Market Snapshot
Singapore stocks opened higher on Wednesday. STI rose 0.4%; Sembcorp up 1%; Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell 1%.
Stocks in Focus
Suntec Reit: David Matheson, ESR Group’s current chief investment officer, was appointed as chairman of the manager of Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) on Tuesday. He replaces Chew Gek Khim, 64, who stepped down from the role and retired on Tuesday after 11 years in the role. Matheson will also take on the role of non-executive director of the manager. Units of Suntec Reit closed 1.5 per cent or S$0.02 lower at S$1.28 on Tuesday, before the announcement.
Frasers L&C Tr: FLCT on Tuesday announced the completion of the divestment of an office building in Melbourne’s central business district for A$192.1 million (S$161.4 million). TFS Collins, as trustee of Collins Street Landholding Trust – itself an indirect wholly owned sub-trust of FLCT – sold the 25-storey freehold office building at 357 Collins Street to an unrelated third party. Units of FLCT closed flat at S$0.95, before the news.
Raffles Medical: Woo Yeng Yeng will assume the role of chief financial officer of the company with effect from Wednesday. In the new role, Woo will oversee corporate finance, tax, treasury and investor relations among other matters. She previously served as CFO and head of investor relations at Paragon Real Estate Investment Trust and as head of finance at CapitaLand Investment (International), the group said on Tuesday. The counter finished Tuesday flat at S$0.98, before the news.
Metro: The property investment and development group appointed Erwin Wuysang-Oei as the chief executive officer of its retail arm, effective from Wednesday. Currently the retail arm’s chief operating officer, he will now oversee its strategic direction and overall management. He replaces previous CEO David Tang, who resigned in February 2024 to pursue other interests. Shares of Metro closed flat at S$0.52 on Tuesday, before the news.
LHN: The property management group said its co-living business Coliwoo has lodged a preliminary prospectus for a Singapore Exchange mainboard listing. Its property portfolio comprises 25 properties across Singapore; 11 are owned by the group, 10 are leased and four are managed by the group. Coliwoo said that the proceeds of the initial public offering will largely be used for its expansion, growth and asset enhancement through the leasing and owning of properties in existing and new markets. Shares of LHN closed 0.5 per cent or S$0.005 lower at S$0.93 on Tuesday, before the news.
Thakral: The group announced on Tuesday that it has completed the divestment of its commercial building, Yotsubashi Nakano Building, in Osaka, Japan. Located along Yotsubashi-suji – a prime commercial district in Osaka – the asset comprises nine storeys, with a land area of 806 square metres (sq m) and a gross floor area of 7,925 sq m. It has maintained a 100 per cent occupancy rate as at H1 2025. The sale has unlocked around S$6.4 million in cash flow and generated a one-off attributable profit of approximately S$2 million. The company will continue to maintain exposure to the Osaka office market through its remaining five office and one hotel properties. The counter closed on Tuesday 0.6 per cent or S$0.01 up at S$1.61.
SG Local News
Mandarin Oriental in Talks to Sell Part of One Causeway Bay in Hong Kong to Alibaba: Report
Singapore-listed Mandarin Oriental International, part of the Jardine group, is in talks to sell the upper 13 floors of One Causeway Bay in Hong Kong to Alibaba Group Holding, a newspaper reported.
The deal is worth about HK$7 billion (S$1.16 billion), the report in the Hong Kong Economic Times on Sept 30 said.
Shares of Mandarin Oriental jumped on the news, with the stock closing up 6.8 per cent to US$2.35 on Sept 30 in Singapore.
Micron Sees Demand Rising for Its Made-in-Singapore Flash Memory Chips Amid AI Boom
The explosive growth of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) has started to spread out from data centres to consumer devices such as smartphones and laptops that use portable flash memory chips.
This is good news for Singapore, where US memory chip giant Micron Technology manufactures about 98 per cent of its top-end flash memory chips, referred to as Nand by the industry. Singapore, hence, is designated by the company as its Nand Centre of Excellence.
1MDB Liquidators Lose Singapore Court Bid to Sue StanChart, BSI
The High Court has prevented foreign liquidators from suing Standard Chartered and BSI Bank over transactions allegedly linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, ruling that Singapore’s cross-border insolvency framework cannot be applied to deals executed before the law took effect in 2018.
The liquidators of Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners and Brazen Sky, two companies embroiled in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB affair, had sought to bring avoidance claims – a legal mechanism allowing liquidators to reverse suspect transactions and recover assets improperly transferred from creditors – against the banks in Singapore.
The applications are part of wider international efforts to recoup assets lost in one of the world’s largest financial scandals.