weekend

thewww.businesstimes.com.sg business| JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 | S$1.00 | MCI (P) 052/08/2014 | times the raffles conversation OPINION WEALTH MIT PRESIDENT The business of creative Asia’s hot, young RAFAEL REIF | 8-9 | industries | 26-27 | hedge funds | 28-29 labour Redundancies on the rise RESTRUCTURING pains continue to bite, Dec bank loans growth with more workers laid off in 2014 than the year before. | 2 finance slows to near 5-yr low KL tycoon extends RM2b loan ANANDA Krishnan is understood to have agreed to lend 1MDB as much as RM2 billion to a debt that falls due on Jan 31. | 3 Hit comes from a sharp 6.4 per cent fall in manufacturing loans compared to a month ago media Singtel forms streaming JV By Jamie Lee IT teams up with Sony Pictures Television [email protected] and Warner Bros Entertainment to offer @JamieLeeBT regional video streaming service. | 6 Singapore ANK lending in December equities grew at 5.9 per cent from a year SOFT MARKET January market cap rises 2.2% ago – the slowest pace since Sustainable THE value of Singapore’s stock market is up March 2010 – preliminary data improvement in consumer and for the third month in a row with low-oil B from the Monetary Authority beneficiaries and real estate counters housing loans of Singapore showed on Friday. leading the way. | 10 looks doubtful. Compared to November, it actually stag- FILE PHOTO technology nated amid weak business loans, which Google spending spree takes a toll have been contracting for most of the sec- IT ramps up spending on new technologies ond half of 2014. even as its Web-advertising business falls Loans through the domestic banking While construction loans – which make ter of loans to individuals. The gain com- short of estimates. | 19 unit – which mainly reflect Singapore-dol- up the single-largest part, or about a quar- pared with a 0.4 per cent lift in November. lar lending – stood at S$608 billion in De- ter, of all business loans – were up 0.9 per With analysts’ expectations for further cember. cent in December, this was weaker than the softness in the domestic property market Business loans, which have shown clear 1.6 per cent growth posted in November. amid cooling measures and the rising inter- weakness in the later part of last year, con- On a yearly comparison, business loans est rate environment, Ms Ling said it may tracted 0.4 per cent to S$372 billion in De- LIVING grew just 6.4 per cent – a level not seen be premature to conclude a sustainable im- cember compared to a month ago. This re- Time’s since August 2010. provement in consumer and housing loans versed from the 0.8 per cent growth posted is on the cards. a-changing “Key drivers of business loans are facing in November. For 13 months now, year-on-year L2-4 The hit in December came from a sharp more subdued growth prospects going growth in consumer loans has been in sin- 6.4 per cent fall in manufacturing loans ahead,” said Selena Ling, head of treasury gle-digit territory, reflecting the raft of cool- compared to a month ago, reversing from research & strategy at OCBC Bank. ing measures introduced by the govern- slight gains made in November. Trade Consumer loans edged up slightly by 0.5 ment. The total debt servicing ratio, which loans also declined for the fourth straight per cent from a month ago to S$236 billion limits borrowings to 60 per cent of a month. On a yearly comparison, trade-loan in December. This mostly reflects higher person’s gross monthly income, was put in growth eased to a four-year low. housing loans, which make up three-quar- place in 2013. Cortina Watch pushes ahead with expansion plans

By Chuang Peck Ming ing officer Jeremy Lim. [email protected] The shop, which will probably be the biggest Rolex Singapore boutique in Singapore, is likely to be ready by year-end. CORTINA Watch is not taking a breather, even after The multi-brand boutique at the luxury hotel and opening the world’s biggest Patek Philippe boutique in shopping development at The Capitol is about 3,000 sq Taiwan. Neither is the Swiss currency shock or a soft ft. It will incur renovation costs of probably S$2 million. market going to slow it. The Patek Philippe boutique at ION will triple its The Singapore-listed watch retail chain is pushing present 800-square-feet size to about 2,900 square feet ahead with expansion plans this year, which includes in July. Renovation is estimated to cost around S$2.5 mil- opening a giant Rolex flagship shop in Marina Square lion to S$3 million. Meanwhile, the Paragon store, which and a multi-brand boutique in Capitol Building as well carries brands like Vacheron Constantin, Omega, as expanding its existing Patek Philippe boutique in ION Longines and Jaeger LeCoultre, will grow from 2,000 sq and multi-brand outlet in Paragon. ft to 2,800 sq ft, Mr Lim said, adding that Cortina may The Rolex shop will be the single biggest project, in- also refurbish its multi-brand outlet at Raffles City. TOP WATCHMEN volving 5,500 square feet of space for watch displays and From left: Jeremy Lim; Anthony Lim, chairman and CEO of Cortina; events. Renovation costs alone could work out to Continued on Page 5 >> Thierry Stern, president of Patek Philippe; Raymond Lim, deputy chairman and deputy CEO of Cortina around S$4 million, according to Cortina’s chief operat- ȧȨ Cortina’s S$4m investment pays off, Page 5 2 top stories THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

CONTENTS MARKETS

NEWS LIVING STOCKS PRIME RATES FOREX ̄STI Friday Change US$ S$ Top Stories 2-7 Watches L2-5 3,391.20 (-27.85) KL COMP 1,781.26 -0.92 SINGAPORE 5.35 US$ (S$ per US$) – 1.350 Raffles Conversation 8-9 Dining L6-9 NIKKEI 225 17,674.39 +68.17 MALAYSIA 6.85 £ (US$/S$ per £) 1.507 2.036 Design L10-11 EURO (US$/S$/€ ) 1.134 1.531 Companies & Markets 10-14 ̄STI FUTURES HANG SENG 24,507.05 -88.80 HONG KONG 5.00 Real Estate 15-16 SET 1,581.25 -5.15 INDONESIA 14.424 Foreign currency per US$ S$ TAIWAN 5.036 Banking & Finance 17 3,390.00 (-29.00) JAKARTA 5,289.40 +26.69 YEN 117.90 87.30 JAPAN 1.475 Energy & Commodities 18 MANILA 7,689.91 +72.61 RM 3.625 2.684 ̄SIMSCI KOSPI 1,949.26 -1.76 KOREA 9.33 HK$ 7.752 5.740 Technology 19 BRITAIN 0.50 SHENZHEN B 1,070.04 +3.48 BAHT 32.71 24.22 380.23 (-2.50) US 3.25 Consumer 20 MUMBAI IND 29,182.95 -498.82 RUPIAH 12,650 9,367 Transport 21 CANADA 2.85 RENMINBI 6.248 4.626 ̄SIMSCI FUTURES 11am EST Change SWITZERLAND 0.50 INDIAN RUPEE 61.79 45.76 Govt & Economy 22-25 DOW 17,318.65 -98.20 INDIA 14.75 A$ 1.286 0.952 Opinion 26-27 Home & Garden L12-13 380.20 (-2.80) NASDAQ 4,664.79 -18.61 Source: Bloomberg NZ$ 1.374 1.017 Wealth 28-30 Motoring L14-15 Life & Culture 31 Sports L16

More redundancies in More layoffs Redundancies by sector 2014 due to restructuring 25,000 (Number of workers) 20,000 Increase in layoffs stems primarily from the services sector 15,000 Total By Kelly Tay 10,000 ber – even lower than the consen- ment growth will likely fall fur- Services [email protected] sus expectation of 2 per cent. ther. Unless policymakers ease re- Manufacturing 5,000 @KellyTayBT For the whole of 2014, unem- strictions on foreign labour, the Singapore Construction ployment stayed low, averaging 2 burden of driving GDP growth 0 RESTRUCTURING pains contin- per cent overall, 2.7 per cent for will increasingly fall on productiv- 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014* ue to bite, with more workers residents, and 2.9 per cent for citi- ity growth, which has been disap- laid off in 2014 than the year be- zens – broadly unchanged from pointing so far. Total 13,090 8,590 16,880 23,430 9,800 9,990 11,010 11,560 12,800 fore. Still, labour market condi- 2013. “The pressure to see more visi- Manufacturing 8,860 5,500 10,430 13,640 4,490 4,460 4,050 5,000 4,200 tions remain tight – unemploy- Meanwhile, employment ble results from the productivity Construction 490 70 540 980 1,350 1,050 650 1,120 1,500 ment averaged just 2 per cent for growth among locals rose over drive is therefore rising, and we Services 3,670 2,990 5,870 8,720 3,960 4,430 6,300 5,430 7,100 the whole of last year. 2014 as foreign employment expect Budget 2015 to announce *2014 figures based on preliminary estimates Wage pressures persist as growth continued to moderate. another fiscal deficit of 0.3 per Source: Labour Market Survey, MOM well, with Singapore’s real medi- The services sector (118,600) cent of GDP to support the re- an income rising by 1.4 per cent formed the bulk of employment structuring agenda of boosting increases for women and older num after adjusting for inflation. in 2014. The pace of growth, how- gains, followed by construction productivity.” residents. But higher consumer prices ever, was slower than 2013’s “ex- (14,500). Manufacturing jobs, OCBC economist Selena Ling Coupled with the fact that the meant that this was lower than the gains of 13 per cent or 2.5 per ceptionally high increase” of 4.6 however, fell by 4,600. also noted that the slower em- labour market stayed tight with cent per annum in the earlier five per cent (when bigger incre- MOM said the employed pool ployment growth “may suggest low unemployment, the employ- ments likely kicked in due to the years. is estimated to have grown by that labour force growth through ment rate of residents aged 25 to Wage Credit Scheme). As for lower-wage workers at 129,000 over the entire year of the return of housewives and reti- 64 rose to another high of 79.7 the 20th percentile of full-time So said the Ministry of Man- 2014 – lower than the 136,200 in rees may have peaked”. per cent, up from 79 per cent in employed residents, the income power (MOM) on Friday in its 2013 and similar to the 129,100 in In a separate report by MOM, 2013 and 72.3 per cent in 2004. increase over 2009 to 2014 (after 25-page Employment Situation 2012. also released on Friday, data There was also a sustained adjusting for inflation) was 12 2014 report, which revealed that per cent or 2.4 per cent per an- Said Nomura research ana- showed that Singapore’s labour growth in incomes over the last 12,800 workers were made redun- num. MOM said this was faster lysts Euben Paracuelles and Bri- force participation rate for resi- five years; from 2009 to 2014, the dant in 2014 – up from 11,560 in than the gains of 3.4 per cent or 2013 – amid ongoing business re- an Tan: “As hiring locals be- dents rose to a new high of 67 per median income increased by 10 0.7 per cent per annum from structuring. comes more challenging, employ- cent in 2014, driven by continued per cent or 1.9 per cent per an- 2004 to 2009. The increase in layoffs stemmed primarily from the ser- vices sector, which made up latest us data | more than half (7,100) of all re- dundancies last year (compared to 5,430 in 2013). Layoffs from Q4 GDP growth slows on weak business spending the construction sector also rose to 1,500 from 1,120, while redun- Washington two back-to-back quarters of For all of 2014, the economy the third quarter’s 3.2 per cent dancies in manufacturing de- US economic growth slowed very strong growth, is likely to be grew 2.4 per cent compared with pace. clined to 4,200 from 5,000. short-lived given the enormous sharply in the fourth quarter as 2.2 per cent in 2013. The report According to government da- Despite the increase in lay- tailwind from lower petrol prices. came two days after the Federal weak business spending and a ta, petrol prices have plunged offs, recruitment experts remain Most economists believe that fun- Reserve said that the economy wider trade deficit offset the fast- 43 per cent since June, leaving unfazed. Said Femke Hellemons, damentals in the United States was expanding at a “solid pace”, Americans with more money for est pace of consumer spending country manager, Adecco Singa- are strong enough to cushion the an upgraded assessment that discretionary spending. A pore: “We see an increase in lay- since 2006. blow on growth from weakening keeps it on track to start raising strengthening labour market, de- offs but it’s nothing too concern- overseas economies. Gross domestic product interest rates this year. spite sluggish wage growth, is al- ing. The job market remains Even with the moderation in (GDP) expanded at a 2.6 per cent Consumer spending, which so a boost. healthy and employment is still annual pace after the third the fourth quarter, growth re- growing strongly.” mained above the 2.5 per cent accounts for more than The strong pace of consumer quarter’s spectacular 5 per cent MOM’s preliminary estimates pace, which is considered to be two-thirds of US economic activi- spending, however, was over- rate, the Commerce Department showed that the overall seasonal- the economy’s potential. Econo- ty, advanced at a 4.3 per cent shadowed by a drop in capital ex- ly adjusted unemployment rate said in its first GDP snapshot on mists had expected the economy pace in the fourth quarter – the penditure. Business spending on declined from 2 per cent in Sep- Friday. to expand at a 3 per cent rate in fastest since the first quarter of equipment fell at a 1.9 per cent tember to 1.9 per cent in Decem- The slowdown, which follows the fourth quarter. 2006 and an acceleration from rate. Reuters THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 top stories 3 Malaysian tycoon to help 1MDB repay loan Ananda Krishnan is said to have agreed to lend firm RM2b to settle its debt obligation to Maybank and RHB Bank

By Anita Gabriel and once again to end of January this 1MDB) has caught everyone by surprise. [email protected] year. There was always the notion that there @AnitaGabrielBT Insiders say that 1MDB is pushing for a would be support from the forthcoming Singapore “broader deal” for Mr Krishnan to pick up IPO but now, AK is left carrying the baby,” THE deal that was trumpeted as a mark of a stake in the energy firm, whose initial said an observer. Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan’s cor- public offering has been delayed but is More than Mr Krishnan’s quandary, porate prowess when he unloaded his age- still on the cards. The businessman, how- the latest development highlights the fi- ing power assets at a hefty price of RM8.5 ever, has yet to warm up to the deal while nancial dilemma of 1MDB whose borrow- billion (S$3.16 billion) to state-owned 1Ma- the clock is ticking on the controversial ings have ballooned to RM41.9 billion in laysia Development Bhd (1MDB) three fund’s RM2 billion debt due. 2014; the fund suffered losses of RM665 years ago appears to be causing him dis- “AK’s advisers are scratching their million over that period. tress of late. heads as he is caught between a rock and The fund’s newly-appointed chief Arul Mr Krishnan, Malaysia’s second richest a hard place. The loan amount is high as Kandasamy had reportedly said in early man who owns a sprawling empire of me- the assets were acquired at a high price January that the fund was a “responsible borrower”. “We need to manage the use dia, telecommunications, real estate and and he is unlikely to want to take up a of our cash in the most efficient way for oil and gas businesses, is understood to stake at such a valuation. On the other the company,” he had explained in re- have agreed to lend 1MDB as much as hand, there’s this huge liability that’s out- sponse to concerns over 1MDB’s move to RM2 billion to settle the latter’s debt obli- standing,” says a market watcher. MR KRISHNAN seek an extension to settle its debt. gation to Maybank and RHB Bank which Insiders say Mr Krishnan may have Insiders say he may have agreed to But observers find that hard to swallow falls due on Jan 31. guarantee the loan as it had seemed like a agreed to guarantee the loan as it had now. “What is efficient about managing That outcome – the details are still be- straightforward case. PHOTO: THE STAR seemed like a straightforward case – cash when the fund has to borrow from a ing worked out and yet to be finalised – is 1MDB would float its energy assets, raise private businessman to repay a debt?”not- an “interim solution”, says a source, for a the much-needed funds and repay the cash settlement. ed a source. sticky situation that arose from the billion- loan. But it didn’t play out that way – the The bridging facility was in fact rolled Insiders say that 1MDB had sought a aire having provided a RM2 billion “con- stock offering slated for second quarter over in May last year when it fell due and third extension from its lender over the tingent equity support” or guarantee – as last year has been delayed with no fixed week but was turned away, which could was restructured into two tranches – requested by the lenders Maybank and timeline for now and 1MDB, which forked have led to the eleventh-hour loan deal RM3.5 billion to be repaid over 10 years RHB Bank – for a RM6.17 billion bridging out a hefty RM2.4 billion in finance costs struck with Mr Krishnan. loan provided to 1MDB in 2012 to fund and RM2 billion to be settled by last No- in fiscal 2014 alone, may now be in a bind. “1MDB needs to resolve this outstand- the purchase of the power assets. vember. It is the latter tranche that 1MDB “Usually, the seller would want a clean ing payment and the loan by Ananda is In turn, a deal was struck then for appears to be facing difficulties paying up break but this was done on a fairly convo- supposed to address that while it works to- Mr Krishnan to either subscribe for new as it has since been rolled over twice – luted structure. It didn’t help that the wards a long-term agreement,” said a shares in 1MDB’s energy firm or receive from November to December last year speed of which things have changed (for source. AirAsia X plans rights issue, overhauls management

By Nisha Ramchandani which will come together with free war- [email protected] rants – to repay borrowings and to fund @Nisha_BT general working capital. This comes after Singapore it was reported in November last year that MR AZRAN LONG-HAUL budget carrier AirAsia X – the budget carrier was having trouble Will step down as which is planning to raise some meeting wage payments for staff salaries chief executive RM395 million (S$146.97 million) via a and allowances. effective Jan 30 rights issue – has appointed new senior As group chief, Mr Kamarudin will over- due to “mutual management, confirming reports earlier see strategy for the AirAsia X group, which separation”. this week that chief executive Azran also includes AirAsia X Thailand and Indo- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG Osman-Rani was on his way out. nesia AirAsia X, as the beleaguered carrier AirAsia X announced that AirAsia direc- seeks to turn itself around. tor Kamarudin Meranun has been made Mr Kamarudin said: “Over the past few AirAsia X’s group chief executive; and months, we saw the company facing chal- named AirAsia’s former head of corporate lenges in a difficult environment. After a development and investor relations, Ben- thorough review, a decisive turnaround yamin Ismail, as AirAsia X’s acting chief ex- plan was initiated to put the company on ecutive. substantially better financial footing to en- Mr Azran steps down as chief executive sure we bring back confidence to the mar- effective Jan 30 due to “mutual separa- ket.” tion”, AirAsia X said in an announcement He added: “With this robust plan in to the Bursa Malaysia. place, AirAsia X will advance to the next Meanwhile, the budget carrier plans to chapter of growth and uphold its leader- use the proceeds from the rights issue – ship position in the long-haul, low-cost market.” Shares in AirAsia X were suspended Correction from trading, ahead of the announce- ment. IN “Tuan Sing’s Q4 profit dips 4% to For the quarter ended Sept 30, 2014, S$24.3m” (BT, Jan 30), we wrongly report- AirAsia X posted a net loss RM210.85 mil- ed that Tuan Sing’s share of results of equi- lion, its third straight quarter of losses as ty accounted investees was a bigger loss of the bottom line was hit by steeper operat- S$20 million, from 2013’s S$14.8 million. ing expenses and higher forex losses. In It should be a bigger profit. We are sorry the corresponding quarter a year earlier, it for the error. registered a net profit of RM26.44 million. 4 top stories THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Manufacturing, services firms Govt will help but downbeat on H1 outlook SMEs must Companies in the transport engineering cluster were the least optimistic actively seek By Prisca Ang growth [email protected] Singapore opportunities THE recent slump in global oil prices has OIL SHOCK weakened expectations of many manufac- The marine and turing firms as they anticipate a fall in reve- By Mindy Tan offshore [email protected] nue. engineering @MindyTanBT According to results of the latest gov- segment Singapore ernment surveys released on Friday, a net foresees THE government will continue to provide weighted balance of 3 per cent of manufac- declining turers expect business conditions to deteri- strong support for restructuring. Mean- orders as oil while, companies have to actively seek orate from the fourth quarter of last year. and drilling growth opportunities through innovation The net balance is calculated by deduct- firms cut back and internationalisation. ing the proportion of those with negative on capital business expectations from those with pos- expenditure. Speaking at the 28th annual Singapore 1000, SME 1000, and Singapore Interna- itive expectations. FILE PHOTO Firms in the transport engineering clus- tional 100 Awards Ceremony on Friday ter were the least optimistic about pros- night, Minister of State for Trade and In- pects for January to June 2015, with a net dustry, Teo Ser Luck, noted that there are weighted balance of 20 per cent expecting “positive” signs that firms are seeking these growth opportunities. poorer business. In particular, the marine The positive sentiment of the general tal Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) as the pri- They have also actively tapped on gov- and offshore engineering segment fore- manufacturing industries cluster is fuelled mary reasons for their negative senti- ernment grants and schemes to help them sees declining orders as oil and drilling by expectations of rising domestic de- ments. stay ahead. firms cut back on capital expenditure due mand during the Chinese New Year sea- “Interestingly, although the real estate To date, more than 22,000 companies to falling oil prices. son, especially in the food, beverage and sector remains in the doldrums for overall have benefited from the productivity initi- Employment in the sector is also set to tobacco segments. business outlook and operating receipts, atives introduced by the National Produc- decline, with all except the biomedical Similar to manufacturers, firms in the its employment forecast has actually im- tivity Council (NPC), which has supported manufacturing and transport engineering services sector are also sceptical about proved due to increased demand for man- clusters expecting to hire fewer workers in business prospects in the months ahead. agement services of residential, commer- the training and the first quarter of 2015. A net weighted 4 per cent of firms in the cial and industrial properties,” said econo- upgrading of However, other manufacturing firms services sector expect poorer business in mist Selena Ling, head of Treasury Re- workers, and the have a more rosy outlook for H1. A net the six-month period ending June 2015. search and Strategy at OCBC bank. adoption of tech- weighted balance of 12 per cent of firms in Firms in the real estate industry experi- On the other hand, the accommoda- nology and info- the chemicals cluster, for instance, expect enced an especially sharp decline in busi- tion and food & beverages services indus- comm solutions. improved business conditions due to low- ness confidence for H1, citing a slew of tries expect to reduce hiring, anticipating In 2013, er operating costs as crude oil and feed- government measures including the Addi- lower business activity in the first quarter 53,000 compa- stock prices decline. tional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) and To- of 2015 after the year-end holidays. nies took advan- tage of the Pro- ductivity and In- novation Credit in parliament | (PIC) to help them defray the costs involved in MR TEO Bill passed to ban late-night alcohol sale, consumption capability up- 75 per cent of SMEs grading. are pursuing By Malminderjit Singh Mr Iswaran said the data had shown that Bill, including with all stakeholders, and Citing DP In- innovation, with an [email protected] action needed to be taken, which his par- that it is based on the operational needs of formation increasing proportion Group’s 2014 @MalminderjitBT liamentary colleagues have agreed to in the ground. investing in technology SME Develop- Singapore principle. “After all this granularity, data MPs Foo Mee Har and Baey Yam Keng ment Survey, Mr sharing and fine-tuning, I think we need were among those who asked if the public PARLIAMENT passed a law on Friday to Teo noted that 75 per cent of SMEs are to come to a consensus. Is there a need to consumption ban could not be restricted ban the sale and consumption of alcohol pursuing innovation of some form, with take action with regard to this matter? I in public areas between 10.30pm and 7am to only a few areas instead of being is- an increasing proportion of SMEs invest- think the spirit of the debate in this House to control the negative consequences of land-wide. Mr Iswaran explained that a ge- ing in technology. has been to confirm that there is a need to public consumption of alcohol in Singa- ographic ban may be counter-productive, The same survey also found that the do so. The question then arises: how do pore. as it may be difficult to enforce and could proportion of SMEs planning to expand we go about it?” Second Minister for Home Affairs S also exacerbate displacement effects. overseas rose from 14 per cent in 2013 to Iswaran revealed that in 2014 alone, there Mr Iswaran explained that the “Dividing up a typical area which has 20 per cent in 2014, indicating increasing were 47 cases of rioting and 115 cases of government’s guiding principles in ap- residential units, some common areas interest in internationalisation. serious hurt, including stabbings, linked proaching this issue have been two-fold. such as void decks, playgrounds and “Singapore celebrates our 50th year of to the consumption of liquor. “The first is to make sure that we mini- neighbourhood parks, and some F&B and independence this year. We have thrived “In other words, on average, there was mise the disamenities and threats to pub- commercial outlets, into multiple finely and prospered as a nation in large part be- one rioting incident and two cases of seri- lic order that would arise from public con- drawn liquor control zones (LCZs) would cause of the ingenuity and ‘can-do’ spirit ous hurt each week that was liquor-relat- sumption of liquor. Second, in terms of lead to confusion and make compliance of our entrepreneurs. As we continue on ed,” Mr Iswaran said. our approach, we have endeavoured to be and enforcement more difficult,” Mr our journey of economic restructuring, I Nine out of 10 of these cases occurred balanced, trying to reconcile quite diverse Iswaran explained. have faith that this ‘can-do’ spirit will see after 10.30pm, he added, responding to views and interests, in order to achieve a “The displacement is real and can be us through to a successful conclusion,” queries from some MPs during the second pathway forward where we can all com- difficult to manage. So having a series of Mr Teo said. reading of the Liquor Control (Supply and mit to and achieve some level of unanimi- LCZs will simply exacerbate the problem The awards are ranked and published Consumption) Bill, who asked why this ty and take steps according to that.” in housing estates. The greater the gradi- by DP Information Group, and co-pro- time period had been chosen for the ban. He reiterated that the Ministry of ent of measures in different locations, the duced with EY. The key sponsors are ANZ In his wrap-up speech in Parliament, Home Affairs had consulted widely on the greater the propensity for displacement.” Singapore and DHL Express Singapore. THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 top stories 5 Cortina wows with S$4m investment Its Patek Philippe boutique in Taipei is the world’s biggest, with China tourists the main target

By Chuang Peck Ming [email protected] Singapore IT cost Cortina Watch around S$4 million and nearly two years of planning to get the world’s biggest Patek Philippe bou- tique up and running, according to Ray- mond Lim, Cortina’s deputy chairman and deputy chief executive officer. The luxury watch boutique is located in Taiwan and Mr Lim had to travel there often to supervise its opening. It’s huge, easily twice the size of Cortina’s biggest MEGA MALL Patek Philippe boutique at Marina Bay The 4,500 sq ft Sands in Singapore. boutique carries “It’s the first time I see something that some of Patek big for Patek,” exclaimed Thierry Stern, Philippe’s latest president of the Swiss family-owned Patek and most Philippe, at the opening of the 4,500 desirable models square feet boutique last month in Taipei 101, a landmark building at the heart of Taiwan’s capital. “It’s fantastic (that) we could do it,” he said. “(It’s) not only about the watches but in Cortina’s mind when it moved to open its most desirable models. At its grand rosewood, combined with modern brass also the right partner. You get somebody the Patek Philippe boutique there, where opening last month, the boutique un- in vintage burnished finishes. There’s an you can trust, very professional and will- it once had a multi-brand watch shop, Mr veiled the 6002G Sky Moon Tourbillon, a exclusive Patek Philippe chandelier and ta- ing to invest to do something like this.” Lim said. rare and artistic complication that’s very ble lamps which were built in collabora- Taipei 101, which houses most of the The Chinese are the biggest spenders much in demand. tion with Baccarat. high-fashion brands and luxury watch on luxury timepieces in recent years. It also introduced several new Patek “The boutique is further accentuated boutiques, was the world’s tallest building While they have cut back demand at Philippe creations, including the Mul- with custom-made accessories such as before the appearance of Burj Khalifa in home, Mr Lim said the Chinese are still ti-Scale Chronograph launched to cele- the Calatrava Cross panels, floor rugs, Dubai in 2010. But it remains a must-see buying big-time when they travel over- brate the brand’s 175th anniversary last timeline exposition and identifiable visu- tourist attraction. Bus-loads of tourists seas. October. als that help facilitate the organisation of from mainland China are seen to stop by Patek Philippe is arguably the biggest The boutique, designed in consultation the sales area while enhancing the luxuri- at Taipei 101 daily. name in upscale watches and Cortina’s with Patek Philippe, features iconic materi- ous intimacy of the VIP room,” said a state- Chinese tourists in fact were very much new boutique in Taiwan carries some of als like Birdseye maple wood and Indian ment issued by Patek Philippe. Cortina Watch pushes ahead with expansion plans

expansion reflects a more proactive and << Continued from Page 1 targeted approach which the retail chain is taking to draw customers into its shops. The retail chain, which made an after-tax “We can’t just open the door and wait profit of S$19 million in its last financial for them to come in anymore,” Mr Lim year ending March 2014, could easily said. spend up to S$10 million or more upfront The bigger boutiques will give Cortina this year for expansion. space to hold watch events for invited Mr Lim said Cortina has already se- guests and soft sell directly to big spend- cured the leases for the new outlets and ers and wealthy customers. the added space for expansion. “The advantage of this is we get to The expansion comes at a challenging know more people and, hopefully, they time, but Mr Lim said these are long-term get to know us,” Mr Lim said. “The disad- commitments and cyclical swings in the vantage is more work for backend people market as well as day-to-day currency fluc- and we got to have a separate budget for tuations – including the unexpected surge it.” in the Swiss franc two weeks ago – should Cortina has adopted the approach at the multi-brand shops but found its effort not disrupt Cortina’s plans. “diluted” by too many brands, which He thinks customers, fanned by media could cause distractions. It decided to do reports, have over-reacted when they it in its single-brand boutiques instead. rushed to buy watches in the wake of the The problem was these were small. rise in the Swiss currency. They had The Patek Philippe boutique at Marina feared prices of luxury Swiss timepieces Bay Sands was big enough for functions – would also increase, but Mr Lim said this and they proved to be successful. But Mr has not happened – and his Swiss suppli- Lim said the location was not popular ers have assured him they have no inten- with the local customers. tions of raising prices in Asia. Thus the move to expand the Patek As for the economic uncertainty, which Philippe boutique in ION and open a big affects spending, he said Cortina’s current Rolex flagship store in Marina Square. 6 top stories THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

FIRM FAVOURITES Hooq will have more than 10,000 movies and TV series in its catalogue, including (from far left) Harry Potter, Friends and Spider Man Singtel sets up streaming video venture It partners Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros Entertainment; regional rollout to start from this quarter

By Amit Roy Choudhury in this space, and with our part- have more than 10,000 movies Hooq chief noted that global each partner on a commercial ba- [email protected] nership with Sony Pictures Televi- and TV series in its catalogue in- OTT services such as Netflix usu- sis. @AmitRoyCBT sion and Warner Bros Entertain- cluding blockbusters such as Spi- ally charge in the region of US$10 Thomas Gewecke, chief digi- Singapore ment, we will achieve our vision der Man and Harry Potter as well a month. tal officer and executive vice-pres- to be the largest OTT video ser- “This will not work in the SINGTEL has teamed up with as TV favourites such as Friends ident for strategy and business vice in the region.” emerging markets that we are tar- development at Warner Bros En- Sony Pictures Television and and Gossip Girl. geting. In order to make it afford- tertainment, said: “We’re thrilled Warner Bros Entertainment to es- He added that demand for “Customers can also look for- able, you need to charge only a to partner Singtel and Sony Pic- tablish a startup that will stream OTT video has been growing and ward to an extensive selection of few dollars a month and have in- tures Television to help grow the the best of Hollywood and region- is poised for even higher growth regional content. We have ap- in the targeted markets, fuelled novative pricing models such as OTT video business across Asia. al entertainment on any device proached local content providers by better data networks and the and we will launch with regional pay by the day or weekly packag- The combination of Singtel’s ex- of the consumer’s choice and at es. When we roll out, we will do growing supply of affordable de- content agreements in place. We pertise and our world-class con- their chosen time. that as we have been able to get vices. are combining the best of Holly- tent is a winning combination for Aptly named Hooq, the start- content to provide affordability.” entertainment fans in the re- “There is a more than S$1 bil- wood with the best of the local up promises to be a regional Net- Hooq will also have various gion.” lion opportunity in our markets. markets.” flix kind of service but Singapore- payment options, ranging from George Chien, executive With Hooq, we are bringing to- Mr Bithos added that Hooq ans will have to wait a while be- credit cards to scratch cards and vie-president, networks, Asia-Pa- gether key elements of technolo- would be available on every sin- fore getting hooked, maybe till pre-paid phone cards to cific for Sony Pictures Television, gy, service and content to deliver gle screen, from smartphones, the later part of this year. post-paid bills. added: “Consumers expect pre- the full Internet experience to tablets to TVs. “We will have Aps Hooq will offer over-the-top customers.” “At launch, we are going to mium entertainment content to (OTT) video service in Asia and for every major mobile OS (opera- have a wide range of different be available to them at their con- He added: “We have 500 mil- will be rolled out progressively in ting system) and will be present payment types, we will seek to venience and as a result, OTT de- lion subscribers across our associ- the Singtel group’s Asian foot- in devices such as Chromecast.” plug in as many billing options as livery has become an important ate markets. We have a real un- Hooq will also extensively use possible,” Mr Bithos said. part of our business. Through print, including Indonesia, the derstanding of those customers data analytics to provide recom- He added that as an indepen- this partnership, we hope to cre- Philippines, India and Thailand, and what are the services they re- mendations to users. dent OTT company, Hooq will ate a service to meet that de- from the first quarter of 2015. ally like and where they want to On the pricing front, the strike a billing relationship with mand as it grows in Asia.” OTT refers to the delivery of go in the types of things they rich media content, such as mo- want to do with the Internet. vies and TV shows, over the Inter- “We also see mobile Internet net without the involvement of growing enormously and we are SIT, SMF ink pact to upgrade the Internet Service Provider incredibly well positioned in that (ISP). Singapore will get the ser- regard. And customers increa- manufacturing manpower capabilities vice after this rollout. singly want to watch video over Speaking to The Business mobile networks and that’s why By Mindy Tan SIT has also agreed to partner SMF to identify Times, Jonathan Auerbach, chief we believe this is a natural busi- [email protected] gaps in national manpower skills in the manufac- executive officer of Singtel Group ness for us to grow into.” @MindyTanBT turing industry and to collaborate on productivity Digital L!fe, said that the telco He said that Singtel was pre- Singapore enhancement projects. has a 65 per cent stake in Hooq pared to make the necessary ini- THE Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and “There is a need to be more focused on applied with Sony and Warner Bros each tial investment to succeed in this the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) learning and technical skills,” said Douglas Foo, holding 17.5 per cent. While the venture. “We will be investing in have signed a Memorandum of Understanding SMF president. “Through this MOU, we will facili- (MOU) to enhance SIT students’ career opportuni- studios will provide their premi- the early years to build out the tate better alignment of the supply of and demand ties and upgrade manpower capabilities in the um content and know-how, Sing- service and make it available to a for skills in the manufacturing sector, and will also manufacturing sector. tel will provide market access – billion-and-a-half potential cus- Under the terms of the MOU, SMF will provide help to draw in new talents to the industry.” its customer base through its re- tomers in these markets. And we more opportunities through SIT’s Integrated Work SIT has actively engaged the various associa- gional subsidiaries and partners. see this as a value-creating busi- Study Programme (IWSP). This will be in the form tions and federations in Singapore to reach out to Mr Auerbach noted that Hooq ness for us over time after the of increased IWSP opportunities in 10 companies its members. In November last year, it signed an is an important part of Singtel’s first few years.” under SMF’s umbrella. In addition, SMF will ex- MOU with the Association of Small and Medium digital strategy. “We have unique Peter Bithos, CEO of Hooq, tend 10 positions in its Business Immersion Pro- Enterprises (ASME) to boost the technology and assets that give us a right to play said that the company would gramme for SIT students. management capabilities of Singapore’s SMEs. THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 top stories 7 Japan Dec jobless rate falls to lowest since ’97 Tightening labour markets point to upward pressure on wages and inflation

