DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 18th Sep 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Co-working spaces among top six occupier sectors at 3.7m sq ft
Co-working spaces now take up 3.7 million square feet (sq ft) in net lettable area (NLA) of Singapore’s commercial space, tripling from 1.2 million sq ft in 2015 to become one of the top six occupier sectors, said Colliers International. The top occupier sectors in the Singapore CBD (central business district) Grade A office space are financial services, followed by professional services; technology, media and…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/co-working-spaces-among-top-six-occupier-sectors-at-37m-sq-ft
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/spore-co-working-spaces-have-tripled-to-37m-sq-ft-since-2015

Singapore Economy

NODX down 8.9% in Aug, boosted by gold exports
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell 8.9 per cent year on year in August, performing better than economists’ expectations of a 10.6 per cent fall and breaking a five-month streak of double-digit declines, according to Enterprise Singapore figures on Tuesday. But with the improvement “inflated by a surge in gold exports to China”, as Maybank Kim Eng economists Chua Hak Bin and Lee Ju Ye put it…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/nodx-down-89-in-aug-boosted-by-gold-exports
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/exports-fall-again-as-fresh-worries-emerge-on-horizon

Companies’ Brief

MIT, Keppel DC Reit to issue shares to fund their respective data centre buys
Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) is looking to raise at least S$350 million through a private placement to partially fund its joint purchase of a North American data centre portfolio worth US$1.37 billion, of which its share of the bill is about S$965 million. It is issuing 158.3 million new units at an issue price of S$2.211 to S$2.265 per unit, with an upsize option to issue up to 22.6 million new units that would raise at least another S$50 million.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mit-keppel-dc-reit-to-issue-shares-to-fund-their-respective-data-centre-buys

Mapletree Industrial Trust raises S$400m through oversubscribed private placement
Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) has raised S$400 million through an oversubscribed private placement of 176.6 million new units at an issue price of S$2.265 per unit, the top end of the issue price range of S$2.211 to S$2.265. The issue price represents about a 1.5 per cent discount to the adjusted volume weighted average price (adjusted VWAP) of S$2.2985 per unit, and a 2.7 per cent discount to the VWAP of S$2.3278…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mapletree-industrial-trust-raises-s400m-through-oversubscribed-private-placement
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/mapletree-industrial-trust-raises-400m-through-oversubscribed-private

Mapletree Logistics Trust to buy Australia warehouse for A$18.4m
Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) has entered into a conditional forward purchase agreement to acquire a warehouse in Australia for A$18.4 million (S$17.4 million) from Wooreddy Investments. The property is a one-storey logistics facility to be constructed in Truganina, Melbourne. It is sited on freehold land of 25,650 square metres (sq m) and will have a net lettable area of 15,100 sq m when completed.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mapletree-logistics-trust-to-buy-australia-warehouse-for-a184m

Securities watchdog looking into billionaire couple’s purchase of Chip Eng Seng shares
The Securities Industries Council (SIC), which administers Singapore’s takeover code, is looking into the circumstances that saw billionaire couple Celine and Gordon Tang emerge as substantial shareholders of Chip Eng Seng in October last year. “The SIC is looking into the acquisition of shares in the company in October 2018 by the relevant parties,” the council said on Tuesday in response to queries from The Business Times.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/securities-watchdog-looking-into-billionaire-couples-purchase-of-chip-eng-seng

Real estate fund manager ARA exploring listing in 2-3 years: CEO
Warburg Pincus-backed ARA Asset Management, one of the largest Asian real estate fund managers, is exploring a dual stock market listing, including one in Singapore, in the next two to three years, group CEO and co-founder John Lim said. “A dual listing is a likely scenario. Singapore definitely will be one venue,” Mr Lim told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference organised by DealStreetAsia on Tuesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/real-estate-fund-manager-ara-exploring-listing-in-2-3-years-ceo
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-real-estate-fund-manager-ara-eyes-listing-in-2-3-years-11913996

HK turmoil: SGX-listed hospitality, retail, F&B firms to feel bigger impact
A number of Singapore-listed companies may start to see the impact of Hong Kong protests showing up in their bottomlines in their next quarterly earnings release, with those in the hospitality, retail and F&B sectors to suffer a bigger hit, say analysts. “We expect hospitality players and retail landlords to be the most impacted as the protests have directly impacted the visitor arrivals and footfall in shopping malls.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/hk-turmoil-sgx-listed-hospitality-retail-fb-firms-to-feel-bigger-impact