When does cash stop being king?
Felicia Tan - When assessing a company’s fundamentals, a balance sheet flushed with cash is usually a good thing, particularly when it comes to meeting short-term or unforeseen obligations or liabilities. Naturally, a company that is net cash is preferred over a company with net debt. But how much cash is too m ...
Quick Takes: UI Boustead REIT, Gold hub, Higher power bill, China growth target, Crisis in the Middle East
The Edge Singapore - Singapore UI Boustead REIT has lodged its IPO prospectus for its $1.9 billion commercial property portfolio. The portfolio consists of 23 properties, of which 21 are located in Singapore, while the remaining two are freehold properties in Japan. The properties have a total gross floor area of approx ...
SoftBank seeks record loan of up to US$40 billion for OpenAI stake
The size of SoftBank’s bet has spooked market observers
Mermaid Maritime taps new growth opportunities in offshore oil and gas
Lin Daoyi - Operating in the offshore oil and gas sector for more than 40 years, Mermaid Maritime has experienced its fair share of the industry’s ups and downs, from the boom years of the late 2000s to mid-2010s, when oil prices exceeded US$100 per barrel, to the downcycles of 2016 to early 2020s. Bangkok-ba ...
Thailand’s energy shock may force long-delayed reforms
Anita Gabriel - A prolonged Middle East conflict could weigh on country’s growth by driving up energy costs in an economy heavily reliant on imported...
StarHub focuses on structural reset
Emelia Tan - StarHub is a homegrown Singapore company that offers quality mobile and fixed services, a broad suite of premium content, and a diverse range of communication solutions. The company develops and delivers solutions incorporating artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analytics, Internet of Thin ...
Governments must focus on spending better, not more
Seung Hyun (Luke) Hong - Finance ministries across Asean+3 face mounting pressures from ageing populations, climate adaptation, rapid technological change, infrastructure upgrades and in some cases national security — while grappling with rising debt service burden. With large tax hikes politically unpalatable and broad s ...
SoftBank eyes up to $40 billion loan to fund OpenAI investment, Bloomberg News reports
March 6 : Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is seeking a loan of up to $40 billion, primarily to finance its investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The bridge loan would hold a roughly 12-month tenor, Bloomberg reported, with four ...
SoftBank seeks up to $40 billion loan to finance OpenAI investment, Bloomberg News reports
March 6 : SoftBank is seeking a loan of up to $40 billion, primarily to finance its investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, a Bloomberg News reporter said in an X post on Friday.
Pessimism and optimism clash in Asean’s consumer landscape
Aditi Bathia and Jasmine Yeo - Against the backdrop of the historic Liberation Day tariff shocks and a global trading system splintering under rising protectionism and multipolar tensions, Asean consumers viewed 2025 with measured optimism. Notably, consumer sentiment rose slightly upwards from 2024, although a clear sense of fin ...
Private credit’s canary in the coal mine moment
Assif Shameen - In the movie The Big Short, based on Michael Lewis’ eponymous book about the bursting of the US housing bubble that triggered the 2008 global financial crisis, the eureka moment comes when hedge fund manager Steve Eisman’s character learns that the market for insuring mortgage bonds, including s ...
Tightening digital certificate rules pose business continuity test for Apac firms
Nurdianah Md Nur - Imagine your company changes the locks on every door in every office, data centre, and server room it operates. Now imagine doing that every seven weeks across thousands of locations simultaneously, some of which you did not even know existed. That is the reality facing large enterprises across Asia ...
‘The best risk-return wins’: Partners Group eyes Asia private wealth growth amid private credit jitters
Benjamin Cher - The firm, which has ramped up its Asia team, will engage more distribution partners and launch new products to woo investors
China’s quality isn’t cheap
Daryl Guppy - I referred a colleague to a tailor in Hong Kong because he admired my suit and wanted one of similar quality. My colleague was very disappointed with the result, and I must admit, I could see why. It seemed very strange, so I delved a little further into the events. It turned out my colleague was a ...
Gulf carriers resume limited flights, but missile fire fuels uncertainty
Passengers are spending huge amounts of money to get out of the Middle East
LHN’s co-living spinoff Coliwoo eyes sale of 7 freehold assets for S$218.5 million
Chloe Lim - The portfolio consists of commercial units, serviced apartments, a hotel and student hostels
What to note when investing in commodities, Part 2
Thiveyen Kathirrasan - In the article What to note when investing in commodities in Issue 1224, some basic principles of commodity investing were discussed. Specifically, when diversification is useful, the article explores the optimal allocation and key risks. For this issue, other key points to note when investing in co ...
Denso proposes to buy Rohm in deal that could reach $8.3 billion, Nikkei says
TOKYO, March 6 : Japanese auto parts giant Denso has proposed to acquire all shares in chipmaker Rohm in a deal that could reach as much as around 1.3 trillion yen ($8.26 billion), the Nikkei business daily said on Friday.The deal, if realised, would create a major player in power semiconductors use ...