By Anthony Rowley eral responds to strong pressure restraining inflation pressures de- tion should pick up soon, ana- of Internal Affairs and Communi- [email protected] from the government and labour spite two rounds of aggressive lysts say. cations said in a preliminary re- Tokyo unions to raise basic pay scales monetary easing by the Bank of Job availability in Japan rose port. JAPAN’S unemployment rate fell in the world’s third-largest econo- Japan since Haruhiko Kuroda in December to its best level in The number of unemployed last month to its lowest level my. That in turn, analysts say, took over as governor of the cen- 22 years, while the unemploy- people was a seasonally adjusted since 1997, while job availability should put upward pressure on tral bank in March 2013. ment rate improved to 3.4 per 2.28 million, down 0.4 per cent rose to its highest level in 22 inflation, which is running at on- Nearly two decades of contin- cent, suggesting that companies from the previous month, while years as labour markets contin- ly half the target level of 2 per uing deflation up to that time are willing to hire more workers the number of people holding ued to tighten at an increasingly cent annually. had made Japanese firms reluc- as corporate profits recover, offi- jobs increased 0.7 per cent to tant to raise basic pay, or even ea- cial sources said on Friday. 63.88 million. Japan’s job market rapid pace, pointing to upward Core consumer prices mean- ger to cut pay scales. Company The ratio of employment of- “has continued picking up”, an pressure on wages and inflation. while rose by 2.5 per cent nation- employees and trade unions fers to seekers climbed for the official at the ministry said. Even though the economy as wide in December from their lev- have been equally reluctant to de- third straight month to 1.15, the In December, the jobless rate a whole has been slow in picking el a year earlier – slightly slower mand higher pay, for fear of los- highest level since March 1992, for men was 3.6 per cent and that up, labour shortages are becom- than predicted by economists. ing their jobs. from 1.12 in November, the Min- for women was 3.2 per cent, the ing acute in a number of sectors But price rises are expected to ac- But with a steady, if slow, pick istry of Health, Labour and Wel- ministry added. such as construction and service celerate in the second half of fis- up in the economy and with fare said, according to Kyodo By industry, the information industries, putting upward pres- cal 2015 as the impact of the dra- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s gov- news service. and communications industry sure on wages in parts of the matic drop in oil prices, which be- ernment actively pushing firms As a result of the improved and the healthcare and welfare economy. This pressure is expect- gan around June last year, works to raise basic pay scales by trends, unemployment rate fell sector added jobs, but the trans- ed to become more intense and it way through the system. around 2 per cent annually at the 0.1 point from 3.5 per cent the port and postal service industry widespread from March onwards A lack of upward pressure on spring round of national wage previous month to the lowest lev- and the manufacturing sector re- as the country’s business in gen- wages has been a major factor in bargaining in March, wage infla- el since August 1997, the Ministry duced jobs. M’sian business sentiment down 4 appointed to MPA board By Jacquelyn Cheok MOT, will serve as board mem- on falling ringgit, rising costs [email protected] ber from April 1, 2015 to Feb 1, @JacCheokBT 2018. By Pauline Ng Sdn Bhd for the processing of Bursa Malaysia-listed My EG Singapore Jude Benny, senior partner at [email protected] work visas and biometric health is a concessionaire for the FOUR new members have been law firm Joseph Tan Jude Benny Kuala Lumpur checks. government’s e-services which appointed to the Maritime Port and a current board member of DENTED by the sharp deprecia- Given the country’s near total “builds, operates and owns the Authority of Singapore (MPA) MPA, will have his appointment tion in the ringgit and additional dependency on unskilled foreign electronic channel to deliver ser- board by Transport Minister Lui extended to March 31, 2015, so operating costs, Malaysia’s busi- labour – there are an estimated vices from various government Tuck Yew, the Ministry of Trans- as to facilitate closure of the MPA ness confidence has gotten a bit two to three million registered un- agencies” to Malaysians and busi- port (MOT) said on Friday. They 2014 annual accounts and a wobbly. skilled foreign workers and likely nesses. are: smooth handover of the chair- Increasing worries were made as many unregistered – the con- Following the brouhaha, the ȧȨ Carl Krogh Arnet, chief execu- manship of the Audit Review worse by the government’s re- cessions are seen to be extremely home ministry suspended tive officer, BW Offshore; Committee. cent move to introduce mandato- lucrative. Bestinet’s foreign workers central- ȧȨ Luke Goh, senior director, Meanwhile, the following ry online services for the recruit- Allegations of cronyism have ised system and biometric health PS21 Office, Public Service Divi- board members will be stepping down on Feb 2, 2015: ment of unskilled foreign labour surfaced since the concession checks on Friday. As no explana- sion, Prime Minister's Office and tion was offered, the reprieve ȧȨ and the extension of work per- companies appear politically institute director (Institute of Thomas Tay, emeritus gener- could be temporary. mits. linked and the contracts were Governance and Policy), Civil Ser- al secretary, Singapore Maritime MIER’s survey indicated pric- Officers’ Union; Indeed, the weaker senti- not open to tender. Opposition vice College; politicians also contend private es for local products are likely to ȧȨ ȧȨ ments were already evident in Q4 Kam Soon Huat, general sec- James Wong, deputy secre- companies should not be in pos- rise in the current quarter, de- tary (policy), Public Service Divi- when the Malaysian Institute of retary and chief operating officer, session of such extensive data. spite higher inventories and a Singapore Organisation of Sea- sion, Prime Minister’s Office; and Economic Research’s (MIER) Attempts to justify various fee slow-down in most manufactur- men; and ȧȨ Robert Yap, executive chair- business conditions index (BCI) increases – biometrics has to be ing activities. ȧȨ Quek Bin Hwee, vice-chair- man, YCH Group. registered a score of 86.4, a 9.5 introduced for instance – has The ringgit is at a six-year low; man (markets and industries), The MPA board – chaired by percentage point drop from the seen little buy-in. over the past six months, it has Asia Pacific Clients and Markets Lucien Wong, chairman and sen- 95.9 mark in the quarter before. Rumblings have also been felt depreciated by 15 per cent Leader, PricewaterhouseCoop- ior partner at Allen & Gledhill – is The Q4 score – significantly in two of Malaysia’s biggest against the US dollar. More chal- ers. responsible for providing strate- lower than the 100 point thresh- source countries for unskilled lenges lie ahead, including the Their appointments will be gic direction to help develop Sin- old – was last registered for Q1 workers. According to a report by next minimum wage review and for a period of three years and gapore as a premier global hub 2009 triggered by the global finan- The Star, Indonesia and Nepal a 6 per cent Goods & Services Tax will effect from Feb 2, save for port and an international mari- cial crisis. have threatened to stop the flow in April. Mrs Quek, who according to time centre. In truth, the BCI would likely of workers to Malaysia as they drop a notch in the current quar- say the significant hikes in visa ter given the unhappiness over re- processing and medical cent outsourcing to the private check-up fees will invariably be Ex-navy chief to take over reins at CPF Board sector – moves the authorities borne by their citizens. By Jacquelyn Cheok who had assumed the role in Jan- vard University. In the course of maintain will simplify proce- Anger at not being consulted [email protected] uary 2011. Mr Yee will return to his career, he has held, among dures and tighten up the screen- aside, perhaps what rankles the the civil service where he will as- others, the appointments of direc- ing process for unskilled foreign most with the business communi- @JacCheokBT tor (policy) in the Ministry of De- workers, but businesses contend ty is the absence of alternatives. Singapore sume another leadership posi- tion, MOM said on Friday. fence, chief of staff-naval staff, only adds to their burden. “What is the purpose of having NG Chee Peng, currently deputy Mr Ng was the Chief of Navy and chief of staff-joint staff in the On Wednesday, 30 business the Malaysian Competition Act if secretary (special projects) at the associations and chambers of before joining MOM. He holds a Singapore Armed Forces. the government endorses such a Ministry of Manpower, will take commerce decried the conces- monopolistic situation?” queried Bachelor of Arts (Honours First MOM, via its permanent secre- over as chief executive of the Cen- sions given to private companies the Associated Chinese Cham- Class) in Philosophy, Politics and tary Loh Khum Yean, expressed My EG Services Bhd to handle bers of Commerce and Industry tral Provident Fund Board from Economics from the University its deep appreciation to Mr Yee permit renewals for foreign work- deputy secretary-general Teo Chi- March 15, 2015. of Oxford, as well as a Master of for his contributions during his ers, and privately held Bestinet ang Kok. He will succeed Yee Ping Yi, Public Administration from Har- tenure at CPF Board. 8 raffles conversation THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 ● THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 ● raffles conversation 9

ings, and they learn to overcome the silly your school’s culture as Prof Reif, that biases they have that they grew up with.” seems like an ideal arena in which to play. “By sharing our content and making it Ahead of the game available, that creates a baseline,” Prof Of course, Prof Reif’s challenge is not sim- Reif says. ply finding feel-good projects of scale. Stra- “If you’re a professor and you teach a tegically, the projects also need to be rele- course that is on MITx, you have two How to vant, and must help MIT to retain its repu- choices. Either come up with a better one, tation as an institution at the cutting edge or use ours. So that’s a baseline. Nothing’s of innovation and technology. going to be worse than that. So that’s what “You have to imagine where we’re go- I wanted to do. Why not share it? ing, where the future is going to be in 10 “But once you have that, what do you years and 20 years and be prepared to get do with it? If you and I have the same ma- do well by us there. And that is a good chunk of my terial now, because we make it available, I job, to get us there,” he says. can use that in a classroom in a different Prof Reif believes that MIT rests on way. I can have a discussion with a stu- three pillars: Education, innovation and re- dent in a different way. That’s my value search. The school needs to teach its stu- added. You may use a different value add- dents well, it needs to be creative, and it ed. And then we compete in the value add- doing good needs to seek answers to big problems. ed game, but we have the same base struc- Online education has become Prof ture, and that’s what I wanted.” Reif’s way of uniting those three aspects of the school. He led the development of Doing and seeing big As president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MITx and edX, initiatives that offer full Beyond online education, Prof Reif has al- Rafael Reif upholds a firm belief in using one’s huge talents courses from MIT and other universities so picked a few major areas of focus for for free on the Internet, and in the process the university. “The easiest one to identify for a larger purpose. By Kenneth Lim challenged the traditional residential mod- in my mind that I would like us to do el of universities where students have to more work on, is basically the health of live and take classes around a campus. the planet,” he says, highlighting fresh wa- The basic idea behind online courses ter and food security as particular areas of HAT is better? When you have the power to influ- was to improve access to the knowledge at interest. ence one of the world’s most concentrated popu- MIT. The school’s limited capacity on cam- “We only live in this one planet. I heard lations of geniuses, that philosophical question pus means that many worthy candidates a speech by Elon Musk at MIT, the found- takes on some very real consequences. Professor do not get to become MIT students. er of SpaceX and the Tesla Motor, and he Rafael Reif is the president of the Massachusetts “If you’re in a high school in a little was saying that we have to start thinking Institute of Technology (MIT), where some of the town in the middle of nowhere, and anoth- about colonising Mars just in case some- most intelligent students in the world mingle with er 40 or 50 kids in your class, you may be thing happens with Planet Earth, and astronauts and Nobel Prize winners along infinite one of the smartest kids in the class in the that’s a grandiose idea, but I’d rather we corridors. That wealth of talent compels Prof Reif way you learn material, but you don’t stay fixed on Planet Earth and not have to to direct his charges toward doing better. And so, know how smart you are,” Prof Reif says. go and colonise Mars.” W back to the original question: What is better? “You have no idea. But if you take a Healthcare and healthcare costs are al- For Prof Reif, doing better means fearlessly embracing oversized ambitions and at- course that is global, one of these MITx so being looked at closely, as is using inno- tacking some of the most daunting, pressing and challenging problems of our times. PHOTO: MIT courses that are very high quality, and you vation to create jobs. But above all, better is knowing the difference between doing well and doing good. L RAFAEL REIF that drives life at MIT. sense that one has a responsibility to put do well, all of a sudden you realise you get Looking at such big-picture issues as “Personally, I always felt that it’s better to try to do good with whatever talents you a whole lot of self-confidence. You are as an administrator is a far cry from Prof have,” Prof Reif says. “If you do something good, it’s almost permanent. When you ac- President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ingenuity and smarts are celebrated. one’s skills to use for a larger purpose. University lore is not filled with outstand- It is in explaining that culture that Prof good as the best, and the sky is the limit Reif’s days as a teacher and researcher. complish something good and society benefits, it’s not going to go back, or typically for you. You don’t think that way if you “I do miss doing research in that I do 1950 Born Aug 21 in Venezuela ing athletes or graduates who struck it Reif raises the distinction between doing doesn’t go back. If you try to do well for yourself, maybe I’ll be more comfortable, in- are in a small little town without access to enjoy very much working with students,” stead of having two cars I’ll have three or four cars or maybe a yacht or something. But rich, but with “hacks” – anonymous, com- well for oneself versus doing good for all. plex pranks, the more complicated the bet- “In many institutions, in a subtle way much. Those are the kind of things that I he says. it doesn’t bring any irreversible benefit to society. So I prefer the doing good part.” 1973 Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Universidad ter. And as long as you had the goods, it or more obvious way they teach students want to empower.” “It’s the refreshing part. Students are al- Born in 1950 to Jewish refugees in Venezuela, Prof Reif was the youngest of four de Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela did not matter where you came from. to figure out how to do well in society,” he Offering good-as-being-there courses ways asking questions and making your brothers. The family was not well off – Prof Reif’s father made ends meet by taking on a 1979 Doctorate in electrical engineering, Stanford University “I knew quite a few universities, where I says. “The MIT kids, by and large, what online for free would seem to be self-de- brain be young. So I miss that part, but at variety of menial jobs. But Prof Reif, following in the footsteps of his elder brothers, got my PhD and a few others in the area, they want is to do good. They want feating from a business perspective, but it the same time I still work with students, but bucked the neighbourhood norm and enrolled in high school and eventually college in 1978-1979 Visiting associate professor, electrical so I knew them very well,” Prof Reif says. to do something impactful. They I work in different kinds of challeng- Venezuela. Electrical engineering was his degree of choice. engineering, Stanford University “It was relatively homogenous in terms of realise their talent and they want es with students, and I still am sur- “Like anybody who comes from a poor family, I need to get a job. So I got a degree in “People in one society from one the kind of people you would see, the kind to work with others to do some- rounded by them and they still engineering, which I chose as a career because I thought it was something practical. 1980-1983: Assistant professor of electrical engineering, of professors you would see. It almost gave thing good. country may not like that other come to my office and they still re- You could get a job as an engineer at the time,” says Prof Reif. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) you the idea that if a professor behaves this “If by doing something good fresh me with thoughts and they’re But after experiencing the actual work of an engineer during his practical training society because of something that way or looks this way, that’s what’s being they do well, so much the better, still very candid with me and I enjoy stint, Prof Reif decided that while the work was interesting, it was not quite his cup of 1983-1988 Associate professor of electrical engineering, MIT smart. And then I go to MIT, which I’d only but the driving force is to do some- happened a thousand years ago. that. So I do miss the research part, tea. So he tried teaching at a local university in Venezuela. heard of – I was scared of MIT, MIT had but...with the position that I have 1985 Earned tenure at MIT thing good. That’s also a big, big, You throw these people at MIT, “I enjoyed that, I enjoyed being with students, I enjoyed teaching, I enjoyed doing this reputation of unachievable smartness big difference. And I don’t know if now, I can just influence things in a projects with them. So I thought very quickly, if I wanted that as a career, I’d better get a you put to them a problem that much bigger way.” 1988 to date Professor, MIT – so I go there and I just meet these profes- that’s an aspiration of other colleg- graduate degree. And I thought that the way to secure that was to get a PhD. A master’s sors who’d interviewed me. I meet every- es, but that is unavoidable. That’s is much bigger than themselves, Prof Reif admits that his work probably would not be enough to get me a very good, steady job in Venezuela.” body, everything. People from Turkey, the DNA of the place.” leaves him with little spare time Prof Reif found himself at Stanford University in California on the West Coast of the 2004 Named Fariborz Maseeh Professor of Emerging for recreation. Technology from India, from Pakistan, from Greece, When people serve a greater that is important for the world, United States. He completed his master’s degree and received his doctorate, and was from – you name it – from China. purpose, they appreciate others “I still try to work out and go jog- and they work together. And ging and on occasion I try to swim, all set to head back to Venezuela to resume his teaching career there when a chance 2004-2005 Head of the department of electrical engineering “When I saw all these people, then I re- based on their ability and willing- reunion with a former colleague who had moved to MIT set off a recruitment campaign and computer science alised, this is it. This is meritocracy. Be- ness to contribute to that goal, and they learn to recognise each but I haven’t found a way to do it by the East Coast institution. cause they don’t look alike, they don’t be- so they learn to move past the old other as human beings.” in a regimented way so that I know “At the end of the day it was a very intense recruitment period,” he recalls. “I was 2005-2012 Provost, MIT have alike, they had completely different way of judging people. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday I initially uninterested. But I went to visit MIT and I just saw a place that I didn’t know cultures, and they’re working with each “There are so strong ethnic bias- can do this,” Prof Reif says. “That existed. I didn’t think that such a place, really, could be on this Earth. And when I saw 2012 to date President, MIT other, and all of them very humble. es, and people in one society from one is in fact a rather shrewd strategic move, has not been possible. I’m not that I said, I got to try being here for two or three years. I didn’t go back to Venezuela They’re all people with reputations. I stud- country may not like that other society be- whether by coincidence or design. complaining, I love what I’m doing, but that’s part of my personal life that hasn’t and I never went back.” other milestones ied from their books, I studied from their cause of something that happened a thou- By providing universal access to les- 1984 United States Presidential Young Investigator award papers, I thought they lived on pedestals. I been fixed.” sand years ago,” Prof Reif says. sons from the top universities, MITx and Is all that work worth it? Without a The MIT DNA 1993 Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics meet them and they’re just regular peo- “We have lots of that problem in the edX have made it tougher for lesser colleg- doubt, according to Prof Reif. MIT is a most peculiar place. In just over 150 years of history, the university has pro- Engineers (IEEE) ple, and they’re all culturally different. I 2000 Aristotle Award, Semiconductor Research Corp world, which is really unfortunate. You es to attract students with lessons that are “To be leading a place that can do so duced or hired 80 Nobel Laureates, or one every two years; 56 National Medal of Sci- could not believe that there was a place throw these people at MIT, you put to of lower quality. much good, with the people of MIT, and ence winners; 43 MacArthur “Genius” Fellows; and 28 National Medal of Technology like that in the world. to try to channel all that tremendous tal- and Innovation winners. The school received almost 19,000 undergraduate freshman “And I said, this is where I want to be.” them a problem that is much bigger than Universities will now have to compete ent to do something good for the world is applications in 2013 and accepted only 1,548, or less than a twelfth. But beyond the intelligence and the di- themselves, that is important for the on their intangibles, the stuff that they of- an amazing privilege,” he says. But those numbers are just the symptoms, the signs that something special is hap- versity, there is also a strong sense of civic world, and they work together. And they fer to students beyond simply a lecture on [email protected] pening. How those numbers came to be, and what won Prof Reif over, is the culture duty that permeates the walls of MIT, a learn to recognise each other as human be- calculus. And when you feel as good about @KennethLimBT 10 companies & markets THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Market cap summary Investors seek 8.2% As at Jan 31, 2014 Total S$978.1b +2.2% m-o-m biggest $ gainers gain (s$ m) biggest $ losers loss (s$ m) returns but raise JMH USD 4,021.4 UOB -2,179.7 Singtel 2,868.1 DBS Grp -2,007.2 cash holdings: survey HongkongLand USD 2,484.8 Sembcorp Marine -543.2 JSH USD 2,267.6 Golden Agri-Res -513.5 By Genevieve Cua six months was equities. Twenty- Keppel Land 1,729.8 Noble -507.2 [email protected] one per cent of investors aimed Prudential USD 1,480.4 Pan Ocean -330.3 @GencuaBT to raise their holding. About 8 SIA 1,259.9 Keppel Corp -272 Singapore per cent intended to invest more ThaiBev 753.3 Sembcorp Ind -250.5 SINGAPORE investors expect av- in fixed income. CapitaLand 727.4 OCBC Bank -239.5 erage investment returns of 8.2 Saving more continued to be ComfortDelGro 579.5 CityDev -200 per cent in 2015, but they risk dis- a top financial goal this year, appointment as they continue to even though Singaporeans are al- hold high levels of cash, a survey ready saving 17 per cent of their by Manulife has found. income on average. The main M&A, low-oil winners lift Although investors expect eq- purpose of saving was for retire- uities to be the top performing as- ment which was named as the set class, they also say they will top financial goal. January market cap by 2.2% “invest” more in cash than in any Mr Irshad said: “Investors of- other asset in the next six ten think, at their peril, that sav- months. The findings are part of ing alone is the bullet to a com- Price changes were the main factor, with no new listings so far the latest Manulife Investor Senti- fortable retirement. Long term re- ment Index. tirement planning is multi-di- Nine out of 10 respondents mensional, and depending on By Kenneth Lim On the other side of the oil themes for people to nibble on,” said they held cash as an invest- an individual’s circumstances, [email protected] equation, fuel-consuming air car- Mr Chow said. “In terms of M&A, ment, and the proportion in cash could entail wealth creation, @KennethLimBT rier Singapore Airlines gained 9.1 after Keppel Land, there’s a lot of has climbed steadily in recent healthcare needs and preserving Singapore per cent, or S$1.3 billion, in mar- excitement and people looking at quarters. The allocation to cash wealth.’’ THE value of Singapore’s stock ket cap to a worth of S$15.2 bil- other potential targets.” averages 36 per cent of the total Investors also believe that it’s market rose for the third month lion. Shipping company Neptune Beyond industry segments, asset allocation, excluding their not a good time to invest in an in- in a row with low-oil beneficiar- Orient Lines added S$441.2 mil- larger companies also tended to ies and real estate counters lead- lion, or 20.2 per cent, to lift its do better than the smaller ones. home. This is equivalent to 46 vestment property, with senti- ing the way. market cap to S$2.6 billion. The market cap of the largest 10 months of income, which is sig- ment down five points to minus The total market capitalisa- Tech manufacturer Venture per cent of companies gained 2.2 nificantly higher than the Asian two in the last quarter. The rea- tion of Singapore-listed stocks in- Corp also benefited from the per cent, easily outpacing the 4.3 average of 24 months. sons cited were that prices were creased by 2.2 per cent to Monetary Authority of per cent decline among the small- Naveed Irshad, president and too high and a correction was ex- S$978.1 billion on Friday as Janu- Singapore’s surprise easing of est 10 per cent of counters. chief executive of Manulife Singa- pected in 2015. Property, howev- ary ended in positive territory. It monetary policy earlier in the “For the small and mid-caps, pore, said: “With interest rates er, is third highest on the list of was the third month-on-month week as investors expected ex- firstly confidence hasn’t returned likely to remain low in 2015, cash top performing assets, and third increase in a row, and represent- porters to gain from a less aggres- post the Asiasons, Blumont, Lion- deposits will not give investors on the list of assets to invest ed a 12 per cent year-on-year sively appreciating Singapore dol- Gold fiasco (from 2013),” the returns they hope for. Portfo- more in this year. gain. lar. Venture’s market cap rose 3.3 Mr Chow said. lio diversification will be critical Jill Smith, Manulife Asset Man- Price changes were the main per cent, or S$71.7 million, to “Secondly, among the small so that investors aren’t overly ex- agement (Singapore) senior man- factor during the month, with no S$2.2 billion. and mid-cap companies in play, posed to unexpected market aging director, said that while new listings so far in 2015. “We’ve told people that other a lot last year was driven by inter- events, or to a single asset class cash may be seen as a safe ha- Sectoral themes were more or market that can’t outperform ven, investors do not necessarily pronounced during the month, than just shorting the losers of est in the oil and gas sector, and low oil, you can also buy winners that one has taken a big beating,” given the current economic con- have to sacrifice returns as the with the continuing slump in oil ditions.’’ price for defensive positioning. prices playing a major part in of low oil,” UOB KayHian head of he said. About two-thirds of respond- “A multi-asset investment so- guiding stock prices. research Andrew Chow said. Mr Chow expects the market ents were not happy with their lution comprising a mix of equi- The major rigbuilders, Keppel Beyond the oil plays, mergers to be volatile in the months 2014 performance. Of these more ties and bonds and diversified ex- Corp and Sembcorp Marine, and acquisitions also helped to ahead. were among the biggest losers in lift the property counters as Kep- “Investors should carefully than half said this was because of posure to a range of markets can January. Keppel’s market cap fell pel Corp mounted a takeover bid buy into good quality big caps, unexpected market events. Al- provide a degree of insulation 1.7 per cent, or S$272 million, to for Keppel Land. Keppel Land’s but don’t write off the small most a third said they took too from market volatility while also S$15.8 billion while market cap jumped 32.7 per caps,” he said. “Some of them much risk and a quarter said they potentially generating returns in SembMarine’s market valuation cent, or S$1.7 billion, to hit S$7 that have been sold off so much, failed to seek professional advice. excess of cash or even delivering dropped 8 per cent, or S$543.2 billion in January. I think some of them are interest- After cash, the second most a recurring income stream,” she million, to S$6.3 billion. “There are some slight ing now.” popular asset class for the next said. Perennial leads consortium to acquire AXA Tower for S$1.17b

By Lynette Khoo ness tycoon who is also Wilmar is “strong upside potential” in tilised plot ratio that translates to posed investment, PREH will be [email protected] International’s chairman and this asset. an additional GFA of over appointed as the asset manager, @LynetteKhooBT CEO, will take up another 10.1 AXA Tower, a 50-storey 212,000 sq ft. The property is also property manager and project Singapore per cent interest in AXA Tower. Grade-A office tower with some allowed to house medical suites manager of the property. This PERENNIAL Real Estate Hold- The transaction between the retail space in Singapore’s Cen- amounting to no more than will provide an additional stream of management fee income for ings Limited (PREH) has syndicat- consortium and the seller Black- tral Business District, enjoys 32,000 sq ft. the group. ed a consortium of investors to Rock is expected to be completed three major frontages along Shen- The consortium comprising “In addition, the prime asset acquire AXA Tower at a property by April. ton Way, Anson Road and Max- PREH, Mr Kuok and some other presents a unique opportunity to MGPA Fund II, which came well Road. investors will explore options to purchase price of S$1.17 billion, maximise and create value for translating to S$1,735 per square under BlackRock in 2013, bought The property has a total net utilise the additional GFA and shareholders through the execu- foot (psf) of net lettable area. the office tower (then known as lettable area of about 674,000 sq permissible medical suite usage tion of asset enhancement initia- PREH’s 31.2 per cent equity in- Temasek Tower) in March 2007 ft and a total current gross floor to maximise the value of the as- tive and potential strata-sale strat- vestment in the property for S$1.039 billion or S$1,550 psf area of about 1.03 million sq ft set. The strata-sale of the office egy,” Mr Pua said. amounts to about S$117.9 mil- of net lettable area. with over 610 car park lots. It has space in the property will also be PREH will fund its share of the lion. Its major shareholder Kuok Pua Seck Guan, PREH chief ex- a 99-year lease from 1982. explored, PREH said on Friday. acquisition through existing and Khoon Hong, a Singapore busi- ecutive officer, noted that there Currently, AXA Tower has unu- In conjunction with the pro- new borrowings. THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 companies & markets 11

stocks| GAINERS BY CENTS CLOSE UP % 52w high/low SPDR DJIA US$ 17416 345.7 1.5 18046/15450 Reits retreat as Fed DBXT S&P500 US$ 3389 29.7 0.7 3490/2880 DBXT MSMSIA US$ 1329 25.7 1.5 1598/1310 IS Asia BND US 1078 21.6 1.5 1078/1004 statement raises rate fears Kep Corp.ES.1501 870 21.0 2.5 870/815

