More private banking outlets set up in Singapore to tap Asia’s wealth

More private banking outlets set up in Singapore to tap Asia’s wealth 

By Michelle Tay 
GETTING CLOSER: Mr Mathur (right) attending the opening of ABN’s Marine Parade Central outlet with the head of ABN’s consumer client segment for Asia, Mr Jim Brown. The branch is strategically located in an affluent residential area as clients like to be served near their homes, says Mr Mathur.
 
THE wealth management business continues to boom in Singapore with ABN Amro opening its fifth and largest Van Gogh Preferred Banking Centre on Wednesday.
The Marine Parade Central outlet will serve mass affluent clients living in the eastern part of the Republic.

Mr Ajay Mathur, the head of the Dutch bank’s consumer client segment in Singapore, said the branch is ‘in the midst of an affluent residential area and clients like to be served near their place of residence’.

Last year, the number of ABN’s preferred banking clients - they typically have investable assets of at least $200,000 each - more than doubled to about 14,000.

It expects the branch will help generate double-digit growth of client numbers in the coming year.

As if to underline the strength of the private banking sector, Australia’s Macquarie Private Bank launched its Asian operations on Wednesday with the opening of a Singapore office. Macquarie Private Wealth Asia will use the country as its regional hub.

Mr Guy Hedley, the head of Macquarie Private Bank Australia, said Singapore is ideally placed for the role given its location in the middle of the fastest-growing wealth market in the world, stable government, strong regulatory frameworks and educated workforce.

Mr Hedley added: ‘Macquarie is an institutional business in Asia. This is the easiest way for us to start to touch private individuals. And we don’t see ourselves as being geographically constrained.’

Mr Joseph Poon, who will head Macquarie Private Wealth Asia, said: ‘In the future, Singapore will be one of only two global private banking and wealth management hubs, the other being Switzerland.’

Singapore now has about 40 private banks.

‘It’s a testament to the strength and growth potential of this market in the long run. It’s not overcrowded. It just shows there are business opportunities,’ said Mr Poon.

A 2007 Merrill Lynch-Capgemini report said the number of ultra- high net-worth individuals - those with more than US$30 million (S$41.6 million) each in financial holdings - in the Asia-Pacific had increased by 12.2 per cent to 17,500 in 2006.

The report also said the number of millionaires in Singapore had shot up by 11,000, or 21.2 per cent, in 2006 - the fastest growth rate in the Asia-Pacific.

Both ABN and Macquarie said they see the wealth in Asia coming from two main areas: the inheritance of old money and entrepreneurs building new wealth.

Source : Straits Times - 22 March 2008

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Singapore Temasek says it is not a sovereign wealth fund

Singapore Temasek says it is not a sovereign wealth fund 
 
WASHINGTON - TEMASEK Holdings said that it is not affected by an agreement by Singapore, Abu Dhabi and the United States on principles to increase the transparency of sovereign wealth funds.
‘Temasek is not a sovereign wealth fund,’ its spokesman Mark Lee said in a telephone interview yesterday. ‘Temasek has to sell assets to raise cash for new investments and doesn’t require the government to give approvals.’

An agreement by government-run funds of Abu Dhabi and Singapore to increase transparency will not shed more light on Temasek’s US$118 billion (S$163.8 billion) portfolio, as the company said it already meets disclosure guidelines.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday that funds, including the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), agreed to adopt rules for greater disclosure. Temasek said it already provides more information than government-run funds.

The US is pushing sovereign wealth funds to adopt new disclosure rules because of concern that a lack of transparency could spark a rise in protectionism.

The European Commission has called for an international accord to limit the political influence of state- owned capital pools, which have grown in number to about 40, managing between US$2 trillion and US$3 trillion.

Singapore’s GIC and counterparts in China, Russia and Dubai have deployed record central bank reserves of as much as US$2.9 trillion, buying stakes in US financial services companies.

