DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 22nd March 2019

Singapore Economy

Singapore, US to jointly promote infrastructure development in Asia
Singapore and the United States will work together to promote infrastructure development and investment in Asia under an agreement inked on Wednesday (March 20). The agreement signals the development of more options for infrastructure financing for Asian countries, in addition to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and a trilateral partnership between the US, Australia and Japan to mobilise investment in infrastructure projects in the region.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-us-to-jointly-promote-infrastructure-development-in-asia
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/spore-us-ink-deal-on-asian-infrastructure

Companies’ Brief

Oxley appoints agents for sale of hotels
Having called off the sale of its Mercure and Novotel Hotels on Wednesday, property developer Oxley Holdings said on Thursday that it has appointed CBRE, Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants and JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group as agents for the properties. The agents will be tasked with sourcing, marketing, evaluating, negotiating and securing a purchaser for the hotels on Stevens Road.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/oxley-appoints-agents-for-sale-of-hotels

Chuan Hup shares soar 12% after firm proposes special dividend
Chuan Hup Holdings shares surged at the start of trading on stronger-than-usual turnover on Thursday. Dealers attributed this to Chuan Hup’s announcement after market close on Wednesday that it plans to pay a special dividend of nine Singapore cents a share following the disposal of a 76.7 per cent stake in mainboard-listed PCI. The stock advanced by four Singapore cents or 11.9 per cent in the first hour of trading to 37.5 cents, where it eventually closed. The 3.3 million shares traded was higher than the counter’s average of 348,000 over the last 15 trading days.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/chuan-hup-shares-soar-12-after-firm-proposes-special-dividend

Lippo Karawaci gets pre-funding of US$280m for rights subscription
Indonesian real estate developer Lippo Karawaci has received US$280 million in advance subscription payment for part of the entitlements to a US$730 million rights issue, said the sponsor for Singapore-listed First Real Estate Investment Trust and Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust on Thursday. PT Inti Anugerah Pratama (IAP) – a shareholder of Lippo Karawaci – and IAP’s wholly owned subsidiary have pumped in the sum as advance subscription payment for Lippo Karawaci’s rights at an exercise price of 235 rupia per share…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/lippo-karawaci-gets-pre-funding-of-us280m-for-rights-subscription

Tembusu Partners launching several funds totalling 1b yuan
Singapore-based Tembusu Partners is launching several investment funds totalling one billion yuan (S$205.6 million), and has appointed former CapitaLand CEO Lim Ming Yan as chairman of its China advisory board, the private equity firm said on Thursday. This comes as the private equity firm looks to increase its investments in China, which coincides with Beijing’s efforts to “liberalise the economy and promote innovation”, it added.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/tembusu-partners-launching-several-funds-totalling-1b-yuan

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

The next financial crisis may be worse than that of 2008
It is difficult to forecast when the next global economic recession will happen. It is much easier to predict its severity. This is particularly the case in light of excessively high global debt levels, asset price bubbles and the generalised mispricing of credit market risk. Those considerations, coupled with the lack of adequate policy instruments to respond to the next global slowdown, point to a much more severe crisis than the average post-war recession.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/the-next-financial-crisis-may-be-worse-than-that-of-2008

Why further financial crises are inevitable
We learnt this month that the United States Federal Reserve had decided not to raise the countercyclical capital buffer required of banks above its current level of zero, even though the US economy is at a cyclical peak. It also removed “qualitative” grades from its stress tests for American banks, though not for foreign ones. Finally, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, led by Mr Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary, removed the last insurer from its list of “too big to fail” institutions.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/why-further-financial-crises-are-inevitable