Singapore Man Wins Bid For Lunch With Warren Buffett To Benefit SF's Glide ...

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) - The winning bidder for a private lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett is from Singapore.

A spokeswoman for the group that benefits from the auction says the winning bid was more than $2.1 million. The winner was Andy Chua from Singapore.

The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.

The winner gets to spend several hours at lunch with Buffett, who leads Berkshire Hathaway and is known for his investing prowess and philanthropy.

Last year's winning bid was a little more than $1 million. Four of the previous five winners each paid more than $2 million.

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Singapore buyers snap up eastern suburb sites

Singapore-based buyers are at the forefront of recent activity in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.

Colliers International agent Peter Bremner said the group had sold three development sites in the popular middle-ring suburb of Doncaster for a combined $40 million in the past eight months indicating a growing maturity in the apartment market.

''Five years ago it was a struggle. It's now very mature,'' Mr Bremner said. ''There is a definite theme emerging, with the last three site sales in Doncaster all being to Singaporean purchasers.''

A property with a permit for 273 apartments and 2000 sq m of commercial development at 642-654 Doncaster Road opposite Shopping Town sold last month for more than $13 million to a private Singaporean buyer.

The property was owned by Englehart Homes founder Ron Englehart who offloaded the 3964-square-metre block with a permit for a 12-level residential building called The Summit designed by Peddle Thorpe Architects.

Earlier this year, the 2.8 hectare former Morrison Brothers Nursery site in Williamsons Road was purchased for $19.28 million by Singapore-based Chip Eng Seng's CEL Australia.

The group is planning up to 100 townhouses and 50 apartments. Late last year, a car park behind the shopping centre at 1 Grosvenor Street sold to Ho Bee Land, another listed Singapore entity, for $8.5 million.

Ho Bee will use an existing permit that allows 185 apartments on the site and has begun pre-sales for the project called Pearl.

The Doncaster Hill precinct has seen several recent high-rise projects including The Pinnacle, Madison and an affordable housing project, Haven, Mr Bremner said.

Construction has begun of another stage of Sovereign Point Court, a project by the locally based, but Chinese-backed, AXF Group.

Two other apartments are selling off the plan - Panorama at 101 Tram Road and 88 Doncaster Hill at 88 Tram Road. Similar interest was being shown in nearby suburbs, said CBRE's Jamus Campbell.

Groups like Chinese-backed JD International were seeking development opportunities, with sites in Box Hill and Blackburn expected to be hotly contested, he said.

Most popular 4

Singapore finance minister accepts slower growth as trade

Credit: Reuters/Edgar Su

1 of 2. Singapore's Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam speaks to Reuters during an interview at his office in Singapore June 5, 2014.

Over the past decade, Singapore's economy has expanded by a 6.4 percent annual average. Tharman said that he would be happy if Singapore grew 3 percent a year, as long as growth was driven mainly by gains in productivity.

'Three percent growth is good growth,' he said during an interview on Thursday.

High past growth has brought rising numbers of foreigners to work in wealthy Singapore, which in turn has spurred discontent among citizens angered by the strains put on infrastructure and services.

Between 2000 and 2013, Singapore's population rose to 5.4 million from 4 million, with foreigners accounting for the bulk of the 35 percent increase.

Unhappiness about inflows of foreigners helped an opposition party gain ground in the 2011 general elections as the People's Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965, won only 60 percent of votes, its worst showing to date. The next election must be held by January 2017.

Tharman, who is also a deputy prime minister, said the government accepts a slower growth rate as the cost of ensuring the country retains its national identity, combats over-crowding and keeps the ratio of foreign to local workers at around one-third.

NOT LIKE DUBAI

'We are never going to be Dubai, we are a country with a social ethos that we take very seriously,' the 57-year-old finance minister said.

The number of foreigners in Dubai is larger than that of locals, a result of its aggressive economic growth strategy.

At the end of 2013, there were 1.32 million foreigners in Singapore who held employment or work-passes, around 38 percent of the total work-force.

In 2010, Singapore launched a 10-year plan to restructure its economy, aiming to increase productivity and cap the ratio of foreigners in the workforce at around one-third. The plan aimed to raise the productivity rate by an average of 2 to 3 percent a year, though it actually fell in 2012 and 2013.

In line with the plan, the government has imposed regulations to curb hiring of overseas workers in some sectors.

Now many companies, particularly in the construction and hospitality sectors, are clamoring for a let-up in the rules, saying they are hurting their businesses.

Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the government would delay S$2 billion ($1.59 billion) of construction projects in order to reduce demand for foreign labor. [ID:nL3N0OE2KM]

Tharman said no tweaks would be made to the rules to help companies in the sectors that are struggling, as they had to adjust and find more productive ways of working instead.

'Giving them a little more slack can make some sense in the short-term but it delays that long-term transition,' he said.