GIC has invested in UBS and Citigroup in the past three months, as banks sought to replenish capital after the value of their US sub-prime mortgage-related assets plummeted.

In January, Temasek paid US$6.2 billion for a 9.4 per cent stake in Merrill Lynch, after the largest US brokerage had the biggest loss in its 93-year history because of write-downs on US sub-prime mortgages and related securities.

BLOOMBERG NEWS
 
Source : Straits Times - 22 March 2008

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Singapore hotels facing struggle to retain staff

S’pore hotels facing struggle to retain staff 
New players putting squeeze on older ones; job offers also coming from abroad
By Lim Wei Chean 
 
THOSE employed in the hospitality industry are well known for playing the game of musical chairs, where a waiter in one hotel today could be serving in another across the road the next day.
But the game is hotting up, hoteliers complain, not just among the rank and file, but management staff as well.

Staff turnover for this sector, according to the Manpower Ministry, was 4.3 per cent a month last year, almost twice that for the wholesale and retail, and the financial services industries.

With this year’s bonuses already paid out during the Chinese New Year period, hoteliers are bracing themselves for more staff resignations.

Grand Mercure Roxy Singapore’s general manager Kevin Bossino said his February resignation rate was 3.2 per cent, up from December’s 1.2 per cent.

Over at Royal Plaza on Scotts, general manager Patrick Fiat said more than 35 per cent of his 370-member staff quit last year. In 2006, annual turnover was 16 per cent.
brand conscious
‘The hotel brand is quite important. I will also get the chance to learn something new.’
MR RANDALL ONG, 23, who is joining St Regis next month. He is taking a pay cut and downgrading from restaurant captain to waiter.
 
He added: ‘The year has barely begun and I’ve already lost three of my top guys: my director of human resources, financial controller and executive chef.’

The reasons: the tight labour market and the opening of new hotels, including upmarket ones which young people are keen to work in.

Singapore has about 230 hotels employing 27,000 workers. Ten new properties opening this year will require at least another 1,000 workers.

Since January last year, businesses in the service sector have been allowed to hire foreigners to make up 45 per cent of their staff. And these are the ones who usually stay on, said Mr Bossino.

Low pay and long hours - the perennial bugbears - are reasons young Singaporeans jump ship at the first sign of better prospects.

Although average monthly real earnings per worker in the hotel and restaurant industry have gone up by 2.3 per cent to $1,393 last year, the figure is still lower than the 4 per cent average increase to $3,645 for all sectors.

The newer hotels may not pay much more, but they offer young people bragging rights of being among the pioneers.

Mr Randall Ong, 23, who is joining St Regis next month, is taking a pay cut and a downgrade from restaurant captain to waiter. He asked that his current employer not be named.

He said: ‘The hotel brand is quite important. I will also get the chance to learn something new.’

To keep pace, hotels have been spending more to retain their staff.

Orchard Hotel, for example, paid out bonuses of up to three months this year - the highest in the hotel’s 28-year history. It also raised recreation allowances so that department heads can organise more team activities such as barbecues.

Still, such moves do not prevent top and middle-level staff from being head-hunted.

Singaporeans are in demand by hotels in China and Macau because they can speak both English and Mandarin. Several hotel management staff, all of whom declined to be named, say it is common to receive cold calls for jobs abroad.

The good news is that the polytechnics, Institute of Technical Education and the Singapore International Hotel and Tourism College have increased their intakes to train more students for the industry.

But with the two integrated resorts opening by 2010, the frenzy to hire staff will only get worse, hoteliers predict.

Orchard Hotel general manager Rene Teuscher said: ‘It is up to hotels to do more to retain employees so they realise it is better to stay.’

 losing top staff
‘The year has barely begun and I’ve already lost three of my top guys: my director of human resources, financial controller and executive chef.’

MR PATRICK FIAT (above): Royal Plaza on Scotts general manager, who said more than 35 per cent of his 370-member staff quit last year.

