IN general, Singapore’s financial services stocks rallied. Great Eastern Holdings (GEH) is up 41% in the year to July 29. Its parent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), has gained 48% in the same time, and it has outperformed the other two banks. DBS has gained 32% and UOB 25%. JP Morgan...

Singapore: Valuing life insurers and why Great Eastern’s rally has been so strong

IHH Healthcare is the sponsor and major unitholder of ParkwayLife REIT (PLife REIT). In 2021, PLife REIT and IHH signed new master lease agreements for three Singapore hospitals, Mount Elizabeth Orchard, Gleneagles and Parkway East Hospital, for 20 years to end-December 2042. The agreements inclu...

Explaining IHH Healthcare’s India expansion plans, medical inflation in Singapore and a natural hedge 

Piyush Gupta, DBS’ former group chief executive officer, took on his former role in 2009 when the bank’s net profit was just S$2 billion (RM6.35 billion) and its share price was around S$12.

What would an imaginary merger of DBS and Standard Chartered look like?

FOR most of Feb 26, the court papers filed by City Developments’ (CDL) executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng — seeking legal advice to set things right, including replacing group CEO Sherman Kwek with nephew Kwek Eik Sheng — held Singapore’s investing community in thrall. Was the father-son spat abou...

Generational shift at City Developments

“The delisting process of a publicly traded company often comes with challenges, particularly when minority shareholders refuse to tender their shares. In cases where a delisting attempt fails due to insufficient acceptances, an alternative strategy may emerge,” said investor Ong Chin Woo.

Investor questions rationale of extending trading suspension of Great Eastern Holdings

It was an opportune time for Gerard Soosay, the chief executive officer of Sunway Iskandar, to face local investors, with the Malaysian and Singapore prime ministers’ anticipated retreat next Monday and businesses and people of the two nations looking forward to concrete announcements on the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. This time, however, it feels different.

Johor’s transport and security worries being addressed, says Sunway’s Soosay

On Monday, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) announced that it had received 0.31% of acceptances (or 1.48 million shares) from shareholders of Great Eastern Holdings, taking the banking group's total stake to 90.16%.

Great Eastern may need to restore free float that is below 10%

It is well known that Great Eastern Holdings (GEH) has an excess of risk-based capital (the equivalent of banks’ capital adequacy ratios). And it is clear from its share price that it is trading at a steep discount to its embedded value, which comprises a combination of shareholders funds and the value of the in-force business. The latter is calculated using a form of discounted cash flow.

Great Eastern's potential

SINGAPORE (Dec 7): Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp’s (OCBC) recent unveiling of its updated logo in Shanghai on Wednesday (Dec 6) aims to strengthen the One Bank approach under the leadership of group chief executive officer (CEO) Helen Wong. The rebranding signifies more than just enhancing brand equity or adopting a refreshed logo — it reflects a strategic reset communicated across OCBC’s key markets, including Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia.

OCBC’s Wong reaffirms One Bank vision with eyes firmly on shareholders’ returns

S&P Global Ratings says Great Eastern Holdings’ (GEH) Malaysian subsidiary-led proposed acquisition of AmMetLife Insurance Bhd (AML) and AmMetLife Takaful Bhd (AMT) will enhance its market leadership within the Malaysian insurance and takaful market.

Great Eastern Holdings’ proposed acquisition to boost market position in Malaysia

Malaysia must accelerate the modernisation of its agricultural sector and improve production efficiency to strengthen food security amid growing challenges, said Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu.

Agricultural modernisation key to strengthening food security — Mohamad Sabu

Anthropic PBC’s initial public offering (IPO) plans ran into a punishing post-election selloff, prompting a rethink among prospective investors of the company’s expected valuation.

Anthropic IPO buyers see valuation as low as US$1.1 tril

A seafarer on a Greek-owned oil tanker was killed in an apparent missile attack in the Gulf, its owner said on Friday.

Company says sailor killed in Gulf tanker attack

Monster Beverage Corp shares fell as much as 8.2% on Friday, the biggest decline in over two years, after the energy drink giant’s weaker-than-expected margins underscored the impact of soaring costs in the beverage industry.

Monster shares fall as weaker margins highlight cost burden

Pakatan Harapan's (PH) track record as a key component of the federal government should serve as a yardstick for Melaka voters to assess the coalition's capabilities ahead of the 16th Melaka state election on Nov 14, said Pasir Gudang Member of Parliament Hassan Abdul Karim.

Melaka voters urged to judge PH by federal govt's performance — Hassan Karim

Collaboration between plantation companies and oil palm smallholders to increase both parties’ yields and income will be raised at the Cabinet meeting next week, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Plantation companies-oil palm smallholders collaboration to be raised in Cabinet next week — Anwar

US consumer sentiment rose in November to a three-month high, bolstered by modest improvements in Americans' views of their personal finances and the economic outlook.

US consumer sentiment unexpectedly rises, fuelled by independents

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose on Friday as chip stocks bounced off heavy losses posted in the previous session on fears that a Democratic-led Congress could result in tougher artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, even as the jobs report raised interest-rate hike concerns.

