DAILY NEWS

Daily News 27th November 2018

Singapore Real Estate

Golden Wall Centre sold for S$276.2m on second collective sale attempt
Freehold commercial property Golden Wall Centre has been sold en bloc for S$276.2 million to City View Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Worldwide Hotels, which owns and manages hotel chains such as Hotel 81. The amount was higher than the reserve price of S$260 million, which was little changed from what the strata unit owners wanted in their first attempt at a collective sale in 2016. At S$2,331 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr)
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/golden-wall-centre-sold-for-s2762m-on-second-collective-sale-attempt
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/golden-wall-centre-sold-en-bloc-for-2762m-to-hotel-81-owner

Singapore malls add more on-site to combat online threat
Online shopping in Singapore is lacklustre even after Amazon debuted its Prime service in mid-2017. The country’s malls are trying hard to keep it that way. With some of the nation’s biggest mall operators reporting falling rents and rising vacancies, landlords, just like those elsewhere in Asia and the US, are being forced to reposition. They are making room for yoga studios, boxing gyms and climbing walls – plus expanding their food and beverage options.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-malls-add-more-on-site-to-combat-online-threat
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/spore-malls-employ-new-approach-to-draw-shoppers

Goodluck Garden gets court’s nod for sale despite missteps by committee, advisers
THE HIGH Court granted a sale order to Goodluck Garden on Monday, making it the latest property to have its collective sale resolved by the courts, though the court also found several missteps in the sale process. Justice Woo Bih Li also found that the conduct of the collective sale committee (CSC), marketing agent Knight Frank and the lawyers for the CSC Rajah & Tann was “wanting in various respects”.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/goodluck-garden-gets-courts-nod-for-sale-despite-missteps-by-committee-advisers

More Reits can be enticed to list here, says SMU don
There are a number of ways more real-estate investment trusts (Reits) can be attracted to list in Singapore, which would enhance the vibrancy of the Singapore Exchange, guests at the inaugural Mapletree annual lecture were told on Monday. Francis Koh, a professor of finance at the Singapore Management University (SMU) and a Mapletree Professor of Real Estate, said: “We have a good environment with the tax pass-through (of income received by S-Reits), and waiver of stamp duties in the purchase of properties by S-Reits.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/more-reits-can-be-enticed-to-list-here-says-smu-don

Upset Pines members demand city club membership or compensation
CLOSE to 90 upset members of The Pines club have made good on their earlier threat to initiate legal action against club owner Peter Kwee, a prominent car and property businessman. According to a letter of demand sent by law firm Derrick Wong & Lim BC LLP, seen by The Business Times, 87 members made a series of demands, one of which was for Mr Kwee to procure back one of the two hotels built by Oxley along Stevens Road and convert it into the club premises promised to them in March 2013.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/upset-pines-members-demand-city-club-membership-or-compensation

Singapore Economy

Singapore factory output in October beats forecasts with 4.3% rise
Production from the manufacturing sector surged last month, well outpacing market expectations after a lacklustre effort in September. Output soared 4.3 per cent year on year in October, a stark rebound from the previous month’s 0.1 per cent dip and well ahead of economist estimates of a 2.6 per cent expansion. If the volatile biomedical manufacturing sector is excluded, output grew 3 per cent, preliminary estimates from the Economic Development Board showed yesterday.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/singapore-factory-output-in-october-beats-forecasts-with-43-rise-0
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-factory-output-rises-4-3-in-october-10968884

Companies’ Brief

TA Corp subsidiary bags residential development contracts totalling S$149.9m
Property and construction group TA Corporation’s subsidiary Tiong Aik Construction has secured two contracts totalling S$149.9 million from developer Allgreen Properties for proposed residential developments at Fourth Avenue and Ewe Boon Road. In its announcement on Monday evening, TA Corporation also said that the contracts are not expected to impact consolidated earnings per share and net tangible assets per share of the group for the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2018.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/ta-corp-subsidiary-bags-residential-development-contracts-totalling%C2%A0s1499m

Keppel units to build, operate data centre in Johor
Two data centre units under the Keppel Corp umbrella have agreed to develop and operate a maiden project in Johor, Malaysia, with a targeted 2020 completion date. In filings to the Singapore Exchange on Monday, the units said that Alpha Data Centre (DC) Fund has secured a contract to develop a high-availability, build-to-suit data centre for a technology customer. Alpha DC Fund has in turn agreed to let Keppel Data Centres Holding undertake the initial development and subsequent facilities management for the data centre.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/keppel-units-to-build-operate-data-centre-in-johor
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/keppel-units-to-build-operate-data-centre-in-johor

Keppel-KBS US Reit acquires second office property in Florida for US$48.5m
Keppel-KBS US Reit’s manager announced on Tuesday that it will be acquiring Maitland Promenade I, an office property located in the Maitland submarket of Orlando, Florida, for US$48.5 million from The Realty Associates Fund X. Maitland Promenade I will be Keppel-KBS US Reit’s second asset in Florida and is adjacent to Maitland Promenade II, which the Reit currently owns. Maitland Promenade I has a net lettable area of 230,371 square fe
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/keppel-kbs-us-reit-acquires-second-office-property-in-florida-for-us485m
https://www.straitstimes.com/uncategorized/keppel-kbs-us-reit-buys-second-office-property-in-florida-for-us485m

GIC, Australian Reit Dexus form A$2b JV to invest in logistics
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Australian Reit Dexus have established a joint venture (JV) known as Dexus Australian Logistics Trust – a new A$2 billion (S$1.99 billion) unlisted trust – to invest in logistics properties Down Under. Subject to approval, GIC will be the JV’s foundation investor, taking an initial 25 per cent investment in the core portfolio, with put and call rights to acquire an additional 24 per cent by June 2020. GIC will also take an initial 49 per cent interest in the JV’s A$1.4 billion seed development portfolio.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/gic-australian-reit-dexus-form-a2b-jv-to-invest-in-logistics
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/gic-in-2b-venture-to-invest-in-aussie-logistics-properties

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Singapore becoming too reliant on a murky data economy
Singapore’s embrace of data is well known. The city-state has ambitious Smart City plans which include driverless cars, air taxis, “Virtual Singapore”, in-home monitoring systems and more. One thing many of these innovations and initiatives have in common is that they depend on accurate data, and the data economy, to bring to fruition. Added to that, Singapore is home to an increasing number of sectors whose core business model depends on data, from data-storage centres to fintech firms and analytics companies. While this is well known, what is not talked about is where the data that will power these ambitions and business models comes from, and how accurate it is.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/singapore-becoming-too-reliant-on-a-murky-data-economy

Talk of the end of the small economy model much exaggerated
Concerns about the outlook for global openness are often accompanied by predictions of a cloudy outlook for small economies, both in a specific sense (such as the impact of trade wars) and in a more existential sense. Financial Times columnist Janan Ganesh recently wrote that “the belle epoque of the small nation is over” because “globalisation has been the era of small countries but that time may now be passing”. It is increasingly argued that national scale matters in a world of economic and geopolitical turbulence and uncertainty.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/talk-of-the-end-of-the-small-economy-model-much-exaggerated