Source : Straits Times - 22 March 2008

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Guidelines to avoid investment friction reached -WASHINGTON

Guidelines to avoid investment friction reached -WASHINGTON
 
Singapore, Abu Dhabi and US set out principles on sovereign wealth funds

By Bhagyashree Garekar, US Correspondent 

WASHINGTON - THE United States, Singapore and Abu Dhabi have unveiled principles that they hope will help to ease the friction between controversial sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and the countries that receive investments from them.
The principles were agreed upon during a meeting between senior officials from all three countries here on Thursday.

It is the first time that a set of principles has emerged to define at one go the ideal behaviour expected of all parties in the equation.

SWFs are created by governments to invest the vast budget surpluses of their countries overseas.

But the recipient countries often question the motives behind such investments, fearing that the donor nations will try to exert economic and political influence on their shores.

The stated intention of the new principles between the US, Abu Dhabi and Singapore is to buttress larger-scale moves under way at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to draft best practices for these funds.
With combined assets of around US$3trillion (S$4.2 trillion), SWFs now dwarf hedge funds and private equity funds as a key element in the global financial system.

The new principles say that SWFs should commit to investing on a purely commercial basis.

The recipient countries, in return, are asked to avoid putting up barriers to investment - a top concern for SWFs.

The principles were contained in a joint statement released on Thursday following a meeting between US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, his deputy Robert Kimmitt, Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) deputy chairman Tony Tan.

The government of Abu Dhabi was represented by Mr Hamad Al Hurr Al Suwaidi, its executive council member, and Mr Hareb Masood Al-Darmaki, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world’s largest SWF.

‘Singapore and the UAE have long- established, well-respected funds, and are showing real leadership by joining with us,’ Mr Paulson said in remarks after the meeting.

Singapore’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement issued in the Republic yesterday that an open investment environment was ‘critical’ in a globalised economy.

‘We will continue to contribute proactively to international efforts on developing voluntary best practices,’ the statement said.

SWFs from several countries, including the GIC, recently invested in major Wall Street institutions such as Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, which had been rattled by trouble in the US sub-prime housing market.

Although the SWF investments had a stabilising effect, some others were seen as possible conduits of foreign political influence on Western companies and markets.

SWFs in China, Russia and some Arab countries are particularly viewed with suspicion.

In a press briefing following Thursday’s meeting, Assistant Treasury Secretary for International Affairs Clay Lowery denied that the US administration was under ‘pressure’ from Congress to rein in SWFs.

But he said the newly formulated principles would clear the air and keep the door open for foreign investment.

Senator Charles Schumer, who has threatened ‘legislative action’ if SWFs do not adopt best practices ’soon’, praised the latest efforts.

‘Now, it is up to other sovereign wealth funds to follow this lead,’ he said.

The IMF’s governing board was due to meet in Washington yesterday to discuss the work agenda on SWFs.

It is likely to present a code for SWFs at its annual meeting in September or October.

 Dos and don’ts
THE US, Singapore and Abu Dhabi have agreed on a set of investment principles which they hope will be an example for others to follow:

SWFs should:
Base investment decisions on commercial grounds, rather than geopolitical goals, and formally state that they do so.

Disclose more about their purpose, investment objectives, institutional arrangements and so on.

Have strong governance structures, internal controls, and operational and risk management systems.

Compete fairly with the private sector.

Respect regulatory and disclosure requirements.
Host nations should:
Not erect protectionist barriers.

Ensure predictable investment frameworks and rules that are public, clear and supported by a strong and consistent rule of law.

Not discriminate among investors.

Respect investor decisions by being unintrusive. Any restrictions imposed for national security reasons should be proportional to the genuine risks.
Source : Straits Times - 22 March 2008

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Singapore CapitaLand poised to ride on Asian growth

Singapore CapitaLand poised to ride on Asian growth

By TEH HOOI LING
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
A FEW years back, Liew Mun Leong, chief executive of CapitaLand, came to Singapore Press Holdings and gave a talk to journalists. His talk left a deep impression on me.
 
