Fortune Reit distribution income up to 3% in 2007

Fortune Reit distribution income up to 3% in 2007
FORTUNE Real Estate Investment Trust has announced distribution income of HK$284.8 million (S$51.8 million) for 2007, up 3 per cent from 2006.

Distribution per unit for the year ended Dec 31 edged up 2.5 per cent to HK$0.3512.

‘We are pleased that Fortune Reit’s portfolio of 11 retail malls delivered stable and sustainable growth for FY07,’ said Stephen Chu, chief executive of the Hong Kong-based Reit’s manager, ARA Asset Management.

‘This was driven by strong rental reversions of about 15.6 per cent for the whole year on a portfolio basis. Our pro-active asset management strategies, coupled with exciting promotional events in the malls, have contributed to healthy demand from tenants and shoppers.’

Fortune said that as of end-2007 its tax-exempt yield was 6.7 per cent, up from 5.8 per cent a year earlier. Strong rental reversions were driven by its Waldorf Garden Property, which was enhanced in August.

The average rental rate of the entire portfolio was 6.3 per cent higher at HK$25.23 psf at Dec 31, 2007, versus HK$23.74 psf a year earlier. Approximately 45 per cent of leases in the portfolio expire this year, creating a good opportunity for organic growth in a strong retail market, Fortune said.
Source : Business Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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KepLand revenue, profit hit record - SIngapore

KepLand revenue, profit hit record - SIngapore

FY2007: boost from residential sales and revaluation and restructuring surplus
By ARTHUR SIM

KEPPEL Land’s turnover crossed the billion-dollar mark in 2007 to hit a record $1.4 billion, a rise of 48.5 per cent from the previous year’s $948 million.

Mr Wong: Proposed dividends amount to $144 million
The 12-month period ended Dec 31, 2007, saw profit after tax and minority interests (Patmi) more than trebled from $200.3 million to a record $779.7 million. This was bolstered by strong residential sales, a net gain on revaluation of investment properties of $343.6 million, and a rise of $100.5 million under an item which includes corporate restructuring surplus and enbloc property sales. The latter $100.5 million gain was after taking into consideration a $235.2 million surplus from the restructuring of its one-third interest in One Raffles Quay and $89 million in offsets to account for the diminution in value of the group’s Myanmar hotels and the fall in the value of rupiah relating to its prior investments.

Full-year earnings per share came to 108.3 cents, up from 2006’s 27.9 cents. Q4 Patmi rose from $81.2 million to $572.3 million while turnover climbed 8.6 per cent to $371.4 million.
Announcing its financial results yesterday, KepLand group CEO Kevin Wong also said that it was proposing a final one-tier dividend of 8 cents per share and a special dividend of 12 cents to ‘reward shareholders for their support’. The proposed dividends amount to $144 million.

Patmi from property trading made up 35 per cent or $274.9 million of the total 2007 Patmi. Mr Wong said this was driven by profit contribution from Singapore developments including Marina Bay Residences, Reflections at Keppel Bay and Park Infinia at Wee Nam.

Contributions from overseas business made up 39.6 per cent while Singapore business contributed 60.4 per cent, up from 36.4 per cent in the previous year. For the year ahead, Mr Wong said that overseas contributions from residential properties will likely increase to about 50 per cent, in light of the weakening US economy. ‘Our projects are mostly in China and Vietnam, and the subprime effect on these two countries will be less.’

He added that most of its development projects in these two countries were targeted at the mid- to high-end market which was supported by ‘genuine buyers’. He also said the newly instituted capital gains tax in Vietnam should add stability to the market there. ‘Demand for housing in these two countries is coming from a very low base,’ he added.

In 2007, Keppel Land acquired eight residential sites in Vietnam with a total of 22,225 potential units for sale. Three developments are expected to be launched this year.

Other overseas launches for 2008 include a 1,000 unit residential development in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while two mega developments with over 8,000 units in Shanghai and Shenyang, China, is expected to be launched in 2009.

