This section is for sharing recipes >> RECIPES
Bamboo Network | HelloTaiTai.com
--
Hello! 太太 TaiTai - Bamboo Network
Monday, December 31, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
A$ian IPO's
Invitations to the Prada IPO event in Hong Kong were a hot commodity and while the bookrunners had accommodated the seemingly huge interest in the listing by holding the PowerPoint part of the evening at the Grand Hyatt ballroom to fit in 450 investors, only about 300 of them were also invited to attend the fashion show -- giving it an instant air of exclusivity >> MORE
Friday, December 7, 2012
White Spot Asia
Fast Food Entrepreneur
With six Triple O's in her portfolio, a chain of YoMaMa frozen-yogurt shops – which she set up with her brother – spreading across town, and yet more foodie ideas in the pipeline, the effervescent Candice Suen now heads a fast(-ish) food empire that's eyeing expansion not only here, but also around the region. >> MORE
Bamboo Network | HelloTaiTai.com
--
Hello! 太太 TaiTai - Bamboo Network
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Eat Your Veggies
Saturday, December 1, 2012
GSIC
PUBLISHED MAY 23, 2013
Temasek in 2 deals worth US$700m
It buys Markit stake for a reported US$500m, ups ICBC stake for US$198m
BY
In the mood for equity: Temasek's latest ICBC shares were bought on the same day that Goldman Sachs cashed in on its seven-year investment in ICBC, selling 1.58 billion shares for US$1.1 billion. - PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
IT has been a busy week for Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings. So far, it has spent about US$700 million on two purchases - one in London and the other in Hong Kong.
Yesterday, Temasek confirmed that it had made a "significant equity investment" in Markit, a London-based global financial data provider. The much-speculated deal, a 10 per cent stake worth US$500 million according to the
Financial Times, drove Markit's market value to beyond US$5 billion, making it a strong candidate to enter the FTSE-100 if it opted to list on the London Stock Exchange. As at yesterday, Markit told BT, it has not made any decision to pursue a public listing.
Markit was founded by Canadian and former bond trader Lance Uggla - reportedly in a barn at the bottom of his garden in 2003 - as Mark-it Partners to provide daily pricing for credit default swaps (CDS). These tradeable financial instruments allow investors to bet on the likelihood of debt default or hedge against such risks. They have become especially sought after since the start of the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2007. The gross amount of CDS outstanding is estimated to be US$27 trillion, many of which are based and daily valued on prices supplied by Markit.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/companies/others/temasek-2-deals-worth-us700m-20130523
Friday, November 30, 2012
Hong Kong - IPO Central
Invitations to the Prada IPO event in Hong Kong were a hot commodity and while the bookrunners had accommodated the seemingly huge interest in the listing by holding the PowerPoint part of the evening at the Grand Hyatt ballroom to fit in 450 investors, only about 300 of them were also invited to attend the fashion show -- giving it an instant air of exclusivity >> MORE
Bamboo Network | HelloTaiTai.com
--
Hello! 太太 TaiTai - Bamboo Network
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Hotels
PUBLISHED MAY 23, 2013
Ireland's Ashford Castle hotel sold to Red Carnation
Top hotel put up for sale by receivers in Oct for 25m euros
[LONDON] Ashford Castle, Ireland's most expensive hotel per night, was bought by Red Carnation Hotels UK Ltd for an undisclosed price as trophy properties are sold in the wake of the country's real estate crash.
The landmark 83-room property, where scenes of The Quiet Man starring John Wayne were filmed, was sold on behalf of receiver Ernst & Young Ltd through broker Savills Plc, E&Y said in a statement late Tuesday.
"Ashford Castle is the jewel in the crown of Irish hospitality," Tom Barrett, head of Savills's hotel and leisure unit in Ireland said in the statement. "It is a strong vote of confidence in the future of the industry from a leading international hotel and travel group."
The average room rate was about 315 euros (S$515) a night last July, Savills's Barrett said in October, when the hotel was put up for sale, citing data compiled by STR Global. The asking price at that time was 25 million euros. Irish developer Gerry Barrett paid 50 million euros for the hotel in 2007, according to the Irish Times. Income-producing properties in Ireland have lost about two-thirds of their value on average since 2007, according to Investment Property Databank Ltd.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/specials/property/irelands-ashford-castle-hotel-sold-red-carnation-20130523
Published November 17, 2011
 | ||
Int'l hotel chains in China expanding faster than demand
Occupancy rate in first nine months of the year is 61%, 2nd lowest in Asia
(SHANGHAI) The expansion of hotel chains such as Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels Corp in China may be undermined by low demand as four in 10 rooms sit empty.
The world's biggest chains have been rushing into China, which was the third most-visited travel destination globally last year, based on United Nations World Tourism Organization data. Chinese travellers took about 2.1 billion trips within the country last year, with domestic arrivals projected to rise at an annual average rate of 9 per cent for the next five years to reach 3.3 billion by 2015, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (JLLH). The number of internationally branded hotel rooms is expected to surge 52 per cent by 2013 after rising 62 per cent in the past five years, said JLLH, which tracks data in 30 Chinese cities. 'Hotels in some markets of China are clearly oversupplied in the next three to five years, and they won't be generating good returns,' highlighted Nigel Summers, director at Horwath Asia Pacific. 'China has had very strong demand. The question is whether the increase in demand is going to be big enough to handle all the new hotels.' Hilton said that it would have 100 hotels in China by 2014, four times the number of properties it manages in the country now. The US-based company currently has two flagship hotels in Shanghai. For InterContinental Hotels Group, owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, one in four of the hotel rooms that it opens globally over the next five years will be in China, it said. 'There could be short-term bubbles in the real estate market, but long term, we feel very positive about it,' Richard Solomons, chief executive officer of England-based InterContinental, said. 'Even with the big increase in supply, we're seeing double- digit growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR).' InterContinental will also be the first global operator to develop a brand just for China, targeting the rising number of Chinese travellers. In the next decade, China will account for 25 per cent of hotels managed by Ritz-Carlton, the brand owned by US-based Marriott International, up from 10 per cent now. The Ritz-Carlton in the resort city of Sanya, opened three years ago, is its most profitable worldwide, said Victor Clavell, vice president for Ritz-Carlton (Asia-Pacific). For Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc - owner of the St Regis, Sheraton, Westin and W brands - China may eventually overtake the US as the biggest hotel market, CEO Frits Van Paasschen said in July. Meanwhile, lower-end hotel operators are filling more rooms as they are more affordable for domestic travellers. Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc, the nation's biggest budget hotel operator with 1,004 properties, had an occupancy rate of 94 per cent in Q3, while 7 Days Group Holdings, the second largest, filled 85.5 per cent of rooms at its 838 locations. Rates at the Home Inns property in Shanghai's downtown Jingan district were 220 yuan (S$45) a night, compared with 1,590 yuan at the Hilton, a seven-minute car ride away. International hotel operators usually expand to extend their presence by securing management contracts from property owners to reduce financial risks. Some city governments in China require hotels as part of mixed-use property projects that also may include offices and apartments, contributing to the increase in supply. The city that's most 'in trouble' is the port city of Tianjin, according to consultancy firm Horwath. The city of 9.8 million people already has a St Regis, a Crowne Plaza and a Hyatt Regency, with construction to more than double the number of hotel rooms in the next three years in a city with an average occupancy rate of 45 per cent, according to STR Global data. 'Every small government across China wants a five-star hotel in their city to support businesses and put them on the map,' Mr Summers said. 'Hotels also tend to be trophy assets more so than residential buildings,' said Jonas Ogren, who handles Asian business development for STR Global. 'So, developers may be inclined to want to develop a hotel even though it may not by itself be a great investment.' Global chains may find it difficult to maintain their standards with the rapid expansion, said CEO of the hotel division at Sun Hung Kai Properties, Ricco DeBlank. 'They carry the risk of diluting their brands,' said Mr DeBlank. 'It's a worry just to see all these brands going to China and other places in Asia at such a rapid race because they can't go anywhere else, and Wall Street is expecting certain growth.' - Bloomberg | ||
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Gold
- China on track to overtake India in Gold Consumption
- Li Ka-Shing & CIBC Bet On Gold
- http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-gold-3500-2013-8
ARTICLE FROM THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST - May 2013
Chinese mothers force gold price rebound
Gold prices are rising again as Asian mothers take advantage of the recent weakness in the price to buy jewellery. Photo: David Wong
Chinese mothers have beaten Wall Street hedge fund managers in forcing a turnaround in the price of gold after it dropped last month.
Taking advantage of the steepest drop in three decades, they have shored up prices by splashing out on gold for their daughters' weddings in the past couple of weeks, foiling the plan of finance gurus who have been short selling the precious metal in the hope of pushing it lower.
"The drop in gold price last month was caused by Wall Street fund managers who wanted to short gold and push it below the US$1,300 per ounce level before piling back in," said Haywood Cheung Tak-hay, the president of the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society.
"These short sellers' dream has been shattered by buyers of physical gold worldwide, such as Chinese mothers, who seized the opportunity to buy cheap gold.
"This support has stemmed the price drop and brought gold prices back to the current level of about US$1,450 per ounce, far above the short sellers' target.
"I think short sellers will have their fingers burned on this one and be forced to buy back gold to cut losses."
Physical gold buyers worldwide, such as pensioners, retail investors and jewellery makers, apart from Asian mothers, all rushed to buy gold after the metal dropped 9.1 per cent on April 15, its biggest drop since 1983, to reach US$1,321. The frenzied buying, in which an estimated 300 tonnes of gold changed hands, helped prices to bounce back to about US$1,500.
Gold is still 25 per cent below the peak of US$1,920 it saw in September 2011. Cheung said that made the current level attractive to buyers, the reason why he believes the buying spree will continue to support the gold price.
"Once short sellers realise they can't beat physical gold buyers, they will wind up their positions. That would maintain the gold price at a more stable level before it reaches up to US$1,800 in the fourth quarter," he said.
Zhu Tingting, who works for a foreign company in Shanghai and is in her early 30s, is among those helping the gold rally. "We love gold and the prices look good," she said.
Gu Jiahui, a shopper in Shanghai who recently bought a 20gm investment-grade bullion bar, said: "We don't care about the wild swings in global gold prices. If the banks keep short selling gold, we will keep buying more. I have more faith in gold than the yuan."
During the three-day May Day holiday, when mainland tourists rushed to shop in Hong Kong, Cheung said the city sold 60 tonnes of physical gold, 50 per cent more than last year. Many jewellery shops in the city ran out of stock.
Cheung said: "Many gold shops have had to place fresh orders with the gold exchange. The exchange is handling five times more trading and delivery requests than usual. We have ordered more physical gold to meet the demand. Shops in Hong Kong can resume normal supply in about two weeks."
The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Chan Ka-keung, said many shops running out of stock was a situation not seen in decades.
--
This article first appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition on May 03, 2013 as Chinese mums force gold price reboundTaiTai's 太太 Bamboo Network : Hello TaiTai.com
Economic Uncertainty
An inspiring letter by Singapore Prime Minister's Daughter on the state of the world and the global economic uncertaity... >> MORE
太太 Bamboo Network | HelloTaiTai.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)