Will Lippo concretise the $5 Billion REITS plan in Singapore?


Lippo Group plans to set up real estate investment trusts that will buy as much as $5 billion of its Asian assets, freeing up capital to invest in higher- yielding projects including Singapore residential developments. The Jakarta-based company, which set up its first property fund in Singapore last year, plans to sell shares of trusts backed by shopping malls and office buildings, Chief Executive Officer James Riady said in an interview.


“We like the concept of a REIT,” Riady said at the World Economic Forum conference in Singapore. “That's a powerful tool for investors to invest in quality assets, and allows developers to tap into the REIT and enable them to do much more things than they would otherwise be able to do.”

What are the benefits of the property trusts? They will help Lippo tap funds from Singapore's five-year-old REIT market, where developers have sold shares in 16 trusts with a combined market value of $19.2 billion. Residential developments offer higher returns than office and retail properties because homes are usually sold within two to three years.

“The Singapore property market is still fairly hot,” said Jay Moghe, who oversees $150 million at Opes Prime Asset Management Pte in Singapore. “Within the Asian REIT story, Singapore has played an important part. These trusts offer relatively good yields and as that market develops, we'll see more players wanting to set up REITs.”

Lippo Group sold shares in its first real estate investment trust in Singapore in December. Its shopping mall REIT will sell shares within the next 18 months, while its commercial trust will be created within two years.

The real estate market has also been tapped into. The developer sold at least two apartment projects in Singapore's downtown in the past year, and is planning to start selling homes at a residential development on the city's resort island of Sentosa, Riady said. Shares of Lippo's First Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns seven health-care properties in the region, have gained 13 percent in the past six months. Still, it lagged behind other REITs traded in Singapore, which have risen by an average of 29 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Malls remain Lippo’s greatest projects. The company owns Indonesia's biggest publicly traded developer and controls as many as 40 malls through its units, Riady said. The group also owns stakes in publicly traded companies including PT Matahari Putra Prima, Indonesia's largest department-store operator, and Robinson & Co., Singapore's oldest retailer. “We would like to see a mall REIT because at the end of the day, the middle-class and the affluent like to go to the malls,” he said “They like to go shopping, encouraging bigger and better-quality malls.”

The company intends to sell shares of its property trusts in Singapore because of government efforts to encourage investment and its low tax-rate for REITS, Riady said. Local corporate investors pay a 20 percent tax on dividends paid by trusts, while individual investors don't pay any taxes.

An important investor like Lippo is likely to take the property market of Singapore to new horizons. However, even if Singapore remains a stable market, what challenges remain in front of Lippo? Will it be able to tap into the Singaporean market without problems?

Post Title

→

Post URL

→

https://manufacturing-holdings.blogspot.com/2007/06/will-lippo-concretise-5-billion-reits.html

Visit manufacturing-holdings for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Infocomm industry the next boom for Singapore?

Singapore’s information communication industry grew by a record 20 percent on year to 29.50 billion US dollars. Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang said at the launch of this year’s Info-Comm Media Business Exchange.

Mobile penetration rate in Singapore has gone up to 108 percent despite an already overcrowded market. Broadband adoption has also gone up form 64 present last year to over 68 percent.

The minister said Singapore is well into the process of developing a secure and trusted next generation network. “Twelve companies and consortia have been pre-qualified to build Singapore's Next Generation National Broadband Network. When it is ready in 2012, this network will be capable of speeds of at least 1 Gigabits per second and of supporting bandwidth-intensive applications that are decades into the future” he said.

Just last year, Singapore unveiled its ambitious 10-year infocomm masterplan which aims to triple infocomm export revenue to S$60 billion and create 80,000 new jobs by 2015.

Under the "wireless at Singapore" programmer, the country has more than 3,400 wireless hot spots islandwide, with another 1,600 being added by this September. Already about 430,000 people have signed up to enjoy the free wireless broadband access around the island, according to the minister.

Not content with just connecting residents, Singapore has also launched the Digital Concierge which allows tourists and visitors to access maps, shopping malls and restaurant listings online. Will Singapore find prosperity in its established and up-to-date infocomm structure? Will infocomm become a boom factor for Singapore’s economy in the near future? What are your views?

Post Title

→

Infocomm industry the next boom for Singapore?

Post URL

→

https://manufacturing-holdings.blogspot.com/2007/06/infocomm-industry-next-boom-for.html

Visit manufacturing-holdings for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Ukraine: Singapore’s new profit-spinner?