Mr Wong said it will continue to look for potential development sites and these will likely be in China, Vietnam and the Middle-East. Highlighting Keppel Land’s low gearing of 0.41 per cent, and the possibility of borrowing to fund future acquisitions, he also said: ‘We can gear up.’

At the end of the trading day yesterday, Keppel Land shares closed 2 cents higher at $6.45 per share.
Source : Business Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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MediShield co-payments set to fall - Singapore

MediShield co-payments set to fall - Singapore

But more benefits will mean higher premiums
By CHEN HUIFEN
(SINGAPORE) The co-payment component under the national health insurance MediShield scheme could go down to 20 per cent of the hospital bill size before the end of this year, if Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has his way.
At the same time as patients’ contributions to their individual hospital bills go down, MediShield premiums are likely to go up.

‘If you want more benefits, premiums must go up,’ Mr Khaw said. ‘So if you want the premiums not to go up too high, then of course the benefits that can be granted will also be commensurate. But because of the pooling system, a small increase in premiums for the patients can mean a lot of benefits. That’s what insurance is for.’

The co-payment portion under the MediShield scheme is the fraction of the total bill that patients have to pay themselves, after MediShield kicks in to pay for the rest. The scheme also includes a deductible to exclude small claims, and limits on the maximum claim size for each type of medical procedure. These features are meant to prevent excessive demand for medical services, which fully-paid insurance schemes tend to encourage, and to keep the insurance premiums affordable.

On average, MediShield covers an average of 60 per cent of each large medical bill at Class B2 or C wards, so the average co-payment component is 40 per cent of the bill. Speaking to reporters after donating blood at the Bloodbank@Health Sciences Authority yesterday, Mr Khaw noted that the co-payment is ’so high’ now because of the relatively low daily claim limits and the use of implants, which are increasingly expensive.

He said that he intends to raise the daily claim limits, especially in intensive care units. In addition, he hopes to find ‘that sweet spot’ where the premium increase will not be more than $10 a month for the majority of policyholders, while still allowing them to reap maximum benefits.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) also announced that it will allow Medisave to be used for outpatient diagnostic scans in cancer treatment. From April, confirmed cancer patients can withdraw up to $600 a year from their Medisave account for MRI, CT and PET scans. Currently, patients can use their Medisave funds for such tests only when they are hospitalised.

When asked why he would not extend Medisave to cover diagnostic scans by heart patients, Mr Khaw said that he feared unethical doctors might prescribe the scans for healthy people. He said that MOH would start with cancer treatment to see how the system can be implemented and monitored to ensure that there is no abuse.

In the pipeline too is the extension of Medisave to be used for outpatient treatment of asthma. Currently, Medisave can be used for outpatient visits by patients with four types of chronic conditions: diabetes, hypertension, lipid disorders and stroke.

Source : Business Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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Market conditions delay Marina Bay Suites launch -SIngapore

Market conditions delay Marina Bay Suites launch -SIngapore

KepLand targets after Chinese New Year, but within first quarter
By ARTHUR SIM

(SINGAPORE) The launch of Marina Bay Suites has been postponed, with ‘market conditions’ cited as the cause by Keppel Land group chief executive Kevin Wong.

Later date: The launch of the 221-unit Marina Bay Suites will be after the Chinese New Year, sometime within the first quarter, says Keppel Land group CEO Kevin Wong
The news comes as a surprise as the consortium developing it - Keppel Land, Cheung Kong Holdings/Hutchinson Whampoa and Hongkong Land, had earlier said that the launch would be around end-January, before the Chinese New Year.

The consortium also said then that over 600 potential buyers, half of them foreigners, had registered their interest in buying into the 221-unit luxury development, priced at around $3,000 psf.

However, at a press conference to announce the company’s full-year financial results yesterday, Mr Wong said that the launch would now be after the Chinese New Year - within the first quarter of 2008. He also said that units would be ‘progressively released in tandem with market conditions’.

Keppel Land’s other launches, including the next phase of Reflections at Keppel Bay, The Tresor and Madison Residences, will all be staggered to follow the launch of Marina Bay Suites to ensure that they do not coincide.

For Reflections at Keppel Bay, which has 400 units remaining, Mr Wong said that its launch would be around mid-2008.

