More feathers for firms to grow second wing

More feathers for firms to grow second wing
IE S’pore to boost support, sharpen assistance to SMEs expanding abroad

By TEH SHI NING

(SINGAPORE) International Enterprise (IE) Singapore has its sights trained on non-traditional markets and sectors as it seeks new ways for Singapore companies to grow globally.

Assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) will be ramped up too, the agency said yesterday, unveiling its five-year plan to grow Singapore’s external wing of trade and investments.

From April, a new SME Market Access Programme (MAP) will lower entry barriers for small companies venturing abroad (whether via exports, franchising, joint ventures, M&As or organic growth) by funding half their third-party costs. This will help defray costs such as those incurred in finding distributors and partners, drafting legal documents and product listing, up to an annual cap of $100,000 a company.

IE Singapore chief executive Chong Lit Cheong said that the SME MAP will reach about 100 companies a year, and that these will be expected to generate about $3 million in overseas sales over a three-year period.

This focus on ’sharpening assistance’ to local SMEs comes as more of them grow via overseas expansion. 69 per cent reported overseas ventures last year, up from 65 per cent in 2008. And a third of those which generated more revenue overseas than at home saw strong revenue growth in excess of 10 per cent.

But the broader thrust of IE’s five-year plans, Mr Chong said yesterday, is to ensure that large and small companies alike can capture and not miss crucial market and sector opportunities.

Fleshing out the internationalising of local companies - a recurrent theme of the past months’ Economic Strategies Committee reports and Budget debates - IE plans to deepen engagement with fast-growing China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Beyond existing links, it may set up offices in the central China provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan, and second and third-tier cities like Chongqing and Xian. In Asean too, trade and investment promotion outside of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Jakarta will be stepped up.

IE also hopes for more local companies to explore non-traditional emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and the Middle East. This will all help grow Singapore’s trade and investments with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries by more than 40 per cent in the next five years. Exports of goods to BRIC are projected to double to $108 billion by 2014, while services exports to BRIC markets are expected to more than double to $25 billion, says IE.

It has identified townships and housing, transportation, environment and water, energy management, healthcare services and food as six focus sectors in which companies can best ride the global trends of rising urbanisation, growing Asian consumerism and a green economy push.

In terms of approach, IE intends to do more to facilitate ‘platform’ projects, such as the Integrated Ports and Logistics Zone in Mekong Delta, rather than company-specific ones. This means brokering deals involving multiple local companies, each offering a part of an entire value-chain of products, services or solutions.

Mr Chong said his agency will also help local trade associations and chambers set up offices abroad. ‘Their way of helping members is quite different. IE is still a government face; the trade associations have more flexibility in how they can help companies,’ he said.

Already, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry intends to set up an office this year in Shanghai, where the Singapore Furniture Industries Council already has a branch. The Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry too has had a representative office in New Delhi since 2008, but hopes for a presence in Mumbai and other Indian cities with IE’s help. Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation president Renny Yeo too said SMa has been considering a presence in the second and third-tier cities of China, Vietnam and certain parts of the Middle East, mirroring IE Singapore’s sharpened emerging-market focus.

The Singapore Business Federation might look into a ‘Singapore Inc’ approach of getting trade associations to band together when setting up offices overseas to take advantage of economies of scale, chief operating officer Victor Tay said.

Globalising companies aside, IE’s five-year plan has a final prong which focuses on capturing trade flows here by growing trade-related services like risk management and price discovery, so as to transform Singapore from a regional into a global trading hub.

Source : Business Times - 17 March 2010

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Marina Bay Sands covers its bets

Marina Bay Sands covers its bets

Fengshui master says the integrated resort has many auspicious elements going for it

By Tan Dawn Wei
Singapore-born Louisa Ong-Lee, a US-based fengshui master, took over the Marina Bay Sands project from her master Chong Swan Lek when he died in 2008.

When Marina Bay Sands (MBS) won the bid to build an integrated resort (IR) in 2006, geomancers had nothing very nice to say about its architecture, courtesy of world-famous designer Moshe Safdie.

The 55-storey towers look like ancestral tablets, some argued. The SkyPark is like a blade, cutting into the surrounding buildings, while the water features on top of the park will ‘drown’ the buildings.

But ask Mrs Louisa Ong-Lee and she will pooh-pooh all this talk by her colleagues. ‘They saw only photos of it, which are in 2-D,’ she said. They did not see that the back of the three towers is actually curved, she said.

The SkyPark is curved too.

‘Planes that come around will see a smile from their bird’s eye view,’ she said. Plus, the SkyPark boasts different layers while a blade is flat, she argued.

The Singapore-born, United States-based fengshui master is now in charge of the $5.5 billion mammoth and much-watched IR. She took over when her master, Mr Chong Swan Lek, also a Singaporean, died of lung cancer in 2008.

Right from the beginning, Mr Chong had worked with Mr Safdie to incorporate good fengshui elements into the resort’s design, said MBS spokesman Val Chua. Casinos are big customers of fengshui masters in Asia and around the world.

Australia’s Crown Casino, for instance, called in three fengshui experts when designing its hotel tower and the casino’s internal layout.

Punters are equally serious about fengshui: Last year, a Taiwanese man threatened to sue The Venetian in Las Vegas after he lost US$2 million (S$2.8 million), which he blamed on bad fengshui in his hotel room. He said the casino-hotel dug a square hole on the wall of the suite he was staying in and covered it with a black cloth, which symbolises death.

While The Venetian shares the same parent company as MBS - Las Vegas Sands Corp - the three towers at Marina Bay Sands have nothing to do with ancestral tablets, and hence, death.

‘They can represent three mountains or three warriors guarding the gateway to Singapore,’ said Mrs Ong-Lee, who is in her 50s.

The SkyPark is like a scholar’s hat, symbolising new skills being acquired, while the three domes in front symbolise three coins, which stand for prosperity.

Its turtle-shell shape is also a common symbol of longevity.

The lotus-shaped Art Science Museum is designed like an open palm, a gesture of giving and welcoming, and the calmness associated with it is ‘a quiet balance to all the buzz and activity’, she said.

Then, there is a commissioned stand-alone art piece of swirling water called Vortex, near the event plaza, which creates an energy force that is like wealth being collected.

Still, despite fengshui being open to so many interpretations, Mrs Ong-Lee insisted there are rules and principles to the practice, which are guided by the so-called balance of the five elements.

In the case of MBS, its silvery white facade represents metal, while other businesses in the IR represent fire. Wood is represented in the landscaping and greenery, while water is all around.

It bodes especially well for MBS, too, that the IR is built on reclaimed land, or ‘new land’ which comes with no baggage. ‘If you start off on a good footing, nothing much needs to be done,’ she said.

Over at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), which consulted Hong Kong-born Victor Li, 49, the island is apparently already blessed with good ‘qi’, or energy, which flows from the Malay Peninsula. The bridges from the main island to Sentosa also bring in the good energy.

‘When I first saw a plan of (RWS), my first impression was that it is shaped like a bat, which is an auspicious symbol in fengshui,’ he said.

Water also features prominently at this IR, with fountains, a lake, a marine life park and Waterworld at the Universal Studios theme park.

A park at the centre of the IR is also shaped like the Chinese symbol for yin and yang, which is meant to bring good fortune to people coming to the area.

These fengshui practitioners are called on not just for aesthetic elements, but also in choosing auspicious dates. The casino at RWS opened its doors to punters at 12.18pm on the first day of Chinese New Year. In Cantonese, 12.18 sounds like ’surely will win’.

Mrs Ong-Lee also picked an auspicious day - March 8 - last week for operations staff to move into MBS.

But as architect Richard Hassell puts it, fengshui’s mix of knowledge and beliefs means some of it makes design sense while others are purely symbolic and iconographical.

‘Because of this mix of domains of knowledge, it can be many things to many people,’ he said.

So whether these fengshui masters deserve their pay cheque is something that remains to be seen.
Source : ChannelNewsasia - 14 March 2010

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HDB steps up enforcement on illegal subletting

HDB steps up enforcement on illegal subletting

Action taken against 56 owners from January 2008 to December last year

By UMA SHANKARI

THE Housing & Development Board yesterday said it has stepped up enforcement action against home-owners who illegally sub-let their government-subsidised flats. The move comes weeks after HDB unveiled policy changes designed to hurt speculators, including increases to the minimum occupation period (MOP).

