Marina Bay Suites at Marina Bay – Singapore – District 01

Marina Bay Suites at Marina Bay – Singapore – District 01

Located in the heart of the $ 30 billion Marina Bay, Asia’s most exciting centre urban lifestyle, 66 - storey, 239 metre height Marina Bay Suites sets new standards for the exquisite life of luxury in Marina Bay residents Heureux receive horizon dynamic city perspectives and viewpoints exclusive of the elegant central linear park.

An oasis of peace and tranquillity in the heart of the new downtown, the central linear park will serve a ceremony green focal point for the entire area. Wake up with the soft green of the park and the cool breeze sparkling blue water of Marina Bay.

Marina Bay Suites residents will also enjoy a superb road and rail links and ease of access to the airport and the rest of Singapore. En route direct links to the East Coast Parkway and the next U.S. $ 1.65 billion Marina coastal expressway, the air route center of the Changi airport is less than 18 minutes. Residents will also have convenient access to Raffles Place and the rest of the island through the MRT station future.

Location: Marina Boulevard
District: 01
Tenure: 99yrs leasehold
Top: 31 Aug 2012
Total number of units: 221 in a block of 66 storeys

The types of units: –
Type A Bedroom 4 –55 units (2680sqft to 2691sqft)
Type B Bedroom 4 –55 units (2045sqft to 2067sqft)
Type C 3 Bedroom –54 units (1572sqft to 1604sqft)
Type D 3 Bedroom –54 units (1615sqft to 1625sqft)
Penthouse type P Bedroom ~ 3 units (4715sqft to 8181sqft)

Services nearby: Walking distance to the CBD-Raffles Place, Garden of the Bay, Singapore Flyer, Bayfront Bridge Dam Marina, Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Business Financial Centre, Grand Prix Racing, Esplanade Theatres on the Bay.

Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest, In Singapore

MINDY YONG

( +65 ) 91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

How to make the most of a recession

How to make the most of a recession

By TEH HOOI LING

SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
ACCORDING to consulting firm McKinsey, almost 40 per cent of leading US industrial companies toppled from the first quartile of their sectors during the 2000-01 recession. A third of leading US banks met the same fate. But at the same time, 15 per cent of companies that were not industry leaders prior to the recession, vaulted into that position during it.

Flexibility is key: McKinsey found that there’s one key common characteristic of the companies which emerged as post-recession leaders - flexibility during the recession.
To understand how to make the most of a recessionary environment, McKinsey analysed the performance before, during and after the 2000-01 recession of 1,300 US companies from a broad range of sectors.

It then identified which of these companies emerged from the recession having gained or maintained leadership status.

For these leaders, it looked at the characteristics they exhibited before the recession that might help explain why they outperformed their peers.

‘Although recessions strike different sectors in different ways and at different times, the post-recession leaders in most of the sectors we explored had characteristics in common,’ says McKinsey.

It found one key common characteristic among the post-recession leaders - flexibility during the recession.

‘Entering the downturn, they typically maintained lower leverage on their balance sheets, controlled operating costs well and diversified their product offerings and business geographies,’ says McKinsey.

‘Such fundamentals gave them a greater degree of strategic flexibility, which became even more valuable during the recession.

‘And although previous recessions aren’t necessarily a guide to future ones, we believe that flexibility can make a notable difference by allowing managers to take advantage of the opportunities the next recession might provide.’

Expanding during recession

Whatever the position the companies had within their sector before the downturn, many that emerged from it as leaders expanded their businesses during the recession. The expansion included organic activity - that is, through internal investments - and inorganic activity such as mergers and acquisitions (M&As), alliances and joint ventures.

But McKinsey found a difference in the mode of expansion before and during recession. Before recession, the more successful companies, on average, spent less on M&As and focused more on organic growth.

In 1999, for example, leading companies had, on average, capital expenditure that was 8 per cent higher and growth through M&As that was 13 per cent lower than their less successful counterparts.

During the recession itself, however, better performers leapfrogged the competition by continuing to invest and growing inorganically.

In 2000, companies that emerged in the top quartile spent 15 per cent more on capital expenditure and conducted 7 per cent more M&As.

The M&As most likely arose from the opportunities to buy cheap assets from distressed sellers. In addition, the successful companies were able to pay their suppliers faster, probably to negotiate lower prices and better service, says McKinsey.

However, to be able to expand and invest during difficult times requires a strong and flexible balance sheet. And this has to be built up before a recession.

McKinsey found that for industrial companies that ultimately emerged as sector leaders, the average net debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio before the recession was roughly half that of their less successful competitors.

What’s more, the post-recession leaders also held more cash on their balance sheets prior to the recession than their less successful counterparts.

Now that we are entering a possible recession, the good news is that a lot of Singapore corporations are in very good financial shape.

I downloaded all the Singapore listed companies and their debt to common equity ratio as well as their total debt to total assets ratio. For the former, the median is 26 per cent, and the latter, 14 per cent.

The question now is whether Singapore companies will use their balance sheet flexibility to make expansions wisely.

Starbucks was a company which had a lot of financial flexibility during the 2000-01 recession. In 1996 it had D/E ratio of 8 per cent, compared with an average of 14 per cent for the restaurant sector. Its managers consistently reduced the company’s leverage every year until 1999. That year, the D/E ratio was only 2 per cent, while the industry average hit a high of 31 per cent.

Starbucks achieved the debt reduction by expanding the proportion of licensed outlets from 7 per cent in 1998 to 13 per cent in 1999 and 23 per cent in 2000.

So how do companies build flexibility into their balance sheet? Though it may be too late to execute it now, this knowledge may come in handy in a future downturn.

One way is to reduce the capital intensity of the business model. Another is to resist the urge to use additional debt to finance dividend growth or share buybacks.

McKinsey found that as profits grew during expansion, companies that emerged as winners refrained from increasing their dividends.

Their dividend payouts gradually decreased from a peak of 40 per cent in 1995 to 32 per cent in 1999. Then they cut dividend payouts aggressively at the first sign of recession, reducing payout ratio to 28 per cent in 2000.

In contrast, before the recession their less successful counterparts kept dividend payouts roughly stable - at 35 per cent in 1995 and 33 per cent in 1999 - and even increased them to an average of 38 per cent in 2000 as the recession began.

Operating flexibility

As a matter of good management practice, companies should - regardless of business cycles - aim to keep costs low without damaging the long-term health of their business.

Also, it is best if companies keep their operations flexible so funds, assets and personnel can be redeployed easily as conditions change.

Take the example of US catalogue operator and retailer Talbots. In the years before the recession, it increased the intake of part-time workers at a higher rate than salaried workers.

And in the throes of the recession, it radically shifted its advertising mix away from TV and catalogue operations towards focused activities that targeted customer groups with the highest sales potential.

According to McKinsey, although this strategy somewhat reduced the company’s ratio of advertising expense to revenue - from 5.5 per cent of revenue in 2000 to 4.3 per cent in 2001 - Talbots maintained advertising levels far above the sector in general.

Its ratio of advertising expense to revenue was 120 per cent higher than the sector average in 2000, and 80 per cent higher than in 2001.

‘Such measures helped Talbots emerge from the recession as a leader in the sector, though it entered the recession as a challenger,’ says McKinsey.

In contrast, less successful companies cut their research and development and advertising more deeply, putting them at a disadvantage for tapping the opportunities such expenditure might create.

Before recession, their productivity per employee was also lower than the leaders, and so they had to lay off more employees during the downturn.

This could have had the effect of damaging their ability to attract and retain talent in the future. So, companies that are thinking of mass lay-offs, take note.

Product offerings

McKinsey also found that companies that emerged from the recession as industry leaders generally had more diversified product offerings and a greater geographic presence before, during and after the recession than did their less successful counterparts.

This pattern was particularly true for companies that led their industries before the recession and retained this status after it. Their sales were roughly twice as diversified by segment as those of companies that ceased to be leaders. By geography, the difference was smaller.

But leaders that retained their status were about 20 per cent more diverse in this respect.

Successful companies pro-actively managed their customers and product portfolios before the recession.

McKinsey cites US telecom company Verizon, which coupled an expanding customer base with increasing average revenue per user to offset falling call prices.

Average revenue per user fell throughout the industry as per-minute revenue dropped by almost 20 per cent a year from 2000 to 2003. By altering its service mix towards broadband and value-added services, Verizon maintained its winning status through the recession.

Starbucks, meanwhile, added innovative value-added services (including Wi-Fi Internet access in its stores), the Starbucks Card and improved customer service during the recession.

It resisted offering massive discounts. As a result, in 2002 the company again posted comparable store sales growth of 6 per cent, achieved through traffic growth of over 8 per cent.

Overall, a downturn can be a great opportunity to hire talent, to continue spending on long-term strategic initiatives and to target acquisitions.

Companies that are enjoying strong balance sheets, as well as operational flexibility and product diversity, are in a good position to take advantage of the current slowdown and reap outsized value for shareholders.

Source : Business Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Back to the future: Size matters to long-term success - Singapore

Back to the future: Size matters to long-term success - Singapore

Scale begets acquisition power, which is the new competitive edge
By ANNA TEO
(SINGAPORE) More than two decades after its first boom in the early 1980s, Rubik’s Cube appears to be back, with a new era of youngsters twisting away towards coloured alignment, solving it more quickly than before. It has also become a tool in consulting firm AT Kearney’s latest thinking on business strategy.

 
More than two decades after its first boom in the early 1980s, Rubik’s Cube has become a tool in consulting firm AT Kearney’s latest thinking on business strategy. 
Each colour of the cube represents one of six golden rules or imperatives of what the firm calls ’scale-based competition’ - the idea that scale (or size and dominance) is the basic starting point, indeed prerequisite, for long-term success.

According to Andrej Vizjak, vice-president and managing director of AT Kearney’s Eastern European operations, scale translates to acquisition power, which today is a far more critical competitive advantage than new products, quality, productivity, service or speed.

Dr Vizjak, who is based in Munich, led AT Kearney’s research on industry concentration, mergers and acquisitions, and niche strategies that spawned its latest theory. The research gathered data from some 10,500 companies around the world, each larger than US$100 million in market capitalisation.

Dr Vizjak has written a book on the findings, Competing Against Scale, which was originally published in German in 2006, and has now been released in English.

In town recently to talk about the book, Dr Vizjak says the growth cube framework - which helps companies define strategic priorities - has particular application for East Asian firms, many of which lack scale, and hence acquisition power.

‘Our large sample of companies could not prove that the biggest companies have better returns on investment or other success indicators than the smaller ones, but we could prove, industry by industry, that it’s a question of scale, of acquisition power,’ he tells BT.

‘The rules of competition are defined by scale - either you have the larger scale, you can play this acquisition power, or you don’t have it and you have to think about where is the place for you. Either you’ll be swallowed by big companies or you find a specific profile which enables you to compete against the big ones.’

He adds: ‘If you want to play the game in the long term, you have to play the scale game, but it’s not economies of scale, it’s not the cost advantage you built. It’s just the acquisition power, so that you stay one of the top three players in the market, and you are having this critical mass to play the big players’ game. Or you grow fast enough in a specific niche which is protected by the niche.’

Small and medium-size companies in Singapore and Asia need to build unique product competencies and develop novel product niches, ‘and by acquisition, on several continents, build critical mass in sales to bring the new product or new application to global scale’, he says.

‘If they stay in the regional or South-east Asian market, it’s a time window of 10 years? And this region will not give sufficient protection.’

Citing an example, Dr Vizjak asks: ‘What is Sony’s advantage over Nintendo? It’s not the product differentiation, it’s not the brand value. It’s just that Sony is so much bigger. Even if it has a few bad years, Sony will still have the power to go on and to grow. Nintendo is 10 times smaller; it can have the better product, but it will stay in its own league. Sony can (go into the) media biz, the electronic business, video recorders game; Nintendo will stay in the product niche it developed. Both can stay long term in the same market but they have different roles.’

As for the cube, each face spells out the path to take: Starting with green - position your scale profile. Then, white - benchmark your scale profile. Yellow - review your growth direction. Blue - leverage unique growth capabilities. Red - apply the right growth paths. And orange - adapt your organisation.

According to Dr Vizjak, companies can respond to each of the six ‘rules’ using various initiatives for each step.

AT Kearney’s analysis found 4,096 potential growth cube combinations - or possible measures. That’s a mere fraction of the billions (actually, trillions) of possible permutations for a standard-size Rubik’s Cube.

Source : Business Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore Prime condo prices heading for long, gentle decline

Singapore Prime condo prices heading for long, gentle decline

Cushman model shows subdued market until 2012 but firm argues it’s still a good time to buy
By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) The prices of condos and private apartments in the Core Central Region (CCR) will inch downwards and are unlikely to touch their recent peaks for almost the next four years, a model developed by Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) shows. The extent of the fall will depend on how slowly the Singapore economy grows, but C&W expects these median prices to drop between 8 per cent and 17 per cent from their peak of Q1 2008, before recovering by some time in 2012.
Even so, it argues that now may be a good time to look at buying into new developments, as the developers are unlikely to slash prices dramatically. Instead, a gentler decline is on the cards.

The trigger for this is ‘there’s still a lot of private housing supply’, says C&W’s head of forecasting Lee Chong Yong, who developed the model.

Mr Lee points to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s projections that about 8,000 non-landed private homes will be completed this year, followed by another 12,000 units next year, around 16,000 in 2010, and some 20,000 in 2011, before the supply eases to around 8,000 units again in 2012.

‘Some of these units have not been launched yet. As time goes on, the unsold or yet-to-be-sold stock will keep creeping up, until 2011. The extent to which there will be downward price pressure from this will depend on the pace of economic growth. The stronger the economic growth, the faster the supply can be absorbed,’ Mr Lee says.

Assuming Singapore’s GDP grows at a rate of 4 per cent a year between 2008 and 2012, the median per square foot (psf) price for non-landed private homes in CCR - which includes the prime districts 9, 10 and 11, Downtown Core location and Sentosa Cove - will fall a total of 17 per cent between the Q1 2008 high and Q1 2012.

Based on a higher 5 per cent GDP growth rate, the price decline will be a lower 12 per cent over the same period.

If GDP grows at 6 per cent, the median price will decline 8 per cent between early 2008 and Q3 2009 before recovering back to the Q1 2008 high by end-2012.

C&W also tracked developers’ sales in 255 new condo projects across Singapore and constructed an islandwide non-landed private residential new sales price index, which showed a 2.2 per cent decline between the peak in December last year and May this year.

‘From the start of the credit crunch in August 2007 through to May 2008, developers of only 10 per cent of the 255 new condo projects tracked have cut their prices by more than a fifth,’ C&W said.

C&W argues that ‘compared to the 1997-1998 Asian crisis, today’s falling prices are at present moderate without any signs of panic from the developers’. During the Asian crisis, most developers cut prices by at least 20 per cent while some reduced asking prices by up to 40 per cent in 12 months, it said.

The property consultancy group says ‘now would be a good time to consider buying into new developments’. It also notes that expats living in Districts 9, 10 and 11 have seen a doubling of rents over the past two years, while sale prices of many condos are starting to see a slow price decline. ‘For expats expecting to stay in Singapore, it would be a good time to consider buying (a condo) to take advantage of this short-term dip in the market,’ C&W’s head of residential Connie Looi says.

But JPMorgan analyst Christopher Gee gave a different view, saying that compelling values were needed to get buyers back to the market. ‘The fear of making a purchase now, only to have prices fall later, is what’s holding buyers back at this stage. Developers too don’t want to sell too cheap; if prices recover, then they would have missed out on making bigger profits.’

One property market watcher said that tempting buyers back would require mass-market condos to be launched at $600-$650 psf on average, compared with a price of $700-$800 psf last year.

In the mid-range category, a freehold condo in the Balestier area for instance would today need to be priced at $900-plus psf, instead of the $1,000-plus psf they’re still being marketed at, based on last year’s pricing. For freehold projects in the prime districts 9,10 and 11, what would lure buyers back today would be an average price of no more than $3,000 psf, instead of $3,500-$4,000 psf last year, another industry observer said.

Giving his take, an experienced property industry player said: ‘How Singapore home prices will pan out will depend on both internal and external factors. Residential property prices have fallen in many markets across the globe, such as the US, Europe, UK, Australia, Vietnam and China. If we want to be in line with the rest of the world, we’ll also see some slide.’

Source : Business Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

CapitaLand looking for distressed assets - Singapore

CapitaLand looking for distressed assets - Singapore

It is on the lookout in Japan, China to help its expansion in these markets

 
(SINGAPORE) Capitaland Ltd, South-east Asia’s biggest developer, is looking for distressed assets in Japan and China to help its expansion in the two markets, chief executive officer Liew Mun Leong said.
 
Mr Liew: There will be developers who are under stress and need money 
The developer already runs two property funds in Japan and teamed up with Mitsubishi Estate Co in a Tokyo project worth as much as US$1.5 billion. It runs seven funds in China, and developed office and retail complexes under the Raffles City brand in Shanghai and Beijing.

‘We are always on the lookout,’ Mr Liew said in an interview in Beijing late on Thursday. ‘There will be developers who are under stress, they got land bank and they need money.’

The Singapore developer is expanding in new markets to broaden its revenue base beyond its home market of 4.6 million people. It’s also seeking distressed assets as rising energy and commodity prices and a slowing global economy add to financial stress on companies and stoke defaults worldwide.

The global default rate may rise to 5 per cent by the end of 2008 and reach 6.1 per cent by April 2009, Moody’s Investors Service said last month. The number of corporate defaults worldwide this year has already exceeded the total in 2007, according to Standard & Poor’s. Borrowers have defaulted 28 times on US$18.9 billion of debt, compared with 22 last year and 30 in all of 2006, S&P said.

CapitaLand is seeking distressed assets in China as the country raised reserve requirements for banks for the fifth time this year.

Chinese banks must put aside a record 17 per cent of deposits as reserves starting on June 15, rising to 17.5 per cent beginning on June 25, the People’s Bank of China said on June 7. Investors are also buying distressed assets as banks and brokerages globally raise capital after booking US$391.4 billion of writedowns and credit losses related to sub-prime mortgages.

CapitaLand said in a May 14 presentation that it has a portfolio of 114 malls, including 73 in China and 7 in Japan. The developer said that its assets under management, including real estate investment trusts and funds, rose $1.4 billion to $19.1 billion since the start of the year.

Asked about his outlook on the Singapore property sector, Mr Liew said that he expected the mid-market and lower-end home prices in Singapore to be little changed this year.

Demand for homes is still ‘holding very well’, Mr Liew said.

Prices of mid-market and lower-end homes, usually bought by residents upgrading from government-built apartments, have risen 3 per cent to 5 per cent this year, he said.

‘This year, the lower end will be marginally up or down,’ Mr Liew said. ‘Unless it affects the affordability of the buyers so badly, there is still demand. Our unemployment has gone down and economy in Singapore is good.’ Home sales in Singapore, the fastest-growing market in 2007, are slowing as confidence among prospective buyers were eroded by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US and the contraction in global credit markets. The economy may grow as little as 4 per cent, the slowest since 2003, after expanding 7.7 per cent last year, the government said.

In the first quarter, residential sales fell to 787 units from 1,449 in the previous three months, according to the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority.

CapitaLand said in January that it plans to offer fewer homes for sale this year in Singapore, between 800 and 1,000, from 1,200 in 2007. It also said that prices may rise as much as 10 per cent. City Developments Ltd, Singapore’s second-biggest developer, said last month that it was delaying sales of new residential projects.

Home prices in Singapore rose 3.8 per cent in the first quarter, the smallest gain in a year, after rising 31.2 percent in 2007. — Bloomberg

 
Source : Business Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore April retail sales index up 7.5% from a year ago

Singapore April retail sales index up 7.5% from a year ago

By NISHA RAMCHANDANI

SINGAPORE’s retail sales index rose 7.5 per cent year on year in April 2008, with vehicle sales rising 7.1 per cent, according to the Department of Statistics (DOS).
Excluding vehicles, sales rose 7.7 per cent.

Total retail sales value was estimated at $2.77 billion, down from March’s $2.89 billion, with almost all sectors reporting less activity in April than March.

Year on year, sales at supermarkets and department stores and sales of medical goods and toiletries saw double-digit growth while sales of food and beverages, telecommunications apparatus and computers and watches and jewellery rose between 2.7 per cent and 3.7 per cent.

 
Petrol stations maintained strong growth of 36.3 per cent on the back of higher petrol prices. But after taking higher prices into account, there was only marginal growth in sales volume from a year earlier.

For restaurants, receipts rose 10.5 per cent year on year. Turnover at fast-food outlets grew 6.9 per cent, while the revenue of caterers and other eating places increased 9.4 and 4.9 per cent respectively.

This was due in part to higher food prices, though the volume of catering trade still rose one per cent after removing the price effect, said DOS.

While the 7.5 per cent year-on-year increase in April’s retail sales index ‘comfortably exceeded market expectations of a 4.8 per cent increase, it could hardly be described as strong in real terms, bearing in mind that CPI inflation was 7.5 per cent as well’, said HSBC economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde.

He pointed out that consumers appear to be treading cautiously when it comes to spending, although the results for May could show a marked difference as they will reflect the ‘impact of the government’s first growth dividend paid at the end of April’.
 

Source : Business Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Tullett Prebon plans Islamic Capital Markets desk here

Tullett Prebon plans Islamic Capital Markets desk here

By IAN POH
THE Asia-Pacific arm of broking firm Tullett Prebon yesterday announced its intention to launch an Islamic Capital Markets desk in Singapore.
This comes in the light of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s recent announcement of directives on the issuing of Islamic products, including ‘Sukuk’ bonds, to create benchmarks for the marketplace as well as satisfy local market demand for syariah-compliant products.

The Islamic capital markets include assets in banking, insurance, investment funds and capital market products.

Tullett Prebon believes the directives are a boon to these markets, which are estimated to be worth US$1.5 trillion.

The group says it is well positioned to capitalise on the fast-growing financial sector, which has tripled in size in the past four years.

It also hopes that the new Sukuk bonds offering will further augment its presence and continual expansion in Asia-Pacific.

‘These are directives which will enhance market liquidity and will help to develop the Islamic secondary markets,’ said CEO Len Harvey.

Jay Vitrella has been appointed to create and structure the Group’s global offering in Islamic financial products, and will report directly to Mr Harvey.
 
Mr Vitrella has over 15 years of experience in the developing fixed income and money markets products.

During this time, he has worked in various roles in such Asian financial centres as Singapore, Tokyo, Manila, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

He will manage the new desk in addition to coordinating the other Tullett Prebon offices dealing in Islamic products in the region.

‘Sukuk’ bonds and syariah-compliant fund raising structures are now widely considered to be effective investment alternatives to conventional financing activities.

 
Source : Business Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Yahoo and Google seal online advertising deal - SAN FRANCISCO

Yahoo and Google seal online advertising deal  - SAN FRANCISCO
 
SAN FRANCISCO - YAHOO and Google have entered a much-debated alliance to put the Internet search giant’s expertise to work pumping money from its floundering rival’s online advertising.
Yahoo hopes the alliance will bolster its sagging fortunes and help stave off a campaign by billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn to overthrow the board of directors and sell it to Microsoft.

Yahoo says the deal lets it run advertisements supplied by Google alongside Yahoo Internet search results and on some of its Web properties in the United States and Canada.

In a move evidently crafted to address anticipated antitrust concerns, the agreement frees Yahoo to also display paid search results from other third parties and its own Panama ad platform.

While searching for a ‘white knight’ to save it from Microsoft’s clutches, Yahoo tested using Google’s AdSense for Search service for two weeks in April.

Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for US$44.6 billion (S$61.8 billion) in stock and cash on Jan 31, but then withdrew the offer on May 3, saying that Yahoo had refused to budge even though the software giant had raised its offer to nearly US$50 billion.

The test showed Google’s methods generated more money than Yahoo’s recently launched Panama advertising platform.

Microsoft was enraged by the experiment and warned that a Yahoo-Google partnership raises antitrust concerns as it would cover some 90 per cent of online advertising.

Microsoft will fiercely fight an alliance by the top two players in the Internet search advertising market, said Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle.

Yahoo said the deal with Google would generate an additional US$250 million to US$450 million in operating cash flow in the first year.

But analysts were sceptical that the deal would be good for Yahoo in the long term.

‘Obviously, there is a near-term revenue and profit windfall accruing to Yahoo,’ said Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Derek Brown. However, he added, ‘What does it say about Yahoo’s long-term vision to become a must-buy for advertisers? Does it make Google, not Yahoo, a must-buy for online advertisers?’

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

Source : Straits Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore Home prices in mid to low tier expected to stay stable: CapitaLand

Singapore Home prices in mid to low tier expected to stay stable: CapitaLand 
OVERSEAS THRUST: Mr Liew says the firm is looking to pick up assets in China and Japan. — PHOTO: CAPITALAND
 
PROPERTY giant CapitaLand expects prices of mid- to low-tier homes to remain largely stable this year despite signs of a weaker market.
Chief executive Liew Mun Leong reportedly said in Beijing on Thursday that demand for homes in Singapore is still holding up well.

Prices of lower-end homes will be ‘marginally up or down’, Mr Liew said in an interview at a press conference, Bloomberg reported.

He also noted prices of mid-market and lower-end homes, usually bought by HDB flat upgraders, have risen 3 per cent to 5 per cent this year.

His comments come against the backdrop of a much quieter property market, with many buyers keeping to the sidelines.

Industry sources say demand exists but only at lower price tiers. Home prices, particularly those for high-end projects, shot up to unrealistic levels during the property boom last year, they say.

The market turned silent this year, which has led some analysts to project that home prices will fall by as much as 40 per cent over the next two years.

Last month, CapitaLand reiterated its target of launching 800 to 1,000 units this year. Among those lined up for launch are Latitude in River Valley and the project on the Silver Tower site in Orchard. Projects in the pipeline include those on the Char Yong Gardens, Farrer Court and Nassim Hill sites.

CapitaLand also bought the huge Gillman Heights site. But the objecting owners are trying to overturn the sale and the High Court judge has yet to decide on the case.

On Thursday in Beijing, Mr Liew was also quoted as saying that the group is looking for distressed assets in Japan and China to aid its expansion in the two markets. CapitaLand is seeking such assets at a time when rising energy and commodity prices as well as a slowing global economy are putting additional financial stress on firms and stoking defaults worldwide.

Source : Straits Times - 14 jun 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com