Adopting the cautiously optimistic tone already shared by other developers, he said: ‘If everything picks up in the second half of the year, then we will be back in business.’

His announcement follows Wing Tai deputy chairman Edmund Cheng’s comment on Monday that it would monitor global markets ‘to see how things pan out before we launch anything’. Wing Tai projects that have yet to be launched include Belle Vue Residences and L’Viv.

Earlier this month, City Developments also said that depending on construction schedules, and if the opportunity arose, it could consider short-term leases for Lucky Tower, which it acquired through a collective sale in May 2006.

Keppel Land’s Mr Wong does expect prices in the high-end sector to be affected if a recession takes hold of the United States economy. ‘But we expect mid to mass-market prices to go up steadily,’ he added.

Mr Wong, who said that Keppel Land saw a default rate of about 5 per cent on its projects during the last property slump in the mid-1990s, added: ‘There will be some (if there is a recession in 2008) but the percentage will be fairly low.’

Commenting on the postponement of the Marina Bay Suites launch, Knight Frank director (research and consultancy) Nicholas Mak said that ‘developers are all watching each other now, but someone has to take the plunge first to test the water’.

‘Because of the thin volume at the moment, the market is looking for direction. But we must bear in mind that the volume and price increases in 2007 was out of the ordinary.’

Mr Mak also highlighted that developments with licences to sell will increase as the year progresses. ‘If developers wait for prices to go up, everybody could be launching at the same time.’

Source : Business Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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Singapore Temasek raises Stanchart stake to 19%

Singapore Temasek raises Stanchart stake to 19%

It’s taking advantage of current market conditions
By CHOW PENN NEE

(SINGAPORE) Temasek Holdings continues to capitalise on market volatility and invest in banks. It has upped its stake in Standard Chartered to more than 19 per cent, saying that it sees value in the bank amid the current depressed stock markets.

‘We invest where we see value and have capitalised on current market opportunities to increase our shareholding in a strong financial services player,’

- Temasek executive director Simon Israel

‘We invest where we see value and have capitalised on current market opportunities to increase our shareholding in a strong financial services player,’ Temasek executive director Simon Israel said in a statement.

Regulatory figures show that the Singapore investment company has raised its stake by one percentage point to 19 per cent in UK-registered Stanchart, which focuses on emerging markets.

The increase in shareholding cost Temasek between £216.9 million (S$611.7 million) and £233 million. This is based on the range in which Stanchart shares were trading on Jan 23, the day of the transaction.

Temasek now holds 268.2 million Stanchart shares worth about £4.48 billion, based on yesterday morning’s price of £16.72 a share in London.

Temasek has been in the news for injecting much-needed capital into ailing Western banks badly hit by the sub-prime lending crisis.

Temasek and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) have swooped to capitalise on depressed prices on global stock markets.

Last month, Temasek said that it would pump S$6.4 billion into US investment bank Merrill Lynch. The bank reported a second straight quarterly loss after writing down US$11.5 billion of sub-prime mortgages and bonds earlier this month.

GIC injected US$6.88 billion into Citigroup earlier this month, and bought up to 9 per cent of Swiss bank UBS for 11 billion Swiss francs (S$14.2 billion) last month, making GIC the single-biggest UBS shareholder.

The increase in Temasek’s stake in Stanchart is different, as it is not related to a sub-prime rescue. A Stanchart spokeswoman said that the bank has no direct exposure to US sub-prime collateralised debt obligations.

Temasek has been raising its shareholding in Stanchart since it became the bank’s single-biggest shareholder after buying an 11.6 per cent stake from the estate of late Singapore hotelier Khoo Teck Puat in March 2006.

The latest increase in shareholding is fuelling market talk about a possible takeover or merger between Stanchart and DBS Group. DBS, South-east Asia’s largest lender, is another bank in Temasek’s stable, with the Singapore investment company owning 28 per cent of the bank.

