Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Tuesday. STI rose 0.2%; OV8 rose 0.7%; S63 rose 0.7%; Z74, C6L rose 0.5%; U11 rose 0.4%.

Stocks in Focus

First Resources: The palm oil company is “confident” that an objective review will establish that it does not engage in land clearing by fire, and has welcomed a thorough, evidence-based examination of the facts surrounding the haze situation. On Tuesday, the group said that it maintains a zero-burning policy, which is strictly enforced across its operations. Shares of First Resources closed 3.4 per cent or S$0.13 higher at S$3.93 on Monday.

Keppel Reit: The manager announced on Tuesday that is buying a 51 per cent stake in Keppel South Central from its sponsor Keppel for a purchase consideration of S$610.9 million, strengthening its footprint in Singapore’s prime office market. The acquisition offers a pro forma distribution per unit accretion of 2.01 per cent and an “attractive” initial property yield of 4.3 per cent. Units of Keppel Reit closed flat at S$0.825 on Monday.

SG Local News

Keppel Reit to buy 51% stake in Keppel South Central for S$610.9 million

Keppel Reit is buying a 51 per cent stake in Keppel South Central from its sponsor Keppel for a purchase consideration of S$610.9 million, strengthening its footprint in Singapore’s prime office market, the Reit manager said on Tuesday (Oct 20).

The total value of the 33-storey Grade A commercial building in the central business district (CBD) stands at about S$1.2 billion. With 522,500 square feet of net lettable area, this translates to an overall building valuation of about S$2,350 per square foot (psf).

Based on this total valuation, the agreed property value for Keppel Reit’s 51 per cent interest on a 70-year leasehold basis is S$626.2 million.

Singapore, Qatar to work towards upgrading ties to strategic partnership

Singapore and Qatar intend to upgrade their bilateral ties, and cooperate more in areas like energy, defence and trade and investment.

The two countries agreed to work towards elevating their relations to a strategic partnership during a meeting on Oct 19 attended by ministers and senior officials from both countries.

Qatar will be Singapore’s second strategic partner in the Middle East, said the two nations’ High-Level Joint Committee (HLJC) in a joint statement issued after the meeting. The other is Saudi Arabia.

Mi Material focusing on ‘things that we can control’ as it launches S$215 million SGX IPO

The mid-October semiconductor sell-off that hit counters on the Singapore Exchange did little to deter semiconductor materials supplier Mi Material from launching its S$215 million mainboard initial public offering on Monday.

“We are more focused on the things that we can control,” said CEO Kevin Tan.

Mi Material, which gave an offer price of S$1.80 a share in its IPO prospectus, aims to raise S$215 million. Of that sum, S$139.5 million will come from the IPO, and S$75.5 million from the placements to cornerstone investors.

Singapore and Sweden to expand cooperation in emerging tech, sustainable energy

Singapore and Sweden will expand cooperation in sustainable energy and emerging technologies, including in the field of quantum.

Research and academic institutions from both countries will also collaborate on next-generation positioning technologies that tap artificial intelligence and 6G – the next generation of mobile networks, said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Oct 19.

Next-generation positioning technologies look to go beyond the traditional Global Positioning System to track and locate.