Singapore

He was appointed on 1 June 2017.

Oei holds an LL.M. degree from the National University of Singapore.

It was effective on 1 June 2017.

She previously worked at KPMG.

He was appointed on 1 May 2017.

He was appointed on 2 June 2017.

The acquisitions mark the launch of Ascott's new co-living concept in China. CapitaLand's who wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has secured contracts to manage its first three properties under its latest brand, lyf, in its two key markets – China and Singapore, marking the unveiling of its new co-living concept. The three properties acquired includes the 112-unit lyf Wu Tong Island Shenzhen which will open in the first half of 2018. Others are the 120-unit lyf DDA Dalian which is scheduled to open in end 2018 and the lyf Farrer Park Singapore, the biggest of the three lyf properties with 240 units, that is set to open in 2021. “Since Ascott unveiled the lyf brand in Singapore last November, we have received very strong interest in this new co-living concept designed by millennials for the growing wave of millennial and millennial-minded travellers, such as technopreneurs, startups and those in the creative industries. We are excited to be launching lyf in China with two properties and to have secured our first in Singapore. These trailblazing lyf properties not only enjoy prime locations with a ready catchment of business and leisure travellers, they also offer vibrant spaces for these change-makers to build new connections and co-create with the community therein,” Ascott CEO Lee Chee Koon said. Located in the economic zone or innovation park, these three lyf properties will provide conducive environments in which innovation and creativity can thrive. lyf Wu Tong Island Shenzhen is situated in an innovation park named Wu Tong Island that has 24 office buildings leased to firms in the technology, design, media and tourism industries. lyf DDA Dalian is in the Dalian Development Area (DDA), China’s first Economic and Technological Development Zones that is home to start-ups, local and foreign enterprises, including Fortune 500 companies. lyf Farrer Park Singapore is conveniently located in the Central Region of Singapore and a short 15-minute drive from the Central Business District. Please refer to the Annex for more information on these lyf properties. To recall, Ascott first unveiled the lyf brand in Singapore in November 2016, and it set up the serviced residence industry’s first-of-its-kind living lab to field test co-living concepts for lyf in February 2017.  

UOB rose as the most active borrower in terms of bond proceeds.

This is a first in Southeast Asia. Google opens its first Southeast Asia cloud platform in Singapore to improve latency of Google Cloud Platform customers and end users. According to a blog posted by GCP product manager Dave Stiver, the total number of paid customers in Singapore has increased by 100% over the last 12 months., “The experience for GCP customers in Southeast Asia is better than ever too; performance testing shows 51% to 98% reductions in round-trip time (RTT) latency when serving customers in Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok compared to using other GCP regions in Taiwan or Tokyo," Stiver said. Customers with a global footprint like BBM Messenger, Carousell and Go-Jek have been looking forward to the launch of the Singapore region. Read the rest of the report here.  

But sales for the first five months soar 61%. Private homes sold by developers last month shrunk by 34.3% to 1,024 units compared to April when there was a total of 1,558 units sold. According to PropNex, while the figure in May might have taken a dip compared to the previous month due to the lack of new major launches, it still reflects the positive market sentiments in the first half of 2017. On a yearly basis, total units sold sits at 7,555, 61% up from 4,915 units in the first five months of 2016. PropNex Realty CEO Ismail Gafoor commented, “Like what we witnessed in April, consumers are continuing to pick up units nearing TOP dates. This is evident in the results of the five best-performing projects of this month. Especially for Parc Riviera and Sol Acres EC which have continued to sell well in the first five months of 2017.”  

Analysts have lowered their export growth forecast. Singapore's export strength has been giving a fillip to its economy after emerging from the YoY contraction in November 2016. To recall, Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) momentum surged in 1Q17. Specifically, NODX value rose by +15.2% YoY in 1Q17, a report by Morgan Stanley said. However, looking at the prospects for the sector, economists and analysts surveyed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore lowered their growth forecast for NODX to 5.6%, down from the 6.1% seen last year. "There have been questions on whether the export recovery could be sustained after April NODX saw a reversal from the previous strong growth and contracted unexpectedly," Morgan Stanley said. It furthered, "Given MS global macro team’s view that the global expansion is now on a surer footing,as it is being driven by a recovery in private sector demand, we think the rising global tide will help to lift Singapore’s exporters and the weak NODX print in April is likely an aberration."  

The acquisition will be funded through the issuance of new shares. Singapore's largest traditional coffee shop operator Kimly went on a shopping spree as it eyes expanding its kop=itiam empire further. It has acquired and paid $850,000 to manage and operate Yong Yun coffee shop, located at Block 631 Bedok Reservoir Road. The group also paid $650,000 for the acquisition of an industrial canteen at Primz Bizhub in Woodlands Close. The acquisitions will be funded through the issuance of around 3 million new shares, RHB said in its daily news bulletin.  

It’s Singapore’s slowest first half period for deal making activity since 2013.

Turochas Fuad will talk about real world examples of what it takes to raise funds.

The results from the TradeGlobal acquisition review is one.

Expect markets to be fairly cautious today.