Source : Business Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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GIC has capacity for more investments in troubled banks: Tony Tan -Singapore

GIC has capacity for more investments in troubled banks: Tony Tan -Singapore

Unusual situation in US and Europe prompted UBS, Citi deals, he explains
By VIKRAM KHANNA
(SINGAPORE) Even after taking significant stakes in UBS and Citigroup, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) could still invest in another distressed bank, if the deal is worthwhile, the agency’s deputy chairman Tony Tan revealed in a briefing to BT.
Significant stakes: GIC took a 9 per cent stake in UBS for 11 billion Swiss francs (S$14.2 billion). That was followed by an investment of US$6.88 billion in Citigroup, which could bring GIC’s stake in the troubled US bank to about 4per cent
‘We will look at any deal that is shown to us. We have a duty to do so. We would still have the capacity if we find it worthwhile to invest,’ he said. ‘Whether it would be of the same size as what we are now doing is a matter to be decided.’

On Dec 10 last year, GIC took a 9 per cent stake in UBS for 11 billion Swiss francs (S$14.2 billion). That was followed by an investment of US$6.88 billion into Citigroup on Jan 15, which could bring GIC’s stake in the troubled US bank to about 4 per cent.

Explaining the rationale for the two investments shortly after the closure of the Citigroup deal, Dr Tan acknowledged that both ‘are out of character for GIC’, which, he said, prefers to be more of a portfolio investor.

However, what prompted GIC to invest in UBS and Citigroup was ‘a very unusual situation in US and European financial stocks, where a combination of events - the sub-prime crisis, a credit squeeze, the possibility of recession - have all come together to create a situation where even sound banks like UBS and Citigroup are temporarily facing significant problems. But their franchises are strong’.

‘In the case of UBS, they have a worldwide global wealth management business which is something not replicable by any bank. Citigroup has an international worldwide consumer business which is also unique.’

Dr Tan indicated that the terms on which the two deals were negotiated were fair. ‘We do not think that they are unduly favourable to GIC,’ he said, adding that ‘GIC is not seeking to take advantage of anyone’. He also disclosed that it was Citigroup that approached GIC.

Stressing the safety of the investments, Dr Tan pointed out that ‘notwithstanding their large size, the two transactions have been structured with appropriate downside protection and are within GIC’s risk management parameters’.

For example, with respect to the Citigroup deal, he said: ‘Even if the market should deteriorate further (the deal) is structured in the form of convertible note preferred shares and we would get the 7 per cent share coupon. When we convert the convertible note, or when it is redeemed by Citigroup, then we would have the upside.’

He added, ‘Even if the problems continue and it takes longer than people anticipate to resolve the problems . . . the preferred convertible gives us the protection which, in these uncertain times, we regard as being very important.’

Dr Tan pointed out that GIC’s investments into UBS and Citigroup would not take the agency beyond its stipulated limits for investments in financial stocks. ‘GIC’s practice is to try and ensure that our risk is generally well spread out,’ he said. ‘(Our investments in) UBS and Citigroup, plus our present investments in financial companies in the US and Europe, are kept within the risk limits which we have prescribed.’

Addressing the concerns expressed in some quarters about recent high-profile investments by sovereign wealth funds, Dr Tan maintained that such funds contribute to financial stability.

‘If you look at the recent investments by sovereign wealth funds in the banks, they show that one benefit of sovereign wealth funds is that they are long-term investors who can provide capital when it’s needed,’ he said. ‘They are not short-term in-and-out dealers like hedge funds, and they can help stabilise financial positions.’

Source : Business Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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$450m shopping mall to add to Singapore Tampines bustle

$450m shopping mall to add to Singapore Tampines bustle

With two other malls, it will make town hub an even stronger shopping destination

By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
SETTING ITSELF APART: While its anchor tenants may be familiar brand names, Tampines 1 will strive to be different by bringing in new retail concepts to tie in with its ‘young, savvy and lover of all new things’ theme. — PHOTO: TAMPINES 1

THE popular suburban haunt of Tampines is set to get a fresh injection of retail buzz when a new $450 million mall, now under construction, opens for business early next year.
The arrival of Tampines 1 on the scene will alleviate a shortage of shopping space in the crowded town hub, where rents in two existing malls have risen over the years, industry sources say.

The new mall’s manager has already signed up anchor tenants. It is now 40 per cent leased and is expected to be fully leased by May, said AsiaMalls Management (South East Asia).

Located beside the Tampines MRT station, it will complement two existing malls, CapitaMall Trust’s Tampines Mall and Asian Retail Mall Fund’s Century Square.

Tampines 1, due for completion later this year, sits on a 91,000 sq ft site and has shops spread over five storeys and one basement. It will have 203 carpark lots.

The mall has a net lettable area of 260,000 sq ft, which makes it smaller than Tampines Mall’s 323,000 sq ft but bigger than Century Square’s 210,000 sq ft.

When combined, the three malls will make Tampines an even stronger shopping destination, according to Knight Frank’s deputy managing director, Mr Danny Yeo.

Popular suburban malls, such as those in Tampines, can command relatively steep rents due to their high levels of traffic.

This trend is growing now that the Housing Board has stopped building neighbourhood shops, as shoppers prefer to frequent bustling suburban malls, said Mr Yeo.

He added that ground-floor rents in Tampines suburban malls could fetch between $35 and $50 per sq ft (psf) a month.

That range is relatively high for outlying shopping centres, given that ground-floor rents in main shopping malls along the Orchard Road shopping belt go for about $45 to $70 psf on average.

While Tampines 1’s anchor tenants may be familiar brand names, such as Cold Storage, the mall will strive to be different by bringing in new retail concepts to tie in with its ‘young, savvy and lover of all new things’ theme.

One of them is a fitness club and spa that will come complete with a swimming pool.

The BEYS fitness club and spa by the Amore Fitness group will take up about 17,500 sq ft of space on the fifth floor.

Cold Storage supermarket, which will be fitted out to the tune of $3 million, will occupy almost 14,000 sq ft of the basement.

This outlet will focus on high-quality fresh food and offer more than an ordinary heartland supermarket, said the mall manager.

For instance, it will have the largest range of smoked salmon and Alaskan seafood and will offer ready-to-eat steamed lobsters and shucked oysters.

Times The Bookshop is another key tenant, while Challenger, the information technology superstore, will take up 6,100 sq ft on level four.

Challenger used to be a tenant at DBS Tampines Centre that, together with Pavilion, have been torn down to make way for the upcoming mall.

Asian Retail Mall Fund II bought the two sites for nearly $289 million. Its total investment in the mall has reached $450 million, including land cost.

Apart from new retail concepts, Tampines 1 will also offer new architecture elements, such as a European-inspired Sunken Plaza and double-floor retail shops, said the mall’s assistant general manager, Ms Stephanie Ho.

One of these duplex units - on levels four and five - will be taken up by Japanese restaurant chain Sushi Tei.
POPULAR RETAIL HAUNTS

Suburban malls will continue to command high rents, as shoppers prefer to frequent these places over neighbourhood shops.
MR YEO, Knight Frank’s deputy managing director, on the new mall’s commercial potential

NEW AND IMPROVED

Tampines 1 will offer new architectural elements, such as a European-inspired Sunken Plaza and double-floor retail shops.
MS STEPHANIE HO. the mall’s assistant general manager
Source : Straits Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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KepLand to delay Singapore home launches; posts sterling gains

KepLand to delay Singapore home launches; posts sterling gains

Developer confirms it is pushing back sales of projects by two to three weeks each

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter

KEPPEL Land (KepLand) has confirmed it has pushed back the launch of Marina Bay Suites and will be slightly delaying other launches in Singapore this year.
This comes amid recent wild swings in stock markets as fears mount over the fallout of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and a possible United States recession.

KepLand group chief executive Kevin Wong also cast some uncertainty on how Singapore’s luxury home segment - which had led the market boom until recently - will perform this year, saying it depends on the sub-prime outcome.

But he added that prices of mid-tier and mass market homes are expected to ‘continue to go up steadily’.

Marina Bay Suites - which Keppel is developing together with partners Cheung Kong Holdings/Hutchinson Whampoa and Hongkong Land - falls into the high-end homes category.