BY PERCENTAGE lower in high volume – CapitaCom length of time rates would stay low. CLOSE % UP 52w high/low R Sivanithy ChasenHldg W170320 4 48.1 1.3 8.1/2.3 [email protected] Trust, CapitaMall Trust, Suntec Reit Lisa Hornby, Schroders’ US fixed and Ascendas Reit all featured in income portfolio manager said in UniFiber System 1 42.9 0.3 2/0.5 @RSivanithyBT Novo 32 39.1 9.0 32/12 Senior the top volume list, all ending weak- her comments that she expects FO- Correspondent er. MC statements to become gradually Amplefield 0.8 33.3 0.2 2.2/0.5 The selling suffered by the seg- less dovish. Advanced Systems 0.5 25.0 0.1 1.3/0.4 ment meant that Friday’s turnover “Although officials are signalling HERE were two LOSERS events this week was the best in many months at 1.5 that they will be ‘patient in begin- billion units worth S$1.8 billion. ning to normalise the stance of mon- BY CENTS worth discussing – CLOSE DOWN % 52w high/low Earlier in the day the index actu- etary policy’, a June 2015 hike is still the US Federal GLD US$ 12102 -253.8 -1.5 13341/10892 ally managed a rise to an intraday on the table,” said Ms Hornby. T Reserve’s first Federal DBXT Nifty US$ 14612 -189.0 -0.9 14752/9759 high of 3,432, sentiment was proba- “We believe that the Fed is aware Open Market Committee (FOMC) JMH USD 6407 -166.1 -1.9 6788/4934 bly helped by Wall Street’s Thurs- of the risks to financial stability of meeting of 2015 and the Monetary JSH USD 3503 -106.7 -2.2 3810/3006 day bounce, though reasons for that keeping policy too accommodative, Authority of Singapore’s (MAS’s) DBXT Chia50 US$ 3370 -33.8 -0.7 3480/2577 especially in the face of an un- move on the currency front to re- employment rate of 5.6 per BY PERCENTAGE duce the slope of its policy band CLOSE % DOWN 52w high/low Analysts have scrambled cent and core inflation of 1.4 that has led to the Singapore dollar TopGlobal W150929 0.1 -50.0 -0.1 0.4/0.1 per cent. Today’s removal of (SGD) weakening. throughout the week to Tritech Group W19032 3 -21.1 -0.8 10.7/2.5 the ‘considerable time’ verbi- However, although both were in work out which sectors Elektromotive 0.4 -20.0 -0.1 2.3/0.4 age is evidence of this gradual theory negative for stocks, the NKY 19000MBeCW150313 3.3 -19.5 -0.8 8.5/2 and stocks will benefit or shift in stance.” Straits Times Index managed to Chinese Global 0.5 -16.7 -0.1 1.5/0.5 The other occurrence was hold reasonably firm during the lose from the MAS move. the MAS’s move which many week, falling first on Monday after have said should mean a MOST ACTIVE news that Greece’s parliamentary rise were unclear – some reports at- weaker SGD in the near-term. Com- elections had been won by the Syri- VOLUME tributed it to firmer oil prices, others ing just a week or so after the Swiss Pacific Andes 181,981,900 za party and on Friday, probably in to corporate earnings. central bank lifted its cap on the IHC 61,810,600 anticipation of Wall Street weak- Whatever the case, there is no de- franc/euro exchange rate and the Golden Agri-Res 61,393,600 ness. nying that markets are becoming in- European Central Bank’s trillion-eu- Tigerair 60,916,700 That latter selloff was notable as creasingly concerned about what ro bond-buying announcement, it Genting Sing 31,862,700 it involved many Reits, instruments might occur once the Fed starts rais- clearly indicates that 2015 looks to Market volume 1,764,696,000 that are less attractive if interest be the year in which central bank ac- ing interest rates, especially since its VALUE ($) rates are expected to rise. The sell- tion will be crucial to how markets ing took the Straits Times Index post-FOMC statement this week DBS Grp 150,101,790 and economies perform. SingTel 120,161,729 down 27.85 points or 0.81 per cent used more hawkish language than Analysts have scrambled Keppel Corp 102,612,100 markets would have liked, such as to 3,391.20, resulting in a loss for the throughout the week to work out OCBC Bank 100,363,386 week of 20 points. dropping of the phrase “for a consid- which sectors and stocks will bene- UOB 96,216,150 Many in the Reit sector ended erable time’’ when describing the fit or lose from the MAS move. Market value 1,766,728,000 Singapore banks able to Tax writeback boosts Global Premium’s Q4 hold up against By Kenneth Lim [email protected] property correction: Fitch @KennethLimBT Global Premium Hotels Singapore By Jamie Lee ago, latest data from the Urban q4 fy14 q4 fy13 y-o-y % [email protected] Redevelopment Authority (URA) GLOBAL Premium Hotels undid (S$million) change @JamieLeeBT showed. Prices of HDB resale previous years’ over-provision- Revenue 16.0 15.0 7.2 ing for taxes in the fourth quar- Singapore flats also fell 6 per cent. Net profit 8.4 5.2 61.0 ter, helping the hotel developer THE property market correction This is the first time since to post a 61 per cent gain in net EPS (cents) 0.80 0.49 in Singapore may place modest 2001 that both public and private profit despite a slowdown at an DPS (cents) 0.50 0.26 pressure on banking system loan home prices have fallen over a operational level. full year. quality but the three domestic Global Premium, which runs sion writeback had a similar im- cy rate, however, worsened to banks – OCBC, DBS and UOB – Mortgage delinquencies re- the Fragrance chain of economy pact for the full year. Profit be- 81.4 per cent in the fourth quar- should be able to withstand this, main extremely low in both Sin- hotels, reported net profit of fore tax for 2014 fell 11.4 per cent ter, from 88.3 per cent a year ago. Fitch Ratings said in a report on gapore and Hong Kong – with S$8.4 million, or 0.80 cents per to S$20.8 million. Revenue per available room de- Friday. Singapore’s delinquency rate for share, for the three months end- The company is recommend- creased by about 6 per cent to “Fitch expects Singaporean housing loans at 0.36 per cent at ed December. ing a final dividend of 0.5 Singa- S$86.80 from S$92.30. banks’ potential losses from end-September, and that of But that was after recording a pore cent per share. Global Premium Hotels is mortgages to be minimal due to Hong Kong at 0.02 per cent for credit of S$3.4 million, from a Global Premium Hotels stock “cautiously” optimistic for the relatively healthy household bal- the same period. S$774,000 expense a year earlier, closed at 35.5 Singapore cents on year ahead, citing fiercer competi- ance sheets and adequate collat- Fitch added that the Mone- from writing back provisions for Friday, higher by 1.4 per cent or tion as a new supply of hotel eralisation,” the credit rating tary Authority of Singapore taxes from previous years. half a Singapore cent before the rooms further depresses occu- agency said. (MAS) is expected to remain vigi- Excluding tax, operating profit results were announced. pancy and room rates. “The government’s macro- lant for signs of stress. fell 17.2 per cent to S$4.9 million The company said most of the The company, however, not- prudential policies over the past “The agency remains watch- despite revenue increasing by 7.2 revenue increase during the quar- ed that positive press for Singa- few years included measures to ful of potential second-order ef- per cent to S$16 million. ter came from a S$2.6 million pore tourism and major events strengthen mortgage underwrit- fects of the housing slowdown, For the whole of 2014, net contribution from Parc Sover- such as the South-east Asian ing practices at local banks.” such as weaker private consump- profit rose 9.7 per cent to S$21.2 eign Hotel – Tyrwhitt, which Games and the 50th year of inde- Prices of private properties tion and rising construction com- million, or 2.02 cents per share. opened in mid-2014. pendence for Singapore could have fallen 4 per cent from a year pany defaults.” The impact from the tax provi- The overall average occupan- help to lift tourist arrivals. 12 companies & markets THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

STI STOCKS securities trading scoreboard Stock name Close Change Day high/low 52w high 52w low PE Div yield Mcap MAIN CATL TOTAL Up Down Unch Up Down Unch Up Down Unch Ascendas Reit 246 -3 248/243 263 206 - 5.8 6219.7 Multi Ind 9 3 4 0 0 0 9 3 4 CapitaLand 348 -6 355/348 364 268 17.4 2.3 14869 Manufacturing 47 47 38 7 6 14 54 53 52 CapitaMall Trust 209 xd -2 215/209 226 180 - 5.2 7248.7 Commerce 18 21 21 6 2 8 24 23 29 CityDev 1005 -17 1018/1005 1118 860 13.6 0.8 9138.5 Tpt/Stor/Comms 14 13 11 1 1 0 15 14 11 ComfortDelGro 287 -7 294/285 295 189 23.1 2.4 6143.3 Finance 12 10 4 1 0 0 13 10 4 Construction 9 11 7 0 3 3 9 14 10 DBS Grp 1979 -17 1993/1979 2067 1565 13.2 2.9 49062.8 Properties 26 19 11 1 1 0 27 20 11 Genting Sing 108 +0.5 108.5/107 143.5 99 22.4 0.9 13240.3 Hotels/Rsts 3 3 4 1 0 1 4 3 5 Global Logistic 253 -7 260/253 297 239 13.9 1.6 12244.5 Services 29 32 23 11 13 12 40 45 35 Golden Agri-Res 42 -1 43/42 61.5 41 13.7 2.6 5391.8 Elect/Gas/Water 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 HPH Trust USD US71.5 -1 73.5/71.5 76 61.5 - 7.4 6228.4 Agriculture 1 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 HongkongLand USD US741 -7 756/741 830 584 14.7 2.4 17434.3 Mining/Quarry 1 4 0 1 5 1 2 9 1 BLW 32 38 11 0 2 2 32 40 13 JMH USD US6407 -123 6530/6407 6788 4934 15 2.2 44257.6 REIT 3 10 5 0 0 0 3 10 5 JSH USD US3503 -79 3610/3503 3810 3006 12.6 0.7 39254 TOTAL 204 216 140 29 33 41 233 249 181 Jardine C&C 4230 +17 4243/4201 4901 3330 13 3.2 14894.8 GLOBALQUOTE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Keppel Corp 870 cd +16 873/862 1120 791 8.4 5.5 15829.9 Active counters with no volume for today are not included. Noble 106.5 +1 107.5/106 148 92 24.8 1.1 7203.8 OCBC Bank 1040 -7 1057/1040 1057 878.3 13.7 3.3 41526.5 securities trading turnover Olam Intl 197.5 -0.5 199/197.5 269 142.5 8 3.8 4923.5 SGX 777 -7 791/777 805 666 24.7 3.6 8326.7 VOLUME (‘000) VALUE (‘000) MAIN CATL TOTAL MAIN CATL TOTAL SIA 1265 -15 1291/1264 1291 941 41.3 3.6 15178.3 SIA Engineering 436 -7 444/436 515 391 18.3 5.7 4887.9 Multi Ind 43,769 - 43,769 181,288 - 181,288 Manufacturing 360,612 55,467 416,079 131,910 3,991 135,901 SPH 413 unch 415/412 435 394 16.5 5.1 6610.7 Commerce 83,007 40,440 123,447 112,710 2,888 115,599 ST Engineering 336 -3 340/336 400 314 17.9 4.5 10487.8 Tpt/Stor/Comms 193,725 242 193,967 308,770 77 308,847 Sembcorp Ind 431 +3 443/431 559 405 9.4 3.9 7711.8 Finance 35,044 20 35,064 371,711 5 371,716 Sembcorp Marine 300 +2 302/300 418 285 11.3 4.3 6267.7 Construction 31,462 6,904 38,366 4,531 659 5,189 SingTel 408 +1 412/408 412 342 17.8 4.1 65008.5 Properties 99,928 276 100,204 244,121 9 244,130 Hotels/Rsts 5,101 104 5,205 3,826 17 3,844 Star Hub 418 -2 420/418 432 400 19.4 4.8 8129.2 Services 238,769 109,150 347,919 112,533 25,594 138,128 ThaiBev 72 -1 74/72 77 50.5 24.9 2.3 18079.2 Elect/Gas/Water 796 - 796 468 - 468 UOB 2318 -19 2354/2318 2472 1940 12.6 3.2 37425.1 Agriculture 65,646 - 65,646 31,574 - 31,574 Wilmar Intl 322 -6 330/321 356 292 12.4 2.5 20619 Mining/Quarry 1,847 22,007 23,854 913 3,601 4,514 BLW 247,140 3,404 250,544 21,901 82 21,983 REIT 119,836 - 119,836 203,547 - 203,547 SGX ETFs Most Active TOTAL 1,526,682 238,014 1,764,696 1,729,803 36,923 1,766,728 GLOBALQUOTE - - 661 - - 294 Fund Last sale +/- (‘000) Day high/low 52w high/low Buy/Sell Mcap Sing & foreign $ stocks. Value calculated using Monday's exchange rates. IS ASIA HYG US$ US1059 +8 1233 1062/1059 1119/1013 1052/1059 - STI ETF 341 xd -4 482 344/341 349/298 340/341 - IS MS India US$ US797 -9 430 810/794 1000/541 796/797 99.6 UNUSUAL ACTIVITY OTHER SINGAPORE INDICES IS Asia BND US US1078 +16 90 1078/1071 1078/1004 1070/1080 - VOL CLOSE($) CHANGE +/- Jan 30 VALUE UETF SSE50China 219 - 58 220/218 238/140 218/219 68.4 CLOSE +/- UniFiber System 13,833.2 0.010 +0.003 +42.86 DBXT MSINDO us$ US1440 +2 57 1441/1436 1600/1150 1440/1443 - BT OB/OS 401.00 +160.00 DBXT MSPHILS US$ US218 -2.5 48 221.1/218 223/163.5 219.6/220.4 17.4 Novo 440.3 0.320 +0.090 +39.13 BT CADI -80837.00 -8.00 Nikko AM STI ETF 345 -2 30 348/345 422/300 344/345 8.3 Amplefield 14,851.0 0.008 +0.002 +33.33 BT 10-day MA -80965.00 +40.00 Lyxor CRBNonEny US$ US217 -7 24 217/217 261/217 216/221 23.2 FTSE ST Mid Cap 783.39 -2.89 Hoe Leong 7,381.2 0.063 +0.006 +10.53 DBXT MSMSIA US$ US1329 +19 22 1329/1323 1598/1310 1329/1330 - FTSE ST Small Cap 504.34 -0.54 Techcomp 22.5 0.235 -0.015 -6.00 FTSE ST All Share 817.18 -5.74 SIBOR Jan 30 PNE Micron 30,214.6 0.053 +0.004 +8.16 FTSE ST China Top 196.24 -1.18 (S$) Epicentre 231.0 0.150 +0.016 +11.94 FTSE ST China 233.62 -3.13 1 mth 0.60685 FTSE ST Catalist 742.71 -4.53 SWAP - Offer rates (S$) Chinese Global 60.0 0.005 -0.001 -16.67 2 mths - FTSE ST Maritime 249.91 -1.38 3 mths 0.67088 1 mth ...... 0.65589 Pacific Andes 181,982 0.061 +0.006 +10.91 SIMSCI 380.23 -2.50 3 mths ...... 0.68698 6 mths 0.73482 Loyz Energy 4,902.0 0.090 +0.007 +8.43 SIMSCI Futures 380.20 -2.80 6 mths ...... 0.73158 9 mths - TR/SGX SFI 121.50 +0.42 Shows the stocks with the highest combination of price change and of 12 mths 0.86601 daily activity relative to the three-month average volume Source for FTSE ST Indices: Interactive Data Source: Thomson Reuters

BT SHARE INFORMATION SERVICE For week beginning Jan 26 SUBSTANTIAL SHAREHOLDER/DIRECTOR TRANSACTIONS

Substantial Buy No of Price ——— SHAREHOLDING ———— Substantial Buy No of Price ——— SHAREHOLDING ———— Trans Shareholder/ Sell Shares Per Before After Trans Shareholder/ Sell Shares Per Before After Stock Date Director Conv '000 Shr $ ('000) % ('000) % Stock Date Director Conv '000 Shr $ ('000) % ('000) %

Rex Intl 26-Jan-15 FIL Ltd *Buy 721 0.39 100957 7.99 101678 8.04 CH Offshore 19-Jan-15 Chuan Hup Hldgs Ltd Buy 6388 0.50 167553 23.76 173941 24.67 AIMS AMP Capital Ind 23-Jan-15 JF Asset Mgmt Ltd Sell 542 1.47 31623 5.06 31081 4.97 CH Offshore 19-Jan-15 3P Pte Ltd *Buy 6388 0.50 167553 23.76 173941 24.67 Far East Grp 23-Jan-15 Leng Chee Keong Buy 150 0.17 6324 5.83 6474 5.97 CH Offshore 19-Jan-15 Qing Shan Pte Ltd *Buy 6388 0.50 167553 23.76 173941 24.67 Golden Agri-Resources 23-Jan-15 Silchester Intl Investors *Buy 7391 0.42 1023467 7.97 1030858 8.03 CH Offshore 19-Jan-15 TMF (Cayman) Ltd *Buy 6388 0.50 167553 23.76 173941 24.67 Huan Hsin 23-Jan-15 Unionmet (S) Ltd Buy 1931 0.03 39919 9.98 41850 10.46 CH Offshore 19-Jan-15 Beamsbury Ltd *Buy 6388 0.50 167553 23.76 173941 24.67 LionGold Corp 23-Jan-15 Moi Hsien Hur Sell 59459 0.02 105000 8.59 45541 3.73 CH Offshore 19-Jan-15 Peh Kwee Chim *Buy 6388 0.50 167553 23.76 173941 24.67 Rex Intl 23-Jan-15 FIL Ltd *Sell 455 0.38 101412 8.02 100957 7.99 CH Offshore 19-Jan-15 Peh Siong Woon Terence *Buy 6388 0.50 167553 23.76 173941 24.67 Swissco 23-Jan-15 Tang Kheng Guan Kelvin Buy 50 0.49 0 0.00 50 0.01 Fu Yu Corp 19-Jan-15 Ng Hock Ching *Sell 5504 0.10 109427 14.53 103923 13.80 Swissco 23-Jan-15 Tan Fuh Gih Buy 100 0.49 96420 14.36 96520 14.38 Fu Yu Corp 19-Jan-15 Foo Say Tun Sell 93 0.11 1000 0.13 907 0.12 Religare Health Tr 22-Jan-15 FIL Ltd *Sell 883 1.01 63768 8.02 62885 7.91 G.K. Goh Hldgs 19-Jan-15 GKG Investment Hldgs P L Buy 45 0.91 185127 58.57 185172 58.59 Tee Intl 22-Jan-15 Phua Chian Kin Buy 100 0.27 267699 53.41 267799 53.43 G.K. Goh Hldgs 19-Jan-15 Goh Geok Khim *Buy 45 0.91 185127 58.57 185172 58.59 A-Sonic Aerospace 21-Jan-15 Janet LC Tan *Buy 53 0.08 6081 0.85 6134 0.86 G.K. Goh Hldgs 19-Jan-15 Goh Yew Lin *Buy 45 0.91 185127 58.57 185172 58.59 KS Energy 21-Jan-15 Kris Taenar Wiluan *Buy 118 0.42 299610 58.41 299728 58.43 GSH Corp 19-Jan-15 Lippo Capital Ltd *Buy 6300 0.08 488807 4.94 495107 5.01 KS Energy 21-Jan-15 Richard James Wiluan *Buy 118 0.42 299610 58.41 299728 58.43 GSH Corp 19-Jan-15 Lanius Ltd *Buy 6300 0.08 488807 4.94 495107 5.01 KS Energy 21-Jan-15 Pacific One Energy Ltd Buy 118 0.42 299610 58.41 299728 58.43 IEV Hldgs 19-Jan-15 Christopher Nghia Do Buy 30 0.12 23445 12.39 23475 12.41 KS Energy 21-Jan-15 Rija Holdings Ltd *Buy 118 0.42 299610 58.41 299728 58.43 Intl Healthway 19-Jan-15 Jong Hee Sen Sell 10000 0.28 34303 2.10 24303 1.48 Rex Intl 21-Jan-15 FIL Ltd *Buy 650 0.38 100810 7.97 101460 8.03 Intl Healthway 19-Jan-15 Jong Hee Sen Buy 10000 0.28 24303 1.48 34303 2.10 Tee Intl 21-Jan-15 Phua Chian Kin Buy 250 0.27 267449 53.36 267699 53.41 Noble Grp 19-Jan-15 Orbis Hldgs Ltd *Buy 41530 1.19 432176 6.42 473706 7.03 Wilton Resources 21-Jan-15 Chong Thim Pheng Buy 866 0.07 43860 2.01 44726 2.05 Noble Grp 19-Jan-15 Orbis World Ltd *Buy 41530 1.19 432176 6.42 473706 7.03 A-Sonic Aerospace 20-Jan-15 Janet LC Tan *Buy 185 0.08 5896 0.82 6081 0.85 Noble Grp 19-Jan-15 Orbis Hldg Trust *Buy 41530 1.19 432176 6.42 473706 7.03 Hong Fok 20-Jan-15 Cheong Sim Eng Buy 55 0.84 93322 11.79 93377 11.80 Noble Grp 19-Jan-15 Orbis Asset Mgmt Ltd *Buy 41530 1.19 432176 6.42 473706 7.03 Hwa Hong 20-Jan-15 Ong Kay Eng *Buy 204 0.32 13939 2.13 14143 2.16 Noble Grp 19-Jan-15 Orbis Trust *Buy 41530 1.19 432176 6.42 473706 7.03 IEV Hldgs 20-Jan-15 Christopher Nghia Do Buy 34 0.12 23475 12.41 23509 12.43 Noble Grp 19-Jan-15 Orbis Investment Mgmt *Buy 41530 1.19 432176 6.42 473706 7.03 Intl Healthway 20-Jan-15 Jong Hee Sen Sell 8000 0.28 34303 2.10 26303 1.61 Noble Grp 19-Jan-15 Orbis Invest Mgmt (BVI) *Buy 41530 1.19 432176 6.42 473706 7.03 Intl Healthway 20-Jan-15 Jong Hee Sen Buy 8000 0.28 26303 1.61 34303 2.10 OLS Enterprise 19-Jan-15 Koo Ah Seang Buy 15000 0.01 0 0.00 15000 1.35 Tee Intl 20-Jan-15 Phua Chian Kin Buy 200 0.27 267249 53.32 267449 53.36 Renewable Energy Asia 19-Jan-15 Zheng Lei Sell 250 0.03 250 0.03 0 0.00 A-Sonic Aerospace 19-Jan-15 Irene Tay Gek Lim Buy 47 0.08 4354 0.61 4401 0.62 * Deemed Interest; IP: Investment Purposes ; SA: Share Allotment; ST: Share Transfer; B/R: Bonus/Rights Issues ; A-Sonic Aerospace 19-Jan-15 Janet LC Tan *Buy 20 0.08 5876 0.82 5896 0.83 OE: Option Exercise ; PL: Placement Shares Compiled by BT THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 companies & markets 13

COMMODITY FUTURES Jan-29 Straits Times Index STOCK MARKETS Price Net change % change Last Trade 3,400 Agricultural Jan-29 Hang Seng Index CBOT Soybeans (US cents/bu) 968.25 -2.00 -0.21% 13/03/2015 3,300 25,500 CBOT Soybean Oil (US cents/lb) 29.54 -0.80 -2.64% 13/03/2015 24,507.05 (-88.80) CBOT Wheat (US cents/bu) 507.75 2.50 0.49% 13/03/2014 3,200 24,500 PE: 10.40 Jan-29 3,391.20 LIFFE Cocoa (£/tonne) 1900.00 -2.00 -0.11% 16/03/2015 3,100 (-27.85) 23,500 LIFFE Coffee (US$/tonne) 1921.00 -42.00 -2.14% 30/01/2015 PE: 13.88 LIFFE White Sugar (US$/tonne) 384.60 -7.30 -1.86% 13/02/2015 3,000 22,500 Metals Jan-29

COMEX - Gold (100 oz) 1254.60 -31.30 -2.43% 25/02/2015 Mar May July Sept Nov Jan Source: Bloomberg 21,500 COMEX - Silver (US$/troy oz) 16.78 -1.31 -7.26% 25/02/2015 YTD change: +0.77% 52-week high: 3,419.15 on Jan 28, 2015 LME 3-Mths Contracts (US$/MT) Jan-29 52-week low: 2,960.09 on Feb 5, 2014 Mar May July Sept Nov Jan Source: Bloomberg Aluminium, 99.7% purity 1819.00 -31.00 -1.68% - BONDS, WARRANTS, PREFERENCE SHARES YTD change: +3.82% Copper, Grade A 5395.00 -89.00 -1.62% - Most active Jan 30 52-week high: 25,317.95 on Sept 3, 2014 Lead 1860.00 -28.50 -1.51% - Prem Expiry 52-week low: 21,182.16 on March 20, 2014 Last Vol Conv Exer Disc Gear- Mths Nickel 14900.00 -150.00 -1.00% - Company Sale +or- ('000) Ratio Price % ing Left Tin 19175.00 -70.00 -0.36% - Rowsley Ltd W161003 4.1 0.2 22585 1 18 - - 21 Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite OCBC Bk MB eCW150413 6.2 -0.1 5179 0.2 1060 - - 3 Zinc. Sp High Grade 2090.00 -28.00 -1.32% - DBS MB eCW150602 8.7 -0.2 4811 0.1 0 - - 5 3,400 Energy and Oil Jan-29 DBS MB ePW150402 8.8 0.2 3821 0.2 1910 - - 3 3,210.36 KepCorp MB eCW150602 9.2 1.4 3619 0.2 900 - - 5 (-51.94) Crude Oil - Brent/blend (1-Mth F) 47.95 -0.79 -1.62% - FTSEChinaA50 12500 MBeCW150528 11.3 -1.2 3606 0.0 ***** - - 4 3,000 PE: 15.62 Crude Oil - WTI (Near Mth) 44.56 0.25 0.56% - UOB MB eCW150415 6.9 -0.2 3149 0.1 2480 - - 3 Crude Oil - Dubai (1-Mth F) 46.57 0.41 0.89% - SHS Holdings W191216 7.7 unch 2915 1 20 9 3.31 59 NIKKEI225 17000 MB ePW150313 6.4 0.1 2450 0.0 20090 - - 2 Crude Oil - Tapis Blend 49.78 0.38 0.77% - 2,600 Singapore Post MB eCW150907 4 0.1 2435 0.2 215 - - 8 Crude Oil-Indonesia Minas FOB 45.28 0.38 0.85% - Top Global Ltd W150929 0.1 -0.1 2427 - - - - - Naphtha Singapore Spot FOB 46.94 -0.45 -0.95% - Capitaland MB eCW150701 5.4 -0.7 2110 0.2 360 - - 6 2,200 Jet Kerosene-FOB Singapore 63.53 -0.23 -0.36% - KepCorp MB eCW150701 16.6 2.1 1636 0.2 850 - - 6 Tritech Group Limited W190329 3 -0.8 1500 1 20 - - 50 Opec Oil Basket Price 43.88 -0.20 -0.45% - GloballogisticpropMBeCW151001 3.9 -0.4 1270 0.2 275 - - 9 Naphtha (CFR Japan) 438.00 -4.00 -0.90% - KepCorp MB eCW160601 6.5 0.6 1250 0.1 1100 - - 17 Mar May July Sept Nov Jan Source: Bloomberg Gas Oil EEC (CIF Cargoes NWE) 468.50 -5.00 -1.06% - OLS Enterprise W170825 0.2 unch 1005 1 1 71 3.50 31 KepCorp MB ePW150603 11 -2 975 0.2 820 - - 5 YTD change: -0.75% Source:Thomson Reuters FTSEChinaA50 15000 MBeCW150730 8.6 -1.1 920 0.0 ***** - - 6 52-week high: 3,383.18 on Jan 26, 2015 STI 3200 MB ePW150430 3.1 -0.1 905 0.0 ***** - - 3 52-week low: 1,993.48 on March 20, 2014

palm oil Jan 30 morgan stanley capital int’l indices Nikkei 225 In local curr In S$ In US$ % dy % yr % dy % yr % dy % yr KLCE PALM FUTURES (RM/MT) 18,000 Delivery Opening Sett Av Vol Open Jan 29 Index Change Change Change Change Change Change Month Range Price Price High Low Done Position World Preliminary 1270.8 -0.1 -0.4 -0.4 0.4 -0.4 -1.6 1,7674.39 Feb 15 2117.0 - 2154.0 - 2144.0 2117.0 249 1874 ‡EAFE Preliminary 1019.9 -0.1 3.3 -0.7 3.0 -0.6 1.0 (+68.17) Mar 15 2121.0 - 2150.0 - 2155.0 2115.0 2639 21156 17,000 Apr 15 2118.0 - 2146.0 - 2148.0 2106.0 31536 71908 Europe Preliminary 1442.8 0.3 4.4 -0.2 2.9 -0.2 0.9 May 15 2107.0 - 2132.0 - 2135.0 2091.0 11349 33335 PE: 20.67 Source: Bursa Malaysia Pacific 857.6 -0.7 1.4 -1.5 3.1 -1.4 1.1 Far East 1001.1 -1.0 0.9 -1.3 4.1 -1.3 2.1 16,000 GOVERNMENT SECURITIES Jan 30 EM Far East 623.0 -1.0 2.3 -1.4 4.4 -1.4 2.3 Australia 1137.4 0.4 2.9 -1.9 -0.2 -1.8 -2.1 GOVERNMENT BONDS Austria Preliminary 379.8 -0.6 -1.6 -0.7 -5.9 -0.6 -7.8 15,000 Period Issue Coupon Maturity Close Day's Belgium Preliminary 1188.4 0.5 12.3 0.4 7.3 0.5 5.2 code rate (%) Bid High Low Canada Preliminary 1855.5 -0.5 -0.8 -1.6 -6.7 -1.5 -8.6 2-Year N710100Z 2.375 01-Apr-17 103.3 103.37 103.35 Denmark Preliminary 6895.6 -0.1 9.9 -0.2 5.0 -0.1 3.0 14,000 5-Year N514100H 1.625 01-Oct-19 101.14 101.30 101.20 * Finland Preliminary 653.9 -2.3 8.5 -2.4 3.7 -2.3 1.7 France Preliminary 1636.0 0.4 8.6 0.3 3.8 0.4 1.8 10-Year NY09100H 3.000 01-Sep-24 109.78 110.15 109.72 Mar May July Sept Nov Jan Germany Preliminary 946.5 0.2 9.4 0.1 4.5 0.2 2.5 Source: Bloomberg 15-Year NY14100E 2.875 01-Jul-29 108.01 108.35 108.08 Greece Preliminary 120.8 5.4 -23.5 5.3 -26.9 5.3 -28.3 20-Year NZ13100V 3.375 01-Sep-33 116.6 117.12 116.90 Hong Kong 14402. -0.5 5.6 -0.6 7.7 -0.5 5.6 YTD change: +1.28% 30-Year NA12100N 2.750 01-Apr-42 107.39 108.00 107.25 India 1090.1 0.1 7.3 -0.7 11.7 -0.6 9.5 52-week high: 17,935.64 on Dec 8, 2014 Indonesia 6249.5 -0.3 0.8 -1.0 1.3 -0.9 -0.7 52-week low: 13,910.16 on April 14, 2014 Note: Based on latest issue Source: Monetary Authority of Singapore Ireland Preliminary 194.4 0.6 4.0 0.5 -0.6 0.6 -2.5 interbank currency rates Jan 30 Israel Preliminary 309.7 -2.4 -0.4 -2.2 0.7 -2.1 -1.3 Dow Jones Industrial Average Against S$ Against US$ Italy Preliminary 727.6 0.5 7.8 0.4 3.0 0.4 1.0 Currencies Bid Offer Bid Offer S$/US$ to one unit of foreign currency: Japan 868.9 -1.2 0.3 -1.5 3.8 -1.5 1.8 18,000 Australian dollar 1.0495 1.0508 0.7773 0.7780 Korea 548.4 -0.7 2.2 -1.6 4.8 -1.5 2.7 Canadian dollar 1.0678 1.0687 0.7912 0.7908 Euro 1.5303 1.5312 1.1334 1.1336 * Malaysia 623.3 -0.8 1.1 -1.2 -0.7 -1.1 -2.6 17,500 NZ dollar 0.9824 0.9836 0.7276 0.7282 Netherlands Preliminary 1325.6 0.7 7.7 0.6 2.9 0.7 0.9 Sterling pound 2.0349 2.0362 1.5071 1.5075 * New Zealand 119.6 -1.5 5.4 -3.8 0.3 -3.8 -1.7 17,000 US dollar 1.3502 1.3507 - - Norway Preliminary 2536.9 -0.1 4.4 -0.5 2.3 -0.5 0.3 S$/US$ to 100 units of foreign currency: Pakistan 569.4 -0.1 6.9 -0.4 8.4 -0.3 6.3 Chinese renminbi 21.6091 21.6205 16.0044 16.0069 16,500 Danish krone 20.5591 20.5699 15.2267 15.2290 * Philippines 1297.0 -0.5 4.3 -0.7 7.9 -0.6 5.8 17,416.85 Hong Kong dollar 17.42 17.42 12.8989 12.9006 Portugal Preliminary 82.3 0.7 9.0 0.7 4.2 0.7 2.1 16,000 (+225.48) Indian Rupee 2.18 2.19 1.6181 1.6186 Singapore 1779.7 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.1 -1.4 PE: 15.61 Indonesia rupiah 0.0107 0.0107 0.0079 0.0079 Singapore Free 382.7 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.1 -1.4 Japanese yen 1.1453 1.1458 0.8482 0.8483 15,500 Korean won 0.1232 0.1235 0.0912 0.0914 Spain Preliminary 964.8 0.6 1.2 0.5 -3.3 0.6 -5.1 Malaysian ringgit 37.23 37.28 27.5748 27.5976 Sweden Preliminary 11990. 0.6 7.7 0.3 4.2 0.4 2.1 New Taiwan dollar 4.2789 4.2882 3.1691 3.1748 Switzerland Preliminary 1094.8 1.5 -6.3 -0.1 3.3 0.0 1.3 Mar May July Sept Nov Jan Norwegian krone 17.2684 17.2837 12.7895 12.7961 Source: Bloomberg Philippine peso 3.0624 3.0642 2.2681 2.2686 * Taiwan 349.0 -1.2 1.7 -1.7 4.4 -1.7 2.4 Saudi riyal 35.8953 35.9276 26.5851 26.5993 * Thailand 540.1 -0.3 3.4 -0.8 6.1 -0.8 4.1 YTD change: -2.28% Swedish krona 16.3215 16.3335 12.0882 12.0926 UK Preliminary 2000.6 -0.3 3.6 -1.0 2.1 -1.0 0.1 52-week high: 18,053.71 on Dec 26, 2014 Swiss franc 145.4957 145.6280 107.7586 107.8167 USA Preliminary 1911.1 -0.2 -2.7 -0.2 -0.8 -0.2 -2.7 Thai Baht 4.1278 4.1306 3.0572 3.0581 52-week low: 15,372.80 on Feb 3, 2014 Source: OCBC Copyright© 1991 Morgan Stanley Capital International (Chart shows Thursday’s index closing) 14 companies & markets THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Ascott makes first foray into Turkey It clinches deal to manage the 159-unit Somerset Maslak Istanbul, slated to open in 2016

By Jacquelyn Cheok bul will be part of an integrated ma, an affiliate of the Saudi- Lee Chee Koon, Ascott’s chief ex- from expatriates and business [email protected] development – Maslak 1453 – based Abduljawad Group of Com- ecutive officer. travellers for our first serviced res- @JacCheokBT that comprises a 1,453-metre panies. He added: “Tourism is also a idence in Turkey and will contin- Singapore long shopping promenade and “Turkey is an attractive mar- significant contributor to the ue to bring Ascott’s signature hos- THE Ascott – CapitaLand’s whol- 24 towers of commercial, residen- ket for foreign investors and we country’s GDP. Visitor numbers pitality to more places around the world.” ly owned serviced residence busi- tial, dining and recreational facili- see significant growth opportuni- have been seeing double-digit On Monday, Ascott an- ness unit – on Friday said it has ties. ties for international branded ser- growth in the past three years nounced that it has secured con- secured a contract to manage its Maslak is one of Istanbul’s viced residences. The country is and tourism revenue has been in- tracts to manage three more first serviced residence in Tur- main business and leisure dis- amongst the world’s top 20 larg- creasing steadily.” properties in Beijing and Hong key, marking its first foray into tricts comprising major banking est economies ... has a strategic In 2014, Ascott added eight Kong. The company revealed in and financial institutions, as well the country. location at the crossroads of Eu- new cities to its global portfolio: early January that its target is to This latest entry will expand as key educational institutions rope, Middle East and Asia, a Greater Sydney in Australia; Tai- open more than 20 properties in its footprint – as the world’s larg- such as the Istanbul Technical large domestic market and stable yuan, Yinchuan and Changsha in China, India, Indonesia, Korea, est global serviced residence own- University. policy environment. As the finan- China; Bali in Indonesia; Vien- Malaysia, Vietnam, Oman, Saudi er-operator – to 90 cities across The Ascott has been awarded cial hub of the country, Istanbul tiane in Laos; Yangon in Myan- Arabia and the Philippines this 25 countries, The Ascott said. the management contract for is a natural choice for multina- mar; and Busan in South Korea, year. Slated to open in 2016, the Somerset Maslak Istanbul by real tional corporations setting up said Mr Lee. On Friday, CapitaLand shares 159-unit Somerset Maslak Istan- estate company Maslak Konakla- headquarters in Turkey,” said “We expect strong demand closed six cents lower at S$3.48. Feels like dot-com days again: Fidelity Ezra bags

