Mega-rich Singapore government pumped more money into Pheonix Mills to help fund it's real estate ambition

The Economic Times, 4 Feb 2014
The Government of Singapore today increased its stake in Phoenix Mills by acquiring shares in the open market in a transaction valued at Rs 106.37 crore.
Government of Singapore purchased 51,38,549 shares of Phoenix Mills, representing a 3.55 per cent stake in the company, according to bulk deal information with the stock exchanges.
The shares were purchased at an average price of Rs 207 apiece, amounting to a total of Rs 106.37 crore.
Led by Managing Director Atul Ruia, Phoenix Mills plans to foray into developing real estate in cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Raipur, Agra and Indore. Full story

Related:
Government of Singapore hikes stake in Phoenix Mills - Financial Express

Singapore Changi Airport's officials elated for getting reinvited to bid for Burma airport project after withdrawal from South Korea's consortium

The Irrawaddy, 4 Feb 2014
SINGPORE — A consortium including Singapore’s Changi Airport Planners and Yongnam Holdings Inc has been invited by the government of Burma to re-enter negotiations to build and operate a new international airport in the country.
In August a consortium led by South Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corp was named as the preferred bidder to build Hanthawaddy International Airport, but those discussions have since broken down according to a person familiar with the matter. Full story

EDB Chairman admits restrictions on foreign PMETs inflow into Singapore have not dampen investments

Reuters, 28 Jan 2014
According to Yip, the EDB has not seen any loss in investment projects due to the tightening labor market and regulations.
"They have not, as a factor, swung their business decisions," Yip said. "No company has told us, 'look, we don't want to come to Singapore anymore because your manpower situation has made you less attractive than before'."
Nonetheless, Yip said companies have come forward to ask the EDB to "train Singaporeans to develop the capability" that firms need, while assuring the EDB that they still choose Singapore as their investment destination. Full story

Related:
UK asks firms to stop hiring foreign workers - NDTV.com

Singapore is the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam

VietNam News, 29 Jul 2013
HA NOI (VNS)— Foreign direct investment (FDI) registered during the first seven months of this year surged by 19.6 per cent over the same period last year to US$11.91 billion.
General Statistics Office figures show $6.92 billion came from 677 newly licensed projects, up 10 per cent, while the remainder was an increase of capital on 266 existing projects.
Among 42 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam, Singapore was the biggest foreign investor with registered capital of nearly $2.5 billion. Its investment accounted for 36 per cent of the total capital of newly invested projects. Full story

Masagos Zulkifli encourages Singapore companies to invest in Nigeria

The Nation Newspaper, 28 Jul 2013
The Singaporean Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Masagos Zulkifli, has said that Nigeria holds the ace in his country’s quest for investment.
Zulkifli said Nigeria has abundant resources that his country could tap from.
He said rather than concentrate on China and Asia for business, Singapore was already looking in the direction of Nigeria.
Zulkifli, who spoke when Nigerian’s Ambassador to Singapore, Nonye Rajis-Okpara, paid him a courtesy call, said several companies from Singapore were already in Africa. Full story

Also read:
PAP MP Vikram Nair compares Chen Show Mao’s proposals to a Nigerian Scam - Singapolitics.net

Singapore second largest foreign investor in India at US$19.1 billion

newKerala.com, 4 Jul 2013
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday said Singapore is the second largest foreign investor in India.
Addressing the Singapore India Chambers of Commerce & Industry (SICCI), Khurshid said: "After India and Singapore entered into the CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement), in 2005, bilateral trade has grown from a level of US $ 8.7 billion (2005 - 2006), to US $ 21.3 billion in 2012-13. Singapore has emerged as the second largest foreign investor in India. Even India's investment in Singapore has gone up eight-fold as a result the Indian business community has emerged as the larg­est foreign business community in Singapore." Full story

Singapore's water companies aim to quench China's $850 billion thirst

Reuters UK, 3 Jun 2013
Water companies in Singapore are attracting big-name investors as they profit from exporting their expertise to China, which plans to spend $850 billion over the next decade to improve its scarce and polluted water supplies.
Hyflux, which has a market capitalisation of S$1.2 billion, signed two agreements in April for projects in China. The company is known for its membrane technology used for ultrafiltration, a process to separate certain dirty or harmful particles in water. Full story