The 221-unit condominium was initially scheduled for launch last Friday, but Mr Wong said the consortium came to a ‘consensus’ to delay the launch until after Chinese New Year, ‘after bonuses’ and ‘when people get their hongbao’.

‘There is some rationality to pushing it back,’ he said yesterday. ‘During the Chinese New Year break, people go away.’

KepLand has five other projects to launch this year but these will be pushed back due to the Marina Bay Suites delay, as the developer wants to ’stagger’ its launches, added Mr Wong.

But he emphasised that the delays - of only ‘two or three weeks’ for each project - are ‘not material’.

The other projects include 400 units in Reflections at Keppel Bay, which are scheduled to start being sold in ‘the middle of the year’, Mr Wong said.

KepLand also plans to launch 52 units in Park Infinia at Wee Nam, 15 units in The Crest @ Cairnhill, 34 units in The Tresor at Duchess Road and 56 units in Madison Residences in Bukit Timah Road.

The group yesterday posted a sterling set of results, due to good sales in projects such as The Suites at Central and Belvedere in Singapore; Villa Riviera in China; and Elita Promenade in India.

Net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31 surged seven times to $572.3 million, largely due to a $388.2 million gain on revaluation of investment properties. Revenue rose 8.6 per cent to $371.4 million.

Earnings per share for the quarter soared to 79.5 cents, from 11.3 cents a year ago.

For the full year, net profit more than trebled to $779.7 million while revenue climbed 48.5 per cent to $1.4 billion.

Net asset value per share was 3.18 cents as at Dec 31, from 2.21 cents a year ago.

KepLand is declaring a total cash dividend of 20 cents for the year, consisting a final dividend of eight cents and a special dividend of 12 cents.

Source : Straits Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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Unit trusts overtake shares as Singapore CPF investment choice

Unit trusts overtake shares as Singapore CPF investment choice

Members place $4.51b in unit trusts, exceeding $4.48b in CPF cash that is channelled to stocks

By Grace Ng
EXPERT ADVICE: ‘Advisers tend to advise their clients to invest in unit trusts as these are professionally managed and may offer more diversification.’ - MR SOH, on a possible reason for the growing allocation of CPF funds into unit trusts

SHARES have long been the top investment choice for retirement nest eggs but the tide has finally turned, with once-spurned unit trusts attracting more Central Provident Fund (CPF) cash.
Members placed $4.51 billion in unit trusts as at the end of the third quarter last year, exceeding the $4.48 billion that was invested in shares under the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS).

This reflects a striking change in investment sentiment. Shares attracted $6.49 billion of members’ money as at end-2004, but this amount has fallen by 31 per cent over three years to the current $4.48 billion level.

It is a different story for unit trusts which chalked up just $2.52 billion at end-2004. This amount has since surged by 79 per cent to the $4.51 billion registered as at Sept 30, according to CPF figures released yesterday.

Unit trusts have had a tough time shaking off their bad reputation for dismal returns - acquired during the market downturns of the dot.com crash and Sars epidemic.

Mr Soh Chin Heng, assistant chief executive of the CPF Board services group, believes unit trusts have become increasingly acceptable because more Singaporeans are enlisting financial advisers to plan their investments.

‘Advisers tend to advise their clients to invest in unit trusts as these are professionally managed and may offer more diversification for investors’ portfolios,’ he said.

Investors’ appetite for unit trusts may also have grown in recent years, as investors are keen to tap the sparkling performance of overseas markets such as India and China, said Mr Chris Firth, chief executive of wealth management firm dollarDEX.

‘While Singaporeans may be able to do their own research on local stocks, they need fund managers’ expertise for overseas investments.’

Also, stock market volatility may have prompted some investors to cut back on shares, said industry players.

Meanwhile, unit trusts may have enjoyed a record inflow in the fourth quarter last year as members rushed to park more funds in these products before new CPF rules kick in on April 1.

These rules will allow up to $60,000 in the CPF Ordinary and Special accounts to earn higher interest rates, but this cash cannot be withdrawn for investments.