By Cai Haoxiang The US dollar will stay strong rates until end-2015 or early 2016 cause they can get gains on the deals worth [email protected] because the economy is improv- unless wage inflation picks up,” Swiss currency that far exceed @HaoxiangCaiBT ing on both its trade and fiscal po- he said. the negative yields, Mr Wells ex- more than Singapore sitions. The trade-weighted US In Europe, government bond plained. US$65m AS capital continues to gain an dollar is still low by historical yields continue falling as the Eu- “As soon as you get your mind edge over labour and profit mar- standards, he said. ropean Central Bank unleashed a over the fact that you can go gins stay high, the bull market in While the strong US dollar will bond-buying programme earlier through (zero yields) substantial- By Malminderjit Singh stocks, notably the US, shows no keep commodity prices low, he this month to support its econo- ly, there’s clearly a lot of value [email protected] sign of stopping, said Dominic said markets will eventually rec- my. still left,” Mr Wells said. @MalminderjitBT Rossi, Fidelity’s global chief in- ognise this as a positive, especial- Yet Fidelity continues to get “As a fixed income investor Singapore vestment officer for equities. ly as consumer confidence picks mandates from Asian and Euro- you always get taught when OFFSHORE services provider The danger is that stocks will up. pean investors to invest in Euro- you’re very young, you don’t Ezra Holdings announced on Fri- rise sharply, he said at a press Earnings multiples will get pean investment-grade corpo- fight central banks, they tend to day that its subsea services divi- briefing on Friday. “It’s another pushed up further as domestic rate bonds, Mr Wells said. be more powerful than the indi- sion, EMAS AMC, has secured dot-com era. This feels like the savings pile into stocks, like what This is because they expect vidual investor. They desire to multiple contracts from various 1990s. That’s my biggest worry ... happened in the late 1990s, Mr government bonds to trend to- get to zero, they’ll do everything energy companies valued at that equity markets will melt up, Rossi said. wards zero yields, he said. Falling in their power,” he said. not melt down.” The oil price crash and the government bond yields mean Mr Wells sees opportunities in more than US$65 million (includ- Mr Rossi remains bullish on weak euro will benefit European wider spreads with corporate inflation-linked bonds and ing options). the US stock market, saying it stocks, he added. bonds, resulting in more leeway emerging market high-yield The awards, which Ezra said has several more years to run. Meanwhile, bonds might have for capital gains. bonds. came from independent oil ma- Despite profit margins being another year of positive returns In fact, investors are even buy- Ultimately, markets are in a jors and contractors globally, are at historic highs, they can go despite yields at record lows, said ing sovereign bonds that yield strange situation because too off the back of a strategic subsea much higher. Andrew Wells, Fidelity’s global negative rates – essentially pay- much capital is chasing too little construction contract from “Organised labour doesn't chief investment officer for fixed ing to lend money to govern- income growth, said Mr Rossi. As Apache Energy, taking the total have the power that it had in the income, real estate and solu- ments. a result, returns on capital will de- worth of work won across the past. Profit margins are structur- tions. Swiss government bond cline. group since the beginning of ally higher, not cyclically higher The 2014 trends of low infla- yields turned negative after the “This is a curious world where 2015 to more than US$355 mil- ... the distribution of wealth be- tion and accommodative central central bank removed the Swiss bond investors are investing for lion. tween capital and income is fa- banks have not changed, he not- franc’s ceiling against the Euro. capital returns and equity inves- The scope of work for the con- vouring capital,” he said. ed. “Don’t expect the US to raise Investors still bought them be- tors are investing for income.” tract wins announced on Friday includes project management, engineering, and transportation and installation works for a float- letter to the editor | ing production storage offload- ing (FPSO) vessel in Africa, as Shareholder nod not needed in Keppel Corp bid: SGX well as various engineering and offshore construction support WE refer to Andrea Soh’s article, shareholders’ consent”. 1014(2) of the Listing Manual ed for in SGX’s Practice Note contracts. Work on the various project activities has com- “Better if Keppel has share- On the contrary, SGX did not was not applicable. 10.1. menced with offshore execution holders’ nod for KepLand bid: ob- grant Keppel Corp an exemption Listing Rule 1014(2) requires Keppel Corp’s offer does not taking place in 2015 and 2016. servers” (BT, Jan 27). from any rule. an issuer to convene an extraordi- change the risk profile nor the “Despite the current head- The article contained an inac- nary general meeting to obtain main business of the Keppel What SGX advised – and winds faced by the oil and gas in- Corp Group. This position was af- curacy which the Singapore Ex- which Keppel Corp duly said on shareholders’ approval for a ma- dustry, our tendering activities re- firmed by Keppel Corp’s board in change (SGX) would like to cor- Jan 23 in its announcement on jor acquisition. main healthy,” said Lionel Lee, the abovementioned announce- rect. “Voluntary Unconditional Cash Shareholder approval was not Ezra’s group CEO and managing ment. This is with respect to the Offer for Keppel Land Ltd” – was required in this instance as the director. “We sit in the value mention that “SGX has, however, that the requirement for the offer acquisition of Keppel Land is an June Sim chain where it is more resilient.” granted Keppel Corp exemption to be approved by shareholders expansion of Keppel Corp’s exist- Head, Listing Compliance Ezra shares closed half a cent from the requirement to obtain of Keppel Corp under Rule ing core business. This is provid- Singapore Exchange lower at S$0.53 on Friday. THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 real estate 15 Park Ave to get first new tower in decades Norman Foster-designed skyscraper more than double the height will replace existing one at prime New York site

New York its steel skeleton and use about 25 per SOME time next week, a metal frame will cent of the frame for the new skyscraper. go up around the blocky brick tower at The project was scaled back after the Manhattan’s 425 Park Ave, designed to City Council in 2013 scrapped an effort led protect pedestrians from falling objects. by then-mayor Michael Bloomberg to al- It’s a prelude to the building’s demise. low building of taller towers in east Mid- In about three years, if all goes accord- town, where the average office property is ing to plan, the site will have a 70 years old. The former mayor is the new Norman Foster-designed skyscraper founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP. more than twice the height of the existing Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to con- one. The replacement would be the first sider new east Midtown zoning recom- new office building in almost four decades mendations, which probably will emerge on what the developer, David Levinson, in the next several months from the office called New York’s “grand boulevard of of Manhattan Borough president Gail commerce”. Brewer, said Rachaele Raynof, spokes- The 272-metre tower will rise amid woman for the Department of City Plan- Manhattan’s biggest rush of skyscraper ning. construction since the 1980s, with mil- Mr Levinson said he shaved 90,000 sq lions of square feet of offices in such ft from the design for 425 Park to comply projects as Hudson Yards on the far west with current rules. side and the World Trade Center down- Also dropped was an early design call- town. Mr Levinson is building “on spec”, ing for open space in front of the tower to meaning without any tenants signed up. display public art, similar to the Seagram It’s a gamble on the staying power of Building, because required city easements today’s accelerating demand for space, weren’t available, according to Mr Foster. and a practice that’s had a chequered his- The architect, who designed London’s tory in the city, said Lawrence Longua, a “Gherkin” skyscraper and Hearst Tower retired real estate professor at New York on Manhattan’s Eighth Avenue, won the University. commission over such fellow Pritzker “Obviously, when you begin one of Prize winners as Zaha Hadid and Rem these large New York office buildings, the Koolhaas. In a telephone interview, he market is there when you begin it,” said called Park Avenue “a kind of sacred area” Mr Longua, now an adjunct at Baruch that must be approached with respect. College’s Newman Real Estate Center. “It’s mobbed by extraordinary monu- “But the market may not be there when ments of the modern movement”, such as you complete it.” the Seagram Building, designed The new Park Avenue skyscraper, be- by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, tween East 55th and 56th streets, will be and Gordon Bunshaft’s Lever House, he narrower than the existing 1950s-era build- said. Even the avenue’s less showy build- ing, and have about the same 670,000 ings have an understated elegance, accord- square feet of floor space. The developers ing to Mr Foster. are touting it as a 21st century answer to Supporters of the initial east Midtown the neighbouring Seagram Building, rezoning plan clashed with people who which was hailed as an architectural mas- wanted certain older buildings near Grand Central and along Park Avenue terwork upon its 1958 completion. PRICIER spared. No one has stepped up to save the Plans call for the existing 425 Park, a The developer will seek over US$200 psf for the uppermost floors of the new skyscraper tower now standing at 425 Park, said Sime- commonplace stack of white-brick boxes, which will rise on the site of the current 425 Park Ave building (centre). PHOTO: BLOOMBERG to be replaced by a 47-storey glass tower on Bankoff, director of New with three distinct sections. Slanted glass York’s Historic Districts Council, a preser- Ave, a speculative building designed with ing a previous high of US$91 psf in 2008, will mark the transitions between the base vationist group. boutique financial firms in mind. the brokerage said. The Seagram Building and the middle, and middle and top sec- While it was designed by a noted archi- In a sign of the market’s resurgence, 7 led the market with 14 such deals. tect, Ely Jacques Kahn – whose credits in- tions. The bottom floors will extend over Bryant Park, a 471,000 sq ft tower rising on Mr Levinson said he’s looking to fill 425 clude the Squibb Building near Central the 45-foot-high lobby, creating offices Avenue of the Americas at 40th Street, is Park Ave with hedge funds, money-man- Park and the arch-roofed Municipal As- that will seem to float over Park Avenue. under contract to be sold for US$600 mil- agement firms and family offices. He phalt Plant on the Upper East Side – it’s “Our view in terms of mitigating the lion to Bank of China, which intends to oc- plans to seek more than US$200 psf for not one of his important works, Mr risk of building a building on spec is to cupy the property. Houston-based Hines the uppermost floors, or 10-15 per cent Bankoff said. build the best building we can,” said Mr more than the highest current asking “I know some Ely Jacques Kahn parti- Levinson, chief executive officer of and a unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co are the developers and sellers. rents in the Plaza District. Towers in the sans, and they’ve never mentioned this developer L&L Holding Co. “If the market submarket – Midtown’s priciest and Asking rents in Midtown top-quality building to me,” said Mr Bankoff. “The is weak, if you have the best building, named for its proximity to the Plaza Hotel skyscrapers climbed to US$99.58 per council had identified a number of build- you’ll still get a premium.” – are prized for their views of Central Park. square foot (psf) at the end of last year, the ings of concern in the east Midtown area, Skyscrapers at 1633 Broadway, near “This is a very rare occurrence,” Mr Lev- and 425 Park Ave was never one of them, highest since 2008, according to a report Times Square, and 1166 Avenue of the inson said. “You have a mid-century office even on the most advanced lists.” by brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. The Americas, north of Bryant Park, failed as building being torn down in Midtown. The site is catty-corner from the condo- vacancy rate for such buildings was 8 per substantially spec projects in the 1970s, There’s not going to be another new build- minium tower nearing completion at 432 cent, down from the peak of 12.1 per cent when the office market suffered as the city ing on Park Avenue in my lifetime.” Park Ave, where a penthouse is under con- in late 2012. flirted with default, according to Mr The lack of construction is partly tied tract for US$95 million. That building has Longua. “Tenants may want to prepare for simi- to an ordinance governing the area since become a symbol of the rising dominance More recently, 11 Times Square, in de- lar growth in 2015, particularly on pre- 1961 that requires developers to build a of the global elite, about the audience Mr velopment when the credit crisis hit in ferred floors in the best buildings,” Cyn- smaller property if they want to complete- Levinson is trying to lure to his project, Mr 2008, didn’t get its first tenant until the thia Wasserberger, a managing director at ly replace the current one. L&L is getting Bankoff said. building was one month from comple- Jones Lang, said in the report. around that by making it a redevelopment “So you can just zip-line from your con- tion. The following year, developer Harry Manhattanwide, 97 leases were signed rather than a new building from scratch. It do to your office,” Mr Bankoff joked. “May- Macklowe lost control of 510 Madison for more than US$100 psf last year, exceed- intends to strip the existing tower down to be have a gondola.” Bloomberg 16 real estate THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Househunt PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS FOR SELECTED DISTRICTS WITH CONTRACT DATES BETWEEN DEC 17 AND DEC 23, 2014 PROJECT NAME/ PROP CONTRACT TENURE BUILT-IN/LAND PRICE PSF PROJECT NAME/ PROP CONTRACT TENURE BUILT-IN/LAND PRICE PSF STREET NAME TYPE DATE AREA*(SQ FT) (S$'000) (S$) STREET NAME TYPE DATE AREA*(SQ FT) (S$'000) (S$) District 11 Boathouse Residences Apt 19/12/2014 99 624 665 1065 NON-LANDED Jewel @ Buangkok Apt 22/12/2014 99 463 670 1448 Montebleu Apt 17/12/2014 FH 1475 2065 1400 Jewel @ Buangkok Apt 18/12/2014 99 517 716 1385 Suites @ Surrey Apt 23/12/2014 FH 893 1230 1377 Jewel @ Buangkok Apt 17/12/2014 99 775 962 1241 LANDED Jewel @ Buangkok Apt 17/12/2014 99 721 901 1249 Chancery Lane X-Det 23/12/2014 FH 23933 25389 1061 Riversound Residence Apt 23/12/2014 99 1292 1250 968 Sunglade Apt 19/12/2014 99 1378 1320 958 District 12 The Quartz Apt 19/12/2014 99 1141 1170 1025 NON-LANDED The Scala Apt 22/12/2014 99 893 1200 1343 Ava Twr Apt 23/12/2014 FH 1281 1250 976 The Scala Apt 17/12/2014 99 850 1200 1411 Ava Twr Apt 20/12/2014 FH 1227 1170 953 The Springbloom Apt 23/12/2014 99 1302 1350 1037 Balestier Point Apt 23/12/2014 FH 883 950 1076 The Springbloom Apt 18/12/2014 99 1119 1180 1054 Eight Riversuites Apt 22/12/2014 99 936 1248 1333 LANDED Eight Riversuites Apt 23/12/2014 99 1195 1460 1222 Highland Close X-Ter 22/12/2014 FH 2114 1950 922 Riverbay Apt 17/12/2014 999 947 1140 1204 Jln Kurnia X-Ter 18/12/2014 FH 1647 2400 1457 Scenic Ht Apt 19/12/2014 FH 1292 1300 1007 Serangoon Gdn Estate X-Sd 19/12/2014 999 2377 3000 1262 Serangoon Gdn Estate X-Sd 23/12/2014 FH 2894 3550 1226 District 13 Serangoon Gdn Estate X-Ter 23/12/2014 999 1840 2300 1250 LANDED Serangoon Gdn Estate X-Ter 18/12/2014 999 1841 3100 1684 Jln Riang X-Ter 19/12/2014 FH 1652 2200 1331 Wolskel Rd X-Det 19/12/2014 FH 9880 8500 860 District 20 NON-LANDED District 14 Bishan Park Cdo Apt 22/12/2014 99 1550 1400 903 NON-LANDED Far Horizon Gdn Apt 22/12/2014 99 1948 1380 708 Camellia Lodge Apt 19/12/2014 FH 1206 975 809 Far Horizon Gdn Apt 23/12/2014 99 1238 930 751 Cosmo Apt 19/12/2014 FH 398 610 1532 Grandeur 8 Apt 19/12/2014 99 1259 1200 953 Esta Ruby Apt 22/12/2014 FH 1130 1530 1354 Thomson Three Apt 23/12/2014 99 1044 1445 1384 Guillemard Suites Apt 17/12/2014 FH 570 828 1451 LANDED Le Reve Apt 23/12/2014 FH 861 1050 1219 Wellington Park X-Sd 19/12/2014 FH 4046 5180 1280 Starville Apt 22/12/2014 FH 581 680 1170 Tre Residences Apt 22/12/2014 99 1711 2062 1205 District 21 Tre Residences Apt 22/12/2014 99 420 707 1684 NON-LANDED Highgate Cdo Apt 19/12/2014 FH 1496 1440 962 District 15 The Creek @ Bukit Apt 23/12/2014 FH 1733 2680 1546 NON-LANDED LANDED 8m Residences Apt 23/12/2014 FH 1313 1980 1508 Hoover Park X-Ter 23/12/2014 FH 2169 1800 830 Amber Point Apt 23/12/2014 FH 1690 2150 1272 Riveredge Apt 17/12/2014 99 1518 2000 1318 District 22 Sanctuary Green Apt 19/12/2014 99 786 1083 1378 NON-LANDED Silversea Apt 17/12/2014 99 1507 2500 1659 Lakeville Apt 19/12/2014 99 560 751 1342 Silversea Apt 17/12/2014 99 2540 4400 1732 Lakeville Apt 19/12/2014 99 969 1210 1249 Spring @ Katong Apt 19/12/2014 FH 1163 1370 1178 Parc Oasis Apt 18/12/2014 99 1227 1070 872 Suites @ Katong Apt 17/12/2014 FH 452 600 1327 Parc Vista Apt 23/12/2014 99 1055 950 901 LANDED The Centris Apt 18/12/2014 99 872 988 1133 Poole Rd X-Det 18/12/2014 FH 4918 7525 1530 The Mayfair Apt 22/12/2014 99 1163 1030 886 LANDED District 16 Yunnan Gdn X-Ter 23/12/2014 FH 2550 2330 914 NON-LANDED Bayshore Park Apt 23/12/2014 99 1173 1130 963 District 23 Bedok Residences Apt 18/12/2014 99 1507 1893 1256 NON-LANDED Casa Merah Apt 17/12/2014 99 1389 1470 1059 Guilin View Apt 22/12/2014 99 1281 1088 849 Optima @ Tanah Merah Apt 23/12/2014 99 1249 1525 1221 Hillion Residences Apt 18/12/2014 99 463 650 1404 The Glades Apt 17/12/2014 99 678 1019 1503 Kingsford Hillview Peak Apt 22/12/2014 99 517 713 1381 LANDED Maysprings Apt 19/12/2014 99 1302 1010 775 Guan Soon Ave X-Ter 18/12/2014 FH 1652 2330 1410 Maysprings Apt 17/12/2014 99 915 800 874 Peakview Estate X-Ter 18/12/2014 FH 1723 2750 1596 The Skywoods Apt 17/12/2014 99 1012 1234 1220 LANDED District 17 Cashew Villas X-Ter 18/12/2014 999 1616 2380 1473 NON-LANDED Azalea Park Cdo Apt 19/12/2014 999 1335 1150 862 District 25 Ferraria Park Cdo Apt 19/12/2014 FH 1023 928 908 LANDED Oakwood Grove X-Ter 23/12/2014 99 1889 1700 900 District 18 NON-LANDED District 27 Changi Rise Apt 22/12/2014 99 1130 938 830 NON-LANDED Coco Palms Apt 19/12/2014 99 1378 1363 989 The Sensoria Apt 19/12/2014 FH 1270 1140 898 Coco Palms Apt 19/12/2014 99 2928 2526 863 Yishun Sapphire Apt 19/12/2014 99 1216 855 703 Coco Palms Apt 18/12/2014 99 904 937 1036 LANDED Coco Palms Apt 22/12/2014 99 1539 1296 842 Wak Hassan Dr X-Det 19/12/2014 99 5471 5900 1078 Coco Palms Apt 18/12/2014 99 1378 1330 965 Coco Palms Apt 17/12/2014 99 1399 1182 844 District 28 D'nest Apt 17/12/2014 99 1270 1335 1051 NON-LANDED Livia Apt 19/12/2014 99 1270 1185 933 Rivertrees Residences Apt 22/12/2014 99 1119 1231 1100 Livia Apt 17/12/2014 99 1270 1150 905 Rivertrees Residences Apt 22/12/2014 99 1206 1280 1062 Ripple Bay Apt 17/12/2014 99 1076 1100 1022 LANDED The Santorini Apt 22/12/2014 99 527 589 1117 Seletar Gdn X-Ter 23/12/2014 FH 2102 2400 1142 Vue 8 Residence Apt 17/12/2014 99 1033 918 888 Seletar Hills Estate X-Sd 22/12/2014 FH 3150 3950 1254 Waterview Apt 19/12/2014 99 1141 1260 1104 Note: Data extracted on Jan 26, 2015 *Applies to landed property District 19 Information is provided by SISV Services Pte Ltd. SPH gives no warranty as to the accuracy of the NON-LANDED information and disclaims all liability for any loss or damages that may arise from its use. THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 banking & finance 17 RBI urges companies to hedge FX exposure India’s central bank seeks to shield the rupee, Asia best performing currency, from global financial seismic shifts

Mumbai ply dollars on days when there is heavy de- INDIA’S central bank is making extra ef- mand from importers to meet payments. forts to spur the country’s corporates to With a weather eye on the Fed’s inten- more actively hedge their foreign ex- tions, the RBI has bought dollars aggres- change exposure, in order to fortify the sively, and foreign exchange reserves country’s defences against any risk of cur- climbed to a record US$322.14 billion this rency turmoil. month. But the lack of corporate hedging re- The efforts reflect the Reserve Bank of mains a weak point in India’s currency India’s fear of being held hostage to global market defences, according to central developments, especially as the US Feder- bankers. al Reserve is widely expected to start rais- RBI Deputy Governor HR Khan said in ing interest rates this year, which could October the hedge ratio for overseas loans spark potential selling in emerging mar- and foreign convertible debt had halved kets. to around 15 per cent in July-August from “Corporates are not hedging enough,” the previous fiscal year. said a senior policy maker aware of the In recent weeks, the spot rupee-dollar central bank’s thinking. “Many things can rate has fluctuated more on days of heavy go wrong when the US starts raising rates. volumes, according to traders, as the RBI RBI and the government can only im- has abstained from draining or supplying prove fundamentals, but corporates need as many dollars as it has done in the past. to increase their hedge ratios to be better Some analysts interpreted that as a prepared for any turmoil in the exchange warning to companies to hedge more, and to foreign investors to refrain from rate.” SHORING UP As a result, the RBI is seeking to bring playing off a stable spot rate to speculate The Reserve Bank of India wants corporates to increase their hedge ratios to be better in offshore forward markets. “RBI will al- down the cost of currency protection by prepared for turmoil when the US decides to raise interest rates. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG reducing its own dollar buying in forward low a bit of volatility in the rupee as it markets, making it more affordable for wants neither the corporates nor FIIs (for- And the RBI wants to prevent complacen- Nonetheless, the RBI is keen to avoid a companies to buy forward cover. eign institutional investors) to believe that cy developing in a country that is enjoying repeat of the turmoil seen in 2013, when it will continue to protect the rupee in a The RBI’s dollar buying had pushed up tight range,” said Samir Lodha, managing the cost of hedging for companies to easing inflation, a narrowing current ac- fears about US rate hikes led to the director at QuantArt Market Solutions, an 10-12 per cent. The premium has now fall- count deficit, and the leadership of a gov- rupee’s worst crisis in more than two dec- ernment intent on introducing ambitious ades. advisory firm for companies. en to around 6 per cent, according to Reu- Some corporate treasurers saw the economic reforms. India closely shepherds the rupee – ters data. RBI’s efforts paying off. “The various mea- which is convertible on the trade account, The RBI has also told banks to regular- The rupee is Asia’s best performing cur- sures being taken by the RBI has certainly ly report quarterly data for corporate rency so far in 2015, with a nearly 2 per but only partially convertible on the capi- helped and the hedge books of companies customers’ positions, including estimates cent gain against the dollar, helped by net tal account – while letting the markets de- are at much higher levels than what they of unhedged foreign currency exposure. foreign inflows of US$5.25 billion into termine trends. were last year,” said Mradul Dubey, head The rupee’s buoyancy over the past debt and stocks after US$42.37 billion in The RBI has typically intervened to of treasury, Electrosteel Castings and Sri- year had become a disincentive to hedge. purchases last year. dampen excessive speculation, or to sup- kalahasthi Pipes Ltd. Reuters RBS reviewing Deutsche Bank back in the black in Q4 global footprint Frankfurt The profit for 2014, while better than ered the best measure of a bank’s ability Dubai DEUTSCHE Bank, the largest German the year before, amounted to a pretax re- to withstand a crisis, to 3.5 per cent at the bank, said on Thursday that it returned to turn on equity of 5 per cent – well behind end of 2014 from 2.4 per cent a year earli- ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) plans to profit in the fourth quarter of 2014, as rev- the ratio of 25 per cent that Deutsche er. The minimum leverage ratio in Europe sell or close its corporate debt and debt enue in the investment banking unit rose Bank and many other large banks aimed is 3 per cent. Regulators are expected to capital markets business in the Middle East and Africa, the latest pullback by the and the bank set aside less money to cov- for before the financial crisis that began raise the minimum further in years to state-controlled lender from emerging er legal problems. in 2008. Return on equity is a common come. markets to focus on its domestic busi- Shares of Deutsche Bank rose 2.5 per measure of bank profitability. “In 2014, Deutsche Bank became a Revenue in the quarter rose 19 per ness. cent after it reported a fourth-quarter net stronger, safer and better balanced bank,” cent, to 7.8 billion euros, Deutsche Bank Mr Jain said in a video statement. The lender, 81 per cent owned by the profit of 441 million euros (S$677 mil- said, in part because of increased uncer- The bank said its costs from fines or le- British government, has been reviewing lion), after a loss of 1.4 billion euros in the tainty in global financial markets, which gal fees fell 1 billion euros in the fourth its global footprint as it seeks to rebuild period a year earlier. Analysts polled by prompted clients to do more trading and quarter, but it cautioned that “a number its reputation after one of the biggest bail- Reuters had forecast a loss for the latest generated fees for the bank. of major litigation cases have yet to be set- outs in British history during the global fi- quarter. For the full year, Deutsche Bank report- tled”. Deutsche Bank is among a group of nancial crisis. Although the earnings were better ed net profit of 1.7 billion euros, com- banks under investigation on suspicion “Part of the strategy set out by (chief than expected, Deutsche Bank managers pared with a profit of 681 million euros in that employees manipulated benchmark executive) Ross McEwan in February acknowledged they were still far from 2013. interest rates used to set rates on mortgag- 2014 was to make RBS a smaller, more fo- meeting their goals. Under pressure from regulators as well es and many other loans. It also faces in- cused bank. As part of that strategy, we “We have not delivered to investors as shareholders, Deutsche Bank has been quiries into foreign exchange trading and have taken the decision to exit our corpo- the return which they rightfully expect,” trying to increase the proportion of its lawsuits related to sales of securities in rate debt and debt capital markets busi- Anshu Jain, the bank’s co-chief executive, own money that it uses to do business, as the United States and transactions with ness in the Middle East and Africa,” RBS said during a conference call. opposed to borrowed money. Neverthe- countries under international sanctions. said in a statement on Thursday. One of the last European banks that is less, the bank’s common equity Tier 1 ra- “We’re doing everything we can to Banking sources told Reuters that RBS still a major presence on Wall Street, Deut- tio, a measure of its ability to absorb loss- bring legal disputes to a conclusion,” Jür- was attempting to sell its corporate bank- sche Bank has been struggling with a com- es, fell to 11.7 per cent at the end of 2014, gen Fitschen, the other co-chief execu- ing business across the Middle East but bination of stricter government regula- compared with 12.7 per cent a year earli- tive, said during the conference call. But had been unable to offload it in one tion, low interest rates and legal costs er. he said it was impossible to predict when chunk. Two of the sources said the bank stemming from accusations of past mis- Deutsche Bank, however, said it had in- cases would be resolved and how much was now selling off its assets piecemeal conduct. creased its leverage ratio, often consid- they would cost. NYT to different buyers. Reuters 18 energy & commodities THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Investors lured back to gold after Shell ‘optimistic’ surprise rally on US refinery New York GOLD’S longest rally in two years is spur- contract talks ring investors to return to precious metals just as signs emerge that the gains may be petering out. Union not as optimistic, prepared for possible strike US exchange-traded products backed by precious metals took in US$1.9 billion this month through Jan 28, the first inflow BOTTOMED? Houston may be needed to win concessions from Bullion tumbled 29 per cent in the since July and the biggest since Septem- LEAD industry negotiator Royal Dutch the oil companies. The last nationwide re- previous two years. PHOTO: REUTERS ber 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg Shell Plc said on Thursday that it was “op- finery workers strike was in 1980 and last- show. Gold prices dropped 2.4 per cent timistic” a new three-year agreement ed for three months. on Jan 29, cutting this month’s rally to 6.5 ristown, New Jersey. “I don’t think inves- could be reached with a union represent- Shell is leading the talks on behalf of per cent, and Goldman Sachs Group said tors will abandon gold now as a lot of easy ing hourly workers at 63 US refineries that companies that own US refineries includ- this week it expects the metal will fall over money is getting added to the system.” Fu- account for two-thirds of US refining ca- ing majors such as Exxon Mobil Corp and the next year. tures in New York climbed for three pacity. BP Plc and smaller companies such as Hol- lyFrontier Corp and Delek. After shunning gold for two straight straight months, the longest rally since In a message to members, the United “We remain optimistic that a mutually years, investors are coming back to the September 2012, and January’s advance is Steelworkers union (USW) did not share satisfactory agreement can be negotiated metal as officials in Europe and Asia fight still poised to be the largest since Febru- Shell’s optimism, pointing to the ap- with the USW,”said Shell spokesman Ray stagnating economies with more stimu- ary 2014. Hedge funds and other specula- proaching expiration of the current Fisher in a statement issued on Thursday lus. Weaker foreign expansion had also in- tors have the biggest net-bullish bet on three-year agreement at 12.01 am on Sun- night. creased bets that the Federal Reserve gold in two years, US government data day in the time zone where each refinery The USW is seeking annual pay raises would delay raising interest rates. This show. Assets in global ETPs backed by the is located. double those of the last agreement. It also week’s statement from the policy makers metal are heading for the biggest monthly “Still no new offer from the industry,” wants work that has been given in the past that cited “solid” US growth damped that increase since 2011. the USW message read. “Clock is ticking. to non-union contractors to start going to speculation, and bullion on Thursday Bullion tumbled 29 per cent in the pre- Day of action was a huge success and Oil- USW members, a tighter policy to prevent capped the biggest decline since 2013. vious two years as the American economy workers are ready to stand up and fight workplace fatigue, and reductions in “While the gold market is viewing the improved. back.” members’ out-of-pocket payments for Fed statement as negative and the US “It looks like gold has bottomed,” John USW locals carried out protests in sup- healthcare. economy is getting stronger, one cannot Apruzzese at Evercore Wealth Manage- port of the union’s contract proposals in The USW has rejected two contract pro- ignore the economic stress in Europe and ment in New York, said. “We think that front of refineries across the country on posals from oil company negotiators since China,” Jeff Sica, the president of Circle there is a distinct possibility that the Fed Wednesday. The union and refineries talks began on Jan 21. At least five contract Squared Alternative Investments said in a may delay raising rates. We are consider- have both prepared for a possible strike, proposals were rejected during the talks in telephone interview on Jan 29 from Mor- ing going back to gold.” Bloomberg which the union signalled on Monday 2012 for the current agreement. Reuters China private oil firms hit by SOE probes

