SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (Ascendas Reit) has launched a private placement and preferential offering to raise gross proceeds of about $1.2 billion. This will go into financing its potential and proposed overseas acquisitions, including the U$560.2 million ($768 million) purchase of two office properties in San Francisco that was […]

SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – Sunningdale Tech’s chairman Koh Boon Hwee is teaming up with Novo Tellus PE Fund 2 to make an offer for the precision plastic components manufacturer at $1.55 in cash per share via a scheme of arrangement. This proposed acquisition was announced on Monday evening (Nov 9). Mr Koh, a former chairman […]

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) – French luxury titan Bernard Arnault became a centibillionaire on Monday (Nov 9) after promising results of a Covid-19 vaccine spurred global equities higher, including Arnault’s LVMH. Mr Arnault joins Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in the rarefied club. It’s the first time five individuals have boasted fortunes […]

SINGAPORE – The marine and offshore sector is facing challenging times, but it can still pivot to new areas for long-term growth, said Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing on Monday (Nov 9). During a visit to marine engineering firm Sembcorp Marine, he noted: “It is perhaps a natural effect of the industry […]

SEOUL (REUTERS) – Samsung Electronics may launch its flagship Galaxy S smartphones more than a month earlier than expected in a bid to grab market share from Huawei and fend off competition from Apple, three sources familiar with the matter said. Huawei Technologies once challenged Samsung’s top position in the global smartphone market, but the […]

SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has enabled SingPass use to authorise transactions requiring a high level of security for Central Depository (CDP) services, it said on Monday (Nov 9). CDP began offering access to the national digital identity system, including transaction signing, from October 2020 for CDP Internet online services. The […]

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – China’s move to halt Ant Group’s massive stock debut could reduce the fintech giant’s value by as much as US$140 billion (S$188 billion), according to analysts’ revised estimates. New regulations that could force Ant to raise more capital to back lending and seek national licenses to operate across the country may […]

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – China Evergrande Group scrapped plans for a backdoor listing in China and struck deals with more investors to avoid a wave of repayments, capping a four-year saga that had recently raised fears of cash crunch at the world’s most indebted developer. While it was widely anticipated that Evergrande would fail to win […]

A persistent low interest rate environment and a tougher risk-based capital framework would make it harder for Singapore life insurers to deliver the projected non-guaranteed bonuses linked to participating or par funds, even though most of the 10 key life insurers are able to at least support any such payouts. Based on insurers’ 2019 returns […]

Patience is key when it comes to getting a good real estate deal amid the kind of uncertainty we are going through now. Food and beverage consultant Sandra Lim and her husband opted for the slow and steady approach by renting homes at Sentosa Cove before they were finally ready to buy. Please subscribe or […]

Beauty industry executive Amy Quek saw the value of building financial independence early in life after her father died when she was just 12. Ms Quek, 55, tells The Sunday Times: “He was the sole breadwinner in the family, and this taught me to be self-sufficient. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the […]

(NYTIMES) – When even they are very successful in their careers, millennial women tend to defer to their husbands when it comes to money matters. A recent study by Swiss banking group UBS found that even the most educated and high-achieving millennial women were not as involved as their husbands in long-term financial decision-making. In […]

The Singapore authorities have criticised the “irresponsible” actions of some property investment educators and real estate agents who use scare tactics to attract customers to their investment courses. In particular, these people have been flagged for actively pushing the message that “HDB flats will become worthless after 99 years” on social media, so that worried […]

NEW YORK (AFP) – Wall Street stocks finished their best week in months with a muted session on Friday (Nov 6) as Joe Biden inched closer to victory in the still-unresolved presidential election. The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,509.44, down less than 0.1 per cent for the session, but up 7.3 per cent for […]

Orthodontic treatment has long been one of the priciest options in dental care but Singapore-based start-up Zenyum is looking to change that. German co-founder and chief executive Julian Artope told The Straits Times: “Our main aim is to provide an affordable solution for straightening teeth, while still being a reliable partner to local dentists and […]

SINGAPORE – Orthodontic treatment has long been one of the priciest options in dental care but Singapore-based start-up Zenyum is looking to change that. German co-founder and chief executive Julian Artope told The Straits Times: “Our main aim is to provide an affordable solution for straightening teeth, while still being a reliable partner to local […]

Smaller firms will be able to file taxes more easily this year, with new initiatives rolled out by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras), it said on Thursday. These include a simplified tax form, called Form C-S (Lite), with fewer fields to fill in, and a system that allows direct filing from the firms’ […]

Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) net loss in the second quarter is double that in the first quarter as it reported a record net loss of $3.47 billion for the six months to September. The Q2 losses came on the back of an impairment charge for older aircraft as well as $42 million in retrenchment costs. The […]

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – Alibaba Group Holding’s revenue grew at its slowest pace on record for a September quarter, underscoring how the e-commerce giant’s post-pandemic rebound is starting to plateau. Asia’s largest corporation reported a 30 per cent rise in sales in the September quarter, in line with expectations but down a tad from the […]

SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – Singapore Post (SingPost) posted net profit of $30.9 million for the first half of the fiscal year ended September, down 42.1 per cent from $53.4 million in the corresponding year-ago period. Earnings per share fell to 1.04 cents, down from 2.57 cents a year ago. In a bourse filing on […]