News Highlights Tuesday 19 February 2008

The Business Times

Modest weekend sales at Waterfront Waves
...The sale brought the total sold so far at the 99-year leasehold project to 100 units, including 80 sold earlier ....
The Business Times Amex signs up for Marina Bay Financial Centre It is said to be taking 50,000 sq ft in Tower 2, in the project's 1st phase


The Straits Times, H24

Two more govt agencies to vacate downtown offices
At least two more government agencies will give up their downtown offices to make room for private businesses that need more space. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will relinquish about a third of its 11,300 sq m office in Suntec City. The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is also planning to give up its seven floors at 8 Shenton Way, formerly Temasek Tower. Other state departments may follow suit. Experts said this latest move would help relieve some of the immediate supply crunch, as there is “no real need” for some of these departments to be in the central business district, and they could free up space for other occupiers who need the location more.



The Straits Times, H23

Merchant Square on sale for $73m
The 99-year leasehold Merchant Square – located in Merchant Road, opposite Riverside point – is up for sale at an indicative price of $73 million. This works out to $1,450 psf of net lettable area. Merchant Square, which is being marketed by CB Richard Ellis, comprises a four-storey office tower integrated with two blocks conserved shophouses. It has a net lettable area of 50,262 sq ft and sits on a 28,083 sq ft plot. It is currently 96 per cent occupied, with some of the leases signed at rates as low as $3 to $4 psf. Nearly 50 per cent of the property’s leases will expire over the next two years. The latest office property transaction in the vicinity involved the Apollo Centre, sold last December for $1,378 psf.


The Business Times

Parkway dives 8.3% on record bid for site
Winning bid of $1,600 psf ppr for Novena hospital site is over twice the second highest offer (Read also ST's Raffles Medical still looking to expand)


The Straits Times

Workplace safety law to cover 6 more industries
...(T)he additional six will be the hotels and food and beverage, health care, veterinary medicine, water and waste management, transport, and landscape care and maintenance sectors


The Straits Times, P1

$500m deals to be sewn up at S’pore Airshow
Close to half a billion dollars worth of investments linked to the aerospace industry will be finalized this week on the sidelines of the event. Last year, engineering giant Rolls-Royce announced it would invest about $320 million to make engines for large commercial planes like Boeing’s Dreamliner in Singapore. Three hundred and thirty people – mostly Singaporeans – will be hired for the 8ha engine assembly and test plant, which will begin operations by the end of next year. In addition to bringing in a world-class brand-name, the Rolls-Royce project marks the first move away from manufacturing to higher skill and value-added jobs like engine design for the aerospace industry here. Other deals to be unveiled this week are the opening of an aerospace composites plant by Nelco and the official opening of ST Aero Engineering’s new hangar.



The Straits Times, H1


ITE mega-campus or five-star hotel?
The Institute of Technical Education’s (ITE) second mega campus in Chua Chu Kang will house 22 hotel rooms, restaurants, shops, a convention centre and a tourist information centre – all open to the public, so students will have hands-on training for future careers in the tourism sector. To be opened in 2010, the campus is the first education institution to be built under a public-private partnership. Under a $323.7 million contract awarded to the Gammon Capital consortium, it will build and run the campus, leaving the ITE to focus on academic areas. The new college “reaffirms the Government’s strong commitment in providing international quality and standards for technical education and training”.



The Straits Times, H8

Media in HK, Taiwan give S’pore Budget wide coverage
The latest Singapore Budget was prominently reported in Taiwan and Hong Kong yesterday, with many heaping praise on Singapore’s generous measures aimed at cushioning the impact of rising costs. In particular, newspapers lauded the scrapping of estate duty and the distribution of over $380 million worth of personal income tax rebates. The extensive coverage in Taiwan comes ahead of the island’s presidential elections on March 22. Over in Hong Kong, the handouts from the Singapore Government are what analysts and lawmakers have been calling for in the city’s upcoming Budge, to be announced on Feb 27.


The Straits Times, H22


Maybank offers promotional 1.68% home loan package
Maybank unveiled yesterday a promotional 1.68 per cent fixed rate, significantly lower than the 3.5 per cent average rate offered by some rival banks. The rate applies to the first year of a three-year mortgage package but will be available only for the next three weeks. Its teaser rate of 1.68 per cent rises to 2.68 per cent for the second year and 3.38 per cent for the third and final year of the loan. It has been a long time coming or market watches, who have been predicting for months that plummeting interest rates will through to home loans. Other rival banks, however, are not following with similar moves.

The Business Times, P3

Hana may buy slice of Merrill from Temasek
South Korea’s Hana Financial Group said it may buy shares in Merrill Lynch from Temasek, in a move which would raise Hana’s global profile and spread Temasek’s risks from overseas deals. No size for the potential purchase has been agreed, but reports indicate any sale would involve only a small stake in the US investment bank. Temasek paid US$48 a share, while Merrill shares closed on Friday at US$51.64.

The Business Times, P30

Amex signs up for Marina Bay Financial Centre
American Express International is the latest new tenant at Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC), which means that slightly more than half of the total 2.9 million square feet of offices in the entire development has been taken up. Amex will take about 50,000 sq ft or two floors in the 50-storey Tower 2. It will join British bank Barclays, Swiss private bank Pictet and UK-based stockbroking firm Icap. MBFC’s Tower 2 will have nearly one million sq ft of net lettable area.


The Business Times, P9

278 HDB flats swamped by 9,900 applications
HDB received 9,900 applications for 278 flats offered in its February bi-monthly sale. Most of the units offered are four-room flats, plus 64 five-room units and 20 executive flats in 13 estates. There are 119 units in Toa Payoh and 39 in Tampines. More than 500 are still available from recent BTO launches, at Punggol, and Sengkang, such as Treelodge@Punggol, Fernvale Vista, Punggol Vista and Coral Spring.