Singapore services companies feeling a little bit Ratings to cut its credit score to CHINA’S private oil service compa- of revenue and profit pressure, espe- “BB-”, and Moody’s to reduce its nies are paying the price in the bond cially this year, which I believe is par- ranking to “Ba3”. Both ratings are three steps below investment grade. market for graft probes involving tially related to the graft probe is- state energy giants. sues,” said Leo Hu, an analyst at Honghua, based in the Standard & Poor’s in Hong Kong. south-western city of Chengdu, said The yield on the 2018 US dollar- “This, we believe, has decreased the in a November filing that profit for denominated bonds of Anton Oil- national oil companies’ propensity 2014 “will decrease significantly”. field Services Group Ltd, which helps of engaging third-party oil services Moody’s downgraded it to “B2”, five drill oil wells, has almost doubled to companies.” levels below investment grade. 25 per cent this year. The yield on the The corruption probes are adding Drilling contracts from major 2019 notes of Honghua Group Ltd, to pressure on issuers of riskier state-owned oil producers have the world’s largest land rig maker, bonds as prices for oil, coal, metals slumped due to the anti-corruption jumped to a record 34.3 per cent this and property slide amid a slowing campaign, which has hurt month. That contrasts with the 44 ba- economy. The Bloomberg commodi- Honghua’s business, according to a sis point decline to 3.39 per cent for ties index touched the lowest since company spokeswoman who asked the 2024 securities of state-owned 2002 on Jan 29, after a government re- not to be identified. CNOOC Ltd, China’s biggest offshore port showed that US crude invento- MIE Holdings Corp, an energy oil and gas producer. ries advanced to the highest level in contractor, issued a profit warning in July, and sold its subsidiary Pan- Chinese President Xi Jinping’s at least 30 years. The price of Brent China Resources for US$83.2 million campaign to catch “tigers and flies” crude, the benchmark used by most in August. The company operates oil- for graft had its highest profile case of the world, has slid 57 per cent to fields in the Jilin oilfield in with the arrest of former security US$49 a barrel from its high last year north-western China owned by chief Zhou Yongkang and probes in- in June of US$115. PetroChina Co, a company control- to a network of associates that he Chinese exploration and produc- led by CNPC whose former chairman built up during his time as chairman tion projects have been delayed Jiang Jiemin has been charged with of China National Petroleum Corp amid the government’s investiga- corruption. (CNPC). The fallout from the probe, tions into state-owned oil and gas “There are some companies that and similar cases involving property companies, Fitch Ratings Co said in reduced their capital expenditures developers and securities brokerag- September. very quickly and sold some assets es, is affecting companies without Anton Oilfield expects that profits and have a reasonably strong cash powerful state benefactors as may slump more than 140 per cent balance,” said Nish Popat, portfolio projects are frozen, contract awards for a net loss due to “the adjustment manager for Neuberger Berman scrutinised and investors ask who in the domestic market and decrease Group LLC in the Hague. The firm will be targeted next. in international oil price”, it said in a had US$250 billion under manage- “We are seeing Chinese oilfield Jan 18 filing. That prompted Fitch ment as at Dec 31, 2014. Bloomberg THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 technology 19 Spending spree, Amazon Q4 profit beats estimates strong dollar despite aggressive spending San Francisco AMAZON surprised the market weigh on with a quarterly profit far better than anticipated for the online giant known for pouring money Google results into projects such as original vid- eo programmes and delivery drones. Share of the online-ad market under pressure “Amazon beat estimates even though Jeff Bezos is moving at a paranoid pace; pretty much San Francisco digital-payments systems and spending money as fast as it GOOGLE Inc is ramping up Web-linked glasses. comes in and going flat out as if spending to invest in new tech- Operating expenses, which in- there were somebody right on nologies and fend off competi- clude engineering and sales staff, his heels chasing him,” said inde- tion on mobile devices, even as reached US$6.78 billion in the pendent analyst Rob Enderle of its maturing Web-advertising fourth quarter, a 35 per cent in- Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. crease from a year earlier. That business posted quarterly profit “When a competitor does compares with quarterly operat- and sales that fell short of esti- emerge they won’t have a chance MOVING FAST ing expenses of US$5.5 billion at mates. of catching him. It’s the most ag- Amazon has embarked on such a rapid growth strategy that any Apple Inc, whose revenue was Fourth-quarter profit, exclud- gressive growth strategy for such competitor that does emerge will find it hard to catch up. PHOTO: AFP ing some items, was US$6.88 a more than five times greater than Google’s in the same period. a long period of time that I have share on revenue of US$14.5 bil- “In many ways, 2014 was a ever seen.” customers and membership ing “bold bets”. “I’ve made bil- lion, Google said in a statement year of significant investment Amazon posted earnings of grew 53 per cent, according to lions of dollars of failures at Ama- on Thursday, compared with growth,” Patrick Pichette, chief fi- US$214 million for the fourth Amazon. zon.com,” he told a New York analysts’ average projections for nancial officer, said on a confer- quarter as sales jumped 15 per “Prime is a one-of-a-kind, conference sponsored by the US$7.11 and US$14.7 billion. Ex- ence call. “We’ll continue to seek cent to US$29.3 billion, swinging all-you-can-eat, physical-digital news website Business Insider. penses jumped as Google added a healthy balance between to profit after two consecutive los- hybrid – in 2014 alone we paid bil- In addition to the smart- more staff and real estate, while growth and discipline.” While Mr ing quarters. For the full year lions of dollars for Prime ship- phone, Amazon last year un- currency fluctuations dented rev- Pichette said there are many 2014, Amazon on Thursday post- ping and invested US$1.3 billion enue. veiled an upgraded line of Kindle promising areas for future ed a net loss of US$241 million While Facebook Inc and other in Prime Instant Video,” Mr Bez- tablet computers and introduced growth, he also pointed to Glass on sales of US$89 billion. os said. a streaming media player. Internet companies are seeking as an example of how the compa- Amazon has faced pressure A Prime subscription gives The Seattle-based company to lure away users and advertis- ny can also be ready to pull back from shareholders to deliver prof- members unlimited video and bolstered its online gaming pres- ers on tablets and smartphones, on a project. its even as founder Jeff Bezos has music streaming and, in some lo- Google’s shares were buoyed in “In those situations where ence with a US$970 million acqui- late trading amid signs of they don’t have the impact we invested in a vast array of cations, offers same-day delivery sition of the game platform strength in the search provider’s hope for, we do make the tough projects – from online video to its on groceries. Twitch, and expanded its “Ama- main businesses and optimism calls,” the CFO said. own smartphones and delivery Amazon managed the profit zon Fresh” grocery delivery ser- that the company will use its Mr Pichette also said in the drones to business e-mail. even as it ramped up its video of- vice. cash pile to enter new markets to conference call that Google “I see Amazon creating lots of ferings to compete against Net- Mr Bezos has said he hopes to secure future growth. would be willing to “throw a little experiments to change from be- flix and others. move forward on plans to use “They didn’t do anything that back” when the company ing a giant Web mall to being a At the same time, Amazon has drones for delivery of goods, but was dramatically inconsistent reached a limit on how much it much more diverse company,” been working to boost sales from has said this could be delayed by with what they’ve been doing,” could invest in operations. said Forrester analyst Frank Gil- its traditional online marketplace red tape. said Brian Wieser, an analyst at “We do review this issue on a lett. and a large cloud services opera- Shares in Amazon shot up Pivotal Research Group. “You’ve regular basis,” Mr Pichette said Mr Bezos said the company is tion for businesses. more than 12 per cent to got top-line growth that overall is when asked whether Google was reaping benefits from “Amazon Mr Bezos last month publicly US$349.93 in after-hours trading reasonably solid and you have closer to returning cash to share- Prime”, an online subscription acknowledged missteps which following the release of earnings holders. “I just have nothing to margin erosion, largely due to di- service. Last year, the price was have cost the tech giant billions, figures that eclipsed Wall Street announce today.” Fourth-quar- versification.” Foreign currency raised to US$99 annually for US but said that is the price for tak- forecasts. AFP fluctuations also weighed on re- ter net income rose 41 per cent sults. Google said total revenue to US$4.76 billion, or US$6.91 a would have been higher by share, from US$3.38 billion, or US$541 million from the prior US$4.95, a year earlier. quarter without the impact of a Revenue from Google’s own Apple recruiting workers in six Chinese cities stronger dollar, which reduces sites, including the key search en- gine, rose 18 per cent to US$12.4 the amount of overseas income San Francisco Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, ference call. “And so we’re invest- billion. Other revenue, which in- that can be counted back home. APPLE Inc, aiming to more than where the company already has ing like crazy in the market.” cludes the mobile Play app store Marketers also paid less for mo- double its stores in China, is ad- the bulk of its China stores. Chief Apple has said it plans to and hardware such as the bile ads, driving down the aver- executive officer Tim Cook has open 25 more stores in Greater Chromecast streaming device, vertising openings for retail work- age price of spots by 3 per cent in said he expects China will eventu- China by mid-2016, including rose 19 per cent in the quarter ers in six cities where it currently the quarter. doesn’t have any shops. ally overtake the US to become five before the Chinese New Year compared with a 50 per cent gain its largest market. The company holiday in February. Apple ended The shares of Google rose in in the prior period. The Cupertino, Califor- doubled iPhone unit sales in last year with 15 stores in main- extended trading. The stock ad- Google’s share of the on- nia-based company is recruiting mainland China in the final three land China and Hong Kong, ac- vanced less than one per cent to line-ad market is coming under store workers in Chengdu, US$513.23 at the close in New months of last year. cording to its website. pressure as more users spend Guangzhou, Shenyang, Tianjin, York and was down 5.4 per cent “When I look at China, I see Two new ones have since time on smartphones and tab- Nanjing and Dalian, advertise- in 2014, compared with an 11 per an enormous market where opened in Zhengzhou and lets. The company, which has in- ments posted on Thursday on cent gain in the Standard & there are more people graduat- Hangzhou, and a second Chong- troduced services encouraging the company’s website showed. Poor’s 500 Index. marketers to use its mobile fea- ing into the middle class than qing location is set to open on Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman Chief Executive Officer Larry tures, saw its share of global mo- any nation on earth in history, Saturday. Page stepped up spending, as bile-ad revenue decline to 41 per for Apple, declined to comment and just an incredible market While Apple hasn’t said where Google invests in areas outside of cent in 2014, from 47 per cent in beyond saying: “We haven’t an- where people want the latest the final two stores will be locat- the company’s main search-ad 2013, while Facebook’s rose to 18 nounced stores in those areas.” technology and products that ed, it began looking for store business, from high-speed Inter- per cent from 17 per cent, accord- The push is part of Apple’s ef- we’re providing,” Mr Cook told managers for Tianjin and Shen- net service and driverless cars to ing to EMarketer Inc. Bloomberg forts to move beyond Hong analysts during an October con- yang in June. Bloomberg 20 consumer THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Hershey craves more consumers’ attention Lost impulse buys have slowed sales below expectation last year

Washington “Impulse, in an indulgent America’s US$17.7 billion choco- ONLINE shopping, curbside business, is really important . . . late market. pick-up and self-checkout aisles But shopping is changing, and At a meeting of retail execu- have made it quicker and easier impulse is under threat,” said tives in New York this month, than ever for Americans to buy Frank Jimenez, Hershey’s senior Hershey senior manager of the things that they need. That is director of retail evolution. front-end experience Chris With- am outlined some of the ways a huge problem for the candy “What happens if and when the EAT ME that the company planned to win and chocolate industries, which checkout goes away?” Hershey has sponsored research into what makes the world’s shoppers have made billions over the years back “unplanned purchases”, Shoppers moving too quickly reach for chocolaty gratification. PHOTO: REUTERS off waits at the register – and to crave has become a worrying with tests starting this year. customers’ last-minute impulse For curbside grocery trend for the five “power” sectors laty gratification, and Mr Jimen- category”, said Hershey chief ex- buys. pick-ups, Hershey could upgrade of the supermarket checkout: ez said that the company created ecutive John Bilbrey said on a Those lost “instant consuma- kiosks or add menu boards to al- sweets, snacks, drinks, maga- what it calls the “Eight Human call with analysts last summer. ble” sales, combined with “a low buyers one final candy grab zines and health-related flotsam, “They know it’s indulgent. It’s more competitive snacking envi- before finishing their order. At Truths of Impulse” to explain such as lip balm. Though tiny, not a food group.” ronment”, helped slow Hershey self-checkout machines, shop- why people succumb to little the grab-and-go items are incred- Perhaps the most egregious Co sales last year below expecta- pers could find a special dispens- checkout-aisle urges. The good- ibly lucrative: Checkout areas ac- curtailer of the impulse buy has tions, the sweets company said er that spits out chocolate bars ies can delight, indulge, recharge count for one per cent of a typi- or “rescue”; they can spoil (“I been self-checkout aisles, which on Thursday. on demand. The company could supermarkets first turned to for cal supermarket’s merchandising worked hard today”) or charm So to get Americans splurging also dispatch an army of vending lower labour costs and now ac- space but 4 per cent of its profit, (“That’s a great idea”); they can again, the country’s biggest choc- machines to grab shoppers out- count for about 40 per cent of all Mr Jimenez said. lead shoppers to aspire (as with olate maker is investing heavily side the store, including, poten- mass retailer sales. The supermar- on technology that would spread Yet few companies are lead- tially, looking to “some dispens- food or fitness magazines); or ket world, and the providers of its its temptations far beyond the tra- ing the charge to win back im- ing opportunities around (petrol) they can simply convince buyers treats, have lost billions of dollars ditional checkout lines, trying to pulse buys like Hershey, whose pumps”, Mr Witham said. that they have scored on a good on impulse opportunities since re-inspire a sweet tooth that Reese’s, Kit Kat, York, Almond Hershey has sponsored re- deal. the largely unadorned self- might expand the company’s bot- Joy and namesake bar account search into what makes the With chocolate, “people come checkouts first beeped in 1992, tom line. for the biggest chunk of world’s shoppers reach for choco- to the category as a ‘reward me’ Mr Jimenez said. WP Coach goes more full-price, less discount; Q2 profit tops forecast

New York stock tumbled 33 per cent last year, per cent to US$1.22 billion, just miss- COACH Inc has posted second-quar- compared with an 11 per cent gain ing analysts’ US$1.23 billion average ter profit that exceeded analysts’ esti- for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. estimate. mates as the struggling handbag mak- The company on Thursday also Net income in the quarter ended er worked to increase sales of named a new head for its North Dec 27 fell 38 per cent to US$183.5 full-priced items and reduce dis- American business, the epicentre for million, or 66 cents a share. counts as part of its turnaround plan. many of its troubles. Andre Cohen Kate Spade & Co, one of Coach’s Excluding restructuring costs, will become president for North main handbag rivals, said on Thurs- earnings were 72 cents a share, the America, a position that will oversee day in a preliminary earnings state- New York-based company said on retail management, marketing, mer- ment that 2014 sales were about Thursday. Analysts had estimated 66 chandise and e-commerce. Francine US$1.13-1.14 billion, a 40 per cent gain from a year earlier. An- cents, on average. North American alysts had estimated about same-store sales fell 22 per cent, com- ‘... first time they’ve said US$1.1 billion. pared with the 24 per cent drop pre- As part of the effort to re- dicted by analysts tracked by Consen- anything positive about the fresh its image, Coach sus Metrix. business, and it gives agreed this month to buy Coach, the largest US luxury hand- people hope that maybe the designer footwear compa- bag maker, is trying to curb its reli- product is taking hold.’ ny Stuart Weitzman for as ance on discounts, which had ham- much as US$574 million. pered profit growth in recent years. Analyst Brian Yarbrough Private-equity firm Syca- It’s also revamping stores and collab- more Partners is selling the orating with new designers to try to unit, which will add to earn- Della Badia, who previously led recapture market share lost to com- ings immediately. The deal is expect- North American retail, will leave the petitors such as Kate Spade. ed to close in May. company in February. “This is the first time they’ve said Coach will pay about US$530 mil- anything positive about the business, Mr Cohen joined Coach in 2008 lion in cash to Sycamore Partners ini- and it gives people hope that maybe and had served as president and CEO tially. The retailer will pay US$44 mil- the product is taking hold,” Brian Yar- of the China and Asia operations. He lion more on the achievement of reve- brough, an analyst at Edward Jones & has also held positions at Timber- nue targets during the three years af- Co in St Louis, said. He has a buy rat- land, Swatch Group and LVMH Moet ter the acquisition is final. Stuart ing on the shares. Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Weitzman had about US$300 million Coach rose 6.8 per cent to Coach’s second-quarter sales in in sales in for the 12 months ended US$38.94 at the close in New York, North America fell 20 per cent to Sept 30, according to a Jan 6 state- the biggest gain since April 2013. The US$785 million. Total revenue slid 14 ment. Bloomberg THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 transport 21 airasia crash | Pilots cut power to critical systems: sources Action appears to have helped trigger Dec 28 events, when plane climbed abruptly before falling

Jakarta Investigators are still trying to THE pilots of AirAsia Flight 8501 determine why the pilots would cut power to a critical computer cut power to the flight augmenta- system that normally prevents tion computers by pulling a cir- planes from going out of control cuit breaker in the cockpit. shortly before it plunged into the Indonesian authorities have Java Sea, two people with know- so far recovered at least 70 bod- ledge of the investigation said. ies. Investigators still haven’t managed to lift the jet’s fuselage, The action appears to have but the tail section has been re- helped trigger the events of Dec trieved. Indonesia’s military 28, when the Airbus Group NV pulled out of the search this A320 climbed so abruptly that it week. lost lift and began falling with The cockpit voice recorder warnings blaring in the cockpit, captured the pilots’ voices and the people said. All 162 aboard no explosion was heard, Nurc- were killed. ahyo Utomo, an investigator The pilots had been attempt- with the committee, said last ing to deal with alerts about the week. flight augmentation computers, The flight data recorder cap- which control the A320’s rudder tured 1,200 parameters and the and also automatically prevent it voice recorder captured the last from going too slow. After initial two hours and four minutes of attempts to address the alerts, the flight, the investigators said. the flight crew cut power to the The two devices are called the entire system, which is com- black boxes. prised of two separate computers DETRITUS After studying data from the that back up each other, the peo- An Indonesian diver and an official examining the wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501 after it was lifted into the black boxes, authorities ruled out ple said. Crest Onyx ship at sea. PHOTO: AFP terrorism as a factor that brought While the information helps down the plane. show how a normally function- Flight 8501 appeared to have er to the flight augmentation Mr Cox said such an abrupt controller cleared the pilots to ing A320’s flight-protection sys- stalled after climbing steeply, computer system and said they climb would almost certainly climb to 34,000 feet, he said. tem could have been bypassed, it Minister of Transportation Ignasi- wouldn’t release more informa- cause a rapid loss of speed and a Satellite images showed storm doesn’t explain why the pilots us Jonan said earlier this month. tion on the case. “very pronounced stall”. clouds that reached as high as pulled the plane into a steep A stall occurs when airflow over Airbus is barred from com- The aircraft, operated by the 44,000 feet, according to investi- climb, the people said. Even with the wings is disrupted or be- Indonesian affiliate of Malaysia- gators. comes too slow to provide lift the computers shut off, the pilots menting on the accident under based AirAsia, disappeared from The aircraft was in “good con- and keep a plane aloft. should have been able to fly the international investigation trea- radar en route to Singapore from dition”, Mr Siswosuwarno said. Indonesia has said it intends plane manually, they said. ties, the company’s North Ameri- Surabaya. All Airbus models produced to shut the agency responsible Airbus discourages pilots can spokesman, Clay McConnell, said in an e-mail. Indonesia won’t release a pre- since the 1980s are designed to for coordinating aircraft flight from cutting power to systems be- liminary report on its investiga- prevent pilot errors from causing From a cruising altitude of slots in three months. That’s af- cause electronics in the highly tion into Flight 8501 because crashes. The planes are control- 32,000 feet, the single-aisle A320 ter the AirAsia flight took off on a computerised aircraft are inter- fact-findings could change rapid- led by multiple flight computers, Sunday, without a Ministry of climbed to 37,400 feet as pilots connected and turning off one ly, Tatang Kurniadi, head of the which limit pilots from overly Transportation permit to fly that probably tried to avoid bad component can affect others, commission, said on Thursday. steep turns or getting too slow. day. weather, Mr Lananggalih said. John Cox, a former A320 pilot Indonesia sent the preliminary In the event of a malfunction The government has suspend- who is now a safety consultant, The aircraft then descended slow- findings to all countries in the in- or loss of power, the flight protec- ed the licence of AirAsia for that said in an interview. ly for three minutes before it dis- vestigation on Jan 28, he said. tions will shut down and leave route, found other airlines in “Particularly with an Airbus appeared, he said. The pilots had sought permis- the pilots to fly the plane manual- breach of permits and removed you don’t do that,” said Mr Cox, “The pilots were conscious sion from air traffic control to ly. That appears to be what hap- officials involved from the minis- chief executive officer of Wash- when the manoeuvre hap- turn left and then climb to 38,000 pened before Flight 8501 entered try, AirNav Indonesia and state ington-based industry consult- pened,” he said. “They were try- feet because of storm clouds. the steep climb and stalled, the airport company PT Angkasa Pu- ant Safety Operating Systems. ing to control the airplane.” Four minutes after the request, a two people said. ra 1. Bloomberg Flight 8501 climbed more than 5,000 feet (1,524 metres) in less than 30 seconds, rising above the altitude where it was ANA, JAL see good year despite mixed results authorised to fly, Ertata Lanang- galih, an investigator with Tokyo news for airlines which often passenger flights jumped 19.1 The airline left unchanged its Indonesia’s National Transporta- JAPAN’S two biggest airlines post- count fuel as their single-biggest per cent year-on-year, ANA said, annual net profit forecast of 35 tion Safety Committee, said in Ja- ed mixed nine-month results on expense, especially as a sharp while revenue in its domestic pas- billion yen for the fiscal year to karta on Thursday. Friday with All Nippon Airways drop in the yen boosted those senger flight business edged up March. The co-pilot, with 2,247 hours costs. 1.0 per cent. ANA’s rival said profit for its (ANA) posting a 57 per cent rise of flying experience, was at the ANA said its April-December “(The company) moved to April-December period slipped in net profit as its international controls and talking to control- net profit more than doubled to strengthen its overseas networks by 3.1 per cent, to 119.7 billion business took off, while rival Ja- lers while the captain, who had 52.36 billion yen (S$600 million) by taking advantage of the in- yen, while revenue rose 3.3 per pan Airlines (JAL) saw its bottom 20,537 hours, was monitoring, from a year ago, as an expansion crease in takeoff and landing cent to 1.02 trillion yen from a line shrink. said Mardjono Siswosuwarno, at Tokyo’s downtown Haneda air- slots for international routes at year ago. the lead investigator of the crash. Despite the fall in profit, JAL port increased landing slots for Haneda Airport last spring,” it But JAL revised up its earnings The account was the first descrip- raised its full-year earnings fore- international flights. said in a statement. forecast to a net profit of 139 bil- tion of the last moments of the cast because of falling fuel costs Sales in the latest period rose ANA added seven new routes lion yen – against a previous pro- flight. and stronger revenue in its cargo 9.1 per cent to 1.3 trillion yen, the at Haneda with flights bound for jection of 135 billion yen – due to The investigators didn’t ad- business. company said. London, Paris, Munich, Hanoi, Ja- falling fuel costs and better sales dress whether pilots had cut pow- A drop in oil prices is good Revenue from international karta, Manila and Vancouver. in its cargo business. AFP 22 government & economy THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Greek meltdown splits investors figuring Tsipras

Bigger risk Greece seven percentage points of extra to those sticking with the bonds. yield to own three-year notes in- Syriza, the party Mr Tsipras will restructure its stead of those maturing in 10 heads, has made clear it won’t debt sooner, not later years. That means investors see a ask private holders to take losses, bigger risk that Greece will re- according to Greylock’s Mr Hu- structure its debt sooner rather mes, who said his US$870 mil- Athens than later. lion company is “very enthusias- GREECE’S bondholders are back Mr Tsipras is aiming to water tic” about Greek debt. at the precipice and the differ- down the financial conditions Markets have overestimated ence between winning and los- that underpin Greece’s 240 bil- the likelihood of Greece leaving ing comes down to the brinkman- lion euro (S$367 billion) rescue the euro area and there may be PRECARIOUS POSITION ship of the nation’s new leader. from the euro region and the In- favourable opportunities to buy Bears say one false move by the new 40-year-old premier risks Greece Bulls, whose ranks include ternational Monetary Fund its securities in coming weeks, tumbling out of the euro area and defaulting. PHOTO: REUTERS Greylock Capital Management’s (IMF), as well as negotiating on said Lorenzo Pagani, a Munich- Hans Humes, say investors are some debt repayments. He needs based money manager at Pacific the biggest restructuring in histo- ters, in an encounter that Athens safe because it’s only debt owed to move fast because the current Investment Management Co. ry, which cost private bondhold- said would mark the start of to institutions such as the Euro- bailout agreement expires on “Clearly, a default would be a ers about 100 billion euros. Greece’s bid to revise the condi- pean Central Bank that Prime Feb 28. Meanwhile, obligations big mess in terms of investor con- On the other hand, investors tions of the massive bailout. Minister Alexis Tsipras wants to are coming due, with one billion fidence,” said Orlando Green, a who’ve held Greek bonds since Mr Dijsselbloem warned be- renegotiate. Bears say that one euros of Treasury bills maturing fixed-income strategist at Credit that event in 2012 have been re- fore arriving in Athens that the false move by the 40-year-old pre- as soon as next week. Agricole SA’s corporate and in- warded with the biggest returns new Greek government is al- mier risks Greece tumbling out of The bond market reacted with vestment banking unit in Lon- among developed markets ready setting itself an impossible the euro area and defaulting. trepidation to the Jan 25 election don. “We are still looking at a tracked by Bloomberg World task, raising expectations it can- “If you listen carefully to what that swept Mr Tsipras into pow- compromise and maybe at least Bond Indexes. The more than not meet. “If you add up all the these people are saying, they’re er. Yields on three-year notes see some form of extension of 200 per cent gain compares with promises (made in the election not threatening a restructure of reached 18.88 per cent, up from the debt, better terms, and push- a 27 per cent return for the euro campaign), then the Greek budg- these bonds,” said Padhraic 10.08 per cent before the vote, ex- ing them so far out that by the area as a whole. et will very quickly run totally off Garvey, global head of rates strat- ceeding levels when the nation re- time it becomes important, the Greece’s new government course,” he said in Amsterdam. egy at ING Groep NV in London. ceived its first financial rescue in market has probably moved on.” meanwhile began talks with its Friday’s talks come on the “There’s a lot of risk priced in, May 2010. Bond risk soared and Recent history shows the risks eurozone partners on Friday in heels of warnings by the EU and which is why I like Greek govern- stocks plunged, wiping about and the potential rewards of own- what promises to be a bitter con- Germany that there was little sup- ment bonds.” US$10 billion off the value of the ing Greek securities, the powder frontation over its international port for reducing the debt, which Markets so far aren’t showing country’s banks. keg that ignited Europe’s sover- bailout. Mr Tsipras met Jeroen Di- the radical new government is confidence in Mr Tsipras, with This week’s slump is based on eign debt crisis. It’s less than jsselbloem, current head of the hoping to cut in half. Bloomberg, bond traders demanding about a misunderstanding, according three years since it was subject to eurozone group of finance minis- AFP India GDP growth European investment fund may revised up by 50% after be launched in September Frankfurt money in the scheme, intended to be a methodology change A FUND to bolster investment in Europe 315-billion-euro (S$482 billion) invest- should be up and running by September, ment vehicle based on modest financial guarantees given by states. “There has New Delhi Some in government predict that the an EU official said on Friday, outlining the timetable for a highly leveraged scheme to been quite a lot of interest towards the INDIA’S economy grew almost 50 per cent change will help bring down the fiscal defi- bolster growth in a moribund EU econo- fund but nothing has been realised yet,” faster in 2013/14 than earlier thought, the cit as a share of GDP, making it easier for my. he told journalists. “We built the fund so government said on Friday after changing Mr Modi to trim the gap to a seven-year low of 4.1 per cent in the year to March de- The European Fund for Strategic Invest- that it can operate even without any addi- a formula, a reminder of the challenges spite a shortfall in revenue. ments, which can invest in projects from tional commitments. We don’t have any that unreliable statistics present to Indian However, Mr Anant said that the over- infrastructure building expectations.” The late start-date may dis- policymakers. all size of India’s US$1.8 trillion economy to expansion of small appoint some. Europe- In the year leading up to the elections had not changed enough to shift the ratio businesses, is the Euro- an Central Bank Presi- that brought Prime Minister Narendra Mo- The late start-date significantly, adding: “Our ranking in GDP pean Union’s flagship dent Mario Draghi, for di to power last May, the economy grew terms will not change as the size of econo- scheme to help ad- may disappoint example, recently 6.9 per cent, not the 4.7 per cent reported my has almost remained the same.” dress slack growth. urged EU leaders to earlier, chief statistician TCA Anant told re- some. ECB The new methodology moves India Jyrki Katainen, speed up the project. porters. more in line with global standards by Vice-President of the President Mario The dire economic Mr Modi’s campaign succeeded partly measuring the economy at market prices, European Commis- Draghi recently outlook prompted because of the widespread feeling that his and by tracking consumer rather than sion responsible for Mr Draghi last week to predecessors from the Congress party had wholesale inflation. “This will help lower urged leaders to jobs and growth, told unveil last week a plunged the economy into the country’s market distortions and give better repre- journalists that its speed up the project. roughly one-tril- longest deceleration in growth in a genera- sentation to the manufacturing sector,” set-up could be final- lion-euro plan to print tion. said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser at State Bank of India. ised by European Un- fresh money, chiefly to The revised formula, showing a faster But the frequent GDP revisions and oth- ion leaders in June, with a start date some buy government bonds. recovery, includes under-represented and er deficient data are a headache for eco- months later. “I expect that the fund itself He has told governments to do their informal sectors as well as items such as nomic planners. Among the worst offend- will be up and running, let’s say, in Sep- part, by pursuing economic reforms. smartphones and LED television sets in ers are the volatile index for industrial pro- tember,” he said, on a whistle-stop tour of But finding agreement among the 19 gross domestic product (GDP). duction and the jobless numbers, seen as Europe to drum up investor and govern- That could boost India’s growth figure very unrepresentative. The latest GDP revi- countries in the euro zone, from Germany in the year ending in March 2015, which sion is part of a change to the method of ment interest in the scheme. to Greece, is difficult. This also slows the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has pro- calculating national accounts that hap- Mr Katainen said, however, that it was progress on broader EU schemes such as jected to be around 5.5 per cent. pens every five years. Reuters unclear which governments would invest the joint investment fund. Reuters THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 government & economy 23 Eurozone prices down 0.6% in January

Slide worse than the The eurozone has only en- UNDER PRESSURE dured negative inflation rates in Core inflation dipped to a new 0.5 per cent one other period, from June to euro-era low of 0.6% in January decline expected Oct 2009. The 0.6 per cent de- from 0.7% for the previous three cline this month matched the months. PHOTO: REUTERS lowest figure during that period, Brussels in July 2009. sustained deflation led it earlier EUROZONE consumer prices fell Sharply reduced fuel costs ex- this month to launch a 1.1 trillion at a record-equalling pace in Jan- plained the drop. Energy prices euro (S$1.68 trillion) quantitative uary, more steeply than expected plunged 8.9 per cent. Unproc- easing programme of govern- and supporting the backers of essed food was 0.9 per cent ment-bond buying. the European Central Bank’s cheaper, outweighing a 1.0 per The eurozone’s central bank money-printing plan to combat cent rise in the cost of services. plans to purchase sovereign debt sustained deflation. Oil prices have more than halved from March this year until Sep- The European statistics office since June, with Brent at just be- tember 2016, releasing 60 billion said in a first estimate on Friday low US$50 per barrel on Friday. euros a month into the economy. that she did not believe this ago could have led to the euro- “It confirms the point of view that prices in the 19 countries us- Core inflation, which excludes marked the start of a negative zone core figure dropping. of the doves that the ECB is on ing the single currency in Janu- volatile energy and unprocessed trend in core inflation, with Headline inflation has also the right track. That’s the basic ary were 0.6 per cent lower than food prices, dipped to a new eu- Thursday’s German inflation fig- been in what the ECB calls the message,” said Commerzbank a year earlier, after a 0.2 per cent ro-era low of 0.6 per cent in Janu- ures influenced by one-offs such “danger zone” of below one per economist Bernd Weidensteiner, decline in December. ary from 0.7 per cent for the previ- as the timing of sales and volatile cent since October 2013. adding that if inflation remained This was a sharper fall than ous three months. prices of package holidays. The ECB aims to keep infla- low then pressure could mount 0.5 per cent decline forecast by Aline Schuiling, senior euro- Other economists said the im- tion just under 2 per cent over for the ECB to increase its month- economists in a Reuters poll. zone economist ABN Amro, said pact of certain tax hikes a year the medium term and the risk of ly bond purchases. Reuters US in total ‘solidarity’ with Japan over hostage crisis

By Anthony Rowley was happening to the Japanese journalist [email protected] held by ISIS militants after a deadline Tokyo passed for the release of an Iraqi would-be AS efforts continued on Friday to secure suicide bomber on death-row in Jordan, the release of Japanese journalist Kenji Reuters reported in a joint dispatch from Goto, who is being held hostage by the Is- Amman and Tokyo. lamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Prime Jordan said on Thursday that it was still Minister Shinzo Abe received support holding the Iraqi woman prisoner as a from visiting US Under Secretary for Politi- deadline passed for her release, which was set by the militants, who threatened to kill cal Affairs Wendy Sherman, who said that a Jordanian pilot unless she was handed the US is in total “solidarity” with Japan over by sunset, Reuters reported. over the crisis. An audio message purportedly from She spoke as Mr Abe told a parliamen- Mr Goto said that the pilot would be killed tary panel that every effort was being unless Jordan freed Sajida Al-Rishawi, made to secure the release of the captive who is on death row for her role in a 2005 journalist. “We are gathering and analys- suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people ing information while asking for coopera- in Amman. The message postponed a pre- tion from Jordan and other countries, mak- vious deadline set on Tuesday in which ing every effort to free Kenji Goto,” he Mr Goto said that he would be killed with- said. in 24 hours if Al-Rishawi was not freed. In Tokyo on the final leg of a tour that The hostage crisis comes, Reuters not- has taken her to capitals in Europe, the ed, as ISIS, which has released videos Middle East and Asia, Ms Sherman re- showing the beheadings of five Western fused to associate the US with domestic hostages, is coming under increased mili- criticism in Japan of Mr Abe over his han- tary pressure from US-led air strikes and dling of the protracted hostage crisis. by Kurdish and Iraqi troops pushing to re- Asked whether a speech made by Mr Abe verse the Islamist group’s territorial gains in Israel shortly before the hostage crisis in Iraq and Syria. erupted, in which he offered financial sup- A report in the Japan Times suggested port to Middle Eastern countries opposed on Friday that the Abe administration’s re- to the ISIS, Ms Sherman said at a press sponse to the hostage crisis might leave briefing that Mr Abe had made a “positive other Japanese at risk of being kidnapped, as extremists and those wishing to profit fi- contribution” to the fight against terror- nancially see the Japanese as “easy prey”. ism. “Japan has long maintained a fairly More than 60 countries including Ja- neutral stance toward the Islamic State pan and the US, are opposed to ISIL, she group and thus the extremists had no in- said, using an alternative designation for tention of harming Japanese people” the the Syria-based ISIS authority. Their objec- Japan Times reported international affairs tive is to “degrade and then take out ISIL”. analyst and former member of the Japa- She praised Japan for “demonstrating sup- nese parliament Nobuhiko Suto as saying. port” for such efforts and for “upholding “But once (Mr Abe) clearly announced human rights and democratic founda- that Tokyo would support the nations op- tions”. posing the Islamic State, it told the extrem- Japan was meanwhile working closely ists that Japan is within the scope of tar- with Jordan on Friday to find out what gets,” Mr Suto was quoted as saying. 24 government & economy THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Russian central bank cuts interest rate by 2 points Move implies shift in priorities – towards trying to support economic activity

Moscow “Today’s decision to lower key interest rate by 2 per- RUSSIA’S central bank unexpectedly cut its main interest centage points is intended to balance the goal of curbing rate on Friday as fears of recession mount in the country inflation and restore economic growth,” the bank’s gover- following the fall in global oil prices and Western sanc- nor, Elvira Nabiullina, said after the announcement. tions over the Ukraine crisis. In an e-mailed statement, the banks’s press service The central bank reduced its one-week minimum auc- quoted her as saying that the rate remained high enough tion repo rate by two points to 15 per cent, a little over a to allow the Bank of Russia to reach its inflation target in month after pushing it up by 6.5 points to 17 per cent af- the medium term. ter a run on the rouble. The decision will also fuel speculation that recent The bank had been widely expected not to change the changes in the bank’s senior management have shifted rate. Following the decision, the rouble extended losses the bank towards more dovish monetary policy, possibly to trade as much as 4 per cent on the day against the dol- under pressure from the Kremlin, banks and business lob- lar, though it later clawed back some of the losses. bies. The move implies a shift in the bank’s priorities away “The decision appears to be politically driven, since it from clamping down on rising inflation and supporting is a cut that shows the central bank is worried about the the rouble, towards trying to support economic activity, risks to the banking sector. It looks like the central bank’s which the bank expects to fall sharply in the coming hand has been forced,” said Nicholas Spiro, managing di- months. rector of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London. Earlier this month the bank’s head of monetary policy, Ksenia Yudayeva, an anti-inflation hawk, was replaced by Dmitry Tulin, a central bank veteran seen as more accept- able to bankers, who have been called for lower interest rates. But the shift in policy may also reflect the realisation that Russia’s economy is heading for a hard landing as low oil prices look set to persist and the conflict in POLICY SHIFT Ukraine has worsened, defying hopes of an early end to The bank saw conditions for lower inflation in the medium Western sanctions. term, but effectively acknowledged that inflation would stay Macroeconomic data released earlier this week in double-digits throughout this year. PHOTO: REUTERS showed real wages slumping by 4.7 per cent year on year in December and real disposable income slumping by 7.3 Jan 2016. Inflation was 13.2 per cent as at Jan 26, the bank per cent, boding ill for economic growth in the months said, up from 11.4 per cent in December. ahead. “I see big risks in today’s decision,” said Rosbank econ- In an accompanying statement, the bank said it ex- omist Evgeny Koshelev. “Now the geopolitical back- pected gross domestic product to fall by 3.2 per cent in ground is unclear and inflation pressure remains quite annual terms during the first half of 2015, following strong, as well as signals for the outflow of capital . . . This growth of 0.6 per cent in 2014. (rate cut) is probably a reason to sell the rouble more in Analysts had nevertheless expected the bank to hold the short term.” rates this month, as the bank had previously said it would However, Renaissance Capital economist Oleg Kouz- min said he welcomed the move: “It’s good that they are cut rates when inflation is on a sustained downward lowering now. This is a sensible step. This will help the trend. Inflation has instead been shooting up as a result economy and allow stability to be preserved.” of the slide in the rouble. He added that high interest rates do not especially The bank said that it saw conditions for lower infla- help the rouble as capital outflows are largely linked to tion in the medium term, but effectively acknowledged debt repayments. “Will the capital outflow be stronger? that inflation would stay in double-digits throughout this Yes, but there will be a weaker rouble and a stronger cur- year. rent account, which means it won’t be necessary to It said it expected inflation to fall below 10 per cent in spend more forex reserves.” Reuters

Swiss leading economic indicator edges lower

Zurich The KOF institute predicted earli- rometer indicates that the climate SWITZERLAND’S leading economic er this week that Switzerland’s econo- for the Swiss economy gets rougher.” indicator edged lower in January, a my will contract as a result of the cen- The KOF said that the hospitality survey showed on Friday, though the tral bank’s shock decision on Jan 15 industry and textile, mechanical engi- reading doesn’t yet reflect fallout to abandon the Swiss franc cap. neering and chemical manufactur- from a surging Swiss franc after the It said that change was not yet re- ing were the main drags on the in- Swiss central bank abandoned a cap flected in the January indicator be- dex, but construction and consump- on currency. cause most participants had already tion partly cushioned the blow. The The KOF Economic Barometer, responded beforehand. “However, banking sector was largely stable. which gives an indication of the like- the KOF barometer would have also ly performance of the economy in The Swiss National Bank upend- about six months’ time, fell to 97 declined if only those responses ed financial markets two weeks ago points in January from a revised 98.8 would have been taken into account, by scrapping the franc’s three-year- points in December. That was below which were given before the repeal old cap against the euro, sending the analysts’ expectations for a reading of the Swiss franc lower bound,” currency soaring and stoking fears of 97.5 and below the long-term aver- KOF economists said in a statement. for Switzerland’s export-driven econ- age of 100 points. “Therefore, the KOF Economic Ba- omy. Reuters THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 government & economy 25 China’s fiscal revenue growth CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM Economists slows in 2014 say there are risks that near-term Shrinking govt tax base is curbing scope for growth stimulus and onus may fall on central bank could be undermined by a Beijing approves the budget for this year, weakening CHINA’S fiscal revenue in- he said. global creased the least in a generation Slower-than-expected public outlook. last year, curbing the scope to spending will weigh on gross do- PHOTO: stimulate demand. mestic product growth this quar- BLOOMBERG ter, he said. Government revenue rose 8.6 Deepening the downturn in re- per cent in 2014, according to a ceipts, returns from land sales – Taiwan’s 2014 growth at 3-year high statement on the Ministry of which aren’t included in the fis- Finance’s website, down from cal revenue figure – rose just 3.2 Taipei last GDP review in late Novem- a more optimistic view on 2013’s 10.2 per cent increase and per cent last year, the MOF data TAIWAN’S export-driven econo- ber, central banks around the Taiwan’s economy. a peak of 32 per cent in 2007. showed. my grew at its fastest pace in world have acted to counter dis- Taiwan tends to follow US Public expenditure rose 8.2 That compares with 2013’s 47 three years in 2014 fuelled by glo- inflation and slowing growth by monetary policy closely and per cent, the least since 1987. per cent surge, according to bal demand for smartphones easing monetary policy even as economists don’t expect the A property slump and declin- China’s statistics yearbook pub- from Apple Inc and other tech- the US economy appears to be in island’s central bank to raise ing factory profits have dented lished in September. nology goods, but there are risks good heart. benchmark interest rates until the central and local Revenue from land sales to- that near-term growth could be Taiwanese authorities have the second half of this year. governments’ tax bases. talled 4.3 trillion yuan (S$931 bil- undermined by a weakening glo- cautioned that growth in exports Purchases of new passenger cars and new models of smart- With government plans for lion) in 2014. bal outlook. and export orders may slow, cit- phones, in addition to spending “proactive” spending stymied by Fiscal revenue, which in- Gross domestic product ex- ing fragile economies in China related to local elections held at declining revenue, the onus for cludes taxes and other receipts panded 3.51 per cent last year, and Europe as uncertainties. the end of November, boosted more stimulus may fall on the such as fines, totalled 14 trillion the best annual rate since 2011 For the current quarter, domestic demand in the fourth central bank after the economy yuan in 2014. Expenditure was while fourth quarter on-year growth could be fairly similar to 15.2 trillion yuan. quarter. However, some of the in- last year expanded at the slowest growth at 3.17 per cent came in last quarter’s, said Forest Chen, China is probably going to crease was countered by weak- pace since 1990. line with expectations of 3.1 per analyst at TC Bank in Taipei. face a “severe fiscal challenge in ness in the food and beverage cent forecast in a Reuters poll. Manufacturers may delay import- “Proactive fiscal policy will 2015”, that will drag the nation’s sectors due to a tainted oil scan- ing raw materials until they be- not be truly proactive,” said Ding economic expansion to 6.8 per But the quarterly gain was the dal, the government said. Shuang, senior China economist cent this quarter, Zhang Zhiwei, slowest since the 1.45 per cent lieve falling commodity prices, in- The statistics agency will re- at Citigroup Inc in Hong Kong. Deutsche Bank AG’s chief China made in the third quarter of cluding oil, stabilise, he said. vise the quarterly GDP data in “Any stimulus or projects economist, wrote in a report this 2013, preliminary figures from The Federal Reserve’s latest two to three weeks and provide need to be supported by mone- month. the Directorate General of Budg- upbeat assessment of the US its updated economic outlook. tary policy. Any fiscal boost will China’s gross domestic prod- et, Accounting and Statistics economy, the ultimate destina- Its current forecast is for GDP only come after March”, when uct rose 7.4 per cent last year. showed on Friday. tion for many Taiwan-produced this year to grow 3.5 per cent. Re- the National People’s Congress Bloomberg Since the statistics agency’s tech gadgets, continues to favour uters Beijing demands ‘secure and controllable’ tech for banks

San Francisco firms’proprietary source code be and middleware must be regis- product will also be judged on its pected to be competitive follow- DRAFT Chinese government reg- reviewable. tered with the commission to be “intellectual property and the lev- ing its US$2.1 billion acquisition ulation would force technology Chinese leaders are to review considered “secure and controlla- el of independence during its de- of IBM’s server unit. vendors to meet stringent securi- the plan next week, US tech in- ble,” while only wireless routers velopment process”. Firms plan- However, the guideline for so- ty tests before they can sell to dustry sources said. that have approved encryption ning to sell computer equipment phisticated virtualisation soft- China’s banks, an acceleration of On Wednesday, 18 American or virtual private networking to Chinese banks would also ware carried out by local firms is efforts to curb the country’s reli- business groups urged Beijing to (VPN) certificates may receive have to set up research and devel- set at just 10 per cent. Chinese ance on foreign technology that postpone rolling out the regula- the designation. opment centres in the country, companies such as telecom giant The new regulations repre- get permits for workers servicing Huawei Technologies have only has drawn a sharp response from tion, which they argued were mo- sent one of China’s most signifi- technology equipment and build recently begun to offer virtualisa- US business groups. tivated by protectionism as well cant steps towards banishing for- “ports” which enable Chinese of- tion services that are used, for in- But a translation of the pro- as security concerns that intensi- eign technology, 18 months after ficials to manage and monitor da- stance, in cloud computing. posed rules viewed by Reuters fied in the wake of disclosures of Snowden disclosed that US spy ta processed by their hardware. While the banking rules will shows its immediate impact on US spying techniques by former agencies planted code in Ameri- Analysts say the regulations gradually push out foreign firms, National Security Agency contrac- foreign firms may not be as can tech exports to snoop on may not bite into foreign suppli- they are expected to boost do- tor Edward Snowden. tough as feared. overseas targets. ers’ market share immediately, mestic contenders including In- The draft shows the regula- The guidelines by the Chinese According to a presentation as banks may continue to opt for spur International Ltd, the data- tion would initially focus on Banking Regulatory Commission used by regulators during the cutting-edge offerings from the centre maker. types of hardware and software were issued on Dec 26 in a briefing and obtained by Reuters, likes of IBM or Oracle Inc while The People’s Bank of China where domestic suppliers al- 22-page paper that outlines secu- Chinese government officials es- testing out domestic options. has already run trials to see if it ready have a stronger market po- rity criteria that tech products tablished the “self-controlled” China appears to have tai- could replace Microsoft ‘s Win- sition than their foreign rivals. must meet in order to be consid- technology strategy in 2012 – pri- lored its guidelines based on the dows operating system on some Western companies say the ered “secure and controllable” or to the Snowden revelations – competitiveness of its domestic machines with NeoKylin, a rules have not yet been formally for use in the financial sector, ac- and hoped 75 per cent of tech contenders. Linux-based offering by Stand- adopted, and some said they be- cording to sources with know- products used by banks would For instance, banks are expect- ard Software, a Shanghai-based lieved Beijing would retreat on ledge of the matter. meet a “secure and controllable” ed in 2015 to exclusively pur- firm with ties to the Chinese gov- some of the most onerous ideas, Source code powering operat- criteria by 2019. chase approved low-end PC serv- ernment, a source familiar with including demanding that ing systems, database software, In order to meet the criteria, a ers, a market where Lenovo is ex- the matter said. Reuters 26 opinion THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 opinion 27 Charlie Hebdo, writers and effecting change

By Dennis Posadas HE recent killing of satirists at Par- reative industries is-based Charlie Hebdo has ignited worldwide are an T a maelstrom of discussion about important driver free speech and its limits, particularly in of economic this case in relation to the world’s major growth and cul- religions. Various commentaries have tural influence. In been issued, including about the Pope’s re- addition to creat- cent pronouncements. C ing numerous But the question is, if the satirists had jobs for the economy, creative industries truly wanted to effect change, could they can also shape public perception of coun- have done it in a more reasoned way? The tries, regions and cities (and hence place answer is they could have – but for some brand). writers, the power to provoke is much Singapore, too, understands the poten- more important than the message. tial for creative ideas to transform the This is like a child who throws a tan- economy. Among its more high-profile trum because he wants something and projects include attracting Lucasfilm and didn’t get it, failing to realise that asking video gaming giant Ubisoft to set up base nicely in the proper way can create better in the country. results. We forget that if we must provoke, PRIORITIES A risk-taking appetite among young there should be a better reason for doing Freedom of speech is important and must be defended. But just focusing on the freedom Singaporeans is necessary for our creative so than simply because we can. to provoke, instead of the power of words to effect change, loses the point. PHOTO: REUTERS industries to take off; so is overseas expo- What is lost in the discussions is why sure. And where better to take a class of 24 writers (including satirists) are needed in the moon. Every day, we are confronted own changes, not because they want to run afoul of the law or public morals, but students from Singapore Management the first place: to provoke societal discus- with changes that need to happen, be it in because the change itself needs to be ignit- University on a business study mission to sions because we need to launch changes, eradicating malaria, ensuring the safety of be it in the political, social, economic and ed. We provoke because we must, and not gain insight into the creative industries women and children, to creating a better because we can. Freedom of speech is im- than New York City. One of the world’s cre- even technological spheres, within the place to live in. Words have power, and portant and must be defended, but just fo- ative cities, New York is a bastion of crea- context of what modern society allows. writers should use words to create messag- cusing on the freedom to provoke, rather tivity and cultural and artistic production. The freedom to do so is there, but we es that move people’s hearts and minds, than on the power of words to effect often forget freedom is simply a means to From advertising agencies to arts organisa- and not just for the sake of provocation. much needed changes, loses the point. tions, the city’s diverse creative sector is an end. Too many writers are addicted to ✎ The writer is a low-carbon- the fringes of that freedom, and fail to real- Writers have to constantly use their gift technology consultant and author of one of its most important economic as- to push the envelope and launch their Greenergized (UK: Greenleaf, 2013) sets. ise that moving hearts and minds is not al- With such a smorgasbord of players, it ways a matter of creating a controversy or was not difficult for my students to see inciting to violence. Sometimes, new paradigms need to be first-hand some of the principles learnt in weekend introduced to create breakthroughs. But the classroom coming to life, for example, POSITIVE VIBES in failing to do that, writers sometimes im- the business times the inherent tension between creativity One of the world’s creative cities, New York pulsively complain about legal limits to Singapore Press Holdings Editor ALVIN TAY and business (which Richard Caves high- is a bastion of creativity and cultural and News Centre, 1000 Toa Payoh North, Associate Editor VIKRAM KHANNA The business of launch changes, when in fact history Podium Level 3, Singapore 318994 lights in his book Creative Industries: Executive Editor & News Editor WONG WEI KONG artistic production. PHOTO: AFP shows that with the right choice of words, SPH 6319-6319 | BT 6319-5360 | FAX: 6319-8278 Contracts between Art and Com- CUSTOMER SERVICE: 6388-3838 needed changes can be launched. Is it real- www.businesstimes.com.sg Night Editor Associate News Editor merce). At Mason Jar Music (named one EDMUND LOH VEN SREENIVASAN ly necessary to deface something, insult or PRESS RELEASES: [email protected] of the world’s most innovative music com- LETTERS: [email protected] BT Inc Editor Associate News Editor provoke to get a reaction? Or are we as panies by Fast Company ), one of the creative industries tive firms to have compelling business LILIAN ANG ANGELA TAN writers simply being lazy with our craft in Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Press Holding Chief Sub-editor Assistant News Editor models and winning strategies, it is advan- ALAN CHAN company’s co-founders said that the goal attracting needed attention to our work? DEXTER LEE CHEN HUIFEN tageous to be located in a place that offers of the creative person is to maximise risk, I must stress that freedom of speech is Editor-In-Chief (English/Malay/Tamil Media Group) Foreign Editor Lifestyle Editor them a developed ecosystem of tastemak- PATRICK DANIEL QUAH CHOON POH JAIME EE while the goal of business is to minimise important and must be defended. It has in Sound strategy, company culture and a conducive ecosystem are necessary for a ers, the audience, the global media, and Senior Executive Vice-president (Marketing) Digital Editor Infographics Editor it. Navigating that tension is the root of many cases been won in blood. But grant- LESLIE FONG CHRISTOPHER LIM SIMON ANG the creative community. New York offers success in the creative sector. winning combination. By Mark Chong ed there are times that writers need to one of the highest concentrations of crea- Singapore’s own Yellow Box Studios challenge legal limits because they have to tive talent in the world and a highly visible embodies this principle by taking on inter- tionate amount of its resources in just a believes brands must be sensitive to the minds. Indeed, BBDO has been lauded for (as in the case of those living in countries platform for creative work. national projects such as the TV series few, carefully selected products or ser- consumer’s journey and communicate ac- its cohesive worldwide talent pool. For cre- with brutal dictatorships), there are many SATURDAY Elyn Wong, the founder of Singapore with Ludwig Marco Polo and the Golden Horse times that writers challenge the rules sim- vices (for instance a blockbuster movie). cordingly. ative firms, culture is a strategic asset. fashion label Stolen who gave a talk to the Award-winning movie Seediq Bale. ply because they want to show they can. Examples from Broadway include very We are also living in the “screen age”. But company culture is often at odds class, showcased her collection in New What is “good” in the creative sphere is All authors and writers have limits to long-running productions such as Phan- Indeed, the screen has become so domi- with business growth. Anomaly – rated York largely for the same reason. In the highly subjective. Given its experiential na- contend with. But unlike Charlie Hebdo, tom of the Opera, Wicked, and The Lion nant that it is even influencing what kind one of the world’s top 10 most innovative words of New York-based fashion design- ture, the value of creative products and which had to resort to taunting religious King. of dance becomes popular – most dance advertising companies by Fast Company – er Zac Posen, it is about “presenting your services has to be ascribed by someone. figures by operating at the fringes of free The business study mission’s main fo- performances aren’t “consumed” live, but believes that a company can maintain its work in the place of exposure . . . It’s geo- This explains the importance of tastemak- speech, there are many changes – badly cus was on creative communication agen- through mediated platforms such as culture only up to a certain company size graphical, it’s a landing point.” ers such as Vogue editor Anna Wintour needed ones – that can be launched with- cies (symbolised by Madison Avenue). YouTube, as Pentacle Danceworks point- (between 60 and 100 people). Beyond that, The Singapore government has made and music producer Clive Davis (the Clive in the present set of limitations, be they le- While its traditional business model is bro- ed out to the class. Thus, visual storytell- the culture that has made the firm so dis- investments in infrastructure, education Davis Institute of Recorded Music was gal or otherwise, given to writers and con- ken, innovative agencies such as Anomaly ing has become the order of the day. tinctive in the first place starts to lose its and cluster development. It has also at- one of our stops), whose “picks” give con- tent creators. tracted a number of “marquee” multina- sumers and audiences important cues on (which aims to be the “change agent of Throughout the 13 days, the link be- imprint on employees. It is those poorly equipped to commu- tional companies to set up shop in the what is “good” or “cool”. the communication industry”) are show- tween organisational culture and creativi- Anomaly and VaynerMedia revealed nicate their ideas who often complain country. Nonetheless, the key stakehold- The “winner takes all” phenomenon al- ing the way forward by establishing val- ty was impressed on the class. The visit to they could have expanded at a “much fast- about the limitations of their medium and ers here will need to determine which ue-based compensation structures and Mason Jar Music and BBDO – Adweek’s er pace” – if it hadn’t been for the “culture their environment – in this case, the writ- so typifies the creative industries (as point- parts of the creative industry value chains creating/owning Intellectual Property. Global Agency of the Year in 2014 – drove imperative”. In the same vein, Tumblr (an- ten word. When used properly, words are ed out by the Broadway League). That is, Singapore has the best chance of winning In Singapore, our own The Secret Little home the importance of having a compa- other company we visited) wants to re- capable of moving minds and men to ac- very few creative products and services in. They will also need to think of ways to Agency has also ventured into IP creation ny culture that is rooted in collaboration main a “small” company in spirit despite tion. A story told well is oftentimes better are highly successful, but the ones that foster a stronger risk-taking culture. are, reap the lion’s share of the rewards and product design. The days of interrupt- and diversity. its global popularity – its identity is reflect- than the best multimedia message out ✎ The writer is associate professor of from the market. This phenomenon goes ing and “hard selling” to consumers are al- Good creative ideas are rarely the result ed in its ethos of promoting what is “local” corporate communication at Lee Kong there for communicating a message. hand in hand with a blockbuster strategy, so long gone. VaynerMedia, one of the of individual effort, but the outcome of the and “native”. Chian School of Business, Singapore Many remember JFK’s historic speech ‘ The dollar is still falling, as we speak.’ which sees a company invest a dispropor- leading digital media agencies in the US, interplay of ideas among diverse, creative Finally, while it is important for crea- Management University exhorting his fellow Americans to go to wealth 29 Wealth 28 | THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND | SATURDAY/SUNDAY JAN 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 investing

SHOW US THE MONEY Jakarta workers erecting iron share (EPS), “hold” rating and target reinforcement bars at a commercial price alone. high-rise building site last week. Increased growth augurs well for a regional industry BROKERS’ TAKE | Singapore banks that has long been considered a far-flung DMG & Partners Research | Jan 29 | fringe market by global institutions that have increasingly dominated hedge-fund MAS’s easing of monetary policy cou- inflows since the crisis. PHOTO: AFP pled with the strengthening USD SMRT Corporation would see a shift towards SGD funding. Buy Given the tightening domestic liquidi- OCBC Investment Research | Jan 30 | ty, we believe short-term rates would Jan 30 close: S$1.75 remain on an uptrend ahead of US rate len CIO Ken Xu helped manage money at Target price: S$1.90 hikes from mid-2015. We expect a grad- ual improvement in banks’ net interest Hong Kong both Och-Ziff Capital Management SMRT continued its recovery momen- margin (NIM) from H2 2015. DBS is OME of Asia’s newer hedge Group LLC and billionaire Steven A tum with a set of solid Q3 FY15 results. Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors. our preferred sector pick as it offers the funds were a magnet for inves- Our view on SMRT’s outlook remains Pleiad co-founders Kenneth Lee and best leverage to rising short-term rates. tors last year. positive on several factors: 1) its ability The assets of Oryza Capital Michael Yoshino are alumni of Soros That said, we expect NIM improve- to consistently manage expenses since S and Pine River China Fund Fund Management and backed by Hong ment to be gradual with off-sets com- Q1 FY15 reflects the measures taken have expanded at least eight times since Kong-based HS Group in starting their ing from: i) funding pressures as liquidi- own firm. are likely sustainable; 2) management, the funds started in the second half of ty tightens; and ii) potential softening The regional industry has long been though tight-lipped on hedging posi- 2013. BosValen Asset Management, Plei- of loan demand. considered a far-flung fringe market by ad Investment Advisors and Guard Capi- tion, stated electricity costs will contin- global institutions that have increasingly tal Management were among the 2014 ue to decrease; we believe that their dominated hedge-fund inflows since the OUE Hospitality Trust startups that raised hundreds of millions FY2016 diesel needs are largely ex- crisis. Credit Suisse statistics show it takes Buy of dollars each within a few months. posed and hence we should see further about 10 months to a year between the DBS Group Research | Jan 29 | They stood out in a region where, on first conversation an Asian hedge fund reduction in costs as well; 3) manage- Jan 30 close: S$0.935 average, it takes almost two years for a has with a potential investor and the actu- ment also stated full contribution of Target price: S$1.02 hedge fund’s assets to increase to US$250 al capital allocation, compared with six to rental income from Kallang Wave Mall million from US$50 million, according to seven months for their US and European is likely to come in only from FY2016 OUE Hospitality Trust (OUEHT) Singapore-based Eurekahedge Pte Inves- peers. onwards, and hence we change our as- should benefit from a recovery in tour- tors. sumption of full contribution from H2 ist arrivals this year and the impact of Investors turned their attention to Outperforming market gains FY15 to FY16 onwards; 4) taxi segment newly refurbishment rooms. Neverthe- younger funds – and fresh entrants in New deposits arrived as regional hedge is likely to see higher growth with new- less, there may be some short-term vol- some cases – as the regional industry beat funds outperformed global peers in each atility in Q1 2015 on account of softer global peers’ performances for a third er fleet commanding higher rental in- of the last three years, returning an annu- come; and 5) LTA’s purchase of Indonesian guest numbers following straight year and some of the bigger man- alised 10.4 per cent to beat the 6.7 per SMRT’s bus assets in order to switch to the recent AirAsia incident and the agers in Asia stopped accepting money af- cent gain of Eurekahedge’s global index. opening of new hotels in Orchard. ter reaching capacity. the new bus contracting model could Asia-based hedge funds attracted an es- OUEHT’s unitholders recently ap- “There’s a supply of money coming potentially see lump sum cash inflow timated US$14 billion of new capital in proved the S$495 million acquisition of back to Asia and that’s unprecedented,” to SMRT, leading to a possible special 2013 and 2014, a turnaround from the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport (CPCA) said Myo Schollum, Asia-Pacific head of US$17.6 billion of outflows over the previ- dividend or acquisition for growth. and its future extension (CPEX). Assum- prime services coverage at Credit Suisse ous four years, according to Eurekahedge. However, with no details announced, ing a 75 per cent/25 per cent debt and Group AG in Hong Kong. “There are six to The figures may underestimate inflows be- we have yet to factor this into our mod- equity funding mix, we raise our eight hedge funds that launched with cause larger hedge funds typically do not el. Consequently, our fair value increas- FY15-17F distribution per unit by zero day-one capital in excess of US$250 mil- report to public databases. es from S$1.70 to S$1.90. Maintain “A lot of the larger established manag- “It needed a good 2013 for the global to 2 per cent. Gearing is also projected lion. That’s previously unheard of in “buy”. Asia.” ers were closed to new money, so inflows investors to say Asia can differentiate in to rise to about 42 per cent by end Asia’s hot, young hedge of capital were going into newer manag- performance, Asia is a good alpha mar- FY2016. Besides an uplift in earnings, US$1 billon mark ers looking to scale or new launches,” said ket,” said Matt Pecot, Asia-Pacific head of Genting Singapore OUEHT will benefit from a more diver- Shane Bolton, Hong Kong-based head of Oryza, the first Asia fund of Goldman prime services at Credit Suisse, referring Hold sified portfolio following the acquisi- Asia prime brokerage at Goldman Sachs Sachs Investment Partners, told investors to funds’ outperformance over market Maybank-Kim Eng Research | Jan 30 | tion of CPCA. Group Inc. in June it would stop taking additional gains. “That’s why people are parking Jan 30 close: S$1.08 The difference with 2013’s startups Compiled by Jamie Lee money after it raised about US$1 billion. funds lead the charge money here.” Prime brokers provide ser- Target price: S$1.13 “was consistency of pedigree and that a vices to hedge funds, including lending Its Asia-focused equity long-short fund majority already had strategic capital, ena- cash or stocks, settling their trades and What is interesting is that Marina Bay started in September 2013 with an initial ✎ Disclaimer: All analyses, bling them to reach critical mass at linking them to potential investors. capital of US$80 million. Sands’ (MBS) Q4 VIP volume was up 10 recommendations and other Global investors buy into the notion that Asia is a good alpha market. By Bei Hu launch.” BFAM is staffed by a former In a region whose smaller markets are per cent quarter on quarter although information herein are published for Pine River China Fund expanded as- Nomura team of traders led by Benjamin vulnerable to capital flows from the US Macau’s was down 8 per cent quarter general information. Readers should sets to about US$850 million by the start Fuchs that traces its roots to an and Europe, there have been concerns on quarter. We attribute this to its re- not rely solely on the information of this year, from the US$100 million it fund on Sept 1 with just over US$150 mil- cent in 2014, Guard gained about 10 per years to do so, according to Chica- Asia-based internal fund started by Leh- rapid asset expansion will hinder hedge bate rate of 1.28 per cent, up six basis published and should seek started with in October 2013, said a per- lion, said a person familiar with the mat- cent in its first five months and BosValen go-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. man Brothers Holdings Inc in 2007. funds’ ability to generate investment independent financial advice prior to son with knowledge of the matter, who ter. Guard, which began with just under returned just under 3 per cent in the two Only a few Asia-based startups have ac- It started with Nomura support. gains. points quarter on quarter. asked not to be identified as the figures making any investment decision. The US$50 million on Aug 1, has grown to months it traded last year. cumulated US$1 billion or more since the Oryza’s Hideki Kinuhata and Ryan Thall Turiya Advisors Asia, which started in This attracted more VIPs. Assuming aren’t public. publisher accepts no liability for any US$292 million, another person said. Bos- The other funds’ performances could 2008 crisis, including former Highbridge traded for the global fund of Goldman April 2010, decided to return 17.5 per cent Singapore’s VIP volume tracked BFAM Partners (Hong Kong), spun off Valen has raised about US$300 million not be confirmed. The Eurekahedge Capital Management Asia head Carl Sachs Investment Partners, set up to al- of its end-of-2014 assets to investors to Macau’s, we reckon Resorts World Sen- loss whatsoever arising from any use from Nomura Holdings Inc in April 2012, Hedge Fund Index, tracking managers glo- Huttenlocher’s Myriad Asset Manage- low clients to invest with some of the New maintain performance after the size of its tosa (RWS) may have ceded VIP vol- of the information published herein. increased assets to more than US$1 bil- since its early November inception. bally, returned 4.4 per cent last year. ment and Tybourne Capital Management York-based bank’s top proprietary trad- hedge fund swelled with new capital and ume share. Still, we find it encouraging lion from US$323 million at the start of Most of the funds’ asset gains were Asian hedge-fund assets were slow to (HK), led by Eashwar Krishnan, who earli- ers. investment gains. The Hong Kong-based that MBS’s Q4 2014 non-rolling chip Brokers who wish to send in their 2014, according to a person familiar with fuelled by new capital rather than per- rebound after the plunge during the 2008 er worked for Lone Pine Capital. Leland Lim, Guard’s chief investment firm, led by former Goldman Sachs and and slot revenue continued to grow the fund. formance gains, the people said. Spokes- global financial crisis. While worldwide The average Asian hedge fund oversaw officer, was previously co-head of Gold- Deutsche Bank AG trader Davide Erro, reports can email us at Among newcomers, Pleiad is nearing men at the firms declined to comment. hedge-fund assets eclipsed the 2007 peak US$117 million at last year’s end, accord- man Sachs’s macro trading team in the oversaw more than US$3 billion after year on year. We leave our earnings per [email protected] US$500 million in assets after starting the Pine River China Fund returned 30 per in 2010, it took the Asian pool three more ing to Eurekahedge. Asia-Pacific region outside Japan. BosVa- starting with US$150 million. Bloomberg 30 wealth investing THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

TOUGH SELL Sotheby’s auction in New York on Jan 29, 2015, includes ‘Pantheon in Rome’ by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (above), estimated at between US$3m and US$5 million. The Old Masters category showed a glimmer of hope last year when Sotheby’s sold ‘Rome, From Mount Aventine’ (right), an 1835 landscape of the Italian capital by JMW Turner, fetched £30.3 million, setting an auction record for the artist. PHOTOS: SOTHEBY’S, AFP Old Masters lag postwar artists Contemporary art pulls in the big spenders while the Old Masters fail to draw art collectors with deep pockets