STEPPING UP
Minimum occupation period increased to deter speculators
HDB said that from January 2008 to December last year, it took enforcement action against 56 flat owners. They faced penalties that ranged from fines of $1,000 to $21,000, to repossession of their flats.

In particular, HDB shared details of a case in which a Bukit Batok flat owned by Poh Boon Kay and his wife Khoo Kim Cheng was repossessed after there was ‘blatant flouting of sub-letting rules’.

Mr and Mrs Poh own five private properties and Mr Poh is also a registered real estate agent. The couple did not fulfil the MOP of three years, which is required under HDB’s rules before a whole flat can be sub-let. They claimed that they were not aware of this policy. Further investigations showed that Mr Poh was related to two other cases of unauthorised sub-letting, at Bukit Batok and Telok Blangah. HDB will also take legal action to compulsorily acquire those two flats.

It reiterated yesterday that owners who wish to sub- let their whole flat must obtain approval from HDB and fulfil the MOP. The MOP for sub-letting is now five years for flats bought direct from HDB and resale flats bought with any CPF housing grant, and three years for resale flats bought without the CPF housing grant.

Home-owners must also comply with HDB rules regarding the maximum number of sub-tenants allowed for the flat’s size.

Source : Business Times - 13 March 2010

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Illegal subletting: HDB to repossess man’s flats

Illegal subletting: HDB to repossess man’s flats

By Yeo Shang Long

HDB started checks after getting tip-off

IT ALL started with a tip-off to the Housing Board (HDB): A four-room flat in Bukit Batok was being rented out illegally.

Further checks confirmed that the flat - bought by Mr Poh Boon Kay and his wife Khoo Kim Cheng in June 2007 - had been sublet without the HDB’s prior approval to three Myanmar couples at a monthly rent of $1,900.

Mr Poh, a housing agent, and his family did not live in the flat.

They were told to evict the sub-tenants immediately on Nov 25 last year, failing which the board would take possession of the flat.

But the sub-tenants did not go.

On Dec 23, the HDB sent Mr Poh a notice to say it would take back his flat.

But Mr Poh, 61, claimed his tenants had agreed in writing to vacate the flat by the end of December.

The next day, he and his wife appealed against the HDB’s move. They said they intended to sell the flat to one of the tenants, who needed to sort out his finances.

The HDB then interviewed the couple on Jan 5 this year, during which they claimed they did not know that they needed prior approval to sublet the flat.

They also claimed that they were not aware of the minimum occupation period (MOP) of three years before they were allowed to sublet the flat.

But further HDB investigations showed that Mr Poh was connected with two other cases of unauthorised subletting of flats belonging to his relatives in Bukit Batok and Telok Blangah.

The flat in Bukit Batok belonged to his aunt, aged 91, and had been sublet to Myanmar monks since July last year for a monthly rent of $1,400.

The monks used it as a meditation centre, and the rent was paid to Mr Poh, who acted as his aunt’s housing agent.

The Telok Blangah flat, meanwhile, was owned by his daughter.

It had been rented out for $900 monthly since May.

Checks with neighbours confirmed that Mr Poh’s daughter was not living there.

Both flats were also sublet without obtaining the HDB’s prior consent, and the board said that it would be taking steps to acquire them compulsorily.

In a statement yesterday, the HDB said that the additional cases of illegal subletting by Mr Poh showed that his claims of being unaware of the HDB’s rules cannot be substantiated.

‘These regulations are publicly available from many sources,’ it said, adding that ‘there is clear evidence that Mr Poh, a housing agent by profession, has been intentionally abusing HDB flats for monetary gains’.

It concluded: ‘As he has blatantly flouted HDB’s rules, there are no grounds for leniency.’

Mr Poh Boon Kay shows the compulsory acquisition notice for his Bukit Batok flat, which had been rented out illegally. — ST PHOTOS: AZIZ HUSSIN
View more photos
IN A clear warning to those who sublet their flats illegally, the Housing Board (HDB) has moved to take back three apartments linked to a real estate agent who owns five private properties.

