DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 23 February 2016

Singapore Economy

Bad loans in S’pore will hit financial crisis levels, lawyers say
Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, Southeast Asia’s largest law firm, reckons the region’s rising bond defaults will inflict as much pain on creditors as the financial crises of 2008 and 1998. As distress spreads from shipping to mining and retail to construction industries, the law firm said in an interview that recovery rates will be similar to those seen in the global credit meltdown and Asian financial crisis.
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/bad-loans-spore-will-hit-financial-crisis-levels-lawyers-say

Singapore Real Estate

Private housing resale market shines as buyers get off sidelines
After waiting more than one year for an opportune time to purchase a condominium to house his family of three, Mr Amrit took the plunge in early 2015 after coming across a resale unit in his choice location with a “reasonable” price tag.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/private-housing-resale/2535970.html

Cogent opens world’s first integrated logistics hub – with an act of charity
Cogent Holdings officially opened its new logistics hub in Singapore with a S$168,888.88 “hongbao” donation to charity. The donation was presented to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund and The Business Times Budding Artists Fund on Monday, in celebration of the hub’s official opening as well as the 15th day of the Chinese New Year.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cogent-opens-worlds-first-integrated-logistics-hub-with-an-act-of-charity

JTC seeks innovative ideas for its building management
JTC has launched an open call seeking innovative ideas to increase the productivity and efficiency of managing industrial buildings and developments. For the first time, it is casting its net wider to reach out to enterprises, startups and research institutions through crowd-sourcing platforms such as IPI (Intellectual Property Intermediary) Singapore to garner ideas.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/jtc-seeks-innovative-ideas-for-its-building-management

Structural integrity of bridge linking Marina Square, Millennia Walk ‘unaffected’ by crane accident: BCA
The structural integrity of the bridge between Marina Square and Millenia Walk is not affected by a crane accident, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said on Monday (Feb 22). This comes after the boom of a lorry crane collided and damaged the underside of the pedestrian link bridge.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/structural-integrity-of/2538152.html

10 stop-work orders issued by MOM so far this year
The Manpower Ministry (MOM) has issued 10 stop-work orders this year, as of Friday (Feb 19). This includes one at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine campus work site, where one worker died in an accident last Wednesday. The ministry found several “serious safety lapses” at the campus work site, including unsafe scaffolding and lack of proper barricades.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/10-stop-work-orders/2537766.html

Companies’ Brief

Amara’s FY15 profit falls 59%
A drop in fair-value gains from its investment properties and expenses from a new hotel caused real estate developer Amara Holdings to report a 59 per cent plunge in net profit to S$14.33 million for FY15.
During the year, it recorded a decrease in the fair-value gain in investment properties of S$13.4 million as well as higher operating expenses due to a newly opened hotel in Bangkok.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/amaras-fy15-profit-falls-59

Roxy profit down, expects more lumpy earnings from FY2017
Property and hotel group Roxy-Pacific Holdings posted drops in fourth-quarter and full-year net earnings – due partly to the absence of profit recognition from the sale of strata retail floors at 8 Russell Street in Hong Kong by an associate company which had buoyed earnings in the respective year-ago periods. Net profit for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2015 slipped 73 per cent to S$12.34 million.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/roxy-profit-down-expects-more-lumpy-earnings-from-fy2017

Ascott forms alliance to deepen China presence
Capitaland’s serviced residence business unit, The Ascott, has formed a strategic alliance with Dongfu Investment Development Corporation as it deepens its presence in China.The partnership will allow Ascott to have the first right to manage apartments currently under development and future projects to be built by Dongfu Investment – the real estate subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Company (CSCEC), China’s largest state-owned construction and infrastructure builder.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/ascott-forms-alliance-to-deepen-china-presence

Villa in HK’s Peak sold for 25% below expectations
Wheelock Properties Ltd sold a luxury home in Hong Kong’s exclusive Peak neighbourhood to an unidentified buyer for a lower-than-expected price tag of HK$830 million (S$150 million) on Saturday. While it took Wheelock just three hours to sell the home, the transaction works out to HK$87,784 per square foot, more than 25 per cent lower than estimates by some analysts.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/villa-in-hks-peak-sold-for-25-below-expectations

A-Reit completes $77m Aussie purchase
Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) has completed the A$76.6 million (S$76.6 million) acquisition of a logistics facility in Australia, its manager announced yesterday. The total cost came in at A$82 million once transaction expenses of about A$5.4 million, including stamp duty, professional advisory fees and the acquisition fee payable to the manager, were factored in.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/a-reit-completes-77m-aussie-purchase

Views, Reviews & Forum

Why the buyout interest in Ascendas H-Trust?
The bids are in for Ascendas Hospitality Trust (A-HTrust). The Business Times understands there are four bids – from Blackstone, Gaw Capital, a joint one from Varde Partners and Westmont Hospitality, and a fourth bid which BT was unable to ascertain by press time. The names bandied about are Starwood Capital and Fosun International.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/why-the-buyout-interest-in-ascendas-h-trust

Lowering prices in property glut not so straightforward
Mr Tan Boon Huat assumes that if there is a supply glut in the property market, prices should be going down to reflect the demand and supply situation (“Dismay over call to ease property curbs”; last Saturday). Unfortunately, things are not so straightforward. Before the cooling measures were implemented, developers competed aggressively for land parcels and put in extremely high bids to increase their land banks.
http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/lowering-prices-in-property-glut-not-so-straightforward