New York Ring’s still life is estimated to go for be- Sotheby’s, which is offering 728 lots val- old works of art have scattered sales THAT US$3 million Caravaggio is looking tween US$400,000 and US$600,000. The ued between US$74 million and US$106 records, if any at all. “That’s one reason like a bargain compared to a US$81.9 mil- Koons sculpture sold for US$2.3 million at million over five auctions, has 17 paintings contemporary is so high and Old Masters lion Andy Warhol. Christie’s in New York in May 2005. More from the collection of Jacqui Safra, who be- is not – there’re so many questions in Old This week at the Old Masters sales in recently, a 3.81-metre-tall orange stainless longs to the billionaire Safra banking fami- Masters,” said Mr Naumann. New York, when as much as US$200 mil- steel sculpture by Koons fetched US$25.9 ly. A work attributed to Anthony Van Dyck, lion of 15th-to-19th-century paintings, million in November in New York at the Mr Safra, a former producer of Woody estimated to auction between US$100,000 drawings and sculptures are on offer, the same auction house. Allen’s films, has consigned works that in- and US$150,000 at Sotheby’s, was dis- auction houses will try to slightly narrow Some dealers aren’t convinced such clude a 1732 oil painting of the Pantheon played 14 years ago at the Metropolitan the disconnect between the record prices promotion will work. in Rome by Giovanni Paolo Pannini esti- Museum of Art as a work by the British por- commanded by postwar, modern and con- “The disparity between Andy Warhol mated at between US$3 million and US$5 traitist William Dobson. It was exhibited 50 temporary art and the much lower esti- and the Old Masters is just too wide to million. Canaletto’s view of London from years before that at the Royal Academy of mates for the older works. bridge,” said Richard L Feigen, the Manhat- St James Park is estimated to go for be- Arts in London as a Van Dyck. Old Masters, the most popular category tan dealer and Old Masters expert whose tween US$4 million and US$6 million. In its catalogue for this week’s sales, until the 1980s, is now a small part of the A 1596 oil on copper de- Sotheby’s described Dobson’s work, stat- art market, and drumming up renewed in- ‘Hedge fund guys are not going to piction of paradise by Jan ing his “broader and drier handling of terest won’t be easy. The group in 2013 ac- Brueghel The Elder is val- paint in the latter does not suggest his au- counted for 10 per cent of the value of the buy Old Masters paintings, even if ued from US$3.5 million thorship for the present canvas”. Old Mas- art market, with just over 1 billion euros they hear prices are a fraction of to US$4.5 million. The de- ters works aren’t in fashion especially (S$1.52 billion) in sales, according to the tailed work depicts ani- among hedge fund managers, dealers said. European Fine Art Foundation. contemporary art. How will it mals flocking to Noah’s “These hedge fund guys are not going “There’s no real connection between hang in some loft in lower ark and was seen in public to buy Old Masters paintings, even if they the two markets,” said Otto Naumann of only once, in a 1998 exhibi- hear prices are a fraction of contemporary Otto Naumann Ltd, a New York gallery Manhattan?’ tion in Amsterdam. art,” Mr Feigen said. “How will it hang in Christie’s sales are that specialises in Old Masters. “They’re Manhattan-based art dealer Richard L Feigen some loft in lower Manhattan?” two totally different fields. They both just slightly smaller, with 475 The category is showing some stirrings, happen to be called art.” That’s not stop- lots estimated between however. In December in London, the Old ping auction houses from trying. One of gallery bears his name. Warhol was the US$63 million and US$95 million. High- Masters and British paintings sale at the most expensive lots of the week at top-selling artist at auction in 2014, accord- lights include 119 bronzes and clocks from Sotheby’s totalled £54 million (S$110 mil- Christie’s is a 16th-century portrait paint- ing to New York-based researcher Artnet. the collection of Peter Guggenheim, a de- lion), above the high estimate of £44.9 mil- ing by Agnolo Bronzino, estimated at be- His Triple Elvis, a 1963 silkscreen of Elvis scendant of the Guggenheim mining fami- lion. The sale included Rome, From Mount tween US$8 million and US$12 million, Presley, sold for US$81.9 million while ly, and his partner John Abbott. Aventine, an 1835 landscape of the Italian which failed to sell at the same auction Four Marlons, a 1966 canvas of Marlon An early painting by Michelangelo Meri- capital by JMW Turner that fetched £30.3 house in 2013. Brando, fetched US$69.6 million. Both si da Caravaggio of a young boy peeling million, setting an auction record for the Christie’s catalogue compares the work works were sold in November at Christie’s fruit, estimated to sell for between $3 mil- artist. to Warhol’s portrait of Mao, and Lucian in New York. lion and $5 million, was exhibited as early “We see buyers as mostly Americans or Freud’s painting The Brigadier. An oil While not exactly cheap – Sotheby’s has as 1791 in London. European,” Henry Zimet, president of Old painting of a vase with flowers by the 16 works estimated above US$1 million – Part of the disconnect between the pric- Masters gallery French & Co in New York, 16th-century German artist Ludger Tom the sales that began on Jan 27 won’t come es commanded by Old Masters and con- said about sales in the category. “We’ve Ring II is compared in the Christie’s cata- near the record US$2.3 billion of Impres- temporary art are a result of provenance, had some contact with Russian and Chi- log to Jeff Koons’s Small Vase of Flowers, a sionist, modern, postwar and contempo- or the history of ownership, and a work’s nese collectors, but no business.” Bloomb- polychromed wood sculpture from 1991. rary art sold in November in New York. authentication, Mr Naumann said. Very erg THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 life & culture 31 WTA prize raised to S$7m Ringo Starr set for new album, tour Racquet Club “We’ve seen a great re- sponse from businesses New York VIP hospitality that have harnessed the tickets go on sale platform to engage their EX-BEATLE Ringo Starr is key stakeholders at the Rac- set for the Rock and Roll quet Club last year (and) Hall of Fame, but first he By Lee U-Wen we hope to provide an en- plans a new album and [email protected] hanced experience – both tour of the United States @LeeUwenBT on and off the court – for and Latin America. all guests (this year),” he The drummer for the Singapore said. Fab Four announced on WHEN the world’s top fe- Last year’s WTA Finals Thursday the release of his champion was the reigning male tennis players return 18th studio album, Post- to Singapore for their sea- world No 1 player Serena STARR TURN cards from Paradise, on son-ending champion- Williams, who trounced Si- The ex-Beatle said he would March 31. ships this October, they TENNIS ROYALTY mona Halep in straight sets release his 18th studio The world’s top female tennis player, Serena Williams, was will have their eyes fixated in the deciding match. The release comes just album, ‘Postcards from mobbed when she visited one of the suites at the Racquet on a record prize purse The other singles play- before Starr, 74, who is al- Paradise’, on March 31 Club in October 2014, during the BNP Paribas WTA Finals ers who graced the inaugu- ready in the Rock and Roll that has now ballooned to tournament at the Singapore Sports Hub. Williams was the ral edition were Maria Hall of Fame as a member as well as one show each in US$7 million. winner of the inaugural tournament, the first time it was Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, of the Beatles, is inducted Argentina, Chile, Colom- This is nearly 10 per held in Singapore. PHOTO: WORLD SPORT GROUP cent more than the US$6.5 Caroline Wozniacki, Ag- in his own right at an April bia, the Dominican Repub- million that was given out nieszka Radwanska, Petra 18 ceremony in Cleveland. lic and Puerto Rico. The meals prepared by celebri- package that includes the at last year’s BNP Paribas Kvitova and Eugenie Bou- Starr plans a one- singer/songwriter said he ty chefs before the match- semi-finals and the grand fi- chard. Women’s Tennis Associa- month tour starting on Feb enjoyed past performanc- es, a free flow of cham- nal (S$4,500), and a combi- The top eight singles es in Latin America. “The tion (WTA) Finals, which 13 in the southern US state pagne in a private lounge, nation of both the opening players and doubles teams audiences were just great was the first time that the of Louisiana, with about night and the weekend who amass the most and so loving, we can’t women tour’s showpiece and the best seats at the package (S$5,000). number of points at vari- half the concerts taking wait to go back,” he said. tournament was held in Singapore Indoor Stadium The sales for the other ous tournaments this year place in Latin America. Starr will be joined by the Republic. to watch the players in ac- weekday sessions and pack- will earn the right to com- He will play two dates his All Starr Band of other Spectators will get more tion. They will also get ages will begin in March pete in Singapore. each in Brazil and Mexico, prominent musicians. AFP opportunities to catch their more access to meet play- ers up close. Last year, once the WTA releases the favourite players in the official match schedules. flesh, with an extra day of some of the players that vis- ited the suites at the Rac- For bookings of 10 seats competition added to the of any package, clients will CRYPTIC CROSSWORD schedule, making it a total quet Club included Serena Williams, Li Na, and leg- get a dedicated table inside of eight days. Across ends Billie Jean King and one of the suites with the The tournament and its option to include branded 1 Certainly upset, due to spy Chris Evert. various side events take signages. A booking of 50 in bed (6,7) During last year’s WTA place at the Singapore seats or more entitles the 9 Humiliated, Charlie Finals, the original invento- stepped on the gas (9) Sports Hub in Kallang start- buyer to a private suite that 10 Pal shot on a motorway ing Oct 23. ry of 5,500 Racquet Club can be customised. Even though this year’s passes were sold out, (5) Adrian Staiti, the execu- 11 Go in with answer for tournament is nearly nine which led to WSG releasing tive vice-president for glo- another 2,200 spaces to new consumer (5) months away, event pro- bal partnerships at WSG, 12 Proclaim a moratorium, meet demand. These were moter World Sport Group said that the Racquet Club arresting a leader of (WSG) is officially launch- also sold out. would present Singapore’s prayers (4) ing ticket sales for its Rac- For the early-bird phase corporate community with 13 Eject leaders of only quet Club VIP hospitality that runs until Feb 28, fans the chance to host and en- union seeking terms (4) programme on Saturday. have the chance to get the gage their business part- 15 Do better than Portugal, Those with Racquet Oct 25 opening night VIP ners at a major sporting squeezed by expenditure Club passes get to enjoy tickets (S$795), a weekend event. (7) 17 An adept bowler, perhaps, accepted by degrees (7) 18 An absorbing process is Renowned ‘Thorn attached to the universe, Birds’ author dies extracting carbon (7) 20 Withdraw from race, 2 What a brewer needs — 20 Guide travelled in disheartened, needing Sydney Tony Abbott described her still holding ales being conversation with nurse (7) emptied (5) as “a unique Australian per- politician across area TRIBUTES for renowned 21 The last word to change 3 First to support genuine (4,3) Australian author Colleen sonality and Norfolk almost completely (4) scientist (10) 24 Pacific island vessel going McCullough, whose roman- Island’s most famous resi- 22 Great love absent from 4 Studies Italian with variable north full of gold (5) tic saga The Thorn Birds dent”. the last letter (4) concentration (7) 25 Talent of criminal? (4) sold more than 30 million “She enthralled readers 23 A person protected by 5 Doctor raised origin of copies, poured in on Friday for decades and she will be king is a person who’s murder weapon (7) 6 Raise cap in support of YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION from the publishing world missed,” he said. Her pub- COLLEEN MCCULLOUGH doomed (5) socially acceptable state Across: 1 Spirits, 5 Selfish, 9 Up- to politics following her lisher HarperCollins Aus- Publishing director Shona 26 Fruit finally ready for Martyn: ‘The world is a less (4) set, 10 Raindrops, 11 Describing, 12 death at the age of 77. tralia said that McCullough picking? Rubbish (5) Tart, 14 Astonishment, 18 Conversa- colourful place without Col’ 7 Quite ridiculous contents The best-selling writer, had fought through a string 27 Could men in trouble of letter giving protocol tion, 21 Soil, 22 Triangular, 25 Oper- ating, 26 Oddly, 27 Sorting, 28 En- known for her wit and of health problems to con- crossing river spread this? (9) (5,4) tered. warmth, died in hospital tinue writing via dictation. tom-made maroon manu- 8 Catch spanner needed for 28 Understand what “Ever quick-witted and script boxes inscribed with game (8,6) on the remote Pacific out- paparazzi must do (3,3,7) Down: 1 Sturdy, 2 Insist, 3 Interest- crop of Norfolk Island direct, we looked forward her name,” publishing di- 14 Pretty as a picture? (10) ed, 4 Scrub, 5 Scientist, 6 Lids, 16 Doing office work where she lived for most of to her visits from Norfolk Is- rector Shona Martyn said. 7 Isolated, 8 Hesitate, 13 Through- Down includes cover for editor out, 15 Observing, 16 Scissors, 17 the last four decades, after land and the arrival of each “The world is a less col- 1 Graduate composer and and moderating (9) Engineer, 19 Glider, 20 Prayed, 23 suffering a series of small new manuscript delivered ourful place without Col.” orator self destructed 19 Furtive behaviour of the Argue, 24 Taxi. strokes. Prime Minister in hard copy in cus- AFP (8,2,4) last out? (7) ȯ Telegraph Group Limited, London 32 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015

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LivingTHE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND | JANUARY 31 - FEBRUARY 1, 2015

C A R T I E

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TIME'S A-CHANGING Luxury watchmakers put up a sober front at the Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie 2015 L2-4

ILLUSTRATION OF CARTIER CRASH SKELETON BY LUDWIG ILIO

DINING DESIGN MOTORING Take away a feast L6-8 The National Gallery: Monuments rebornL10-11 The BMW X6: Xtra sportyL14 GUEST CHEF PERSONAL SPACE NO HOLDS BARRED Thai celebrity chef I an Kittichai L9 Evolving around the mothership L12-13 EPL’s top two on collision courseL16 L2 watches THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 watches L3

A quiet mood prevailed at the Salon International De La Haute A Lange & Sohne In addition to the Zeitwerk Horlogerie 2015 in Geneva last Minute Repeater, the German week. Luxury watchmakers put up brand also presented updated versions of the Lange 1 and a sober front, pruning away excess Saxonia, two of the four models that made their debut when and offering new lines at more Lange was revived in 1994. accessible prices. Innovations were The new Lange 1 is driven by a new hand-wound movement, few and far between, while the which has an escapement with a minute repeater appeared to be balance wheel that features eccentric poising weights and a the ‘in’ thing. freely oscillating balance spring. Apart from narrower bezel, a By Chuang Peck Ming precisely jumping outsize date TIME’S now graces the dial – this advances by one day exactly at midnight and delivers a doubt-free reading. The Saxonia is reduced to A-CHANGING 35mm, making it the smallest member in the Saxonia line. The markers on the dial are tweaked, rendering it easier to read. A Lange & Sohne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater, 440,000 euros (S$660,000) HE show must go on, even you’ve appeared to pervade SIHH 2015. They lacked the innova- Novelties with a price tag of a million-Swiss franc or just been jolted by bad news. tiveness and surprise element of a number of the time- more were nowhere in sight. Richard Mille’s Tourbillon Still, the shock of the sudden pieces launched at last year’s fair. Pieces like Van Cleef & Fleur came close at CHF824,500, but then the price re- surge of the Swiss franc on the Arpels’ Midnight Planetarium, an astronomical complica- flected largely the diamonds on the watch. eve of one of the world’s two big- tion that offers a 24-hour time displayed by a comet; and Cartier’s Rotonde de Cartier Grande Complication, its gest watch fairs still lingered last A Lange & Sohne’s Richard Lange Calendrier Perpetual first grand complication which features also a minute re- week at the annual Salon Interna- Terraluna, an impressively sophisticated perpetual calen- peater in a platinum case, is going for an estimated tional De La Haute Horlogerie (SI- dar with a striking orbital moon-phase display seen 600,000 euros (CHF600,000). That’s way below Lange’s HH) exhibition in Geneva. through its casebook. Grand Complication in pink gold launched two years It didn’t help that many of the Then there was Roger Dubuis’ super accurate Excali- ago; the Lange complication was then listed as 1.9 mil- T retailers and journalists who bur Quatuor, which is capped with the world’s first sili- lion euros. made up the 14,500 visitors to the week-long event – 4 cone case and its balance wheel regulated unusually by More tellingly, Greubel Forsey, known for its top quali- per cent up from 2014 – found the new timepieces show- four sprung balances; Cartier’s mystery watch with hands ty tourbillons priced easily over CHF500,000, unveiled cased by the 16 luxury brands mostly underwhelming. that appear to float on air; and Piaget’s record-breaking the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision at an estimated For the SIHH, which turned 25 this year, there was no excessively thin Altiplano 38mm 900P watch. CHF290,000 – its cheapest creation so far. birthday party to celebrate. These provided at least some excitement and buzz to The watches launched this year were certainly more The Swiss central bank’s move to unpeg the Swiss an exhibition which otherwise would have been pretty accessible price-wise, but that did not necessarily come franc from the euro was only the latest shocker for at the expense of quality. the Swiss watch industry. The SIHH 2015 was al- Montblanc’s Ultra Slim is again a ready staged against a backdrop of high costs and clear indicator. low growth in many key markets. Neither has a more conservative Even the organisers, who have every reason to pricing policy stopped major brands paint a happy picture, conceded that the exuber- from launching of high-cost compli- ance flaunted in recent years was gone, along with cations and hand-crafted artistic the double-digit growth in Swiss watch exports. works. There were several grand Classical and low-profile watches were the main complications – and the minute re- staples at the fair, they reported after the exhibi- peater appeared to be the ‘in’ thing. tion ended two Fridays ago. Besides Cartier, Audemars Piguet Still, some of the new timepieces launched by presented the Royal Oak Concept Re- the brands – 12 owned by Swiss luxury goods cherche Acoustique, a grand compli- group Richmont – did cause a minor stir. cation with a minute repeater con- Richard Mille’s RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur se- ceived in AP’s lab for acoustic re- Cartier duced some visitors with a Magnolia flower that search; it produces a sound volume Perhaps the most prolific of the brands, opened and closed in sync with the movements of Greubel Forsey GMT Cartier Crash never reached before. Cartier launched its most complex watch, its a tourbillon in flight. Montblanc won admirers with platinum case and Skeleton IWC’s Portugiese Grande Compli- first shaped movement and a new line in with its Heritage Chronometrie Ultra Slim, which red gold dial cation has a minute repeater func- Audemars Piguet Baume & Mercier addition to an assortment of other new had one fan gushing over its “incredible looks and tion as well. Similarly for The star piece in its collection is After two ultra-thin models, complications and artistic timepieces. impressive quality with a shockingly low price tag” Jaeger-Lecoultre’s Master Grande not for sale, at least not yet. The chronograph and tourbillon, its The first, the Cartier grand complication, . boring. Some of this year’s novelties which caught Tradition Grande Complication. Royal Oak RD#1 concept watch Clifton collection, the brand that took five years to finish. The minute The simple but elegant timepiece, fitted with a 38mm visitors’ eyes weren’t even deemed to be worth a men- A Lange & Sohne deployed know-how picked up from is a grand complication with a prides on its relatively low prices repeater-flying tourbillon-perpetual calendar case 5.8mm thick that houses a Montblanc movement, is tion by their brands. Montblanc’s Ultra Slim, for one, was its Grand Complication to make the Zeitwerk Repetition minute repeater that’s so added two more novelties this combo is powered by an automatic slender listed at 1,900 euros (S$2,850) in steel and 5,500 euros left out of the press presentation. Minutes, a minute repeater housed in a platinum case. outstanding it overshadows the year with hints from the 1950s: in-house movement. (S$8,250) in solid red gold. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 38mm Mas- The brands may say the sober-looking watches are In the art and craft department, Roger Dubuis showed other two features of the The hand-wound Clifton Huit The shaped movement came in the form ter Ultra Thin introduced some years ago is selling for what the market want – and they have a point. off its skills in crafting skeleton timepieces in pieces like timepiece: a tourbillon and Jours with 8 days’ power reserve; of the Crash Skeleton, a spinoff of Cartier’s around S$11,000 in steel and S$20,000 in red gold, though After years of excess fanned by an economic boom, a the Excalibur Spider Double Tourbillon Volant Squelette chronograph. The minute and the automatic Clifton iconic Crash watch introduced in 1967. the watch made by this sister brand (Richmont owns softer and uncertain economic climate now demands to EX0481, which is powered by a hand-winding skeleton repeater is the result of an Grande Date Reserve De Marche The new line – the Cle De collection for both Montblanc and Jaeger-Lecoultre) is still thinner. do away with the bells and whistles – just plain but movement. Even newcomer Ralph Lauren has a skeleton indepth eight-year sound which has a power reserve men and women – has, as its name suggests, Another novelty was Officine Panerai’s Mare Nos- well-made watches will do. watch in its new Automotive collection, the RL Automo- research programme. Those who indicator and large date in a key-like crown and new shape that’s trum, a 52mm giant of a chronograph first created in Watch prices, which are already coming down with tive Skeleton. Vacheron Constantin displayed its exper- heard it said it’s the loudest they double window. described as “tightly-drawn curve, arched 1943 for the Royal Italian Navy. While the vintage model the more sober mood, continued to stay down to earth tise in engraving in two models: the Metiers d Art Meca- heard so far. Baume & Mercier Clifton Big Date streamlined and sleek”. had a dark green dial, the updated version is tobacco with the new timepieces launched at SIHH 2015. niques Gravees – 14-Day Tourbillon and the Metiers Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Power Reserve, S$5,450 Rotonde De Cartier Grande Complication brown. Instead of steel like the original, the new one is Montblanc’s is only one example. Baume & Mercier, the d’Art Mecaniques Gravees. Concept RD#1, price not Squelette, 600,000 euros (S$900,000) made of titanium and is powered by a superior move- self-proclaimed purveyor of “affordable luxury” timepiec- For the detail hungry, check out our snapshot of what available ment. es, boasted that the average price of its latest collection is the participating brands offered at SIHH 2015. Yet these notables failed to lift the “quiet” mood that under 3,000 Swiss francs (S$4,470). [email protected] L4 watches THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 watches L5

Jaeger-LeCoultre Montblanc Piaget The moon is where Probably the first to have taken a After breaking Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Jaeger-LeCoultre turned to for stab at making a smart watch in record for an ultra-thin Ralph Lauren Richard Mille inspiration for this year’s the luxury range, the brand hand-wound timepiece last year, Its Automotive collection of six The brand dedicated SIHH 2014 to the ladies. The two collection, creating timepieces unveiled the TimeWalker Urban the brand seen more as a jeweller watches is inspired by the complications among its like the Duometre Speed e-Strap which has a strap than watchmaker presented yet designer’s rare 1938 Bugatti sports IWC novelties in SIHH 2915, including Roger Dubuis Spherotourbillon Moon, Master whose features include an another ultra-thin creation – the car. The use of burl wood defines IWC marked the 75th anniversary the Tourbillon Fleur, were also Its focus this year is on skeleton Calendar and Rendez-Vous “integrated technology device” Altiplano Chronograph, a the timepieces, echoing the Greubel Forsey of its best-selling Portugieser line aimed at them. movements designed in the Moon. But the piece that stands that offers an activity tracker and chronograph that’s the first Bugatti’s steering wheel and The name that spells pricey with its first annual calendar, the But what’s really news at the brand’s signature star shape. The out is the Master Grande smart notifications, fuelled by a complication in its Altiplano line dashboard, along with exposed tourbillons has, surprisingly, a Portugieser Calendar. There’s Richard Mille stand this year was collection demonstrated not only Tradition Grande Complication, Bluetooth connection to an iOS or and carries an attractive price tag. screws on the bezel and polished new offering that’s 10 per cent also the Portugieser Perpetual bracelets — a first for the brand. Roger Dubuis’ skills in crafting which has a flying orbital Android smartphone. The price is around S$40,000, not and shot-blasted cases. IWC and cheaper than its lowest entry-level Calendar Digital Date-Month These were made for two existing skeleton timepieces, but also its tourbillon, a minute repeater and But Montblanc’s main much higher than the simple Jaeger-LeCoultre movements drive creation – the Tourbillon 24 75th Anniversary Edition and the a dial displaying the sky chart of models: RM 07-01 and RM 11. artistry and inventiveness in attraction was a collection ultra-thin model launched in some of the watches. Secondes Vision. Portugiese Hand-Wound 8 Days the Northern Hemisphere. Ralph Lauren Automotive, S$8,200 But you can’t buy the bracelet for producing works such as the inspired by the explorer Vasco da SIHH 2014. Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 75th Anniversary Edition. Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande your RM 07-01; it comes only Excalibur Spider Skeleton Double Gama. And the star piece in it was Piaget keeps pushing to make Secondes Vision, CHF290,000 IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar, Tradition Grande Complication, the Villeret Tourbillon Cylindrique with the watch. You can buy the Flying Tourbillon. Made out of slimmer timepieces because it (S$435,000) S$32,900 in steel 269,000 euros (S$403,500) Geospheres Vasco da Gama titanium bracelet for your RM 11, titanium, black DLC-titanium wants to tell the world that it’s Limited Edition 18, which unites a though. It costs CHF58,000 and red aluminium elements, it also a watchmaker, according to cylindrical tourbillon and unique, (S$87,000), half the price of the looks and feels great. the brand’s CEO Philippe functional world time indication. timepiece. Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Leopold-Metzger. Connecting the Northern and Richard Mille RM19-02 Tourbillon Double Tourbillon Volant Piaget Altiplano Chronograph, Southern Hemispheres – as Vasco Fleur, CHF824,500 (S$1.24 million) Squelette, S$395,000 S$41,700 da Gama did in journeying to India – world time is read on two sapphire crystal spheres, which show the course of day and night around the world. Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama, 250,000 euros (S$375,000)

Officine Panarei Fans of the brand were treated to Vacheron Constantin new timepieces that included the The brand celebrated its 260th Laminar Submersible 1950 anniversary by unveiling a new Carbotech, an automatic watch Harmony line made up of seven made from a new composite cushion-shape timepieces material based on carbon fibre; the powered by new in-house Radiomir Firenze that spots a ultra-thin mono pusher hand-engraved case; and the chronograph movements. The Radiomir 1940 Equation of line was inspired by a VC Time. The stand-out piece is chronograph introduced in 1928 Van Cleef & Arpels the Mare Nostrum Titanio. – and one of the Harmony pieces, After a successful foray into Panerai Mare Nostrum Titanio the Chronographe Monopusher men’s watches in SIHH 2014 (52mm), S$58,200 Pulsometre, which has a with the amazing astronomic pulsimeter scale, is an updated Midnight Planetarium and the version of it. Parmigiani Pierre Arpels Heure travelling The other variations are a This year Parmigiani put its creative timepiece, Van Cleef returned to flyback chronograph, a tourbillon, juices to work on all its key its feminine roots. It brought a ladies’ double-pusher collections, expanding the automotive back the Cadenas with two chronograph and a trio of Bugatti line with its transversal gem-set versions: one on an dual-time watches. movement, the Kalpa collections alligator strap and the other on a Vacheron Constantin Harmony dedicated to women and Tonda, Chronograph, S$105,600 gold bracelet. which knows how to please women Van Cleef & Arpels Cadenas, and men in an elegant way. Three 15,000-114,000 euros watches were created to (S$22,500-S$171,000) commemorate the 10th anniversary of Parmigiani’s partnership with Bugatti: the Bugatti Mythe; Bugatti Revelation; and Bugatti Victoire. Parmigiani Bugatti Mythe, price not available L6 dining THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 dining L7

The Chinese New Year reunion dinner does not have to be an assembly-line restaurant affair with draconian Quayside Seafood time limits. A growing number of takeaway options 6338 3195 | www.quaysidedining.com

means you can enjoy your family get-together at home. This seafood pen cai certainly lives up to BT Weekend helps you to choose your menu. its rather fancy name - ‘Completeness & Overflowing Wealth’ Whole Lobster & Sea- By Tay Suan Chiang and Rachel Loi food Treasures Pen-Cai. There is a whole lobster in there, plus 10-head abalones from Australia, a healthier-choice hor- mone-free whole chicken, hybrid grouper fillets, clams, Alaskan crab claws, king TAKE AWAY A FEAST prawns, South African sea cucumber, fresh whole scallops, whole shiitake mush- Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant rooms, taro, tender wawa vegetables, and Sheraton Towers 6839 5623 | www.sheratonsingapore.com dried oysters. Ah Hoi’s Kitchen Each pot is priced at S$328, and is good New to the range of festive offerings by Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant is Hotel Jen Tanglin Singapore 6831 4373 for six diners. Extra orders are priced at the stewed “eight treasures” duck which now comes with 5-head aba- [email protected] S$53 for each diner. lone in addition to its eight ingredients – lotus seed, Chinese mush- room, sea cucumber, salted egg, barley, chicken, pork, and chestnut You have to dig deep to get every morsel of goodness in this pen cai, or ($388). Also available are traditional favourites like the Buddha Jumps what the restaurant calls the Fortune Big Bowl Feast. Some of the pre- over the Wall ($568 for 4 pax) with 2-head abalone, sea cucumber, mium ingredients used include black moss, abalone, superior sea cu- fish maw, ginseng and dried scallops. One tip however, is to get a bot- cumber, fish maw, dried oyster, fresh prawns, along with roasted pork, tle of their in-house XO sauce ($28+ per bottle) made with scallops chicken, yam, beancurd, lotus root, Chinese cabbage, gingko nut, gold- from Japan, Chinese ham, salted fish and shrimp – it'll be sure to add Xi Yan TungLok Restaurants a nice kick to your meal. en mushroom, superior mushroom and conpoy broth. A medium 6220 3546 | www.xiyan.com.sg 9088 8008 | www.tunglok.com sized pen cai is good for four to six persons and is priced at S$268. You’ve heard of Buddha Jumps If you're looking for a vegetari- Over the Wall, but how about its Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant an option for your reunion din- Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium 6731 7173 baked version? This one from Xi ner, try TungLok group's vege- Yan features a whole bird baked in tarian take-home feast ($238 Xin Cuisine's yusheng ($63 to a giant bun, which helps to keep the for 6 pax and $328 for 10 pax). $98) is a refreshing way to start chicken warm. It includes a vegetarian yu the new year with its sweet pas- Cut away the bread to get the sheng, rice wrapped in lotus sionfruit sauce to go with either succulent chicken which comes leaf, Thai-style deep-fried vege- Japanese prawns or salmon. For stuffed with sea cucumber, pork bel- tarian fish, a TungLok nian gao, a more luxurious meal, order ly, mushroom, dried scallop and ab- and a vegetarian pen cai featur- the imperial pen cai ($999 for 10 alone. The Baked Buddha Jump ing deep-fried beancurd skin persons) and get premium Over the Wall is priced at S$128. rolls, chestnuts, vegetarian abalo- items like a whole Australian nes, vegetarian lobster balls, braised 3-head abalone, bird's nest, tofu, taro, broccoli and bamboo fungus. deer tendon, goose web and Regular options are also available, in the form of Mexico sea cucumber. Also their heavenly ($468 for 6 pax and $698 for 10 pax) and roy- available is their crispy-skinned al ($368 for 6 pax and $498 for 10 pax) take-home feasts. These include salmon yu sheng, roasted suckling pig ($298) and signature TungLok treasure bowl (pen cai), fried glutinous rice with assorted preserved an eight-treasures duck ($198) meat, herbal chicken, and one of TungLok's nian gao options. which is stuffed with ingredi- ents like fish maw, whole abalo- ne, sea cucumber, sea whelk. Oceans of Seafood 6466 1005 www.oceansofseafood.com.sg Majestic Restaurant New Majestic Hotel 6511 4718 Oceans of Seafood’s Vibrancy of www.restaurantmajestic.com Life yusheng comes with a Japa- nese twist. The yusheng, S$128, comes with a whole boiled rock Choose from three different yu lobster, salmon and amberjack sheng options at Majestic Restau- sashimi. The amberjack is flown rant with their Atlantic salmon lo in from Tokyo’s Tsukiji market, hei ($58 or $88), ikan parang lo hei and the lobster is from the UK. ($58 or $88), and snow pear and mixed vegetables lo hei ($48 and The yusheng also has vegetables $68). Or if you'd prefer to keep imported from Japan, such as the things simple, order the Majestic red and white radishes. Extra in- deluxe treasures claypot takeaway gredients that are thrown in with JING One Fullerton set ($388 for 6 pax, $488 for 8 pax, a Japanese slant are edamame 6224 0088 | www.jing.sg The Organic Grocer or $588 for 10 pax) which comes beans, and tobiko, or flying fish 8125 4077 | www.theorganicgrocer.com with the Atlantic salmon lo hei, roe. For that extra luxe touch, the This year, Jing is offering a three-course takeaway menu that is good for roasted pork, steamed rice with yusheng is garnished with gold four to six persons. Start off with the salmon yusheng, followed by Jing’s Eat healthy this Lunar New Year with The Organic Grocer's newest range of Organic Chinese sausage and preserved flakes. Instead of an overly sweet Abalone Dried Seafood Poon Choi. Each claypot comes packed with aba- Prosperity Boxes that come in two sizes – medium ($88) for three to four pax, and meat, deep-fried nian gao with sauce, the dressing here is sesame lone, fish maw, fish glue, Japanese mushroom, dried oyster, prawns, lo- large ($150) for six to seven pax. Each box contains a medley of hotpot ingredients yam and sweet potato, and of with a hint of wasabi. tus roots, braised tofu, chicken, black moss and sea asparagus. For made up of organic produce and hormone-free meats, such as fresh organic green course the Majestic deluxe treas- some carbohydrates, there’s the Supreme Fried Rice, wok-fried with Chi- vegetables, Chinese cabbage, cherry tomatoes, and Swiss mushrooms, organic tofu, ures claypot that includes abalone, nese sausage and diced mushrooms, wrapped in fresh lotus leaf. Priced free roaming chicken, organic grass-fed beef, natural pork from the northwestern fish maw, sea cucumber, dried oys- at S$288. Get a 20 per cent discount if you order by Feb 17. United States, and 300g of wild caught all natural scallops. A delivery fee of $15 will ter and flower mushrooms. be waived with orders above $150. L8 dining THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Young chefs vie to represent S-E Asia