One flat to be repossessed belongs to the real estate agent, Mr Poh Boon Kay, 61, and his wife, Madam Khoo Kim Cheng, 52, who had illegally sublet their four-room flat in Bukit Batok.

The other two flats in Telok Blangah and Bukit Batok are owned by the couple’s daughter and Madam Khoo’s 91-year-old aunt respectively. Both flats were also illegally rented out.

He acted as agent for the elderly woman and collected rent on her behalf.

The HDB said it is taking legal action to take back the units.

It is the most serious case of illegal subletting in the last two years. Only three other flats have been compulsorily acquired in that time.

In November last year, the HDB checked and found that Mr Poh had sublet his flat to three Myanmar couples without HDB approval.

The Pohs, who were not living there at that time, had also breached the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) of three years. This rule states that buyers who purchase resale flats without a housing grant from the Central Provident Fund Board have to live in the flat for three years before they can rent out the whole unit.

The HDB then told Mr Poh this was unauthorised, and that they were intending to repossess his flat. On Dec 23, the HDB pasted a notice of intention to compulsorily acquire his flat.

The HDB told The Straits Times yesterday that Mr Poh will continue to hold the title deeds until investigations are complete. It will then decide whether to take back the title deeds officially and compensate him to the amount of $125,000.

Mr Poh, who claims he paid $155,000 for the house, can lodge an appeal against the notice. When asked, he said he was intending to appeal.

Mr Poh, an ordinary member of the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), pleaded ignorance of the three-year MOP; he said he had been told by the HDB’s counter staff that he could sublet the flat after a year. He could not name the HDB employee.

But the HDB said that because of Mr Poh’s links to the other illegal subletting cases, his claims of ignorance could not be substantiated.

‘There is clear evidence that Mr Poh, a housing agent by profession, has been intentionally abusing HDB flats for monetary gains,’ said the HDB spokesman.

Mr Poh said he had not seen the acquisition coming. He added: ‘I can’t believe a notice can be served within a month of the HDB giving a warning letter.’

He said it was more usual for the HDB to send a second warning, or even fine an errant owner first.

The Housing and Development Act says, however, that the HDB can compulsorily acquire a flat once it ascertains that the owner is illegally subletting it.

‘HDB takes a stern view of unauthorised subletting, and will not hesitate to take strong action against those who flout the rules,’ it said.

The Board added that it will bring Mr Poh’s case to the attention of the IEA.

Mr Poh, who claims his daughter is stuck in the United States with marital problems, declined to discuss the cases involving her and his wife’s aunt.

He said he did not know for sure when they bought their flats.

The HDB has taken action against 56 such owners in the last two years, dishing out punishments ranging from fines of $1,000 to $21,000, to repossessing the flats involved.

HDB added that there was no discernible upward trend.

Flat owners who wish to rent out their flats must obtain approval from the Board and fulfil the MOP. The current MOP for subletting flats is five years for flats bought directly from the HDB or resale flats purchased with a CPF Housing Grant, and three years for resale flats bought without the CPF grant.

About 682,000 flats are eligible for subletting, but only 3per cent of these flats are sublet.

Source : Straits Times - 13 March 2010

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Prudential’s listing in HK raises questions about S’pore

Prudential’s listing in HK raises questions about S’pore

Two factors could account for insurer giving SGX a miss

By MICHELLE QUAH

(SINGAPORE) Prudential’s surprise announcement that it will list in Hong Kong, following its US$35.5 billion decision to buy over rival AIG’s Asian operations, has led market watchers here to wonder why the UK life assurance giant did not pick Singapore instead for its secondary listing.

Prudential said on Monday that it is bringing forward its planned second listing to April, so that it will now come before its US$20 billion rights issue, and that the listing will be in Hong Kong.

The accelerated listing is seen as Prudential’s attempt to shore up its shares ahead of the rights issue - and it will also assuage angry shareholders who worry their stakes will be diluted by the massive rights issue. Some 30 banks and sovereign wealth funds - including the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) - are on the underwriting syndicate for the rights issue.

But GIC’s involvement, and the decision to list in Hong Kong, has led some to question why Prudential didn’t look to Singapore instead.