Singapore government shows interest in Uttar Pradesh's infrastructure projects

The Economic Times, 1 Jun 2013
A delegation comprising business leaders and government officials from Singapore has evinced interest in investing in upcoming infrastructure projects in Uttar Pradesh.
A team of key officials of International Enterprise Singapore (IES) and Changi Airport Group met Special Secretary Industrial Development K R Sharma here yesterday, according to an official release.
The Singapore delegation comprised of centre director of IES in Mumbai, Wong Ken Mun, and centre director of IES in Delhi Amita Mehta along with Phau senior manager of Changi Airport Group of Singapore Hui Hoon. Full story

Related:
Singapore team expresses interest in infrastructure projects - The Times Of India

Singapore shows interest in controversial Navi Mumbai airport project

The Times Of India, 26 May 2013
MUMBAI: Singapore has shown interest in investing in infrastructure projects in the state. In particular, it has shown interest in international airport projects and building new cities.
Deputy prime minister of Singapore Tharman Shanghurathnam visited the country's financial capital earlier this week to explore investment opportunities. Full story

Related:

1. Navi Mumbai airport project: Costs up three-fold, CM admits - The Hindu Business Line
2. Navi Mumbai international airport project faces obstacle - Infrawindow.com

India seeks more investment from Singapore to create 100 million skilled jobs for Indian workers

Zeenews.india.com, 15 May 2013
India Wednesday sought investments from Singapore in the proposed national investment and manufacturing zones (NIMZs), which are integrated industrial townships with world class infrastructure.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is here on a two-day visit, said countries like Germany and US have already expressed a keen interest to participate in the NIMZs.
"We have a (national manufacturing) policy. If you read it carefully, first objective is to raise the share of manufacturing to 25-26 percent, create 100 million skilled jobs, establish integrated industrial townships...It is a country of limitless opportunities," Sharma said here while addressing business community of Singapore and India. Full story

Related:
India tries to woo investment from Singapore - The Times Of India

Singapore investor plans to make substantial investment in North Dakota

The Jamestown Sun, 27 Apr 2014
A real estate investor from Singapore expects to make two or three deals in the Bakken before leaving a conference this week with plans to invest millions in North Dakota.
Danny Lim, founding principal of Barons Group of Companies, was among more than 200 people who attended the Bakken Investor Conference in Minot this week.
Lim said he raises funds from Singapore, India, Malaysia, China and other eastern countries that he’s interested in investing in western North Dakota residential and commercial projects. Full story

Related:
Singapore investors eye Oil Patch - The Dickson Press

EDB furiously courting more Indian IT, pharma companies to set up shop in Singapore

The Hindu Business Line, 1 Apr 2013
An Indian pharmaceutical major is expected to set up a regional office in Singapore this year, while several other IT companies will join the growing number of Indian enterprises already operating out of the city state, a senior government official said today.
“This year we will be garnering more Indian IT investments into Singapore as well as potentially a pharmaceutical project as well,” Lee Eng Keat, International Director at Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB), said.
Lee however refused to name the pharma company that is likely to open its office in the island nation.
He was confident that more and more bio-pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies would be locating their regional offices in Singapore. Full story

Singapore investors concerned about India's new anti-tax avoidance rule

Manorama Online, 9 Mar 2013
Investors in Singapore are concerned over the pending implementation of India's General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) and its impact on investments there, according to legal and tax executives.
They said investors here were seeking more clarity on the GAAR at a seminar last night on the Indian Budget, 2013-14. "While the deferment (of GAAR)...has definitely lifted market sentiment, the ambiguity regarding whether the GAAR framework would override the India-Singapore Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), has left our Singaporean clients in the lurch," said Shwetambari Rao, Partner at the Bangalore -based Krishnamurthy & Co. Full story

Singapore government selling Australand stake

The Age, 11 Jan 2013
IT MAY have been a sparse few years for deal-makers in investment banking but the new year has got off to a quick start now the Singaporean government has formally put its controlling stake in Australand on the block.
Almost a month ago GPT went public with a bid to buy key assets out of Australand after earlier private approaches failed. GPT wanted to buy Australand's property portfolio along with its commercial and industrial assets, which between them account for about 80 per cent of Australand's assets. Full story

EDB's investment in Coda Automative going KAPUT?