'We know that this is a transition that can be done, it's not inventing something that hasn't been done elsewhere.'

SOME INDUSTRIES WILL EXIT

For some companies though, he said, the rules may ultimately mean they have to leave Singapore as its economy becomes less competitive for some industries.

'You can't move into higher value, high innovation activities without freeing up labor and land from the old activities, but you have to leave it to the market,' Tharman said.

There are concerns that unhappiness about the number of foreigners in Singapore is causing some citizens to become hostile towards them.

Last month, organizers of a planned celebration on Singapore's main shopping street of Philippine independence day canceled it after online abuse directed at the Filipino community.

Tharman said he didn't believe xenophobia was a major problem among Singaporeans or a threat to foreign investment.

Citizens 'would be concerned for valid reasons if there is overcrowding in the buses or in their housing estates' he said. 'But I don't think they are motivated in an unhealthy way.'

In 2013, Singapore's economy expanded 3.9 percent. The government forecasts growth of 2-4 percent this year. Curbs on hiring foreign workers and steady economic growth mean the labor market is particularly tight, with unemployment hovering around 2 percent.

($1 = 1.2569 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong and Paul Ingrassia; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

Unhappy with sex services? Don't call us, Singapore says

(CNN) -- A foreign minister clearly frustrated with some of his own countrymen has taken to Facebook to expose some of the stranger requests received by consular staff.

'Can the government get involved if a Singaporean gets illegal sexual services overseas, but is not satisfied and wants a refund? The answer seems obvious,' writes K. Shanmugam, the country's minster for foreign affairs, with an almost audible sigh.

The exasperated minister went on to list other examples with the plea: 'We have to draw the line between what is personal responsibility and what's not.'

Where to draw the line?

Personal responsibility could include the lovelorn citizen who asked the foreign office to convince his girlfriend to marry him.

English football fan goes the distance Airport entertainment eases travel stress Out of the Office: Traveling Solo

And then there was the KFC customer who alleged racial discrimination over the size of his fried chicken. 'He wanted MFA to investigate this instance and seek justice in that foreign country for the unfair treatment he claimed to have received. We told him we could not do that,' the minister writes.

Nor could the country help the Singaporean living in Indonesia who requested the foreign office help ship a computer ordered online from the United States.

Singapore's consular officials handled 3,000 cases last year, filed by some of the seven million Singaporeans who ventured abroad.

That number is dwarfed by the volume of requests received by larger countries including the United Kingdom, whose Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) handled more than 52,000 cases the same year.

It's not just Singaporeans

In what seems to have become an annual warning to potential time-wasters, the FCO released a list last May of some of its most misdirected queries.

They include the man who asked consular staff in Rome to translate a phrase for his new tattoo, and a woman who complained about the poor quality of football boots 'made in China.'

So bizarre were some of the requests made to the foreign office in Australia that it was suggested the country consider charging a fee for consular assistance.

In a policy brief, 'Consular Conundrum,' published in March 2013, author Alex Oliver lays out the case for a charge, nothing that 'expectations of what our diplomats can or should do for distressed travelers overseas are climbing, and in some cases becoming more unrealistic.'

According to the report, some of the stranger requests to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) include: 'Will the sand in Egypt upset my asthma?' and 'Could DFAT feed my dogs while I'm away?'

In the past, Canadian officials have also found the need to remind travelers of what they can and cannot do.

In 2011, the then minister of foreign affairs Diana Ablonczy spelled it out in a press release:

'Consular officials CANNOT (her capitals): ask your mother-in-law to leave your house, purchase tickets for a musical or entertainment event, settle disputes between you and your partner (and), pickup your dog at the airport.'

You've been warned.

“Competition Commission Singapore, are you doing your job?”

Competition Commission Singapore,

I refer to the article, ' Cinemas raise prices for weekend screenings ' (MyPaper, 6 June 2014).

All four cinema chains have raised their ticket prices in unison. Although the cinemas do not have a government agency to look after them, the cinemas behaved as if they were transport companies acting under the Public Transport Council's Fare Review Committee where prices go up together!

This puts consumers like us at a disadvantage. What is the point of having more players to compete in the market when all of them can gang up, increase prices and Singaporeans are unable to do anything about it?

Let's recap another instance where organisations acted together but Singaporeans have no choice but to quietly accept the changes: ' Tuition fee hike at four varsities; polys, ITE to follow ' (CNA, 21 March 2014).

How come one Uni raise fees, the other Unis follow? Even SIM has no choice but to follow the rest.

Competition Commission Singapore, are you doing your job? I think you are not. Why are you all wasting tax payers' monies?

The above is an edited version of a letter sent by a reader to various officers in the Competition Commission of Singapore.

Singapore developer Frasers lobs higher takeover bid for Australand

Updated June 04, 2014 10:42:07

Singaporean property development giant Frasers has launched a $2.6 billion takeover for Australand.