Longtime investor, Denis Distant, in a letter to BT, asked why Prudential chose to give preference to Hong Kong, ‘when just a few days earlier they got a commitment from Singapore’s GIC to assist in a substantial way in the financing of their bid for AIG’s Asian unit’.

‘As a Singaporean I would expect a quid pro quo, naturally,’ he said.

There is a short answer and a longer one.

The short answer is, there cannot be a quid pro quo, in the sense Mr Distant is suggesting, because GIC does not invest in Singapore entities. Its latest report says: ‘GIC invests well over US$100 billion internationally in a wide range of asset classes and instruments. It invests only outside Singapore.’

This suggests that GIC would not have chosen to underwrite Prudential’s rights issue - and potentially own a stake in it - if the life insurer had intended to list in Singapore.

The longer answer, as to why Prudential chose Hong Kong over Singapore, goes to the heart of what seems to be a growing perception among potential listees and market players alike - ie the valuations in the Hong Kong market versus Singapore’s.

‘The large listings from China have chosen to go to Hong Kong because the market there clearly has the capacity to absorb them,’ observes NetResearch Asia’s executive chairman Kevin Scully. ‘The valuations in Hong Kong are just better.’

The Wall Street Journal’s Hester Plumridge has noted that a Hong Kong listing - and an accelerated one at that - would help to support Prudential’s share price between now and the rights issue. ‘Investor demand for recent dual Hong Kong listings has been high; Singapore-listed China XLX Fertiliser’s shares doubled on the day of their Hong Kong debut in December. Given that Prudential shares are down 14 per cent since the AIA announcement, the insurer will be hoping Hong Kong investors retain their exuberant appetite for risk,’ Mr Plumridge said.

AIA, the Asian business of the embattled US insurance giant AIG, had also been planning a Hong Kong float before Prudential’s bid. Prudential is hoping that the investors keen on AIA’s initial public offering would now look to its listing.

The Financial Times cited people close to the deal as saying that plenty of Asian investors, many of whom were being lined up for the initial public offering of AIA, are keen to invest in the combined group.

Marcus Barnard, analyst at Oriel Securities, told FT: ‘While (the dual listing) does not offer instant additional liquidity, it does mean that any selling of the shares in London could be more easily taken up by finding new investors in Hong Kong.’

Prudential has said that it is not going to offer new ordinary shares in Hong Kong, but Asian investors who buy the Hong Kong listed shares will be able to participate in the rights issue.

Source : Business Times - 10 March 2010

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Lippo buys Krishnan’s OUE stake for $957m

Lippo buys Krishnan’s OUE stake for $957m

Another chapter closed in troubled alliance; no immediate plans for delisting

By EMILYN YAP

(SINGAPORE) The tenuous alliance between Indonesia’s Riady family and Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan in Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) has come to an end - at a price of almost $1 billion.

Greater control: From above, Mr James Riady, Mr Stephen Riady and Mr Krishnan. With yesterday’s acquisition deal, the direct and indirect interests of the Riadys’ Lippo Group in the mainboard-listed OUE rose to 88.52 per cent from 64.67 per cent
Yesterday, the Riadys’ Lippo Group paid some $957 million to acquire all of Mr Krishnan’s stake - and greater control - in the mainboard-listed property group.

With the deal, Lippo’s direct and indirect interests in OUE rose to 88.52 per cent from 64.67 per cent.

OUE’s free float after the deal will only slightly exceed 10 per cent, putting it at risk of delisting. Nevertheless, Lippo said that it intends to keep the firm listed.

The buyout is the latest display of differences between two of the region’s richest business groups, which have been in legal battle over a failed satellite TV venture in Indonesia. Just last month, Mr Krishnan’s subscription TV group Astro won an award of some US$230 million against Lippo.

The bad blood seemed to have spilled over to the partnership in OUE. Reports noted how the two parties had disagreements over the management of the firm.

Yesterday morning, OUE called for a trading halt in its shares before news of the ownership changes broke. Lippo’s investment unit Golden Concord Asia bought direct and indirect stakes in OUE from Barinal, a unit of Usaha Tegas. Usaha Tegas is Mr Krishnan’s private investment holding firm.