 
The topic was how he saw the property market going through a strategic inflection point. Mr Liew drew the idea of strategic inflection point from the book Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove, the chief executive of Intel.

Mr Grove defines a strategic inflection point as a time in the life of a business when its fundamentals are changing significantly, and these would be times when critical decisions can make or break a business. In the book, Mr Grove said only those who constantly try to anticipate change will survive when change happens.

Indeed Mr Liew has thoroughly absorbed the essence of the book and put it into practice with great effect. He successfully steered CapitaLand in directions which subsequently positioned it to enjoy the developments which had played out in the last few years.

Today, CapitaLand is a completely different animal. Not only is it the largest real estate company listed on the Singapore Exchange, with a market capitalisation of $16 billion, it is also the largest in South-east Asia. It is now the leading foreign real estate developer in China, with about $6 billion worth of its balance sheet represented by assets in China.

There, it has stakes in over 70 malls as well as serviced apartments which will hit 10,000 by 2010, and has a pipeline of more than 35,000 residential homes. It is the largest retail mall owner/manager in Asia, the largest serviced residence owner-operator globally, and the leading real estate fund and investment trust manager.

More than 50 per cent of its assets are now outside Singapore. It has footprints in more than 100 cities in over 20 countries. And its assets range from residential to commercial and integrated leisure, entertainment and convention centres. Another new business to be built is industrial and logistics real estate.

I don’t envy analysts who have to cover CapitaLand. I can’t imagine how they go about ascertaining the revenue from its numerous sources in over 100 cities. However, I was offered the opportunity to have a chat with Mr Liew last week and that helped in gaining a somewhat deeper understanding of the group.

CapitaLand, says Mr Liew, is positioning itself to capture the one big long-term inevitable trend, which is the economic development of Asia. As the trend plays itself out, there will be increased economic activities, rising income, urbanisation of cities, increased consumer spending and rising demand for leisure and entertainment.

Each of CapitaLand’s products is tapping into two or more of these ’sub-trends’. For example, the residential business will thrive as economic activities pick up, income increases and more people migrate to the cities. Retail is poised to benefit from all the five ’sub-trends’.

And for each of the product offerings, the group is capturing profits at almost every stage. The biggest value is created at the development stage when the group buys a piece of land to build one of its products, be it a condominium, commercial building or other real estate. Here, it will have to bear risk that the market may turn bad, make sure that the products to be built will be what the buyers want, source for funding for these projects, etc. Once the product is built, CapitaLand can either sell it or offer it to one of its Reits. CapitaLand has stakes in the Reits which earn stable income from the rental. Meanwhile, it also earns management fees for running its five Reits as well as 15 private equity funds. CapitaLand is where it is today because it was able to see ahead of the curve.

Inflection points

The first inflection point for the real estate market in the last 10 years was soon after the Asian financial crisis, said Mr Liew. The crisis was caused by excesses in Asia, companies borrowing ever more to fund projects based on very bullish assumptions. ‘Banks were lending money to property companies, earning debt returns but assuming equity risks because there was no recourse. The recourse was only the property.’

During the crisis, central banks limited commercial banks’ exposure to the real estate. ‘That was one inflection point. Our thesis is that we must learn to tap the capital markets. So we started commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities (CMBS and RMBS).

‘We also decided that going forward, real estate companies cannot be run like a traditional family-run type of business. Asian real estate has to be institutionalised, that is institutional investors have to come in. One way was through Reits. We think that if in the US, Reits can be a solution to the savings-and-loan crisis (of 1989 to 1992), then it should be something we could use.’

The process of pitching the idea of Reits to the government took six years, said Mr Liew.

Now we are entering a second inflection point. Bank lending has seized up. Meanwhile, the window to tap the capital markets through asset securitisation is not as open as before. In the current crisis, the well-capitalised real estate companies will emerge even stronger. While those with weaker balance sheets will have difficulties getting funding - ‘the juice to do business dries up’ in the words of Mr Liew.