Gigoam.com, 11 Dec 2012
Following struggles by Better Place, Fisker Automotive and the bankrupt A123 Systems, electric car startup Coda Automotive has laid off 50 workers, according to PluginCars. The car company has reportedly had really slow sales, and recently received a low score for its frontal crash test.
A Coda spokesperson said that 50 employees was 15 percent of the workforce. The company’s first electric sedan to market was delayed by years, and the car maker officially launched its sales in the Spring of 2012. But even after launch, the company had to recall 78 of its cars for faulty parts.
Coda has a joint venture with China battery maker Lishen, called Lio (oil spelled backward), and is in the process of raising $150 million in funding to help get these inaugural cars to the first customers in California. Other investors in Coda include Aeris Capital and Singapore-based EDB Investments. Full story

Related:

1. Electric Car Startup Coda Closes $58M Round, Eyes Singapore - Gigaom.com
2. Singapore EDBI's Chu Swee Yeok extols the virtue of patience in cleantech investment - Greenprospectasia.com

Singapore expected to invest more in Iskandar Malaysia

Malaysia Star, 5 Dec 2012
JOHOR BARU: UEM Land Holdings Bhd says more investments from Singapore are expected to flow into Iskandar Malaysia in the coming years as the economic growth corridor progresses.
Managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said Singaporean investors had now realised that Iskandar Malaysia offered good prospects for them.
He said in the early days of the corridor's inception, many Singaporeans were adopting the “wait and see” attitude as they wanted to see whether the economic growth corridor would take off as planned. Full story

Related:
Momentum Among Singaporean Investors In Iskandar On The Rise: Singapore DPM - Bernama.com

Singapore tycoon Peter in partnership to build RM3b race track in Iskandar Johor

The Malaysian Insider, 1 Dec 2012
Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim is bidding to build a RM3 billion race circuit in Iskandar, Johor with the Johor royal family and state asset manager Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the Straits Times reported today.
The Singapore daily reported that the project, called Motorsports City, is expected to be completed by 2015 or 2016 in Malaysia’s ambitious southern corridor that provides high-end housing and entertainment popular with Singaporeans.
It quoted sources as saying the race track’s 100-hectare site is located 10 to 15 minutes away from Tuas’ Second Link in the southern state, at the left of a rest stop after the Malaysian checkpoint. Full story

Singapore sovereign wealth fund to buy 101 California St. for US$851 million

Bizjournals.com, 23 Oct 2012
An Asian partnership led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund has agreed to buy a 92 percent stake in 101 California St. in downtown San Francisco for $851 million, or $740 a square foot, according to Real Estate Alert.
The seller was Nippon Life Insurance. The partnership will also buy part of the remaining 8 percent interest held by Hines, which will continue to manage the property, according to the real estate newsletter. Full story

Related:
Singapore’s GIC Said to Invest in San Francisco Office Tower - Bloomberg

Vietnam's party leader praised efforts by Singapore firms

Viet Nam News, 15 Sep 2012
SINGAPORE (VNS) — Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong met with representatives from several leading Singaporean businesses on Friday as part of his three-day official visit to the Southeast Asian country.
The General Secretary praised the contributions made by Singaporean businesses when promoting trade and investment between the two countries, while underlining Viet Nam 's commitment to helping overseas companies establish long-term business in the country.
He asked Singaporean businesses to step up cooperation with their Vietnamese partners and facilitate Viet Nam's agricultural and aquatic exports to third markets via Singapore. Full story

Singapore to jointly invest 100 billion yuan in Sichuan high-tech park

Morningwhistle.com, 12 Sep 2012
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview on Wednesday that Singapore will increase the presence of Singaporean companies in Sichuan through the newly announced Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park. Singapore and Sichuan have already invested 2.13 billion yuan in the park and plan to invest another 100 billion yuan and employ 120,000 people over the next seven years.
The project is being undertaken by the China-Singapore (Chengdu) Hi-Tech Innovation Park Company and will encompass an area of 10.34 square kilometers, with a focus on the outsourcing, IT, and digital new media industries. Construction began on May 8 of this year. Full story