Lippo paid $11 per share for the additional interest. The price represents a premium of 21.7 per cent to OUE’s last closing price of $9.04 last Friday. After trading in OUE resumed later in the afternoon, the counter shot up and closed at $11.98, up $2.94 or 32.5 per cent from Friday.

OUE’s board underwent a reshuffle to reflect the ownership changes. Lippo president Stephen Riady became executive chairman of OUE, a step up from his original role as executive director.

Christopher James Williams, who was OUE’s non-executive chairman, became deputy chairman. At the same time, Barinal’s four nominees to the board resigned, and a new non-independent and non-executive director joined the team.

Lippo, meanwhile, expressed confidence in the growth potential of Singapore’s property market, and said that the deal allowed it to strengthen its asset base here.

‘This transaction is testament to our commitment to Singapore and to being a key player in the vibrant property and hospitality sector here,’ Mr Riady said. ‘OUE will continue to focus on its core business in hospitality, as well as to strengthen its position in the premier retail and commercial space.’

OUE’s portfolio cuts across the hospitality, retail, commercial and residential sectors. It is widely known as the owner of Mandarin Orchard Singapore, the recently revamped Mandarin Gallery and The Grangeford. It is also developing 50 Collyer Quay.

As at December last year, it had some $2.77 billion worth of assets. It posted a net loss of $92.2 million for the full year ended Dec 31, mainly due to fair-value and impairment losses.

OUE was controlled by United Overseas Bank up until 2006, when the latter had to dispose of non-core assets to comply with the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s guidelines. Lippo and Usaha Tegas then joined hands to acquire the property firm for $1.8 billion.

With relationships between the two major shareholders souring, market watchers felt that the latest development could be in OUE’s interests.

According to NUS Business School’s professor of accounting Mak Yuen Teen, having several major shareholders in a company can sometimes be a good thing because they can ‘monitor each other’.

But he also pointed out that the company would not be able to move forward if the major shareholders are not on good terms. In such a case, it would be better to ‘get past hostilities’ and have just one major shareholder.

Another industry insider agreed that the deal could be better for OUE’s development. But he also tried to play down the significance of the buyout. ‘Quite often, people pull out of a company if they don’t share the same vision. . . It’s just about business.’

Source : Business Times - 10 March 2010

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Construction sector to get $250m boost

Construction sector to get $250m boost

Funds for courses, new technology in bid to raise productivity

By Tan Hui Yee

THE construction sector, under pressure from impending hikes in foreign worker levies, will soon get a $250 million shot in the arm to adopt new technology and upgrade its capability.

The money will be spent on upgrading courses, skills assessments of workers, as well as scholarships to attract more local professionals, managers, executives and technicians to join the sector.

Companies will get funds to adopt new technology and equipment, like moving scaffolds instead of static ones, or cable-pulling machines that reduce the number of workers needed to lay underground cables.

Firms will also get aid to take on higher-value and more complex projects, through funding for postgraduate scholarship programmes and immersion programmes.

All the money will be disbursed on a co-funding basis, to encourage firms to take ownership of their upgrading.

The construction sector is the biggest target of a concerted push by the Government to make the economy more efficient.

It employs more than 200,000 mostly low-skilled foreign workers. The easy availability of cheap foreign labour, coupled with reluctance by locals to go into the trade, has caused the industry to lag behind others in productivity.

Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said in Parliament yesterday that the sector’s productivity growth fell between 1995 and 1999, ranging from minus 2.1 per cent to minus 4.1 per cent.

For the last 10 years, it achieved a slightly better annual productivity growth of 0.7 per cent.

But that still makes it only half as productive as the same sector in Australia, and one-third of that in Japan.

The $250 million devoted to the construction sector makes up a quarter of the new $1 billion National Productivity Fund announced last month. This is on top of a new 250 per cent tax deduction on any investments companies make on innovation.

The construction sector is widely expected to be hit hard by the increased foreign worker levy, which will be raised in phases over the next three years. From July 1, the levy for most work permit holders will go up by between $10 and $30 a month.

A new tiered structure - to kick in by next year - will also make it more expensive for construction firms to hire less-skilled workers. Ms Fu yesterday estimated the levy hike could cause 1 per cent to 2 per cent increase in costs for the construction industry.

