Tan made the comments at the Future of Investing panel at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, according to an e-mailed statement.
The term loans of $3.8 billion and A$750 million ($951.8 million) will come from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (8306.T), DBS Group (DBSM.SI), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI), United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) and National Australia Bank (NAB.AX).
Olam (O32.SG) +1.6% at $3.20, extending Friday’s 2.6% gain, as proposed US$200 million ($260.6 million) sugar refinery project in Nigeria continues to underpin sentiment.
Facility, due to operate by mid-2013, expected to generate 27% EBITDA margin vs Olam’s existing single-digit margins.
France is apparently following the example of Ireland and Hungary and seizing pension funds.According to eFinancialNews, the French parliament passed a law last week allowing 36 billion Euros to be seized from the French reserve pension fund to be used…
CLSA confident in long term growth prospects of Ezra’s (5DN.SG) subsea acquisition. Upgrades earnings marginally in view of larger PSV fleet, but leaves subsea forecasts unchanged until more details released January.
Keeps at Buy with $2.35 target, offering 35% upside. Says, while only eight of ten assets held by EMAS-AMC are enabling assets (construction/installation/pipelay), “EMAS-AMC has sufficient scale (by assets) to be a credible alternative for customers seeking diversified service providers.”
House analysis suggests downside risk of 10% to current Ezra FY10 EBIT estimates (which based on very preliminary management guidance), up to minus 25% for FY12-FY13, depending on execution, size of contract wins.
But says downside risk minimised, estimates will not have to be revised down if EMAS-AMC able to speed up integration process, execute efficiently (achieve higher margins) or secure larger-than-expected number of contracts. Shares off 3.5% at $1.68.
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Ascendas REIT’s (A17U.SG) decision to widen investment scope beyond Singapore to explore Asian acquisition opportunities not expected to move unit price much near term as work still in progress.
Still, strategy could pay off in longer haul given stiff competition locally, increasingly challenging conditions for acquiring yield-accretive assets. In bid to enlarge portfolio, industrial REIT says actively eyeing China opportunities, set up Shanghai representative office.
Current business stable, earnings profile backed by long-, short-term leases accounting for weighted average lease to expiry of 5 years. But for property income to grow beyond current single-digit rate, acquisition-driven strategy beyond Singapore may need consideration.
Current portfolio of 92 assets worth $4.8 billion vs 8 properties worth $636 million during inception in 2002. Resistance at current $2.18 November high, support at last week’s $2.02 low.
Stock flat at $2.10.
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CIMB, which has Outperform rating, $0.71 target says though below consensus, “the results met our expectation.” Expects strong 4Q10; “we remain optimistic on its business fundamentals,” tips catalysts from favourable outlook for methanol; strong urea ASPs; implementation of off-peak urea export tax, stable international urea prices.
Dealer at local brokerage says “people need to see where the payouts are going to come from.” Adds, there’s some uncertainty over GLP’s short-term earnings visibility, though stock “a good bet for long term investors.”
Serbian President Boris Tadić said that Serbia is ready for dialogue with Priština. He also announced the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Serbia in October.
News Analysis: With Microsoft ending support for Windows XP Service Pack 2, it might be time for the company to rethink discontinuing the operating system itself in 2014. – Microsoft has officially discontinued support for Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Although the company will continue to support Service Pack 3 through 2014, it’s
worth nothing that nearly 50 percent of the world’s computers are still running
Service Pack 2. Going forward, owners won’t have the support…
Apple’s iPhone 4 launch may have enjoyed early success, with sales of 1.7 million units during its first three days of release, but supply difficulties may have a longer-term impact on the company, according to an analyst from research firm iSuppli. That analyst suggests that consumers frustrated with iPhone 4 shortages could seek out a robust competitor such as the HTC Evo 4G. Nonetheless, iSuppli also predicts marketplace success for the iPhone 4, estimating shipments of 21.7 million in 2010, or 51 percent of total iPhone shipments for the year. – Apples iPhone 4 launch may have proved to be a marketplace success, with
sales of 1.7 million units in the smartphones first three days of release, but
analyst firm iSuppli believes that difficulties associated with the rollout
have tarnished Apples much-vaunted branding.
Specifically, iSuppli …
There is good and bad news on the job front: The bad news is that layoffs are still happening; the good news is that they are a lot smaller than last January, and workers who were laid off in the last year are getting back to some form of work in larger numbers.
– Job cuts across all industries have reached
a five-month high at 71,482, according to Chicago-based outplacement firm
Challenger, Gray amp; Christmas. Retail, telecommunications and pharmaceutical
companies are leading the pack in layoffs. The telecommunications sector
announced 14,010 in Janua…
In periods of economic uncertainty, enterprises often reevaluate telecom operating expenses in an attempt to streamline processes and expenditures. But to be positioned well for future economic growth, its important to create a mix of short and long-term cost-cutting strategies. Here, Knowledge Center contributor Albert Subbloie discusses ways that IT and telecom departments can satisfy current cost-cutting demands while preparing for long-term economic growth.
– On average, one to two percent of an enterprise’s total revenue is spent on communications. Surprisingly, these costs are among the top corporate expenses (after labor costs). Given today’s volatile business environment, corporate IT and telecom departments are under greater scrutiny to ensure that …
Ezra Holdings, the support and marine services provider in the offshore oil & gas (O&G) sector, says it Deepwater Subsea division’s has clinched its first inspection, maintenance and repair contract worth US$12 million ($16.6 million).
Under the contract, Ezra will provide inspection, maintenance and repair services to support subsea work on an existing production field of a national oil company in the region.
Ezra says the long-term charter will start immediately.
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India has tightened its rules for long-term tourist visas, officials said yesterday, in a move that is causing confusion for travellers and will affect thousands of foreigners in the country. Under previous rules, tourists on five or 10-year visas were required to leave the country every 180
While the outsourcing of back-office IT jobs to offshore countries is not a new trend, the effects of the global recession have some U.S.-based tech jobs in serious long-term jeopardy. Despite the large number of back-office job eliminations for the foreseeable future, there are a host of IT jobs that will stay stateside.
– There are
a number of technology jobs and job areas that will not be coming back to the United States anytime soon, according to a
study by global consultancy The Hackett Group.
Between
2010 and 2014, nearly 2 million back-office IT jobs in infrastructure services,
help desk and data centers a…