Meanwhile, those who can have access to funds will get them at cheaper rates than before as the US Federal Reserve continues to lower interest rates.

Achievements

Mr Liew has achieved a lot since he took over Pidemco Land which then bought over DBS Land in 2000. Along the way, he had to make some very difficult decisions and take harsh criticisms.

In the second half of 1990s, he resisted the pressure of initiating new investments in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Vietnam at sky-high prices. But when he bought Furama Hotel in Hong Kong in 1998, he was severely criticised.

‘One of the key decisions which made us what we are today was to buy DBS Land. That gave us scale,’ said Mr Liew. Then he sailed into the perfect storm of the dotcom bust, the 9/11 terror attacks, Sars, Iraq war and the two Bali bombings which lasted nearly four years.

In 2001, he decided to revive the Shanghai Raffles City project, which had been abandoned a few years before. He was questioned why he wanted to throw good money after bad. Today, Raffles City in Shanghai is worth at least twice its investment cost of US$350 million. It is now a recognised brand and three more are being constructed in Beijing, Chengdu and Hangzhou.

In the years immediately after the merger, the group’s share price languished at just $1-plus, about half the price Pidemco Land paid to buy DBS Land. ‘I was almost in tears when I spoke to my management in one of our retreats,’ said Mr Liew. ‘I said we were ex-civil servants, professionals, very good people. Surely we can run the company well so people can recognise the value in our shares.’

Then recognising the need to have an alternative source of funding, the need to get institutional investors in, the need to create a steady stream of income for the group, CapitaLand introduced Reits to Singapore. ‘It took us six years to pitch it to the government. We had to convince them of tax transparency, then we had to get the green light from MAS, MND and Ministry of Finance.’

As with most successful businessmen, luck had some role to play at some point. Mr Liew said that perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that CapitaLand did not get the integrated resort projects. ‘If it was in our books, it’d occupy a few billion dollars debts. Under the current landscape of credit crunch, it’s going to be a strong burden on the balance sheet. In terms of creating value, I’m not sure we could recover it so fast.

‘If I have to do a $5 billion project, I’d rather do it in various pieces in a more distributed way. So from the standpoint of creating value for shareholders, from the standpoint of economic value added, it’s much better if we don’t do it.’

The capital, he said, has since been invested in Vietnam and China. ‘That’s why we can buy nearly 100 malls in China,’ said Mr Liew.

In the last seven years, Mr Liew said CapitaLand has amassed profits of $4.9 billion and created shareholder value of $18 billion as at end February. Mr Liew stressed that it was not because of the good run in the market in the last two years that record profits were made. ‘The fruits were planted during the difficult years.’

I did some calculation. Between 2002 and 2007, the group generated cash totalling $7.5 billion - from operations or from sales of investments after netting off new investments but before paying interest charges and dividends. Relative to its capital, the return works out to about 7.8 per cent a year, a rather decent number.

There’s no doubt CapitaLand is a good company. But as a very astute investor told me this week, it’s very easy to identify good businesses. ‘Any cab driver can tell you DBS, OCBC are good businesses. But the question is: It is reasonably priced?’ That, of course, is the difficult part. The astute investor says he generally will not pay anything more than the revalued net asset value for a property company.

CapitaLand last traded at $5.68 and its net asset value per share is $3.54. Which means it is now trading at 1.6 times its asset value. So it’s up to one’s judgement if you think property inflation will continue, and whether all the positives of CapitaLand will continue to add value to its asset portfolio.
Source : Business Times - 22 March 2008

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Bad times throw up Bad times throw up good opportunities for CapitaLand -Singaporefor CapitaLand

Bad times throw up good opportunities for CapitaLand -Singapore

As credit crunch lays rivals low, it’s ready to swoop on bargains in next 2 years: CEO
By TEH HOOI LING

A LOT of opportunities will be thrown up in the real estate market in the next two years and CapitaLand is well placed to take advantage of them, chief executive Liew Mun Leong says.

Mr Liew: CapitaLand will continue to invest despite the strong headwinds ahead 
‘There will be distressed properties, distressed companies. We can probably buy land cheaper and even acquire companies,’ said Mr Liew in an interview with BT this week.

He said the current credit crunch is making borrowing very difficult for real estate companies whose balance sheets are not too strong. Meanwhile, it is also difficult to tap the capital market for funds.

‘If banks are now restricting their exposure to you in direct lending, and the capital market is now very cautious, then funding becomes a problem,’ he said. ‘For us, we are very well capitalised. Banks still trust us to do the normal borrowing. Our gearing is only 0.47. For every 0.1 increase in gearing, we can raise $1 billion. And we can still have access to the capital markets.’

CapitaLand group chief financial officer Olivier Lim pointed out a big difference between now and the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago: then, the cost of funds was going up; now, it is going down, with the US Federal Reserve continuing to ease interest rates. ‘So those who have access to funds are getting them cheaper,’ he said.

Added Mr Liew: ‘At the end of the day, some of our competitors will be weakened. And our relative combat power - to use a military term - will be stronger.’ With lower land costs and lower financing costs, CapitaLand will also be able to maintain its margin, he added.

In fact, CapitaLand currently has ready ammunition at its disposal.

In the last nine months, it raised $2.3 billion in convertible bonds, at 2.9 per cent and 3 per cent. And the conversion premium was pretty high.

In addition, CapitaLand has $12 billion worth of investible private equity funds for the different sectors of the market.

Mr Liew said CapitaLand’s failure to clinch the integrated resort (IR) projects might have been a blessing in disguise.

‘If we had a few billion dollars of debt for that kind of big-ticket item, in the current credit crunch landscape, I think it’s going to be a big burden on the balance sheet,’ he said.

Mr Liew does not think there will be a quick rebound from the current credit crunch.

He said: ‘The problem is getting worse. If you’d asked me last month, I would have said it’s still not so bad. This month, it’s worse. I can’t pretend to know when it will be over; some people say a few years. It’s like a sick man - the fever is rising, and now, worse, there’s diarrhoea. We need to stop the diarrhoea first, and then wait for the fever to go down. All I can say is, it’s not a pretty picture.’

CapitaLand, said Mr Liew, will continue to invest despite the strong headwinds ahead. It was through investing in the bad years of 2001 and 2003 that CapitaLand reaped record earnings in the last two years.

‘You have to invest. It takes time to plant the seeds and reap the rewards. Our fruits in the last two years were planted in those bad times when we had the perfect storm of the dotcom bust, the bombing of the US World Trade Center, Sars, the Iraq war and the two Bali bombings,’ he said.

Mr Liew’s vision is for CapitaLand to be the Nokia or Nestle of Singapore - that is, a truly international company.

‘In 5-10 years’ time, I aim to have CapitaLand as the top three or top five real estate companies in Asia; we are now Number 9 or 10. I want all our overseas businesses to be run by the locals. And I want each of our major markets to have a representative on our board of directors.

‘Singaporeans will look for new businesses to grow the group, look at asset allocation and have an overview of the various businesses,’ said Mr Liew.

Source : Business Times - 22 March 2008

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US, S’pore thrash out principles to guide SWFs

US, S’pore thrash out principles to guide SWFs

Abu Dhabi also part of move that seeks openness, opposes protectionism
By CHOW PENN NEE

(SINGAPORE) Singapore will continue to contribute proactively on developing best practices for sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and countries receiving investments, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said yesterday in a statement.

The comment comes after a set of voluntary principles was put in place to guide SWF investments at a meeting between officials from the US, Abu Dhabi and Singapore’s Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

‘Singapore believes that an open investment environment is critical in a globalised economy and is in the interests of all parties,’ said the Finance Ministry, adding that ‘the United States, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, being a group of nations with SWFs and a country receiving investments from SWFs, have a common interest in an open and stable international financial system’.
The three nations noted that international agreement on a set of voluntary best practices will create a strong incentive among SWFs and investment-recipient countries to hold themselves to high standards.