Other than increasing the levy, the Building and Construction Authority intends to nudge contractors towards efficiency in another way: by cutting the number of workers they can import for their projects. These manpower entitlement cuts will be phased in from July, to hit 25 per cent by 2012.

Its registration system of skilled tradesmen and foremen will be reviewed to include more trades like drywall and lift installation.

The authority will also strengthen the legislative framework to require easier-to-build designs and more labour-efficient construction methods. Singapore’s construction demand peaked at $36 billion in 2008 and dropped to $21 billion last year. For the next three years, it is expected to range between $18 billion and $27 billion.

Ms Fu said: ‘There is an urgent need to improve productivity so that our construction capacity can raise its output without having to increase its workforce significantly.’

Currently, just a handful of builders do their own research and development.

Samwoh Corporation, for example, spent at least $3 million over the past three years on new equipment and research. Its technical director Ho Nyok Yong told The Straits Times: ‘I think it’s a great help that the Government is willing to put some money on the table. It’s very encouraging for companies like ours.’

Meanwhile, Tiong Seng Contractors director Pek Lian Guan was glad that the measures attempted to address the entire construction value chain. ‘In the past, we tended to just look at the mechanisation of the workfloor area.’

He added: ‘While there is some pain from the higher levy, there is at least something that we can look forward to.’

Source : Straits Times - 09 March 2010

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MAS overhauls organisational structure

MAS overhauls organisational structure
New appointments announced to prepare for new global landscape

By CONRAD TAN

(SINGAPORE) The Monetary Authority of Singapore has made seven new senior managerial appointments as part of an overhaul of its organisational structure.

MAS, which supervises all activities in the banking, insurance and capital markets in Singapore, said it would adopt an integrated supervision structure, combining prudential and market conduct supervision, effective April 1.

To better support the managing director and its deputy managing directors, MAS has appointed seven of its executive directors to the position of assistant managing director, overseeing different aspects of MAS’s operations.

‘In the coming years, we expect major changes in the global economic, financial and regulatory landscapes. Our operating environment will be fast moving, complex and challenging,’ MAS managing director Heng Swee Keat said in a statement. ‘Given all this, for MAS to remain responsive to current events while keeping our strategic focus, we need to broaden and deepen our management bench.’

Three of the new assistant managing directors - Lee Boon Ngiap, Leo Mun Wai and Andrew Khoo - will report to deputy managing director Teo Swee Lian, who will oversee financial supervision.

Lee Boon Ngiap, currently executive director of complex institutions supervision, will be assistant managing director of the banking and insurance group, overseeing banking, insurance and complex institutions. This group will undertake all frontline supervision of the more than 150 banks and insurance companies operating out of Singapore, MAS said.

Mr Leo, currently executive director of banking supervision, will be assistant managing director of the capital markets group, overseeing capital markets, capital markets intermediaries and investment intermediaries.

And Mr Khoo, who is now executive director of capital markets and the MAS Academy - MAS’s training department - will be assistant managing director of the policy, risk and surveillance group.

Another three of the new assistant managing directors - Lee Chuan Teck, Edward Robinson and Ng Nam Sin - will report to deputy managing director Ong Chong Tee, who will oversee MAS’s central banking functions relating to monetary policy, markets and investment, as well as its development functions, MAS said.

Lee Chuan Teck, who is currently executive director of reserve and monetary management, will become assistant managing director of the markets and investment group, which will be responsible for the management of foreign reserves, and the implementation of monetary policy.

Mr Robinson, now executive director of economic policy, will become assistant managing director of the economic policy group, overseeing economic surveillance and economic analysis.

And Mr Ng, currently executive director of financial centre development, will become assistant managing director of the development group, overseeing the growth of Singapore’s financial sector.

Separately, Jacqueline Loh, currently executive director of finance, will be made assistant managing director for the finance, information technology and risk group.

Foo-Yap Siew Hong, currently the only person already holding the post of assistant managing director, will be appointed special projects adviser to Mr Heng, overseeing the enhancement of electronic payments and the national payments system. She will continue as assistant managing director of currency, human resources and corporate services, overseeing these departments, MAS said.

Both Mrs Foo-Yap and Ms Loh will report directly to Mr Heng.

Source : Business Times - 09 March 2010

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Banyan Tree posts Q4 net of $2.97m

Banyan Tree posts Q4 net of $2.97m

By NISHA RAMCHANDANI

BANYAN Tree Holdings chalked up a $2.97 million net profit in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to a $6.96 million loss in Q4 2008, thanks in part to a stronger performance by its hotel investment segment.

Revenue for the quarter grew marginally by 3 per cent year-on-year to $94 million, as higher revenue from its hotel investment segment was offset by lower revenue from its hotel residences and property sales. Earnings per share were 0.39 cent, compared to a loss per share of 0.92 cent previously.

Meanwhile, for the full year ended Dec 31, 2009, net profit fell 57 per cent to $3 million as the global economic recession and political instability in Thailand impacted business in 2009. Revenue for FY09 came in 24 per cent lower at $313.25 million.

Cost-cutting measures saved the group some $7.3 million in Q409 and $44 million in all for FY09. Led by stronger performances by its hotels in regions such as Thailand, the Maldives and China, its hotel investment business grew 10 per cent to $57.9 million in Q409.

However, the hotel residences and property sales segment fell 14 per cent to $15.4 million. Only one unit - a Banyan Tree Lijiang townhouse - was sold in the fourth quarter. However, executive chairman Ho Kwon Ping said yesterday at a briefing that the property sales segment was seeing ‘greenshoots of recovery’ in line with the recovering global economy.

Meanwhile, its hotel management revenue rose 23 per cent to $4.9 million in Q409, thanks to Banyan Tree Mayakoba, which opened last March. This segment is expected to grow in the next 12 months, with six hotels and 10 spas opening.

Banyan Tree shares closed one cent lower at 69.5 cents yesterday.

Source : Business Times - 26 February 2010

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MINDY YONG

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High Court okays Horizon Towers lawsuit

High Court okays Horizon Towers lawsuit

By K.C. Vijayan

MINORITY owners have had a key victory in yet another court fight over the failed $500 million Horizon Towers en-bloc deal.

An assistant registrar in the High Court yesterday threw out a bid by two former members of the sales committee to halt an action against them by the owners.

The three sets of minority owners are suing the two - ex-committee chairman Arjun Samtani and ex-member Tan Kah Gee - over costs incurred when they tried to block the collective sale.

They want to be reimbursed for more than $800,000 in costs. This includes the cost of hiring lawyers to advise them and other administrative costs.

The sum is expected to be partially offset when the costs awarded to the owners by the Court of Appeal last year, after the en-bloc deal was quashed, are assessed.

The owners argue that both committee members were ‘key players in the process leading up to the commencement, facilitation, management and finalisation of the collective sale process’, according to court documents.

Lawyers for the committee members countered that the minority owners’ suit should be struck off as the action was ’scandalous, frivolous (and) vexatious’. They also pointed out that the Court of Appeal awarded costs last April in a case that dealt with all outstanding issues of reimbursement.

But the minority owners argued that the new case is different from the one settled last year.

In that case last year, costs were awarded for the minority owners’ conduct in opposing the proposed sale by the consenting majority owners.

The present action is different as it is based on what they claim is the lack of good faith in the collective sale deal struck by Mr Arjun and Mr Tan as members of the sales committee.

They allege that this ‘lack of good faith’ resulted in minority owners having to put in a great deal of effort and spend a lot of money to oppose the sale.

In effect, they claim there was a breach of fiduciary duties and they want to be compensated for the costs from the resulting damages.

Mr Kannan Ramesh, who is acting for the owners, said in his submissions: ‘The causes of action in both cases are appreciably different.’

At a closed-door hearing yesterday, assistant registrar Leong Weng Tat ruled in a reserved judgement that the suit by the minority owners should proceed.

Mr Arjun and Mr Tan, represented by Mr N. Sreenivasan and senior counsel Tan Cheng Han respectively, can appeal to the High Court against the decision, otherwise the case will advance to a full hearing. Lawyers say either way, the case may eventually go to the Court of Appeal.

The Horizon Towers collective sale spanned more than two years and involved two Strata Titles Board hearings and two High Court hearings before being thrown out by the Court of Appeal last year.

Source : Straits Times - 25 February 2010

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MINDY YONG

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