Posts by Mark Darwin
S&P Global shifts Genting companies’ outlook to negative on weaker credit quality forecasts
Group capital expenditure could double in 2026, with earnings ‘unlikely’ to keep pace [SINGAPORE] S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook for the Genting group of companies to “negative”, citing expectations of weakening credit quality amid high capital expenditure. The credit rating agency on Wednesday (Dec 17) revised outlooks for Bursa Malaysia-listed Genting, Genting Malaysia, Genting…
Read MoreStocks to watch: Keppel, Keppel DC Reit, CICT, SingLand, UOL, Jardine C&C, F&N, Suntec Reit
[SINGAPORE] The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Wednesday (Dec 17): Keppel , Keppel DC Reit : Asset manager Keppel announced on Tuesday that its connectivity division has agreed to sell its stakes in two data centres for a total cash consideration of S$50.5 million to Keppel DC…
Read MoreF&N dairy subsidiary to acquire additional 4.6% stake in Vinamilk from Jardine C&C
The deal involves about 96.1 million sale shares, with a total consideration of around six trillion Vietnamese dong [SINGAPORE] F&N Dairy Investments (FNDI), a wholly owned subsidiary of food and beverage conglomerate Fraser & Neave (F&N), is set to acquire an additional stake of up to 4.6 per cent in Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock…
Read MoreSamudera Shipping unit, Imoto Corporation enter JV to set up shipping company in Japan
Blue Ocean Shipping will be headquartered in Kobe and is expected to begin operations in the first half of 2026 [SINGAPORE] A subsidiary of container shipping group Samudera Shipping – Samudera Japan – and Imoto Corporation have signed a joint venture (JV) agreement to establish a new company specialising in shipping activities in Japan. The…
Read MoreAmazon European hub in Luxembourg braces for record job cuts
[PARIS] Amazon.com’s decision earlier this year to axe 14,000 employees around the globe is reverberating at the company’s European headquarters in Luxembourg. In the coming weeks, Amazon is expected to fire 370 people, or about 8.5 per cent of the 4,370 employees there. The terminations are the tiny nation’s largest in at least two decades…
Read MoreTotalEnergies wins 21-year deal to power Google data centres in Malaysia
The power supply contract is expected to take effect in the first quarter of next year [KUALA LUMPUR] France’s TotalEnergies said on Tuesday (Dec 16) it had signed a 21-year power supply deal with Alphabet’s Google, pledging to supply one terawatt hour of renewable energy to support its data centres in Malaysia. The French energy…
Read MoreStock investing in 2026 demands diversification, active approach amid AI boom, geopolitical risks
Markets across Asia are likely to benefit from recent Fed rate cuts as well as a weaker US dollar [SINGAPORE] Diversification and active management are likely to become more important for investors as artificial intelligence (AI) and geopolitics continue to shape the trajectory of global markets in 2026, analysts said. Whether the AI boom is…
Read MoreBjak founder weighs IPO as Malaysia insurtech expands abroad
[KUALA LUMPUR] Bjak, Malaysia’s largest online insurance aggregator, is mulling an initial public offering (IPO) within the next two years as it seeks to enter Europe. Bjak is eyeing new markets in Spain and Germany in 2026, following its recent expansion in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, Low Wei, the firm’s founder, said. The firm’s gross…
Read MoreUS: Wall Street opens higher as investors gear up for data-packed week
WALL Street’s main indexes opened higher on Monday (Dec 15), rebounding from a tech-driven rout last week, while investors braced for a barrage of economic data that could set the course for interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 136.3 points, or 0.28 per cent, at the open to 48,594.36. The S&P 500 rose…
Read MorePrivate equity and venture capital face tougher fundraising in 2025, with uneven exit recovery: Preqin report
[SINGAPORE] Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) fundraising has remained tough in 2025, a report by data platform Preqin shows. About US$64.4 billion was raised for VC investments globally during the first three quarters of 2025. This sum is just under half – 48 per cent – of the total raised for 2024. Europe…
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