DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 2 September 2021 (Thu)

Singapore Real Estate

Fortune Park makes second attempt at collective sale with S$115m indicative price
Fortune Park, a freehold residential block at 109 Tampines Road, has been put up for collective sale via a second public tender with an indicative price of S$115 million, said sole marketing agent ERA on Wednesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/fortune-park-makes-second-attempt-at-collective-sale-with-s115m-indicative-price

International Plaza to launch en bloc tender soon; multi-billion dollar tag would be Singapore’s biggest collective sale
International Plaza will soon be put on the market via a collective sale tender, in what may potentially be Singapore’s largest collective sale in history in terms of the number of units and value, sole marketing agent Edmund Tie & Company said on Friday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/international-plaza-to-launch-en-bloc-tender-soon-multi-billion-dollar-tag-would-be
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/international-plaza-to-go-en-bloc-at-reserve-price-of-27b-in-spores-largest

Age is just a number? Not so for real estate
Covid-19 induced lockdowns have exposed the weaknesses of income-producing properties around the world. Many structural shifts within the real estate industry have been ongoing for some time prior to 2020 such as the disruption from e-commerce on brick-and-mortar retail.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/age-is-just-a-number-not-so-for-real-estate

Singapore Economy

Private-sector economists raise Singapore’s 2021 growth forecast to 6.6%: MAS survey
Singapore – Private-sector analysts have raised their forecast for Singapore’s economic growth in 2021 for the third time this year, according to the latest quarterly survey released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday (Sept 1).
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/private-sector-economists-raise-singapores-2021-growth-forecast-to-66-mas-survey

China’s private-sector crackdown is of concern for Singapore economy, analysts say
China’s crackdown on private industry has emerged as a major concern for watchers of the Singapore economy, along with pessimism over an export slowdown and worsening fears about the Covid-19 pandemic.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/chinas-private-sector-crackdown-is-of-concern-for-singapore-economy-analysts-say

Companies’ Brief

OUE C-Reit to join FTSE Russell’s Global Developed Index series
OUE Commercial Reit (OUE C-Reit) will be included in the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Developed Index with effect from Sept 20 next year, announced its manager on Thursday morning. Designed to track the performance of listed real estate companies and Reits worldwide, the index incorporates Reits as well as real estate holding and development companies.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/oue-c-reit-to-join-ftse-russells-global-developed-index-series

Sim Leisure to raise S$3.6m through sale of new shares
Theme park operator and developer Sim Leisure Group on Wednesday said it plans to sell new ordinary shares to two of its controlling shareholders at a discount of 5.9 per cent, to raise S$3.6 million. One of the subscribers is the company’s non-independent non-executive director Tan Boon Seng.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/sim-leisure-to-raise-s36m-through-sale-of-new-shares

Wing Tai, GuocoLand boards should do more to address their stock price’s big discounts to book value
LAST week, two established property groups reported decent results for the financial year ended June 30, 2021 (FY 2021). Minority shareholders of GuocoLand and Wing Tai Holdings, while probably thankful that the groups are performing fine in spite of the pandemic, may wonder if more can be done to improve the values of their shares.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/wing-tai-guocoland-boards-should-do-more-to-address-their-stock-prices-big

Corporate digest
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/corporate-digest-1441

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Singapore is at the forefront of urban revolution
Tiziano Terzani was no fan of Singapore. The Florentine writer and journalist explored every corner of Asia. He had witnessed the fall of Saigon to the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong, and the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge. When he visited Singapore, he concluded that all it had to offer was its airport: “The concentration of everything Singapore has to show: its efficiency, its cleanliness, its order.”
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/singapore-is-at-the-forefront-of-urban-revolution

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

177 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases; 90 unlinked
[Singapore] There were 177 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases reported by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update on Wednesday (Sept 1). Of these, 90 were unlinked cases – the highest recorded in a day so far.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/177-new-locally-transmitted-covid-19-cases-90-unlinked

Covid-19 cases linked to bus interchange clusters rise to 314
[Singapore] The number of Covid-19 cases in the clusters at eight bus interchanges in Singapore now stands at 314, with 29 new cases reported. Of these, nine infections are linked to the cluster involving staff at Boon Lay Bus Interchange, which has grown to 66 cases, said the Health Ministry (MOH) on Wednesday (Sept 1).
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/covid-19-cases-linked-to-bus-interchange-clusters-rise-to-314
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/community/number-of-covid-19-cases-linked-to-spore-bus-interchange-clusters-rises-to-314

WHO monitoring new Mu coronavirus variant
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is monitoring a new coronavirus variant known as “Mu”, which was first identified in Colombia in January. Mu, known scientifically as B.1.621, has been classified as a “variant of interest”, the global health body said on Tuesday in its weekly pandemic bulletin.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/who-monitoring-new-mu-coronavirus-variant
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/who-monitoring-new-coronavirus-variant-named-mu

Businesses step up efforts to nudge staff to get vaccinated
Singapore – Mr Rishi Kesh Rai, an operations manager at cleaning company Springmount Services, was not keen on getting vaccinated against Covid-19 until a supervisor pointed out that his job, which requires him to meet and talk to many people daily, puts him at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jobs/businesses-step-up-efforts-to-nudge-staff-to-get-vaccinated

Changi Airport T1 and T3 reopen to public 3 months after Covid-19 cluster found
Singapore – Changi Airport’s Terminals 1 and 3 opened their doors to the public for the first time in more than 100 days, ahead of the start of eased border measures for vaccinated travellers. More than 80 per cent of the stores at Terminal 1 and 3 restarted operations on Wednesday (Sept 1)…
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/changi-airport-t1-and-t3-reopen-to-public-3-months-after-covid-19-cluster-found

*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation