Marina Bay Sands IR may open in April or June next year: sources

Marina Bay Sands IR may open in April or June next year: sources

By Ansley Ng/Satish Cheney

SINGAPORE : The heat is on for the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort to open with a bang next year.

But with delays and escalating construction costs earlier this year, people have been left guessing when the doors will open.

Sources have told MediaCorp the earliest the resort will start operations is in April. But some industry observers said June is a more realistic date.

They said the resort is determined to open at least the casino and about a third of the rooms first - because these are considered the “high-revenue areas”.

The 2,600-room resort was slated to open at the end of this year. But in July, it announced a delay to the first quarter of 2010, citing shortage of raw materials and manpower.

Some new staff have also been given letters to start work at a later date.

For more details, please read the weekend edition of the TODAY newspaper. - TODAY/CNA/ms

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 19 December 2009

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Average price of resale landed homes in prime districts up 4.6% in Q4

Average price of resale landed homes in prime districts up 4.6% in Q4

By Tan Hui Leng

SINGAPORE : Prices of resale landed homes in the prime districts of 9, 10 and 11 in the fourth quarter have reached levels that surpassed the previous peak in the first quarter of 2008.

According to a DTZ Research report, the average price of freehold landed resale homes in the prime districts increased 4.6 per cent in the fourth quarter to reach a new high of S$1,447 per square foot (psf).

This is about 12 per cent above the previous high of S$1,293 psf achieved in the first quarter of 2008.

Outside the prime districts, the average price of freehold landed resale homes rose 2.8 per cent in the fourth quarter.

The average price of S$860 psf in the last three months of the year is about 8 per cent higher than the last peak of S$797 psf in the first quarter of 2008. But it is still 8.8 per cent lower than that recorded in the second quarter of 1996.

The Good Class Bungalow (GCB) segment also saw a rebound after a hiatus of sales activities in 2008, with record unit prices recorded.

The highest ever unit price for a GCB, with at least an area of 1,400 square metres, was at Leedon Park in October 2009 at S$1,407 psf.

More GCBs were also transacted at prices of S$30 million and above in 2009. There were seven such transactions in 2009, compared to just two in 2008 and none in 2007. - CNA/ms

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 19 December 2009

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Chartered Semiconductor shares to be delisted from SGX on Dec 29

Chartered Semiconductor shares to be delisted from SGX on Dec 29

By Mok Fei Fei

SINGAPORE: Chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor said on Friday its stock will be delisted from the Singapore Exchange next Tuesday.

It said Singapore regulators have approved a takeover offer by Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), which made a bid for Chartered in September.

Under the deal, ATIC offered Chartered shareholders S$2.68 for each Chartered share. The transaction represents an equity value of about S$2.5 billion and a total value of around S$5.6 billion.

Last month, shareholders of Chartered voted in favour of the offer by ATIC.

Chartered’s shares have been suspended since the takeover offer was announced and ATIC’s acquisition becomes effective on Friday.

- 938LIVE/so

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 19 December 2009

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