With the Singapore Business Federation and the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce having signed framework agreements with Ukraine’s International Chamber of Commerce, Singapore companies are in a better position to enter Eastern Europe’s largest market.
Ukraine is looking into developing its other services sector beyond its existing agriculture and mining industries. As such, industry players are seeing increased opportunities in Ukraine’s real estate, infrastructure and tourism sectors for Singaporean firms.
“We’re looking at opportunities in real estate development and investment, including hotels,” said Kwek Leng Joo, Vice Chairman of Singapore Business Federation and Managing Director of City Developments. “But I see that there are possibilities in many other sectors as well,” he added. Kwek explained that the increased demand for hotels that is leading to a shortage, as well as residential properties are good opportunities there. “The local Ukrainians who have made it would now like to invest more in properties so there is a good demand for properties there.”
The Singapore and Ukraine collaboration does look promising, but there are still challenges that need to be overcome. The more apparent hurdles are language differences and limited transport links.
Kwek said that the two countries are still in the early stages of infrastructure development. However, he is hopeful that in due course, it will not pose as a problem as infrastructures like air access is developed in the long term.
Singapore is set to venture beyond Asia into the European countries, but will the two states be able to sustain the closer relations in the long run? Can both parties commit to tackling reforms in its banking and financial services sector, as well as developing its infrastructure?

Post Title

→

Post URL

→

https://manufacturing-holdings.blogspot.com/2007/06/ukraine-singapores-new-profit-spinner.html

Visit manufacturing-holdings for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

NETS levy raise: Inevitable or unnecessary?

Come July, Singaporeans will not only have to embrace the rise in Goods Service Tax that will be raised to 7% from the present 5%, they will also have to pay a higher administrative fee to use NETS, the cashless payment system that was introduced 22 years ago.
The proposal to increase the fee three to four fold was met with angry protests from the members of the public. Singaporeans are concerned that the raise of its levy on businesses offering NETS as a mode of payment will increase burden on retailers, ultimately translating to higher prices for consumers.
The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) has stepped forward to lodge a complaint against the fee hike to the Competition Commission of Singapore. Tony Wong, who owns a mobile phone store The Handphone Shop, said that the raise in levy will incur an additional S$5000 a month for him. “We might have to up prices, our business cost will go up, we will try to ask customers to pay cash, but it's tough. Sometimes they buy a few phones, and they don't have enough cash, and they never return after they go to the ATM,” said Tan. NETS transactions account for 50 per cent of total sales at the store.
The current fee NETS levied on businesses is between 0.35 percent and 0.55 percent. It will be upped to 1.5 to 1.8 percent in July, bringing it close to credit card transaction fees.
Owners of NETS – DBS, OCBC and UOB, has said that the hike is indispensable to remain competitive against international debit cards. It is readjusting its business model to that of international debit card schemes by paying an interchange fee – a fee paid to card issuers for transactions processed by NETS.

But the explanation does not satisfy CASE. President Yeo Guat Kwang reasoned that “If it is cost factors, then they must come out to justify what are the main reasons... What are the key cost factors which will make them think that the current fee that they are charging, 0.3 to 0.55 is too low? Too low, in what sense? Can't cover all the cost, or is the profit not enough?”
Even though NETS said that it plans to help small and medium sized merchants by offering a one-off rebate of up to 25 percent until the end of the year, and have spoke of a series of marketing programmes lined up to drive sales, members of the public are not buying it. NETS still hold a leading share of low cost cashless transactions. It is not only the preferred mode of payment for many Singaporeans, it is also used by 80 percent of HDB retailers. Thus, the raised levy in July will definitely have a large impact on the cost of products. Furthermore, the concurrent rise in GST in July will greatly affect consumers.
The price hike may not seem to affect consumers’ pocket directly, but to Singaporeans who are still sore about the GST hike, it will be them who will ultimately bear the costs. Is NETS really, as most consumers put it – exploiting their monopolistic mode of operation as a basic infrastructure to provide a basic mode of payment for all Singaporeans, or is the raised levy a purely commercial and inevitable decision? What do you think?

Post Title

→

NETS levy raise: Inevitable or unnecessary?

Post URL

→

https://manufacturing-holdings.blogspot.com/2007/06/nets-levy-raise-inevitable-or.html

Visit manufacturing-holdings for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection