Here's what we have for the week

Significant Event

• Dollar-yen’s surge past the 144 level for the first time since 1998.
• Pound Falls to Weakest Level Since 1985 Against US Dollar.

Real Estate Industry 

• Aikbee Development (Kepong) Sdn Bhd, a property developer wholly owned by Sit Seng & Sons Realty Sdn Bhd is acquiring a piece of land in Rawang.
• Aloft KL Sentral is up for sale at a price tag of RM 430 million.
• Wisma TM, Taman Desa is sold to JAG Land Sdn Bhd for RM35.29 million.

Infrastructure/Logistics

• Study of the construction of the East Coast Expressway Phase 3 (LPT3) has been completed and submitted to the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister’s Department. The proposed construction involves a 150km stretch from Gemuroh, Terengganu to Tumpat, Kelantan.
• NTT Ltd, an information technology infrastructure and services company, has announced the commencement of its sixth data centre construction in Cyberjaya. The company had invested USD 50 million for the new data centre.

Cash Call/ Debt restructuring/Restructuring/Proposed Listing

• Sapura Energy Bhd’s wholly owned subsidiary Sapura Project Services Sdn Bhd, had been appointed a liquidator under the order of the Shah Alam High Court.
• Oxley Holdings is proposing a distribution of dividend in specie from the ordinary shares it holds in Aspen Group Holdings to its shareholders. Oxley owns 9.4% stake in Aspen.
• Axiata Group’s wireless tower business edotco Group Sdn Bhd is considering a share sale that could raise as much as US$600 million

Company Expansion Plan/ Capex Plan

• Oriental Holdings Bhd, the Penang based conglomerate, is investing RM150 million to build a new hospital, called the Oriental Medical Segamat, in Johor on a 2.36 hectare piece of land.

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

Daily Insights

• A guide on BDI, Capesize, Panamax, Supramax, and Handysize. (Read Full Story)
• Companies that deliver outstanding quarter result during Aug 2022. (Read Full Story) 
• Companies with pricing power. (Read Full Story) 

News we are reading

• Binance will convert users' USDC into its own stablecoin starting 29 Sept 2022. (The Edge) 
• Food delivery firm foodpanda lays off staff in Singapore. (Straits Time)
• Sea, the parent company of Shopee, is leaving Latin America, a region that contributes 19% of its revenue. (The Edge)

What we are thinking

Binance would be auto-converting customers' USDC to their own BUSD stablecoin.

It is frustrating as customers don’t have a choice. But this is in fact what happens when you transfer money from one bank account to another: It’s not “your” money that’s being moved. Instead, you are swapping, say, a Citi IOU for a Wells Fargo IOU.

The banking system works because Citi promises to honor Wells Fargo IOUs 1:1 versus their own and vice-versa.

Binance is unilaterally doing the same with USDC.

It may also mean, that USDC is itself becoming the reserve currency of stable coin.