Toyota's Denso bids for chipmaker Rohm in potential $8.3 billion deal
TOKYO, March 6 : Toyota supplier Denso has made a bid for chipmaker Rohm, a potential $8.3 billion deal that will expand the auto parts giant's hold on power management chips used in electric vehicles and data centres.Denso, a pillar of the Toyota group and one of the world's largest maker ...
Denso, chipmaker Rohm hold talks on potential $8.3 billion acquisition
TOKYO, March 6 : Toyota supplier Denso is in talks to acquire shares of chipmaker Rohm in a potential $8.3-billion deal that will expand the auto parts maker's control over power management chips used in EVs and data centres.Denso, a pillar of the Toyota group and one of the world's larges ...
FSSA plays both defence and offence
Rasmus Nemmoe - The world today feels more uncertain than it has for decades. This is not just a matter of sentiment; it reflects a genuine shift in the global order. In the post-Cold War period, the world followed a broadly unipolar system — a rules-based framework anchored by the US — that delivered a prolong ...
Singdollar appreciated at average rate of 1.3% against ringgit over 2020 to 2025: Alvin Tan
Elysia Tan - Measures to support local businesses, given the impending RTS Link, will be announced later
Gold and oil swing after first strikes as JP Morgan flags uncertainty; Singapore seen as safe haven
Samantha Chiew - Uncertainty is back at the centre of markets as the US-Israel war with Iran escalates, with early air strikes reigniting fears of a wider regional conflict that could impact global growth via higher energy costs. Unsurprisingly, the market’s knee-jerk reaction was a rush into safety assets, such a ...
Taiwan's Foxconn says everyone will feel impact of prolonged Iran conflict
NEW TAIPEI, Taiwan, March 6 : Everyone will feel the impact on prices of oil and raw materials if the U.S. and Israeli conflict with Iran drags on, the chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest electronics maker and Nvidia's key AI server maker, said on Friday.The escalating conflict in the ...
First Venezuela, now Iran. For the markets, it’s one battle after another
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan - Investors who thought they could catch a break after the US military strike on Venezuela in January thought wrong. On Feb 28, the US and Israel mounted a joint military strike on their longstanding adversary Iran. The sudden attack appeared to catch the Iranians by surprise and even claimed the life ...
Oil falls as US may intervene in futures market, issues waiver for Russian purchases
PERTH, March 6 : Oil fell for the first time in six days as the U.S. government is considering potentially intervening in the futures market to blunt rising prices and has given waivers to Indian refiners to buy Russian crude to ease supply constraints from the Middle East war.Brent crude futures we ...
As missiles arc across the Middle East, ST Engineering’s share price gains in tandem
The Edge Singapore - In the immediate aftermath of Singapore Technologies Engineering’s (ST Engineering) FY2025 report card on Feb 27, the market was not quite able to form a consensus view. On the one hand, the company reported a lower bottom line, weighed down by an impairment charge on its long-struggling satcom un ...
Why the STI’s record highs could just be the beginning
The Edge Singapore - For years, the Singapore market was an easy one to overlook. A persistent cycle of delistings, an anaemic pace of new listings and the gravitational pull of more liquid markets abroad, particularly the US, meant that Singapore-listed stocks were treated by many investors as an afterthought. Capital ...
How the Iran conflict is disrupting the Strait of Hormuz
Julian Lee - Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has almost completely stopped in the days since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Iran sits above this strategic waterway, which is a vital route for exports of oil, gas and other commodities from the Persian Gulf. Its Islamic Revolutionar ...
Analysts mostly keep ‘buy’ on CDL as it seeks to unlock value via strategic review
Felicia Tan - Analysts are mostly keeping their “buy” calls on City Developments (CDL) — with the exception of OCBC Investment Holdings’ “hold” call — after the property group reported a 212.8% y-o-y surge in its FY2025 earnings of $629.7 million. Patmi would have been closer to $800 million if not ...
A tale of two Centurions
Felicia Tan - The latest FY2025 reporting season was the first for both Centurion Corporation and Centurion Accommodation REIT (CAREIT) after the latter was spun off and listed in September 2025. Following the REIT listing, Centurion Corporation will serve as the REIT’s sponsor and provide a pipeline of stabili ...
Mapletree Investments acquires second logistics facility in the Netherlands
Deon Loke - The development features 28 loading docks and 190 parking spaces
The haven trade: Asia for Asia
Goola Warden - The three local banks, DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) together attracted $77 billion of net new money during the course of 2025 into their wealth management units, including their private banks. Of this, DBS attracted $39 billion, OCBC $27 bill ...
AI-triggered software worries touch AvePoint
Nurdianah Md Nur - In a somewhat ironic twist, the growing prevalence and capabilities of AI have sparked concerns that conventional software providers will be undermined, as tasks once performed by armies of white-collar workers can now be streamlined. AvePoint Inc, which was listed first on the Nasdaq and, more rece ...
