Li Ka-shing's CKI boosts buyout offer for Power Assets to US$12.4b

Cheung Kong Holdings Chairman Li Ka-shing smiles as he leaves a news conference on the companies' annual results in Hong Kong in this Feb 26, 2015 file photo. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

OCT 8, 201510:38 AM

[HONG KONG] Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (CKI) has sweetened an US$11.6 billion offer to buy the 61 per cent of Power Assets Holdings Ltd it doesn't already own in a rare concession by the Asian tycoon to independent investors unconvinced by his original plan.

CKI, the infrastructure arm of Mr Li's empire, said in a statement late on Wednesday that after feedback from a number of shareholders, it would raise the share-swap ratio in the offer by 2.5 per cent, hoisting the deal's value to US$12.4 billion. It is also raising a planned special cash dividend by 50 per cent.

Mr Li's CKI made the offer to holders in Hong Kong utility Power Assets last month as part of a restructuring of the richest man in Asia's business empire that is designed to give CKI access to Power Assets HK$67.8 billion (S$12.4 billion) cash pile. The combined entity would also have a wider mandate to invest in other infrastructure business such as toll roads and water supplies.

Some hedge fund managers and analysts had said that the original offer was not attractive, raising market hopes that the deal terms being improved.

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Under the new proposal, Power Assets shareholders would receive 1.066 CKI shares for every Power Assets share held, up from 1.04 CKI shares as proposed on Sept 8. They would also get a HK$7.50 per share cash dividend, up from HK$5 per share it planned earlier.

Terms of the new proposal would see CKI issue 1.39 billion new shares, taking the deal's value to HK$96 billion. A detailed timetable for the proposal will be outlined in a document issued to Power Assets and CKI shareholders on Oct 20, the statement said.

REUTERS

    
 

Singtel invests in new S$400m data centre in Jurong

By

Kelly Taykellytay@sph.com.sg@KellyTayBT

SINGAPORE Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel) is making its biggest data centre investment in Singapore to date, with a new S$400 million facility in Jurong. 

PHOTO: THOMAS WONG

OCT 8, 201512:07 PM

SINGAPORE Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel) is making its biggest data centre investment in Singapore to date, with a new S$400 million facility in Jurong.

The Tier 3-Plus data centre - with an approximate gross floor area of 570,000 square feet - will meet growing demand for co-location and cloud services in Singapore. It will be completed in the third quarter of 2016.

Said Bill Chang, chief executive officer, Group Enterprise, Singtel: "This new data centre is designed to meet the critical hosting needs of the financial services industry, government agencies, and cloud and Internet service providers. It enables Singtel to attract and host world-class cloud players in Singapore and position the country as a global hub for cloud computing and innovation."

The new facility will be equipped with a total power capacity of up to 36 megawatts, which is one of the highest power densities in the region.

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The Jurong centre brings Singtel's network of data centres in the Asia-Pacific to 13 - nine in Singapore and two each in Hong Kong and Australia.

      

Emerging market currencies make fresh gains

The dollar declined further against some emerging Asian currencies Thursday on waning expectations of an early rise in US interest rates.

PHOTO: REUTERS

OCT 8, 201512:25 PM

[TOKYO] The dollar declined further against some emerging Asian currencies Thursday on waning expectations of an early rise in US interest rates.

With last Friday's below-par US jobs report muddying the Federal Reserve's plans for lifting borrowing costs by the end of the year, many higher-yielding, or riskier, units have benefited.

Emerging market currencies have been hammered on recent months as expectations of a US rate rise built up and China's economic growth slowed. Beijing's shock devaluation of its yuan in August also triggered a sweeping selloff across global markets that wiped trillions in valuations.

That led to investors pulling their money out of higher-yielding, higher-risk economies such as Indonesia and Thailand as they looked for safer returns back in the United States.

However, with the Fed's rate plans now muddied, bets are on a 2016 hike, bringing some much-needed confidence back to emerging markets this week.

One of the main winners has been the Indonesian rupiah, which has been hammered for months. In early trade Thursday the unit was up 0.70 per cent, having advanced more than six percent since last week. However, it is still wallowing near 17-year lows.

Among other units the Indian rupee gained 0.69 per cent and the Philippine pesos rose 0.21 per cent, while South Korea's won gained 0.22 per cent.

The greenback also eased against its major counterparts. It fetched 119.95 yen in Asian trade, slightly down from 120.00 yen in US trade, while the euro stood at US$1.1251 against US$1.1237.

The single currency was also buying 134.96 yen 134.83 yen in New York late Wednesday.

On Thursday the euro retreated in reaction a larger-than-expected drop in industrial production in Germany, Europe's powerhouse, analysts said.

Traders are now awaiting the release Thursday of minutes from the Fed's September policy meeting to see if they can gather any clues about its plans for hiking rates.

Shinichiro Kadoda, currency analyst with Barclays Bank, Japan, said in a note to clients in the mid-to-long term, "we predict that the dollar-yen will likely move in the lower 120 yen level, based on a scenario that the Fed will postpone a rate hike" to March.

The ECB is also due to release its minutes later on Thursday.

AFP