By Rachel Loi in Milan this June, where they will com- criteria (or “golden rules”) – ingredients, EXT Thursday, 10 young chefs pete against 19 others from other regions skills, genius, beauty, and message. from South-east Asia will face around the world. Chef Tee will be making his Kakuni N one another in a cook-off to de- San Pellegrino’s marketing coordinator pork belly with Duxelle mushroom, onsen termine who gets to represent the region for Asia, Elisabetta Ceriani, says: “We de- egg and potato foam – a dish he created in the finals of the San Pellegrino Young cided Singapore was the best option (to while working at Keystone restaurant a Chef 2015 competition – a global search host the semi-finals) because it’s the most few years ago. An important criteria for for the world’s best young chefs under 30. developed country in South-east Asia, and him is his “message”, which he explains: Half of these semi-finalists come from the most centralised. And of course the cu- “The technique is very Western, but the Singapore, including 25-year-old Elaine linary scene here is growing too.” pork belly flavour is very Asian. The dish represents me that way, and it’s important Koh – a chef de partie (or station chef) at As one of the South-east Asian judges, to have your own identity and touch.” Jaan, one of Singapore’s most prestigious Chef Clift is proud of the fact that half the When asked which of the criteria was restaurants, and no. 17 on the Asia’s 50 region’s semi-finalists come from Singa- most important to him personally, Chef Best Restaurants list. Within the two-hour pore. He says: “It shows the calibre of Sin- Clift immediately says: “Ingredients. The time limit, she will have to prepare her sig- gapore right now. I’m hoping maybe one BEST UNDER 30 fundamentals of all my cooking is ingredi- Singapore’s Chef nature dish – mackerel with sherry, beets of two of the local guys will include some ents. Everyone thinks maybe it’s technolo- Tee and Chef Koh and horseradish. local flavours in their dish – that would be gy but it’s not. If you don’t start with good (left) will be Along with the other nine competitors, good to see.” produce, you don’t end with a good dish.” cooking their Chef Koh will be judged by a panel made The other four chefs from Singapore That said, he adds: “I think (the young signature dishes in up of Bangkok-based Indian chef Gaggan are Chua Guo Sen from Sky On 57, Kirk chefs) just need to be true to themselves. a bid to reach the Anand, and two Singapore-based chefs – Westaway from Jaan, Andrea de Paola Yes, you have to take the competition seri- finals of the San Andre Chiang of Restaurant Andre and Ry- from &SONS Bacaro, and Immanuel Tee ously but you also have to enjoy it. It’s an Pellegrino Young an Clift of Tippling Club. who runs his own hawker stall Immanuel experience.” Chef 2015 The winner will go on to represent the French Kitchen. [email protected] competition South-east Asian region at the grand finals The competition has five main judging @RachelLoiBT wine&dine with BTWeekend

Marina Mandarin Singapore 80 Bras Basah Road, Level 2 ట 6431-6156 roses with our Amour in the City escape, culture – delicious cuisine, charming 6 Raffles Boulevard, Level 5 ట 6845-1018 Featuring local favourites and or indulge the afternoon in sweet ambience and attentive friendly service. Chinese New Year Goodies contemporary regional delicacies, Asian company, conversations and elegant Must-tries at Serenity are Signature Chinese New Year Goodies are now Market Cafe offers a glorious buffet spread three-tiers of pure delight at our Suckling Pig (Cochinillo Asado), delectable available for takeaway at Peach Blossoms. showcasing the breadth and depth of Champagne Gourmet High Tea in the lofty Spanish Rice Dishes (Paella), Spanish Enjoy Marina Mandarin xi qi yang yang Yu Halal-certified authentic pan-Asian cuisine Lobby Lounge from 13 to 15 February. 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For 391 Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City complimentary glasses of Chandon children from six to 12 years old enjoy 50 enquiries or reservations, please call Takashimaya SC #05-32 ట 6235-9989 Plate, Carlton City Hotel’s all-day dining per cent off the adult price. For enquiries 6831-6288/71 or e-mail No 1 Harbourfront Walk, VivoCity restaurant is located on level 3. With its or reservations, call The Terrace at [email protected]. #01-98/99 ట 6376-8185 contemporary design and a view of the 6432-7487 and Lobby Lounge at Pioneering authentic Spanish cuisine in swimming pool and lush greenery, guests 6432-7483. Alternatively, you may e-mail Singapore, Serenity opened its first outlet can enjoy an extensive buffet breakfast [email protected]. Pan Pacific Orchard in VivoCity six years ago and the second with natural daylight. Plate offers a diverse 10 Claymore Road ట 6831-6686 outlet in Sanur Bali Indonesia. Now the menu featuring salads and light meals, local Celebrate special moments with your loved third Serenity is newly opened at Ngee Ann favourites, the classic and items from the Asian Market Cafe over champagne, handcrafted chocolates, City – Takashimaya SC. Serenity brings you grill. Phone: 6632-8922; e-mail: Fairmont Singapore breakfast-in-bed and a surprise bouquet of the most authentic Spanish flavours and [email protected] Reach out to more than 100,000 readers daily in the Wine & Dine Scheme. Contact Amy Leo at 6319-2129 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 dining L9

guest chef | With a golden hand Thailand’s first celebrity chef Ian Kittichai does not let fame go to his head. By Tay Suan Chiang

E IS Thailand’s first celebri- He says that unlike regular cooking, ty chef, but Ian Kittichai where “you can throw all things in”, spa says: “I’m less a celebrity cuisine is a little more tricky. “Not only are and more a chef.” Chef Kit- the portion sizes smaller, but I want to H tichai has been a regular throw in more protein, less fat, salt and fixture on TV since 2001, when he began sugar into the dishes,” says Chef Kittichai hosting the weekly cooking show Chef who is also into healthy eating himself. “It Mue Tong (The Golden Hand Chef), which is not just all raw foods either.” is broadcast in over 70 countries; and He adds that the cooking techniques since 2012, he has been one of the perma- have to be different too. The food is done nent chefs on the TV series Iron Chef Thai- sous vide style, steamed or lightly seared land. to retain the vitamins and minerals. Despite his fame, he feels uncomforta- At Tangerine, where simplicity, flavour, ble about how chefs on TV are being seen and nutrition lead the menu, some of the as superstars, but says that being on TV signature dishes that Chef Kittachai has has its benefits – for one thing, people get created are Thai-Inspired Sous Vide Pork to know about him and go to his restau- and Asian Style Sea Bass and Salsa. The rants. “But then you have to be concerned former features Australian pork loin sous about who you are and how you cook,” he vide at 65 degrees Celsius to retain the says. “Diners will want to know if you can maximum amount of nutrients and fla- really cook, or are you just a celebrity.” vours, complemented with fresh garden Rather than let the superstar label go to greens, young broccoli leaves and micro his head, Chef Kittichai says: “I always cress which are high in antioxidants and think about where I came from. I started beta carotene. Meanwhile the sea bass is as a chef, and not a celebrity. I worked my lightly pan fried and sits on a bed of sau- way up from the bottom, and climbed up teed Napa cabbage, and is served with an the ranks.” Asian style salsa and lime chilli sauce. Two TV shows aside, the 47-year-old chef currently has nine restaurants, six in “My cooking style is very simple, and about using fresh ingredients,” he says. INTO DESIGNING FOOD Thailand, including Issaya Siamese Club ‘My cooking style is very simple, and about using fresh ingredients. After all, with great “After all, with great ingredients, you don’t ranked 31st in the Asia’s 50 Best Restau- ingredients, you don’t have to do too much,’ says Chef Kittichai rant list last year. Outside of Thailand, have to do too much.” Chef Kittichai has two restaurants – one in Chef Kittachai’s food journey began tional. Before long, the hotel sponsored but not plates. So it is better that I focus New York, and one in Mumbai. from humble beginnings in Bangkok. Eve- him to attend culinary school in London, on cooking,” he quips. He now adds Singapore to the list, ry morning, he would rise at 3am to ac- and he subsequently completed his culi- The celebrity chef is mostly based in where he is the consultant chef for spa res- company his mother to the wet market to select the best meats, seafood and vegeta- nary studies in Sydney. Bangkok, although he does make two trips taurant Tangerine at Resorts World Sento- to visit his New York restaurants annually. bles for her neighbourhood grocery. While He later honed his skills at the Four Sea- sa. The restaurant, located in ESPA spa, He hopes one day to open restaurants he was in school, she would cook a dozen sons Bangkok, and also at top names such was previously run by Thai chef Forest in the major European cities – London, different types of curries. When he got as Georges V in Paris, French Laundry in Leong, wife of home-grown celebrity chef Paris and Milan – but at the same time, is Napa Valley, and El Bulli in Spain. Sam Leong, who runs a contemporary home, he would push a cart through the realistic about certain issues. “Paris would Asian restaurant called Forest at the inte- neighbourhood, selling the curries, calling Had he not become a chef, he says he be difficult since they have strict labour grated resort’s Equarius Hotel. out “Khao Geang Ron Ron Ma Leaw Jaar”, would have been a potter. “I saw some stu- laws. Milan would require lots of educa- “I’ve known Chef Sam for many years, or hot curry coming. dents moulding plates when I was in Syd- tion on Thai cuisine,” he points out. “Lon- and it was he who referred me for the He later went to London to study, with ney, and I think I would have become a don would be great. It is a sophisticated job,” says Chef Kittichai, who said yes, no intention of becoming a chef. While plate maker.” He didn’t go down that path city and people like to try new things.” since he has had experience creating spa working part-time at the Waldorf Hotel, for a simple reason. “I realise that I [email protected] cuisine. the hotel chef saw potential in the Thai na- couldn’t design plates. I can design food, @TaySuanChiangBT

Blue swimmer crab and pomelo salad Serves one Ingredients Method 80g pomelo flesh Place crab meat, young ginger, lemongrass 2 orange segments, peeled and halved stalk, shallots, red chilli and mint leaf into a 40g crab meat, shredded bowl and mix. 5g young ginger, peeled and bruised Boil the water, palm sugar and fish sauce in a 1 pot for a few minutes until sauce thickens. /4 lemongrass stalk (tender portion), chopped Set aside to cool. 1 /2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped Mix the sauce and pomelo. 1 /4 red chili, finely chopped 2 tbsp palm sugar To serve 1 tbsp fish sauce Place the pomelo onto a serving plate, lay 1 /4 cup water crab meat mixture on top of it then garnish 1 /2 stalk apple mint, finely chopped with orange segments. L10 design THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 design L11 Monuments The City Hall and former Supreme Court buildings are undergoing refurbishment to reopen as the National Gallery Singapore in November. BT Weekend takes a peek at the work-in-progress. By Tay Suan Chiang reborn

TRANSFORMED Clockwise from left: The grand staircase at the entrance of the former Supreme Court. A tree-like structure helps to hold up the roof ARTIST’S IMPRESSION: NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE which is made of perforated aluminium Court which resembles the set of a sci-fi movie. Smack in panels. Major works the centre is the roof of a rotunda, which housed the are still being carried former library, and there are tree-like structures that hold out at the former up the roof made of perforated aluminium panels. On a City Hall. An artist’s sunny day, sunlight streams in, bathing the entire floor in impression of the natural light. building’s roof deck Design wise, the more exciting part of the Gallery is in AS GOOD AS NEW which will have a the space between the two buildings. Back in the old Above: The former Supreme garden and reflective days, the two buildings were separated by a lane. The Court’s facade with its pools. space is now covered by a roof and veil, with two sky Corinthian and Ionic columns bridges connecting the two buildings. and relief panels have been The roof and veil are also made of the same perforated restored. Right: The wooden PHOTOS: YEN MENG JIIN aluminium panels, which give the impression of a filigree panels on the ceiling were structure marking the main entrance into the Gallery, cleaned up and repaired by and also creating a visual continuity from the main atri- local artisans and carpenters um to the Padang. Glass panels are fitted under the alu- minium panels, so that the whole area can be air-condi- tioned. T is 10 more months to the opening of the Na- opened a local office managed by Singaporean talent to lery that deeply respects the historical importance of the “The perforated panels help filter out the sunlight, so existing buildings while creating new architectural layers, tional Gallery Singapore, and refurbishment focus on the project. you still get light coming into the Gallery, but it is very each placed upon the monuments with little interven- works are going on non-stop inside the City Located in the heart of the Civic District, the City Hall soft,” says Mr Milou. tion,” says Mr Milou. “We want to create a space where Hall and the former Supreme Court. There are and former Supreme Court buildings were focal points The atrium roof is held up by another large tree-like museum goers will feel they are in historical buildings, hundreds of workers around, constructing for many important events in Singapore’s history. ‘The goal is to structure, so that the roof has no direct impact on the ex- staircases, lifting structures in the atrium – the The City Hall building was built between 1926 and offer an elegant but yet at the same time, by looking out through the isting buildings. buzz is not slowing down. 1929, and it housed the Municipal Council. It was also buildings’ many windows, they can still see the city.” Access to the roof top of the City Hall building is cur- I “Construction is on track to be completed the office of Lee Kuan Yew, when he became the first and welcoming The former Supreme Court’s facade with its Corinthi- rently restricted, but Mr Milou and his team have devel- on time. Today, the focus for me is to deliver the best prime minister of Singapore. The then-prime minister art gallery that an and Ionic columns, and relief panels have been loving- oped the design to include a garden there, surrounded by quality in all details,” says Jean Francois Milou, founder and members of his Cabinet took their oaths in the City ly restored. Inside, floor tiles, wooden pillars and panels restaurants and cafes. There will also be reflective pools deeply respects on the ceilings were cleaned up and given new life by lo- and principal architect of studioMilou architecture. Hall Chamber. set in the garden. “They appear as pools on the roof top, City Hall continued to house various government de- cal artisans and carpenters. In 2008, his firm won an international competition the historical but if you were to look up from the basement, the pools partments until it was eventually vacated in 2005. “The restoration works in this building were not the and partnered the local architecture and engineering appear as skylights,” he says. The adjacent former Supreme Court building was importance of most complex in my experience,” says Mr Milou, who firm, CPG Consultants, to convert two of Singapore’s It is not just the two buildings that have been adapted. built between 1930 and 1939 to serve the judiciary system has restored and readapted other historic buildings be- A new basement had to be constructed to house techni- most significant heritage buildings into the largest visual the existing of Singapore. Its facade was designed to match City Hall, fore. “The biggest challenge for this building was in the cal facilities, ticketing and reception areas, so that the arts venue in Singapore, and one of the largest in the re- with classical architecture and corresponding Corinthian buildings.’ details.” ground floor level can be used for the gallery’s core activi- gion. columns. Jean Francois Milou, They include details such as ensuring that the build- ties. The underground concourse can be accessed by The National Gallery is dedicated to modern visual Both buildings were gazetted as national monuments founder and principal ing is now handicap-friendly, by creating a slightly slop- four monumental flights of stairs, each leading from one art, with a focus on South-east Asian art, including Singa- in 1992. Under guidelines set by the Preservation of Sites architect of studioMilou ing floor, so that the wheelchair-bound can easily head of the gallery’s facades, allowing access from every side of pore art, from the 19th century onward. & Monuments, the two buildings have to be preserved. architecture, at the atrium out onto the balconies. “This was non-existent before,” the institution. of the new gallery Work on the former Supreme Court started first, and Together, CPG, studioMilou, Architectural Restoration he says. Having worked closely on the project for some years, is almost complete, with galleries in the midst of being fit- Consultant and Takenaka-Singapore Piling Joint Venture Other “modern” features that had to be put in to suit Mr Milou cannot help but admit: “There’s definitely a ted out for the exhibition display. Major works are still on- all worked closely with the client on the complex tasks of the art museum included special lighting, fire protection, very endearing quality to the buildings and the new de- going at City Hall. “Less work was needed for the former renovation while preserving the historic elements of the air-conditioning and the installation of security cameras, sign.” Supreme Court, hence we started work on it first,” says monuments. while respecting the historical character of the buildings. [email protected] Mr Milou, who moved his family to Singapore and “The goal is to offer an elegant and welcoming art gal- The next stop is the fifth floor of the former Supreme @TaySuanChiangBT L12 home & garden THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 home & garden L13

COOKING UP INSPIRATION (Left) The open kitchen, with an island counter constructed to straddle the 5cm drop between the dining and kitchen areas; (below) limited edition figurines take pride of place in the home

remembers growing up in a terrace house with a garden and, “playing with bugs and worms”. The plants are most- ly relegated to the balcony. To create an open kitchen, one of the rooms on the first level of the maisonette had to be sacrificed and re- duced to just a storeroom. Walls containing the old kitch- en were knocked down and an island counter was con- structed to straddle the 5cm drop between the dining personal space | and kitchen areas, circumventing the need for major re- construction. In almost all design decisions, Mrs Thong, who is in the banking industry, gladly gave in to her husband’s Evolving around choices: “I trust my husband’s tastes,” she adds. But be- cause the kitchen is her domain, she did insist on certain features, including the lighter colour for the kitchen cabi- net laminates and Blum cabinet components that ensure the Mothership ‘We wanted it drawers and doors close with just a soft touch. Interest- to be a ingly, Mrs Thong, who shopped for the dining chairs, TV console, living room bookcase and even the “robot” vacu- With their ‘living organism’ chandelier and work-in-progress ambience, the work-in- um cleaner online, was “hesitant” to buy cabinet compo- progress; to nents online even though there would have been a sub- Thongs’ home is unique and distinctly their own. By Arthur Sim stantial saving because she wanted the warranty. With a be in a state seasoned shopper’s savvy, she did her research and even of constant joined online forums on home renovations before mak- T IS always a good idea to have a couple of accent While the Thongs had ideas of their own – such as hav- ing decisions. pieces mixed in with the general design scheme of ing walls and floors finished in cement screed – it was Mr evolution.’ With both husband and wife taking such a hands-on things when it comes to home decoration, even if Seow who helped manage their expectations. For in- Mr Thong (left, with wife approach to the renovation of their flat, their home could it is only to get the conversation going when stance, Mr Seow had to make it clear that the cement Eileen) on how the flat not be anything but unique and distinctively their own. It I friends come over for dinner. But with their creep- screed will stain, crack and is unpredictable in the way it has an air of being is an example of resourcefulness and creativity that ing chandelier that has pendant lights connected to ages. unfinished bodes well for this younger generation of homeowners 200m of black electrical wiring, have the Thongs of Seran- Mr Seow also advised against demolishing the existing who are happy to boldly go where no one has gone be- goon gone too far? staircase and rebuilding a new one to save on construc- fore. The chandelier is a tentacle-esque construction that tion costs so that eventually, even the old wooden banis- hangs from the ceiling of the stairwell in the apartment of ters were retained, albeit painted black. Construction CREEPING Thong Chew Fatt, 33 and his wife Eileen See, 32. Describ- costs were further kept low with most of the built-in car- LIGHTS The Thongs’ ing the light fixture, Mr Thong likens it to a “living organ- pentry work reserved for the kitchen and the Thongs creeping ism” that can extend into most corners of the 1,700 were able to maintain their renovation budget of about chandelier has square foot apartment by way of free floating pendant S$120,000. As a word of caution to other potential home- pendant lights lights that can be anchored to any of the 700 hooks af- owners, Mr Seow does point out that the cement screed connected to fixed to the ceiling for task or accent lighting. Because finish was not cheap. While this sounds counter-intui- 200m of black they are not fixed permanently, the pendant lights can al- tive, he explains that with labour costs rising, it is actually electrical ways return to the main chandelier cluster in the stair- cheaper to lay floor tiles than it is to plaster-on cement wiring which well or as Mr Thong likes to call it, “the Mothership”. screed. “We needed to have three people plastering the can extend The reference to science fiction becomes clearer after wall simultaneously to ensure there would be no patchi- into most Mr Thong reveals he is a fan, especially of Australian com- ness,” he explains. corners of ic book artist Ashley Wood. Limited edition figurines by Still, with wires dangling all over the place, and walls their 1,700 the artist take pride of place in this home and upon closer that seem to be missing a coat of paint, the flat has an air square foot apartment inspection, it is not difficult to understand why the Moth- of being unfinished and one almost expects workmen in including ership needs to always be close by. “I like the tension it safety boots to come through the front door at any mo- (anti-clockwise creates,” he adds. ment. But this, however, is exactly how the homeowners from right) The Mothership was actually inspired by a lighting de- prefer it. “We wanted it to be a work-in-progress; to be in the dining sign that Mr Thong, a creative director in his own adver- a state of constant evolution,” adds Mr Thong, noting al- area; the tising firm, had come across while surfing on the Inter- so that the walls have taken on a pleasing, darker tint stairwell and net. But instead of buying something off-the-shelf, he de- since they moved in last year. the living cided to create his own version with the help of his wife. The abundance of flora in this apartment is another room Together, they sourced for parts online and had it put to- reference to Mr Thong’s penchant for the organic, al- gether with the help of interior designer Raymond Seow though this one has nothing to do with science fiction. “It of Free Space Intent. is a connection with my childhood,” says Mr Thong who L14 motoring THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 X-TRA SPORTY

The big and tall BMW X6’s best attribute is its handling. By Samuel Ee

OW that everyone dle well. On the X6, this is enhanced by xDrive50i with the latest-generation 4.4-li- In this mode, the steering becomes has got used to the the xDrive full-time all-wheel-drive fea- tre V8 turbocharged engine (said to be 22 meatier but also more wooden. way the BMW X6 ture which varies the torque between the per cent more frugal), the big BMW is sur- Inside, the X6 cabin immediately looks looks, it seems the front and rear axles automatically to pro- prisingly unenthusiastic when moving off more opulent with higher-grade leather German luxury man- vide excellent grip. At the same time, from stationary, as if turbo lag and the and richer hues. The interior can be speci- ufacturer has left torque vectoring adjusts the power to nearly 2.2-tonne body are holding it back. fied in a two-tone colour scheme with con- the exterior styling each of the rear wheels for more agility in When the eight-speed automatic trans- trast stitching and nicer wood trim choic- N untouched to con- corners. mission is left in D, the power delivery can es. There are more and bigger storage centrate instead on the interior for the lat- The brand new X6 is no different. This occasionally accelerate with some difficul- compartments, and an automatic tailgate est iteration. second-generation model X6 still has a ty at lower speeds. is now a standard feature. Progress improves when the gear lever The X6 sport-utility vehicle with the dis- lower roofline but it now comes with add- On the outside, the side steps add a styl- is slotted in Sport position but it is by no tinctive design is dubbed a Sport Activity ed comfort and luxury. It follows the same ishly sporty touch. But the cool-looking means effortless, considering the more Coupe by BMW – a so-called “coupe” ver- brief as the latest X5, which was re-posi- aluminium running boards with their rub- than generous 450 hp and whopping 650 sion of the X5 Sport Activity Vehicle with tioned with a higher trim level and im- ber inserts may not appeal to everyone. Nm on tap. more rakish styling. proved ride comfort. The Driving Experience Control func- They are too narrow to step on confident- Notwithstanding its polarising looks, In the new X6, the materials and details tion offers four driving modes – Eco Pro, ly, yet jut out enough to rub against your there has never been any argument about are more luxurious than before, while re- Comfort, Sport and Sport+ – and the X6 leg if you choose to avoid using them to the X6’s dynamic handling. It may be 1.7 taining its overall size and original con- performs best when both this and the gear enter or exit the tall X6. metres tall but it corners like a lower and cept of a spirited drive. Yet, the SUV-cou- lever are set to Sport (Sport+ engages Dy- So despite its handling prowess, it sleeker 5 Series sedan. pe still manages to be lighter with even namic Traction Control which allows for looks like the BMW X6 SUV-coupe with its It comes as no surprise that a model better boot space. more wheel slip and therefore more dy- niche styling will appeal to a niche crowd. with the BMW badge on the hood will han- But from behind the wheel of the X6 namic driving). [email protected]

MORE LUXURIOUS THAN BEFORE SPECS The X6 cabin looks more BMW X6 xDrive50i opulent with higher-grade Engine 4,395cc V8 turbocharged leather and richer hues; Gearbox 8-speed automatic transmission the interior can be specified in a two-tone Max power 450 hp @ 5,500-6,000 rpm colour scheme with Max torque 650 Nm @ 2,000-4,500 rpm contrast stitching and 0-100 kmh 4.8 secs nicer wood trim choices. Top speed 250 kmh There are more and CO2 emissions 225 g/km bigger storage compartments, and an Average OMV from S$93,000 automatic tailgate is now Price S$488,800 (with COE) a standard feature Distributor Performance Motors ట 6319-0100 THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 motoring L15

F the new Peugeot 308 had any skin or teeth, they would definitely be involved in its COE TINY DYNAMO categorisation. Because with its turbo- Its good blend of charged petrol engine producing 129 hp, the handling and I 308 slots neatly into Category A with just one comfort allows hp to spare. the new Peugeot And it is this 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine that 308 to skim over has to be the most intriguing aspect of the sec- rough roads while ond-generation 308 (unlike previous models, Peuge- displaying good ot retains the last digit of the nameplate instead of poise in fast increasing it). Being small means it is a frugal unit, corners. promising to consume as little as 5.1 litres per 100 km under the combined cycle, or an amazing 19.6 km per litre. But despite its size, it is able to muster up 230 Newton-metres of torque, delivered to the front wheels via a conventional six-speed automatic transmission. “1,200 cc” may not sound like much but the 308 will make most think again. Floor the accelerator and this tiny dynamo goes to work with minimal turbo lag. Press the S button on the lower centre console and the performance becomes even livelier with delayed upshifts. This number for The gear lever can also shift manually, using the more intuitive forward-nudge-to-change-down log- ic, but selecting D is more than good enough for this box. a good time It is hard to believe that three cylinders with a displacement of 400 cc each are capable of such torque and smoothness but a low kerb weight of 1,150 kg helps. At about 140 kg less than its predecessor, this lightweight 308 hatchback, or the Peugeot 308 1.2 Puretech Turbo EAT6 5-Door to be precise, also has attributes other than good performance and fuel economy. One of them is ride comfort. While the previous 308 had a firmer ride, this new 308 is slightly comfier but without the floaty pli- ancy of some French models. Its good blend of handling and comfort allows it to skim over rough roads while displaying good poise in fast corners. But it does feel a bit light when doing the latter, with its rear torsion beam suspension probably contributing to this. The well-weighted steering has wonderful feed- back and its size plays a big role in its perception of agility. This tiny flat-bottomed steering wheel was first seen in the Peugeot 208 supermini and is one of the three elements of the French carmaker’s i-Cockpit interior concept. The other two are the raised instrument binnacle and the 9.7-inch touch- screen in the middle. The tachometer in the former is unique for being calibrated anti-clockwise. This is to ensure it will be readable whatever the height of the diminutive steering wheel. Together with the soft-touch dashboard and The 308 has a small engine but unexpectedly good minimalist single button centre console (inspired by high-end hi-fi), the 308 interior is surprisingly performance. By Samuel Ee classy, with the leather on the steering wheel and most of the metal trim nice to look at and touch. At 4.25 metres in length with a 2,620 mm wheel- base, the new 308 is actually very slightly shorter than its predecessor even though it is visually SPECS lengthened with a 10 mm increase in the wheel- Peugeot 308 1.2 Puretech Turbo base. The styling has Teutonic overtones and gone Engine 1,199cc 3-cyl turbocharged is the Gallic quirkiness of old, replaced by a wel- Gearbox 6-speed automatic come European distinctiveness. transmission There are two trim levels – Active and Allure. Max power 129 hp @ 5,500 rpm The latter has more equipment, and given the low Max torque 230 Nm @ 1,750 rpm kerb weight, this affects emissions, consumption and zero to 100 kmh acceleration figures. The Al- 0-100 kmh from 10.2 secs lure also costs S$12,000 more, for nicer stuff such as Top speed 200 kmh keyless entry and start, GPS and reverse camera, a CO2 emissions from 117 g/km blind spot monitoring system, automatic parking, Average OMV from S$18,000 front sports seats and a panoramic glass roof, Price from S$113,900 (with COE) among others. Distributor AutoFrance But with or without these extras, the new Peuge- ot 308 should still be an amazing little number. ట 6376-2288 [email protected] L16 sports THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 no holds barred | EPL’s top two on collision course

Lee U-Wen [email protected] @LeeUwenBT Correspondent

HERE is simply no rest for the weary, especially in a sport as demanding as foot- ball, as English Premier T League (EPL) leaders Chel- sea will soon find out. Jose Mourinho will lead his men out at Stamford Bridge on Saturday (1.30am Sun- day, Singapore time) against the defend- ing champions Manchester City, barely four days after surviving a bruising League Cup semi-final win over Liverpool that went into extra time. It took Chelsea 210 minutes in total to dispose of Liverpool over two legs and book their place in the League Cup final on March 1 at London’s Wembley Stadi- um. But that competition will have to take a back seat for now, with the Blues needing to rejig their starting line-up ahead of the visit of the second-placed Citizens for this tantalising top-of-the-table clash. Chelsea have the comfort of a com- manding five-point lead over Manchester City, and will still be first in the standings no matter the final outcome of Saturday’s showdown. But try telling that to Mourinho, the wily Portuguese manager who will stop at SHOWDOWN nothing to expand that gap to eight points Left: Chelsea have the comfort with just 15 more games to play. of a commanding five-point A win would also stamp his authority lead over Manchester City, and on a fascinating and simmering rivalry will still be first in the with his Manchester City counterpart, standings no matter the final Manuel Pellegrini. outcome of Saturday’s game. The two coaches have a fractious rela- Above left: A win for Jose tionship that dates all the way back to Mourinho’s team would stamp their respective stints in charge of Spanish his authority on a fascinating club Real Madrid. and simmering rivalry with his Pellegrini lasted just one season in the Manchester City counterpart, Spanish capital where he failed to finish Manuel Pellegrini. on top of Real’s perennial rivals Barcelo- PHOTOS: REUTERS, ACTION IMAGES na. He was sacked and replaced by Mour- inho in the summer of 2010. Pellegrini went on to manage Malaga and Mourinho, ever the opportunist, It was Fernando Torres – a player who Another Spaniard, Cesc Fabregas, also FA Cup shock. His players were brought couldn’t resist taking a jibe. “If Real Ma- has since left Chelsea – who scored a late limped out with a hamstring injury in that down to earth by second-tier Middles- drid were to fire me, I wouldn’t go to Mala- winner that day, after City’s talisman Ser- same match, but at least Mourinho can brough, which won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadi- ga. I’d go to a top-level team in Italy or gio Aguero cancelled out Andre Schurrle’s count on the evergreen Didier Drogba, the um in Manchester. England,” he said. first-half opener for Chelsea. 36-year-old Ivorian striker who has six The early eliminations from English Pellegrini hasn’t forgotten those Cue the raucous celebrations as Mour- goals already but none in his last eight football’s oldest cup competition will only taunts. The measured and mild-man- games. galvanise the two teams to go tooth and nered Chilean prefers to let his club’s re- inho threw himself into the crowd in joy, as a disgusted Pellegrini left the pitch at As for Manchester City, which have not nail for the EPL crown. sults do the talking. won in the EPL since New Year’s Day, Pel- Even at this stage of the season, it is the end without shaking his opponent’s The 61-year-old doesn’t smile that of- legrini must mastermind a victory without looking very much a two-horse race, with hand. “I didn’t want to,” he muttered ten, but even he had to ditch his usually his star midfielder Yaya Toure, who is Southampton and Manchester United – when asked by reporters whether he had sombre look last May when his talented busy with the Ivory Coast at the ongoing third and fourth in the table respectively – gone to see Mourinho at the final whistle. Manchester City team stormed to a sec- African Cup of Nations tournament in looking too far behind to put up a decent ond EPL title with a late run of victories Chelsea could, however, be without the Equatorial Guinea. fight. that left Chelsea and Liverpool eating services of the in-form Diego Costa, a play- City can perhaps take a leaf from tiny A Chelsea win on Saturday will almost their dust. er who has been in the news for all the Bradford City, the third-division team certainly see the trophy move to London Many will remember the last time that wrong reasons of late. The league’s top from West Yorkshire that sent Chelsea in May. If City wins, the title race could Chelsea and Manchester City, two of the scorer is likely to be banned after he was crashing out of the FA Cup last Saturday well go down to the wire. A draw won’t do biggest-spending clubs in England’s top charged by the Football Association for ap- with a remarkable 4-2 result at Stamford either side any favours, so expect both division, met at Stamford Bridge in Octo- pearing to stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can Bridge. managers to go for the jugular from the ber 2013. in that League Cup victory on Tuesday. But Pellegrini himself wasn’t spared an first minute.