SG Morning Highlights: SingPost to 'defend itself' in arbitration over share purchase dispute
Good morning mooers! Here are things you need to know about today's Singapore:
●Singapore shares opened lower on Tuesday; STI down 0.29%
●SingPost to 'defend itself' in arbitration over share purchase dispute
●Stocks & REITs to watch: Ascott, Keppel, SingPost, NetLink
●Latest share buy back transactions
-moomoo News SG
Market Trend
Singapore shares opened lower on Tuesday. The $FTSE Singapore Straits Time Index (.STI.SG)$ decreased 0.29 per cent to 3,247.29 as at 9.08am.
Advancers / Decliners is 62 to 59, with 81.91 million securities worth S$73.90 million changing hands.
Breaking News
Asian markets mostly rose on Monday as investors took heart from signs of cooling US inflation, but Hong Kong and Shanghai fell as data showed China's economy was struggling with its Covid-19 restrictions.
The markets have been concerned that, after two consecutive Federal Reserve increases in borrowing costs of three-quarters of a percentage point, further hikes of a similar magnitude could choke off economic recovery.
Signs of improving inflation data last week have prompted debate on whether the Fed may pivot more quickly from its recent posture of moving aggressively to hike interest rates.
Malaysia's crowded banking sector can benefit from mergers and acquisitions, executives from the country's top investment funds told a conference on Monday (Aug 15), seeing opportunities to cut costs and compete with new entrants into the industry.
"There are benefits for further consolidation," Rick Ramli, Permodalan Nasional Bhd's (PNB) chief investment officer for private and strategic investments, told a conference organised by stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank).
"There are still sub-scale banks, as you think about higher compliance costs (and) non-traditional competition, you do need to invest and scale up," Rick said, also noting investments were needed in core systems and technology to upgrade to digital platforms.
Singapore's attractiveness as a crypto hub is now turning it into a centre for the restructuring of troubled cryptocurrency platforms, which could mean more work for corporate finance experts and lawyers.
In the last month alone, crypto platforms Zipmex and Vauld have filed for bankruptcy protection here. Both have incorporated companies in Singapore.
Vauld was in the process of applying for a digital payment token licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore via its Singapore company, Defi Payments. Vauld has obtained a 3-month debt moratorium with a possibility of a 3-month extension by Nov 11.
Stocks & REITs to Watch
$CapLand Ascott Trust (HMN.SG)$ : ASCOTT Residence Trust has closed its private placement at S$1.12 per stapled security to raise S$170 million, the stapled hospitality group's managers announced on Tuesday (Aug 16) before the market open.
ART had launched the placement on Monday to raise S$150 million, part of which would be used to acquire 9 serviced residences, rental housing and student accommodation properties from its sponsor. The trust has since exercised the upsize option to raise an additional S$20 million.
The issue price represents a 4.5 per cent discount to ART's volume-weighted average price of S$1.1733 per stapled security. Some 151.8 million new stapled securities will be issued to raise the S$170 million in gross proceeds.
$Keppel (BN4.SG)$ : KEPPEL Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), through its wholly owned subsidiary Keppel Shipyard, has secured a contract worth about US$2.9 billion, according to a Monday (Aug 15) press statement.
The contract was awarded by Brazil's national oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) on the basis of an international tender for the engineering, procurement and construction of P-80, a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
Slated for completion in H1 2026, the P-80 is the second FPSO that Keppel O&M will be building for Petrobras for the Buzios field in Brazil, with the first FPSO, P-78, currently under construction.
$SingPost (S08.SG)$ : In an update to a long-standing arbitration case that involves a dispute over a share purchase agreement, SingPost said it will be further defending itself against the claims filed by Tan Ho Sung over a share purchase agreement and shareholders' agreement in relation to Famous Holdings (FHPL) and its subsidiaries.
The potential impact of Tan's claim "cannot be quantified at this stage", the postal service group added in a bourse filing on Monday (Aug 15).
To recap, the arbitration primarily revolves around a put option which Tan exercised in respect of the balance 37.5 per cent of his shares in FHPL, as well as a sale and purchase of 62.5 per cent of the shares in FHPL from Tan by SingPost — the latter was completed on Feb 20, 2013.
$NetLink NBN Tr (CJLU.SG)$ : Fibre network infrastructure owner NetLink NBN Trust reported a 11.3 per cent increase in net profit to S$27.6 million for the first quarter of its 2023 financial year ended June 30, 2022, from S$24.8 million a year ago, according to a bourse filing on Monday (Aug 15).
Revenue for the quarter grew by S$4.5 million or 4.8 per cent from the year-ago period to S$97.9 million, from S$93.4 million previously.
The revenue increase was mainly due to higher ancillary project revenue, revenue from residential, non-residential, NBAP (non-building address point) and segment connections and co-location revenue, though this was partially offset by lower central office revenue, said its manager.
Latest Share Buy Back Transactions
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