Temasek & 98 Holdings
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Was discussing with some friends on the recent GE incidents. One of them put across an interesting issue. Why was there a need for Temasek Holdings to partner with 98 Holdings to buy DBS's stake in Natsteel?
1. 98 Holdings belongs to Ong Beng Seng(the hotelier who sold Scott 28 apartments to LKY and LHL at a discount). His forte is in hotels and properties. Why did Temasek need to partner with him to buy DBS's Natsteel stake? Ong Beng Seng has got no experience in steel business.
2. Ong Beng Seng is not as cash rich as many would expect. Is there a genuine need to partner with him? Hasn't Temasek got enough money to do this deal on its own? Temasek has been buying stakes in Shin Corp, BOC, Standard Chartered Bank, etc...in the tune of billions of dollars on its own. Why did it need to partner with 98 Holdings in this deal that only was worth a few hundred million?
3. Why did DBS sell their stake at a lower price to 98 Holdings when they could sell it to Chip Lian Investments at a higher price? Chip Lian is owned by Ooi Hong Leong and had put up a higher bid for it but DBS still decided to sell it to 98 Holdings when there was no written agreement at all with 98 Holdings.
4. DBS is majority owned by Temasek. What about Natsteel? Is it majority owned by govt too?
Can anyone enlighen me? -
I demand an enquiry on the apartments purchased!!!!
In England Cherie Blair, Tony Blairs wife, bought 2 luxury apartments at a discount from a developer in 2004. Tony Blair got into trouble with parliament for accepting the 'Discount' from the devloper. Developer was seeking favours from government on development approval. -
For that case, do you have evidence?Originally posted by gill_hfc:I demand an enquiry on the apartments purchased!!!!
In England Cherie Blair, Tony Blairs wife, bought 2 luxury apartments at a discount from a developer in 2004. Tony Blair got into trouble with parliament for accepting the 'Discount' from the devloper. Developer was seeking favours from government on development approval.
It's only because they are political leaders that's why such news occur -
It's BECAUSE they are political leaders that's why they should not have taken the discounts!Originally posted by sbst275:For that case, do you have evidence?
It's only because they are political leaders that's why such news occur
Their position in govenment is one of the highest, if not the highest. Taking a discount is really too sensitive to ignore.
Of course LKY and LHL did say that they gave the discount to charity after there were some press coverage on it.
But the REAL issue here is actually WHY was there a need for Temasek to team up with 98 Holdings to buy DBS's Natsteel stake when neither was it short of cash nor did it need Ong Beng Seng's expertise? Strange partnership...
What's more, DBS sold their stake to 98 Holdings when they could have got more from Chip Lian's bid...All DBS shareholders could have gained more from the deal...Strange deal... -
Originally posted by durai:
If that's the case, no one should be getting disc if ends up ppl unhappy
[b]It's BECAUSE they are political leaders that's why they should not have taken the discounts!
Their position in govenment is one of the highest, if not the highest. Taking a discount is really too sensitive to ignore.
Of course LKY and LHL did say that they gave the discount to charity after there were some press coverage on it.
But the REAL issue here is actually WHY was there a need for Temasek to team up with 98 Holdings to buy DBS's Natsteel stake when neither was it short of cash nor did it need Ong Beng Seng's expertise? Strange partnership...
What's more, DBS sold their stake to 98 Holdings when they could have got more from Chip Lian's bid...All DBS shareholders could have gained more from the deal...Strange deal...
[/b]
98 Hldg tussle, politics at work... End up Natsteel sold off to overseas co, and someone made remark on Mr Oei Hong Leong... Is it fair? -
Your point being...?Originally posted by sbst275:If that's the case, no one should be getting disc if ends up ppl unhappy
98 Hldg tussle, politics at work... End up Natsteel sold off to overseas co, and someone made remark on Mr Oei Hong Leong... Is it fair? -
There's no need for Temasek to team up with 98Holdings for Natsteel's stake but 98Holdings needs to team up Temasek because they cannot challenge Oei Hong Leong financially.
It the other way around.
DBS is majority own by Temasek. Doesn't makes sense for Temasek to buy back the shares. 98Holdings however, does not have the financial to challege Oei Hong Leong in the bid for Natsteel. Hence, Temasek backing is needed.
Natsteel is undervalue and anyone who acquire Natsteel stands to make a couple of hundred millions that comes with the companies cash reserve (provided you can afford to acquire it). Oei Hong Leong is Indonesian and he is known to acquire undervalue companies, break them up and sell them for profits.
In order to keep Natsteel intact, a local consortium is needed to bail Natsteel out instead of letting Oei Hong Leong acquire it. Somehow, 98Holdings was chosen.
It's a you scratch my back, I scratch yours arrangement. Temasek back 98Holdings but they has to fork out the money to bail Natsteel and make millions from it. -
Do you think what Temasek did was right? I don't think so.Originally posted by anonymouscoward:There's no need for Temasek to team up with 98Holdings for Natsteel's stake but 98Holdings needs to team up Temasek because they cannot challenge Oei Hong Leong financially.