Frasers Centrepoint Limited is offering $4.48 per share cash per Australand security, and will also allow Australand shareholders to keep an expected 12.75-cent-per-share first-half dividend payment.

The bid trumps Australian developer Stockland's offer of 1.124 of its shares per Australand security, which carried a value of around $4.35 per Australand share and valuing the company at more than $2.5 billion.

While Frasers offer is not significantly higher in implied value, it is an all cash offer which tends to be far more attractive to investors than Stockland's mostly share-based bid.

The Frasers bid required Australand to enter into a period of exclusive due diligence, where the Singaporean company can look at its books, and the Australian company has agreed to do so for four weeks.

Australand says the Frasers proposal is better than Stockland's bid, and its board currently intends to recommend its acceptance.

'The board concluded that the conditional proposal would deliver a compelling value outcome for Australand securityholders and is superior to the final and conditional proposal received from Stockland,' said Australand's chairman Paul Isherwood in a statement.

'Accordingly, the board has determined to progress the proposal with Frasers to determine whether an offer that is capable of acceptance can be presented to Australand securityholders.'

Australand says the takeover is worth 21 per cent more than the company's estimated net tangible assets, 19 per cent more than its weighted average price for the three months before Stockland taking a large stake in the firm in March, and 7 per cent above yesterday's closing price.

The Frasers bid will be subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board, and is also subject to at least 50.1 per cent of Australand shareholders supporting it and no material change to Australand's senior management team.

Stockland's offer was declared as being final in the absence of a higher bid being lodged, which leaves it the option of launching a third offer to trump Frasers.

Topics:takeovers, building-and-construction, housing-industry, business-economics-and-finance, company-news, australia, singapore

First posted June 04, 2014 10:22:10

Blogger uses crowdfunding to fight PM's defamation suit

A Singaporean blogger sued for damages by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday he had successfully raised fees for his legal defence in just four days through crowdfunding.

Roy Ngerng Yi Ling, a government health worker who posts comments on social issues, said 1,104 people had so far contributed more than Sg$72,000 ($55,700), exceeding his target of Sg$70,000 when he launched the campaign Friday.

Ngerng published the transaction history of his bank account on his crowdfunding platform. Many of the donors registered comments criticising Lee and opposing the use of libel suits to silence government critics.A screencap of crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. (Photo: Vulcan Post)

Singapore officials have long used defamation suits against printed publications to defend their reputations.

Ngerng was the first online critic brought to court by a Singaporean leader.

'Donations were mostly of small denominations, and ranged from one cent to two thousand dollars,' Ngerng, 33, told AFP.

'I think it reflects the people's frustrations with the current situation,' added Ngerng, author of a blog called 'The Heart Truths'.Political blogger Roy Ngerng is up against PM Lee. (Yahoo Video Screengrab)

Lee filed the defamation suit on Thursday in the High Court, where the typical minimum value of claims for damages is Sg$250,000.

The prime minister alleged that a May 15 post by Ngerng contained statements accusing him of 'criminal misappropriation' of public funds.

Lee had earlier rejected an apology and dismissed as 'derisory' a compensation offer of Sg$5,000 from Ngerng. The court will have the final say on the amount to be awarded.

A pre-trial conference has been set for July 4.

Lee's lawyer said the post had suggested that the prime minister, who is the chairman of state investment agency GIC, 'is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid by Singaporeans to the Central Provident Fund (CPF).'

GIC manages more than $100 billion of the city-state's foreign reserves. The CPF is the state pension fund.

Ngerng said Monday that for now, he would not 'actively solicit for more funds as the target we set has been reached' but indicated he may seek help paying any damages awarded to Lee.

- 'David versus Goliath' -

Eugene Tan, an associate law professor at the Singapore Management University, said the lawsuit has a 'David versus Goliath ring to it'.

'There is a sense that the people who have contributed either identify with his cause or feel that the questions regarding the CPF Ngerng has raised is worth some support,' he told AFP.

Local media is tightly controlled, leaving independent bloggers as the strongest critics of the long-ruling People's Action Party.

Calvin Soh, an advertising industry entrepreneur, said Lee's defamation suit against Ngerng was a 'PR disaster' for the ruling party.

'It's not just the sum; crowdfunding shows you market size,' he wrote in a Facebook post.

'What if you have turned Roy into a symbol of the ordinary guy being bullied because you've pushed too hard?'

But commentators on pro-government blogs questioned why people are donating to someone accused of spreading falsehoods.

Media firms like Bloomberg, The Economist and the Financial Times have previously paid damages and apologised to Singapore leaders including Lee and his father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, for publishing articles found to be defamatory.

International human rights groups have accused Singapore leaders of using financially ruinous libel actions to silence critics and political opponents.

The Lees and other ruling party leaders say the lawsuits are necessary to protect their reputations from unfounded attacks.