DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 27th March 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Golden Mile Complex tender relaunched at S$800m reserve price
Edmund Tie & Company (ET&Co) has relaunched a tender for the sale of Golden Mile Complex, with the reserve price unchanged at S$800 million. The current tender exercise will close on April 25 at 3pm. The property, known for its signature step-terraced building design, could be conserved if a buyer is found. ET&Co, the marketing agent for the en bloc project, said applications have been submitted to conserve the existing 16-storey building and add a new block next to it.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/golden-mile-complex-tender-relaunched-at-s800m-reserve-price
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/golden-mile-complex-seeks-to-sell-en-bloc-again
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/golden-mile-complex-up-for-second-en-bloc-bid-at-s-800-million-11382782

CPD framework reviewed to benefit property agents
The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework for real estate agents has been reviewed to include a more structured approach for agents to deepen technical knowledge and skill sets. Property agents will be required to fulfil six credits per annual CPD cycle, four of which must be from courses related to professional competencies to deepen their technical knowledge, and two of which must be from courses related to generic competencies to sharpen their soft skills.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/cpd-framework-reviewed-to-benefit-property-agents

Real estate agents back in vogue: Poll
Property agents are back in fashion, according to the latest survey by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), with 72 per cent of the public saying they plan to engage one for future transactions. This is up from 60 per cent in the last such survey in 2015 and 66 per cent in the previous one in 2012. Minister of State for National Development Zaqy Mohamad pointed to technology and other productivity pushes – ramped up over the last year under the Real Estate Industry Transformation Map (ITM) – as one reason for increased customer satisfaction. He noted that customers whose agents used three or more tech tools, such as apps with pricing calculators and electronic forms, were more likely to be satisfied.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/real-estate-agents-back-in-vogue-poll

Singapore Economy

Singapore factories post modest 0.7% growth in February
Singapore factory output inched up in February, beating fears of a second month of decline. Lifted by the biomedical sector, manufacturers produced a modest 0.7 per cent more than in the year before, according to data from the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Tuesday. Private-sector economists polled by Bloomberg had guided for a median dip of 0.4 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-factories-post-modest-07-growth-in-february
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/factory-output-for-feb-edges-up-fall-in-jan-slashed
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-factory-production-inches-up-in-february-11380308

Companies’ Brief

Keppel, co-investors in deal to buy Shanghai’s Yi Fang Tower for 4.6b yuan
Keppel Corp and certain co-investors have signed a deal to acquire Yi Fang Tower, a commercial development in Shanghai, China, for 4.6 billion yuan (S$916 million), the company said in a bourse filing on Tuesday. This will be done through Keppel subsidiaries under its asset management and property arms, and follows a shareholders’ agreement made on March 25 over joint venture company North Bund Keppel.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/keppel-co-investors-in-deal-to-buy-shanghais-yi-fang-tower-for-46b-yuan
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/keppel-in-deal-to-buy-916m-shanghai-tower

Real-estate players tapping proptech to boost customer experience
Property agencies and associations are now aligning themselves with proptech platforms so their network of agents can offer their clients souped-up digital services. The Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA), a grouping of real estate players, announced on Tuesday a proposed acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in online property platform SoReal Prop, which was jointly founded by ERA Realty, Huttons Asia and PropNex Realty.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/real-estate-players-tapping-proptech-to-boost-customer-experience

High Court grants 2-month moratorium on NK Ingredients: Soilbuild Reit manager
SB Reit Management, manager of Soilbuild Reit, announced on Tuesday that the Singapore High Court had on March 20, 2019 granted a moratorium for a period of two months to May 20 on proceedings against NK Ingredients over the rental of a property in Pioneer Sector 1. NK Ingredients is currently in default for failing to pay rent and other sums payable under the lease agreement. It had filed the moratorium application pending its proposal of a scheme of arrangement to its creditors. As at the date of this announcement, the amount owing by NK Ingredients to Soilbuild Reit is S$2.32 million, which includes the rental charges to NK Ingredients for March 2019.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/high-court-grants-2-month-moratorium-on-nk-ingredients-soilbuild-reit-manager

First Sponsor revamps cash call with new rights, bonus issue
Hong Leong-linked property developer First Sponsor Group, which had earlier withdrawn a rights issue involving warrants exercisable into convertible securities, has come back with a new cash call. It is now proposing to undertake a rights issue, in which the warrants may be converted directly to shares, along with a bonus issue to raise up to S$399.3 million.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/first-sponsor-revamps-cash-call-with-new-rights-bonus-issue
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/first-sponsor-plans-rights-and-bonus-issues-to-raise-up-to-3993m

Sinarmas Land enters into JV for total investment of 222.34m yuan
Sinarmas Land Limited announced on Tuesday that its subsidiary Shining Gold Real Estate (Chengdu) Co has entered into a joint-venture agreement with Rongqiao Group Co and Taicang Rongguan Real Estate Development Co for a total investment of 222.34 million yuan (S$44.7 million). Taicang Rongguan Real Estate Development Co, which is 100 per cent owned by Rongqiao, was established on Oct 19 last year to develop and construct a residential site with a land area of 49,358.6 square metres, located in Chengxiang Town, Taicang City, approximately 50km north-west of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sinarmas-land-enters-into-jv-for-total-investment-of-22234m-yuan

Sysma unit bags S$20m Nassim Road bungalow contract
Construction company Sysma Holdings has secured a S$20 million contract to build a two-storey bungalow with an attic and a swimming pool at 54 Nassim Road. The contract between its wholly owned subsidiary – Sysma Construction – and an “established private owner”, is expected to start in April 2019 following approval from the relevant authority, and will run for a period of 16 months, the Catalist-listed builder said on Tuesday in a bourse filing.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sysma-unit-bags-s20m-nassim-road-bungalow-contract
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/sysma-unit-bags-20m-nassim-road-bungalow-contract

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Braddell View’s enbloc success may hinge on creative use of site
Belatedly or not, a behemoth has lumbered its way into Singapore’s waning en bloc property market. The gargantuan land parcel could in fact allow for ambitious tie-ups between developers and other firms, if they use their imaginations. The 918-unit Braddell View, which was privatised from Singapore’s last and biggest privatised Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) estate, went up for grabs on March 27 with a reserve price of S$2.08 billion, or a land rate of S$1,199 per square foot per plot ratio.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/braddell-views-enbloc-success-may-hinge-on-creative-use-of-site

Over 40km of cycling paths to be built in next five years
More than 40km of cycling paths will be built in five towns over the next five years as part of efforts to expand the cycling infrastructure here, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced yesterday. Tenders to build the paths – to be located in Woodlands, Toa Payoh, Choa Chu Kang, Geylang and Queenstown – will be called later in the year, the authority added. The 7km of cycling paths in Toa Payoh will be a first for the town, Singapore’s second-oldest housing estate and the first built by HDB.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/over-40km-of-cycling-paths-to-be-built-in-next-five-years
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/cyclists-cheer-expansion-of-paths-but-call-for-better-safety
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-cycling-paths-links-to-city-from-geylang-and-queenstown-11381140
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapores-cycling-networks-expand-over-next-5-years