DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 18th May 2017

Singapore Economy

Singapore companies are upbeat about economic expansion: Amex survey
Optimism about economic expansion has increased significantly among Singapore finance executives in tandem with growing sentiment from global peers, according to additional details of the 2017 Global Business & Spending Outlook survey released by American Express on Wednesday. However, political uncertainty in other countries is deterring Singaporean companies from expanding into new markets.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/singapore-companies-are-upbeat-about-economic-expansion-amex-survey
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/larger-firms-putting-off-foreign-forays-survey

Multiple paths to enact EU-Singapore FTA, future Singapore-UK trade ties
The next steps that Singapore and the European Union (EU) take in ratifying a proposed free-trade agreement (FTA) between them will affect how soon a similar one between Singapore and the United Kingdom can emerge, experts told The Business Times. In separate interviews, international law and trade specialists shared with BT some ways in which Singapore and the EU can look to ratify the European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) as soon as possible.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/multiple-paths-to-enact-eu-singapore-fta-future-singapore-uk-trade-ties

Key agencies giving support to joint Chongqing project
A joint project by China and Singapore to drive growth in the former country’s less developed western region has taken some major steps forward. The impetus has come from China’s main Customs department, which has given the project the green light by unveiling 10 measures that will give it more momentum.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/key-agencies-giving-support-to-joint-chongqing-project?login=true

Singapore Real Estate

2/3 of 17 Leedon Park being sold for about S$43m
Two-third of a sprawling 46,879 sq ft freehold site in the Leedon Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area which was put on the market last September, is being sold. BT understands that the owner of 17 Leedon Park has made an application to the authorities for the site to be subdivided into two plots – the larger of which will be 31,211 sq ft and for which an option to purchase was granted earlier this year. The price is around S$43 million, which works out to S$1,380 per square foot on land area. The sale is subject to the subdivision approval being granted.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/23-of-17-leedon-park-being-sold-for-about-s43m

Lazada moves warehouse operations to SingPost’s regional logistics hub
Online shopping portal Lazada has moved its warehouse operations to SingPost Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub in Tampines, so that the two companies can tap each other’s strengths to meet rising e-commerce demand in South-east Asia. The combination of strengths in e-commerce and logistics will enable both companies – which have each received investment from China’s Alibaba – to be in a leading position in the industry to serve a wider spectrum of customers in Singapore and the region, they said in a press release.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/lazada-moves-warehouse-operations-to-singposts-regional-logistics-hub
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/lazada-moves-warehouse-to-singpost-logistics-hub

Companies’ Brief

Hatten Land all set to spread its wings abroad
Catalist-listed Hatten Land is ready not only to venture beyond Malacca in Malaysia but also to spread its wings abroad. Besides its access to prime land plots in Malaysia held by its private parent firm Hatten Group, Hatten Land is eyeing new markets in South-east Asia and Australia. “We are studying Laos, for some time now, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Melbourne,” Hatten Land’s executive chairman and managing director Colin Tan told The Business Times, citing tremendous untapped potential in the region.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/hatten-land-all-set-to-spread-its-wings-abroad

US activist hedge fund emerges as GLP’s new substantial shareholder
Elliott Asset Management LLC has emerged as a new substantial shareholder of Global Logistic Properties (GLP), a regulatory filing on Wednesday showed. The American activist hedge fund founded by Paul Elliott Singer shored up its stake in GLP to 5.1 per cent from 4.98 per cent when it acquired 5.8 million shares on May 15 in the open market.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/us-activist-hedge-fund-emerges-as-glps-new-substantial-shareholder

GP Batteries unit awarded land tender in China
GP Batteries International’s subsidiary Zhongyin (Ningbo) Battery Co (ZYNB) has been awarded the tender for a plot of land in the Jiangbei district, Ningbo for a bid of 122.6 million yuan (about S$24.8 million). The amount of the bid bond is 24.53 million yuan, it said in a release to Singapore Exchange on Wednesday. The site, which spans a land area of 131,838 square metres, has a building height limit of 24 metres, a building density of under 50 per cent and a building volume ratio of 1-1.5.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/gp-batteries-unit-awarded-land-tender-in-china