Nasdaq pares losses as chips recover, rate-hike fears linger

Treasuries dipped after an unexpected surge in US job growth led traders to add to wagers that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates when officials next meet in December.

US Treasuries stumble as strong jobs data backs Fed-hike bets

TikTok moved one step closer to a new European Union fine after regulators found its video-recommendation algorithm pushes users down “rabbit holes” of potentially harmful content, escalating an almost three-year probe into the video-sharing app.

EU escalates TikTok probe over algorithmic ‘rabbit holes’

The implementation of the conditional pardon granted to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, allowing the former prime minister to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, must be respected in keeping with the principles of constitutional monarchy and the rule of law.

King: Najib’s conditional pardon order must be respected

While the public were focused on the plantation sector’s culpability in causing the haze hanging over the region in the last three months, Malaysian planters have been struggling with tight labour conditions in their estates, along with a high level of palm oil inventories.

Double cover: Malaysian planters brace for migrant worker shortage + Hong Leong Bank closes in on industry leadership across key metrics

Real estate developers SKS Group and MB World Group Bhd have acquired the hotel block and four residential blocks situated above Capital City Mall in Tampoi, Johor Bahru, for approximately RM50 million, according to a press statement and supplementary comments on Friday.

SKS Group and MB World acquire hotel and serviced apartments above Capital City Mall in Johor for RM50m

Sarawak Premier&nbsp;Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg is looking beyond Malaysian shores and politics. He is mapping out strategies to make Sarawak an investment destination for technology-intensive industries.

Abang Jo on how clean energy will draw tech investments

Wall Street equities mostly rallied on Friday, reversing course after trillions of dollars of world stock market value were wiped out over fears that Democratic election victories this week would bring tighter US regulations for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

US stocks rally after heavy AI-related sell-off; oil steady

Months of unease over Wall Street’s artificial-intelligence (AI) boom erupted into a global market convulsion this week, opening a dangerous new chapter for the investment frenzy that has helped power stock prices, corporate spending and economic growth.

Wall Street grapples with US$5.7 tril rout as AI bets unwind

US intelligence officials told the Trump administration that a woman who had become close to Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang was working for a Chinese spy agency, which recruited her to collect information on him, The New York Times reported on Friday.&nbsp;

US believes woman close to Nvidia CEO a China spy — report

The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) on Saturday announced the transfer of 19 senior officers to several strategic positions at the state, departmental, and force levels.

PDRM shuffles 19 senior officers in major leadership changes

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is considering broadening its business to include advanced memory chip manufacturing, The Information reported, a move that would give the world’s largest chipmaker an even bigger share of the artificial intelligence (AI) hardware supply chain.

TSMC said to mull making advanced AI memory chips

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has taken enforcement action against Najmuldin Exchanger and Nusantara Global Network over suspected contraventions of the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA).

Foreign currency services: BNM takes action against two entities for unapproved advertising

The Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from 4.41% to 35.06% on imports of flat-rolled products&nbsp;from China, Taiwan and Vietnam, effective Saturday.

Miti imposes anti-dumping duties on flat-rolled imports from China, Taiwan, Vietnam

The continuation of Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R&nbsp;Ramanan's appeal in the dispute between the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) and the Malaysian Commercial Banks’ Association (MCBA) is aimed at obtaining a Court of Appeal ruling on legal issues arising from the High Court's decision, the ministry said on Saturday.

NUBE-MCBA dispute: HR minister to continue appeal for court ruling on legal issues

Much of the world has been bemused by US President Donald Trump’s expectation of the Nobel Peace Prize. While aggressive towards most of the world, friend and foe alike, he has treated hostile nuclear powers more respectfully.

<h3>War is peace!</h3>

One needs more than George Orwell ...

My Say: Why Trump expects the Nobel Peace Prize

Schroders plc is planning to sell off some of its real estate assets in Singapore, having appointed a pair of brokers to raise around S$220 million (US$172 million or RM697 million) from the sale of a mall, according to people familiar with the matter.

Schroders said to seek mall sale in bid to offload Singapore properties

The number of flood victims in Selangor and Perak continued to rise on Saturday morning, with 1,404 people from 374 families housed at temporary relief centres (PPS) in the two states, compared with 1,269 people on Friday.

Flood victims in Selangor and Perak rise to over 1,400

A stronger-than-expected US jobs report bolstered the case for further Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate hikes, which had lost some momentum amid a post-election stock market sell-off and growing fears that weaker artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand could undercut the economy.

Fed policymakers consider rate hike after strong jobs report

There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark. For Manchester United fans, the scale and all-encompassing nature of the club’s decline is becoming Shakespearean. For the rest of football, it may be a welcome diversion from the very different demise of neighbours, Manchester City, but for ABUs ...

Business Of Sports: Even Fergie cannot escape blame for United’s doom loop

OpenAI has closed on new funding of roughly US$11 billion (RM44.7 billion), the initial part of a round that values the company at US$1.25 trillion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Goola Warden

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Goola Warden

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