The principles state that SWFs should base their investment decisions solely on commercial grounds, rather than serve political interests of the controlling government, and the funds should make this statement formally as part of their basic investment management policies.

There should also be greater disclosure by SWFs on investment objectives and institutional arrangements as well as financial information. More transparency on asset allocation, benchmarks and historical rates of return will help reduce uncertainty in financial markets and build trust in recipient countries, the statement added.

There should also be fair competition between SWFs and the private sector. And SWFs should comply with the regulatory and disclosure requirements of the countries in which they invest.

The guidelines come at a timely juncture, amid nervousness about their moves to snap up assets during the recent months of market turmoil in the Western countries.

As for recipients of SWF investment, some of the principles guiding these countries would include not erecting protectionist barriers to the investment, and also ensuring that incoming investment rules are publicly available, predictable, and supported by strong and consistent rule of law. Recipient countries should also not discriminate among investors, and they should also not actively steer SWF investments but be ‘unintrusive’. Restrictions to investments should only be imposed if genuine national security risks are raised by the investment.

What this means for Singapore is that these policies will be helpful in assuaging the suspicions of SWFs, said Chua Hak Bin, director of Asia-Pacific economic and market analysis at Citi. ‘This will be a good direction to allay the fears and concerns (of recipient countries), and Temasek and GIC will be able to invest worldwide and not be worried about backlash,’ he said.

He noted that although Temasek has been quite open about its investments, GIC has to be more transparent. ‘GIC’s investments are not very well known,’ he said.

The policies were released following a meeting in Washington on Thursday between Mr Tharman, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Hamad al Hurr al Suwaidi, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

Mr Tharman was accompanied by Dr Tony Tan, deputy chairman and executive director of GIC, as well as staff from MOF and GIC.

Sovereign wealth funds have made waves of late.

According to data from research house Dealogic, there is about US$3 trillion in sovereign wealth funds globally, and Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley estimate that in seven years’ time, these funds could surpass US$10 trillion.

Dealogic said in its report earlier this week that SWFs have invested US$24.4 billion in the first two months of this year alone - almost half the record volume level achieved last year.

Source : Business Times  - 22 March 2008

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Newly-upgraded Singapore Pasir Ris Park a hit with visitors

Newly-upgraded Singapore Pasir Ris Park a hit with visitors
SINGAPORE : One of Singapore’s largest parks - Pasir Ris Park - has been upgraded, to make it easier for visitors to enjoy the six-hectare mangrove forest.

Pasir Ris Park is the only park in Singapore with an urban mangrove forest.

But to get there, many visitors had to walk quite a distance. So the park was upgraded to make it easier for visitors to enjoy the forest.

A boardwalk stretching 232 metres was added, and a corridor that spans 4,000 square metres links the boardwalk directly to the Pasir Ris Bus and MRT Interchange.

One visitor said, “I walked here from the MRT station. It took me about 10 minutes. It’s not too far away.”

Another added, “It’s closer to the MRT station. Only about 10 minutes away. It’s very convenient.”

The S$2 million upgrading was completed in nine months.

Meanwhile, the former herb and spice gardens have been revamped into kitchen gardens.

The are now over 100 species of plants and herbs, and almost half of the area is taken up by medicinal plants. The total cost of upgrading this area was S$15,000.

The new look has been a hit with visitors.

Nurhaslinda Ramli, Section Head, Parks, National Parks Board, said, “Nowadays, when we do our side walks in the morning, we see nature photographers. On weekends it’s filled with families.”

That is because the makeover includes a new playground, handicap-friendly areas and even an open-concept interpretive centre. - CNA/ms
Source : Channel NewsAsia  - 22 March 2008

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