DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 20th September 2016

Top Story

$450m set aside to boost safety of HDB lifts
The Government will set aside $450 million to modernise public housing lifts, and ensure that costs are not a barrier to maintaining high safety standards. Under the new Lift Enhancement Programme (LEP) announced yesterday, town councils will get 90 per cent funding to install safety features recently recommended by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) after a series of lift incidents. About 20,000 lifts are eligible and while no start date has been fixed yet, town councils will have 10 years to take advantage of the scheme.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/450m-set-aside-to-boost-safety-of-hdb-lifts?login=true
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-scheme-to-help-pay-for-costs-of-modernising-hdb-lifts/3138166.html
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/govt-roll-out-s450m-programme-improve-hdb-lifts-safety-features

Singapore Economy

Singapore SMEs slow to adopt business model innovation to gain edge
Local firms have been slow to adopt business model innovation (BMI), a critical tool during a time of rapid disruption, say innovation pundits. Michael Teng, chief of the Singapore Institute of Productivity and Innovation (SiPi), a centre of excellence under the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), told The Business Times that while BMI is not new, local interest in the concept had only grown in the last two years.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sme/singapore-smes-slow-to-adopt-business-model-innovation-to-gain-edge

Singapore Real Estate

Infrastructure offers ‘silver lining’ amid global slowdown
Amid slowing global growth, mounting political uncertainty and divergent monetary policies, trade pacts that promote infrastructure development are a “silver lining”, Liew Mun Leong, chairman of Surbana Jurong and Changi Airport Group believes. He said this at a forum hosted by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Surbana Jurong on Monday. His views were echoed by others. “We are all acutely aware that the global economy is again slowing down after the relatively few good years of recovery from the global financial crisis (GFC). The International Monetary Fund had in July downgraded the world economic outlook for 2016 from 3.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent. Globally, investment is weak, with world trade slackening behind global income. Uncertainty abounds in the sudden awakening that Britain will leave Europe. We now live in a world of heightened fears of global terrorism and increased security problems.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/infrastructure-offers-silver-lining-amid-global-slowdown
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/icbc-signs-five-deals-to-boost-commitment-to-infrastructure-financing-efforts
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/deals-to-boost-spores-role-in-one-belt-one-road?login=true
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/sph-icbc-to-develop-s-e-asias-first-bilingual-b2b-platform?login=true

Town councils must submit projections for sinking funds
Town councils will have to submit 10- to 30-year projections of their sinking funds, to ensure that they are setting aside enough for their lift-replacement programmes and other long-term expenses. Blogging about the new Lift Enhancement Programme yesterday, which will help town councils fund lift modernisation, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong stressed how town councils must also plan ahead for major expenses such as lift replacements while coping with the increasing costs of managing their estates.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/town-councils-must-submit-projections-for-sinking-funds?login=true

Axe Brand family pays S$25m for pair of Bukit Pasoh shophouses
OCBC seems to be on a roll selling conservation shophouse properties of late. It recently sold a pair of adjacent freehold shophouses at 11 and 13 Bukit Pasoh Road for S$25 million. The buyer is understood to be the Leong family behind the famous homegrown Axe Brand medicated oil. The price works out to S$2,940 per square foot on the gross floor area (GFA) of 8,503 sq ft. The gross yield is about 1.5 per cent based on the existing rental income from the property.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/axe-brand-family-pays-s25m-for-pair-of-bukit-pasoh-shophouses

Singapore’s deal activities down by 17% so far this year
Big ticket deals such as the US$3.8 billion BOC Aviation spinoff and the US$2.5 billion sale of Asia Square Tower 1 – the largest single-tower office deal in Asia Pacific – could not push the deal-making scene in Singapore to beat last year’s showing; so far at least. According to a preliminary review by Thomson Reuters for the first nine months of this year, corporate deals in Singapore totalled US$37.5 billion – down 17 per cent from the first nine months of 2015. The slow patch in Singapore’s mergers and acquisition (M&A) space was more pronounced on a quarterly basis with deals worth US$12 billion announced in the third quarter, lower by 27.2 per cent sequentially and 26.7 per cent from the same period a year ago.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/singapores-deal-activities-down-by-17-so-far-this-year

Companies’ Brief

Mapletree Logistics Trust Management CFO resigns
Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) Management announced on Monday that Wong Mei Lian has resigned as chief financial officer. Ms Wong will be relinquishing her role on Nov 12 to pursue other interests, said MLT Management, the manager of Mapletree Logistics Trust. MLT Management added that it has found a suitable replacement, and will make a further announcement when the regulatory filing of the candidate has been made.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/mapletree-logistics-trust-management-cfo-resigns

Chiwayland unit acquires Wuxi land, announces plans for 3 other China parcels
A subsidiary of mainboard-listed Chinese property developer Chiwayland International has acquired a 73,351 square metre parcel of land in Wuxi, near Shanghai, the group said on Monday. No price was announced. The group also announced plans to develop three other plots of land that it previously acquired in China. No plans have been announced yet for the latest acquisition, which is located in the east of Wuxi’s Jinkui Park in Taihu New Town. The earliest date that Chiwayland expects a development to be completed on the parcel, which is about the size of Buckingham Palace in London, is in 2018.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/chiwayland-unit-acquires-wuxi-land-announces-plans-for-3-other-china-parcels

Thakral’s HV GTH Resorts buys two properties in Australia to build retirement homes
Mainboard-listed real estate company Thakral Corporation on Monday said that GTH Resorts – a joint venture between TCAP Partners (a subsidiary of Thakral) and PVAP Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of Living Gems Lifestyle Resorts) – has acquired its first two properties in Queensland, Australia. GTH Resorts will develop and operate resort-style retirement housing for seniors over 50. These properties are Bongaree, Bribie Island, which has a land area of 24.89 hectares, and Highfields, Toowoomba, which has a land area of 9.4 hectares.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/thakrals-hv-gth-resorts-buys-two-properties-in-australia-to-build-retirement-homes

CLSA unit said to be doing due diligence on 77 Robinson Rd
CLSA Capital Partners is said to have been selected to do exclusive due diligence for the purchase of 77 Robinson Road. The pricing is believed to be above S$530 million, or slightly above S$1,800 per square foot based on the net lettable area (NLA) of nearly 293,270 sq ft. Formerly known as Singapore Airlines (SIA) Building, the 35-storey office tower is on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure that started on Feb 18, 1994; the balance lease tenure is about 76.5 years.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/clsa-unit-said-to-be-doing-due-diligence-on-77-robinson-rd

Finnish marine group puts up five industrial properties for sale
As part of its global exercise to go asset-light, Wartsila Singapore – the Singapore unit of Finland-listed marine and energy player Wartsila – is putting up five industrial properties here for sale via an expression of interest (EOI). Two properties located at 11 Pandan Crescent and 14 Benoi Crescent will be sold on sale-and-leaseback arrangements, while the other three properties at 43, 45 and 47 Gul Drive are offered on an outright sale basis with vacant possession upon completion of sale. The indicative asking prices for 11 Pandan Crescent and 14 Benoi Crescent are S$40 million and S$11 million respectively, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the exclusive marketing agent for the sale.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/finnish-marine-group-puts-up-five-industrial-properties-for-sale
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/wartsila-singapore-to-sell-5-properties-in-global-strategy
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/wartsila-singapore-to-sell-five-jtc-industrial-properties