for its initial public offering (IPO), which was over-subscribed at the close of the public offer via the Catalist board. World Class Global received total valid applications for just under 280 million shares against 136 million invitation shares. Some 3.98 million invitation shares were made available to the public for subscription at S$0.26 each.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/world-class-globals-ipo-over-subscribed

Keppel Land goes greener with renewable energy
Property giant Keppel Land is another local business heavyweight to go green with the firm’s corporate headquarters making a pioneer use of renewable energy. Its solar-powered offices in Bugis Junction Towers are now fully powered by renewable energy generated offsite – the first time a Green Mark-certified office building here has reached this milestone.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/keppel-land-goes-greener-with-renewable-energy

Views, Reviews & Forum

Fintech will be part of Singapore’s next wave of growth
If there has been a recurrent theme in recent months, it’s been that innovation plays a critical role in the restructuring of Singapore’s economy and ensuring that as a nation, we continue to remain competitive. With the shifting tides of geopolitics that has brought China’s dominance to the forefront, a small nation like ours must innovate to continue to play on the world’s stage, or risk oblivion in a changing world.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/fintech-will-be-part-of-singapores-next-wave-of-growth

Tear house down, but keep historic basement
Disputes between immediate family members are always heart-rending. This is more so when the dirty linen of our establishment’s foremost contributors is washed in the open. It is inevitable that the line between the personal and public lives of our late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew is sometimes very blurred, given his all-consuming passion for our country’s well-being as well as his larger-than-life impact on it.
http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/tear-house-down-but-keep-historic-basement

Many historical sites already lost
As a filial son, Mr Lee Hsien Loong should obey his father’s last wish to demolish his house, but as Prime Minister, he has a duty to preserve a historical monument. After all, isn’t that the reason why conservation laws are enacted in the first place? Many significant sites have been torn down in the name of progress. The death houses of Sago Lane, the tongkangs along the Singapore River and Great World Amusement Park are just some of them.
http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/many-historical-sites-already-lost