Financial advisers say their clients are using CPF funds to buy unit trusts rather than shares, as members will have to plough the proceeds from share sales back into the CPF Ordinary Account after a certain period. But unit trusts can be held as a much longer-term investment and may yield higher returns than CPF interest rates.

However, ballooning unit trust investments may taper off or even reverse after April 1, as there is likely to be a significant drop in the amount of CPF funds available after that date, said Mr Leong Sze Hian, president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals. He reckons about 75 per cent of CPF members have less than $20,000 in their CPF accounts.

The number of CPFIS-approved funds has shrunk from a peak of 444 in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 387 this month after tougher criteria were introduced at the end of 2006.

These laid down new guidelines on a fund’s quality and ‘expense ratio’, which broadly reflects how much of its assets are soaked up by costs.

At the end of the fourth quarter, only four funds fulfilled the criteria and made it to ‘List A’. This has since grown to 46, or 12 per cent of the 387 CPFIS funds.

The remaining 341 funds are on ‘List B’. The CPF estimates that more than half, or over 170 unit trusts, meet the new requirements for the expense ratio, which took effect on Jan 1.

Funds with expense ratios not lower than half those of the CPF-

approved funds in their risk category will be barred from taking in new CPF money.

List A is likely to expand, said Ms Wu Meei, CPF assistant director for investments. There are 30 top-performing funds on List B that need only to reduce their expense ratios to clear the hurdles to join List A, she added.

Source : Straits Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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Singapore SIA union urged to settle internal feud

Singapore SIA union urged to settle internal feud
Sit down and talk instead of going for ‘no-win’ litigation, labour chief advises both parties
By Zakir Hussain

LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say has called on both parties in an ongoing feud in the Singapore Airlines Staff Union (Siasu) to negotiate their differences instead of pursuing legal action.
‘Such litigation is a no-win (situation) for the union,’ the NTUC secretary-general told reporters yesterday when asked to comment.

Mr Lim, who said he was ‘very disappointed to see such a conflict taking place’, called on the union leaders and members involved to ‘let good sense prevail’. ‘Why not sit down, come together, talk through the issue?’ he suggested.

Siasu leaders and former vice-president Thangaduri Kadirval say they were defamed in a petition signed last September by 400 members from the SIA Engineering Company branch. Siasu has some 10,000 members.

The petition referred to a move, allegedly by the union’s leaders, to appoint Mr Kadirval, who is known also as T Velu, as a cadre member even though he was voted out at a branch election.

It was addressed to Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen and copied to several other government and NTUC leaders, including Mr Lim.

Last month, lawyers acting for Siasu general secretary Mohd Hussain Kassim and executive council members sent a letter to one of the petition’s organisers, and called the allegations ‘totally untrue and unfounded’. And this month, lawyers acting for Mr Kadirval sent a similar letter to several others who signed the petition.

Among other things, the letters said the claims in the petition constituted ‘a most serious and damaging libel’, demanded a letter of apology to be published in the media, and sought damages.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the NTUC Workplan Seminar, Mr Lim said that in general, ‘union leaders are here to serve the interest of the workers. Our workers must respect the leadership of the union leaders’.

He said NTUC was in no position to judge whether the accusations of the members or leaders were warranted, justified, or accurate as it was not present at the union’s meetings. But he had strong words for both groups: ‘On the part of the union leaders, using union funds to sue the workers, what’s there to gain for the unions?

‘On the part of the workers, if there’s any disagreement with the action of the union leaders…getting hundreds of workers to sign up and to get involved with such litigation to the extent where, at the end of the day, they may have to sell the house, sell the car, to pay for the legal fees and so on, I will say who gains?

‘The lawyers. The lawyers of both sides, regardless of the outcome of this suit, will gain. But I see no gain for the union, I see no gains for the members.’

Mr Hussain and Mr Kadirval declined to comment when contacted, saying this was an internal matter. Several members who received letters from Mr Kadirval’s lawyers also declined to comment.

But ex-Siasu president Eddie Chew, who stepped down last year, agreed with Mr Lim that both parties should work things out. ‘It would be good if NTUC comes in and gets them to stop,’ he said.
Source : Straits Times  - 30 Jan 2008

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