Stocks to watch: ST Engineering, Keppel, Keppel DC Reit, CDL, ICP

[SINGAPORE] The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Monday (Apr 21).

ST Engineering: Ravinder Singh, group chief operating officer (technology and innovation) and president for defence and public security, will retire on May 31. Mervyn Tan, managing director for investment at venture capital firm Vertex, will join the group to assume the roles, effective Jun 1. Singh, 61, will take on an advisory role from Jun 1, ST Engineering said in a statement on Thursday. Shares of ST Engineering closed at S$7.13 on Thursday, up S$0.10 or 1.4 per cent.

Keppel: The asset manager and operator announced on Monday that it secured nearly S$2 billion in new capital commitments from institutional investors across three flagship funds, representing around S$4.9 billion in funds under management. This includes US$580 million of initial capital commitments raised at the first close of its third data centre fund, Keppel Data Centre Fund III, to invest in Asia-Pacific data centres. The counter ended Thursday 1.1 per cent or S$0.07 higher at S$6.19.

Keppel DC Reit: The real estate investment trust’s (Reit) lead independent director and chair of its nomination and remuneration committee Kenny Kwan failed to get re-elected at the annual general meeting (AGM) on Apr 15. About 49.9 per cent of the votes cast endorsed his reappointment as a director, while 50.1 per cent of the votes were against, the Reit’s manager said in a bourse filing after the AGM. Kwan will thus need to step down from his position. Separately, Low Huan Ping was appointed as a director at the AGM. The AGM was held before the release of Keppel DC Reit’s first-quarter results on Thursday. The counter closed at S$2.03 on Thursday, down S$0.02 or 1 per cent.

City Developments Ltd (CDL): The developer responded to a wide range of questions from shareholders spanning its share price decline to queries from the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, in a bourse filing on Thursday night, ahead of its AGM on Apr 23. CDL cited “broader macroeconomic concerns” dampening both equity sentiment and “capital flows towards the real estate sector”. CDL’s removal from the MSCI Singapore Index on May 31, 2024, also affected its share price, the company said. Together, these factors hobbled its “ability to execute its strategy within its targeted timelines”. The developer also said that it does not see a need for any interim or temporary measures, with business operations “fully functional and unaffected”. It added that CEO Sherman Kwek’s strategy has been “extremely relevant” since its 2018 implementation, and that time is needed for the full benefits to be visible. The counter closed at S$4.69 on Thursday, up S$0.10 or 2.2 per cent.

ICP: A major shareholder of the hospitality player, Aw Cheok Huat, has launched a voluntary offer to take the company private at S$0.009 per share in cash, the company disclosed in a Saturday bourse filing. The S$0.009 offer price represents a premium of 16.9 per cent over the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of S$0.0077 for the one-month period up to Apr 1, and a 20 per cent premium over the VWAP for the three months up to that date. Aw, who owns 57.16 per cent of ICP, cited low trading liquidity as a reason for the offer. The company will convene an extraordinary general meeting to seek shareholders’ approval; the delisting will have to be approved by at least 75 per cent of voting shares, excluding Aw and parties acting in concert. The counter last traded at S$0.007, before a trading halt was called on Apr 15. The company requested to lift the trading halt on Monday morning.