Here's what we have for the week

Significant Event

• United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB) is acquiring Citigroup’s consumer banking business in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam for SGD 5 billion.
• SGX is launching energy metals derivative contracts
• Singtel is considering a stake sale in the fiber assets of its Australian subsidiary SingTel Optus Pty.
• Lion Industries Corp is disposing of its long steel product manufacturing plant in Pasir Gudang to Esteel for RM 135 million.
• Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd has received a letter from the Ministry of Health, agreeing in principle for the continuation of medical supply logistics services to the ministry's facilities for a period of 10 years.

Real Estate Industry 

• Land & General is acquiring a 3.55 acres leasehold land located within walking distance of the IOI Puchong Jaya LRT station.
• Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd is disposing of 47.57 acres for RM 41 million.
• Astaka Holdings is disposing of 7.65 acres of land located at Bukit Senyum to Seaview Holdings Sdn Bhd, a company linked to the businessman Datuk Daing A Malek Daing A Rahaman.
• KWSP (EPF) is selling its old office located at Raja Chulan, KL to Time dotcom Bhd for RM 62 million
• ESR Reit sold an industrial remise situated at 28 Senoko Drive, Singapore to Tat Seng Packaging Group for SGD 12 million.
• Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd will be building 5 news hotels in the next few years. 3 in KL and 2 in Sabah.

Users can get access all the major transactions of offices, lands, and factories in Malaysia via this tool.

Infrastructure

• Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has issued a contract worth SGD 454 million for the construction of Serangoon North station and tunnels.
• Comfortdelgro is now the largest wheelchair transport service provider in Singapore after acquiring Ming Chuan Transportation Pte. Ltd

Cash Call/ Debt restructuring

• HLT Global had Proposed private placement of between RM66.5 million and RM76.84 million to fund its rubber glove business expansion and for working capital requirements.
• Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd is planning to raise up to RM128.46 million through a rights issue for partial repayment of the group's revolving credit facilities and its working capital.
• iFast Corp, which had acquired a UK bank last week, had raised SGD 105 million via placement of 14 million new ordinary shares.

Company Expansion Plan

• Pecca Group is acquiring a 4.31acre industrial land located at Serendah as part of its expansion plan
• Asia Poly is expanding its production capacity via the acquisition of the entire stake of Keng Imports & Exports Sdn Bhd for RM24.02 million.
• Vitrox Plans to invest between RM80mil and RM100mil in a new expansion project in Batu Kawan this year. The expansion would add 447,000 sq ft of floor space for production, business development, design and development, and shared services activities at the plant.

Users can filter the companies' activities via industry or nature of activities via using our tool for Malaysia companies and Singapore companies via the link.

Daily Insights

• The European Commission has proposed plans to label nuclear power as green on 2 Jan 2022. This may be the start of a reversal in Uranium demand. Here’s an overview of Uranium.
• US 10 year bond yield is rising quickly recently. Here’s a few critical levels that could affect the price trends of different asset classes.
• US Tech stocks are plunging over the week. The trend is your friend, but we are seeing retail investors increasing their net long position
• Malaysia tech stocks are not spared from the bloodshed. Has value emerged? A quick comparison of Malaysia OSAT company against its global peer could give a hint.
• Macau casino operators' licenses are expiring in June this year. The country will continue to be limited to 6 concessionaires but the operating period will be halved to 10 years. Although casino stocks are cheering on Friday, here are a few macro factors we need to know before we invest in Macau casino stocks.

News we are reading

• Carsome, Malaysia's used-car online marketplace had raised $290 million in a Series E funding round. (Forbes)
• Take-Two Interactive, the game maker of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is buying Zynga, a mobile game developer for $11.04 billion. (Reuters)
• Inbound travelers to Malaysia who are fully vaccinated and have recently recovered from Covid-19 do not need to undergo mandatory quarantine. (The Star)
• Petronas is collaborating with Shell on carbon capture and storage solutions. (The Edge)
• Beijing has reported its first locally transmitted case of Omicron coronavirus variant (The Guardian)
• Private cryptocurrencies, including stable coins, and a central bank digital currency would be able to coexist, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on 11 Jan 2022. (Business Insider)
• As Fed rate hikes loom, China may opt for modest easing to cushion slowdown (Reuters) 

Trades we are monitoring

• Short EUR
• Long agriculture products
• Long interest rate
• Long banks due to the interest rate hike
• Short non-profitable growth stocks
• Short Philadelphia semiconductor index
• Long China stocks that are beaten down

_______________________________________________________________

Companies are taking the last few months to raise sufficient funds or dispose of their assets to raise their cash level before the party of liquidity ends. China is risking a big hit to the global economy and global supply chains with a zero case policy. This would further increase the inflation rate of Western Countries and quicker rate hikes.

Lastly, we are seeing a welcoming attitude from the Fed towards stable coins. In fact, stable coins are not threatening the dominant status of the US Dollar. The crypto world revolves around the dollar and dollar stable coins, and this is true in crypto trading even outside of the US, in places where the dollar isn't the official currency. Even Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi recognized Tether(USDT) as an official currency. So arguably crypto is helping to dollarize parts of the world, or at least cementing the dollar as the standard unit of account.

That's all we have for the week.