It the other way around.
DBS is majority own by Temasek. Doesn't makes sense for Temasek to buy back the shares. 98Holdings however, does not have the financial to challege Oei Hong Leong in the bid for Natsteel. Hence, Temasek backing is needed.
Natsteel is undervalue and anyone who acquire Natsteel stands to make a couple of hundred millions that comes with the companies cash reserve (provided you can afford to acquire it). Oei Hong Leong is Indonesian and he is known to acquire undervalue companies, break them up and sell them for profits.
In order to keep Natsteel intact, a local consortium is needed to bail Natsteel out instead of letting Oei Hong Leong acquire it. Somehow, 98Holdings was chosen.
It's a you scratch my back, I scratch yours arrangement. Temasek back 98Holdings but they has to fork out the money to bail Natsteel and make millions from it.
1. By selling to 98 Holdings, DBS's shareholders were all deprived from making more money as Chip Lian was offering a higher bid.
2. Fund managers would also be pissed off by DBS's decision and thus it resulted in a sell-down in the shares. Rating for DBS also suffered as it did not take shareholders' interest as top priority.
3. Such an incident might also cause Singaporeans to question the intention of Temasek. After raking in the hundreds of millions, what did they do with the money? If they did not want an Indonesian to earn that money, did it finally end up in Ong Beng Seng's pocket? If so, then why should Ong benefit from this deal? If not, then where did it go? After all, Natsteel was sort of a GLC company right?
4. What if someone high up in the govt was controlling the entire situation? What if the money ended up in his/her hands? Is there any way whereby there is accountability for this? Natsteel belongs to Singapore right?
These are just some of the questions that I just thought of. Might not be right. But then again, who knows...? Might be right... -
The very day government decided to go into business, that was also the day the integrity of relationship between government and its people changed.
By going into business, government will be involved with private sector dealing and wheeling and its diverse business practices. For example when Keppel tendered for projects in Indonesia, how is it going to deal with their civil servants who expected payment of corruptions. Is there an independent panel to which GLCs would be subjected to scrutiny in such business dealings to prevent government getting involved in any wrongful acts engaged in by the private sector businesses.
If this sort of issues and the most important aspect - entrepreneurship in running of such businesses - are not settled how can government expect to keep all the business activities of all the GLCs viable. In the recent SembCorp vessel conversion job, the conversion was delayed resulting in Sembcorp paying $600 million liquidated damage to the client. Since Sembcorp was formed using the public monies will the losses eventually fall on the citizens and taxpayers. Will the business running of Sembcorp result in citizens' interests being sacrificed or compromised. All these important and critical issues are not debated in our parliament to this day. Until the broad principles governing such issues are settled and hammered out, how could citizens feel safe with government going into businesses or using citizens' monies in partnering with any ones in private businesses.
Will the government, Temasek or NTUC ever understand the needs and interests of employees and protect their interest after they get into businesses.
Moreover as demonstrated in the acquisition of Natsteel shares, will the government be able to separate the interests of the people as opposed to the interest of the business components of the government.
If government is to partner with a private business how could it ensure that there will be no compromises and trade-off of citizens's interests versus business interests. People will be interested to know whether they may be conflicts of interests in such partnership. If they do not have information and they speculated in the grapevine about possibilities of conflicts are the people wrong and to be sued for defamation of any incorrect statements made.
That is why when government goes into business it may not be possible for govenment to represent its citizens any more as there may arise situation where the government cannot act in the citizens' interests as demonstrated in the Natsteel saga.
NTUC went into business and now it cannot stop. It will go in and compete on businesses of all types including traditional businesses of the ordinary citizens.
From supermarket, NTUC has gone into insurances, food distribution, transportation, advertising, dentistry, market food stalls, and lately vehicle sale and rental and undertakers or casket.
Should the government, Temasek or NTUC now act faithfully to repreent its citizens particularly where citizens are doing the same business or can they speak up for employees' rights and interests after it has become a big employer on its own right. -
Hey is this true? Did a google search and found this article. dating back to 1998.
http://www.sfdonline.org/Link%20Pages/Link%20Folders/Corruption/singcorruption.html
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THE HPL SAGA -- Part 1: All in the LEE Family
The Hotel Properties Limited episode that sparked off a political storm in Singapore in 1996 has been buried alive by the PAP. But its ghost will continue to haunt those involved.
It all started when the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) censured a publicly listed property development company called Hotel Property Ltd (HPL) for not seeking shareholders' approval for the sale of some of its condominium developments at a discount price.
Dr Lee Suan Yew, Lee Kuan Yew's younger brother, was on the board of directors of the company. He had purchased a unit in a condominium project developed by HPL called Nassim Jade.
Shareholders of HPL had been grumbling about the way business was conducted in the company especially when it came to dealings with the Lee family. Many of the shareholders were waiting to buy units at the said project. When the launch of the property never came to pass, the shareholders saw red and demanded an explanation.
The stock exchange authorities quickly announced that HPL had breached regulations. One day later, Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Lee Hsien Loong, publicly revealed that they too had bought HPL condominiums. The story made headlines and started tongues wagging. The story was then traced back to one Ong Beng Seng, a property tycoon in Singapore, and Managing Director of HPL.
Ong had developed two condominium projects at the choiciest districts of Singapore. One was the abovementioned Nassim Jade situated where opulent and expansive embassies and mansions were located around Nassim Road. The other, Scotts 28, was at the heart of Singapore's shopping and tourist district Scotts Road. Both projects consisted of condominum apartments valued at millions of dollars per unit before the property slump.
More red faces
It was also revealed that not only had Lee Kuan Yew, his brother and his son purchased these apartments, they were offered substantial discounts to boot. The apartments were due to be put on sale on the open market on 17 April 1995. Three days before the official launch, HPL conducted a "soft launch" where a select group of potential customers were invited to have first go at the apartments. This was not exactly an unheard of practice amongst property developers. The problem was that because HPL was a publicly listed company, it had shareholders to account to. Rules under the SES Manual Listing stated that approval had to be sought for transactions involving "connected persons" of the company involved and those persons' associates. The HPL did not seek the permission of its shareholders. Suan Yew, Lee's brother, was a non-executive director of the company.
At the soft launch, Madam Kwa Geok Choo, chose an apartment to buy. She was quoted a price of $3,578,260 (or $1,583 per square foot) for the apartment. This was a seven percent discount on the list price. Buyers at soft launches are usually given only a five percent discount.
Later, Kwa Geok Choo contacted her son, Hsien Loong, and told him of the Nassim Jade apartments upon which he called Aunty Pamelia Lee, wife of Uncle Suan Yew, and said that he and his wife, Ho Ching, were interested in buying the property as well. Aunty Pamelia then later came back to her nephew and offered him an apartment for $3,645,100 a discount of 12 per cent or $437,412 on the asking price. The Deputy Prime Minister accepted the offer.
This was not all. On the Scotts 28 condiminiums, similar offers and purchases were made. Lee Kuan Yew and son bought two more units and paid $2,791,500 and $2,776,400 respectively for them, each bagging a five percent discount.
All in all, Lee Kuan Yew received from HPL a total of $416,252 whilst Lee Junior got $643,185 in discounts. All the purchases amounted to more than $10 million and were carried out without mortgages and loans.
It must be remembered that all this while, decisions of sales and the discounts were carried out at the directors' level which involved Lee Suan Yew. None of the shareholders nor the SES had the slightest idea of what was going on.
And yet, this was just the tip of the iceberg.
It was later found out that Lee Kuan Yew's entire family was in on the purchases. Daughter Lee Wei Ling, a medical doctor in a government hospital; sister Lee Kim Mon; and his two other brothers Freddy and Dennis; Kwa Kim Li, a niece of Lee; and Gloria Lee, Lee's sister in law, all bought the condos at hefty discounts. Wei Ling bought two apartments at Nassim Jade and was reported to have sold one off for a tidy profit. Again, all these transactions were carried out without the approval of the shareholders of HPL.
Shareholders' anger
News was leaking out about the Lee family's purchases of the HPL condominiums and the shareholders were getting increasingly alarmed and disgruntled. When pressure was brought to bear on the management, HPL decided to belatedly seek the approval of its shareholders a full eleven months later.
The SES had no choice but to issue a statement censuring HPL for the breach of regulations. It noted that some of the discounts given to directors and their relatives in respect of the Nassim Jade units were higher than those given to non-related buyers and that the publicly listed companies have a duty to obtain the best price so as to maximise the return to its shareholders.
Unanswered questions
In spite of this, there was no investigation nor inquiry, merely a censure for the company. Meanwhile, Lee Suan Yew quietly resigned as a director with HPL.
To date, many questions remain unanswered:
1. Who made the decisions to sell the apartments at such discounts to the Lee family?
2. Who authorised Pamelia Lee to sell the units to her relatives?
3. How many more relatives or friends, apart from those readily identifiable, bought the units through such connections?
4. Why did Ong Beng Seng, owner of HPL, offer the units, and presumably the discounts, to the Lee family?
5. Why was there no enquiry into Lee Suan Yew's involvement in affair?
14 SEPTEMBER 1998 -
Glad you did a thorough serach on google for this. As mentioned by Robertteh, the crux of the problem lies in the fact that our govt is too involved in business.Originally posted by gill_hfc:Hey is this true? Did a google search and found this article. dating back to 1998.
http://www.sfdonline.org/Link%20Pages/Link%20Folders/Corruption/singcorruption.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE HPL SAGA -- Part 1: All in the LEE Family
The Hotel Properties Limited episode that sparked off a political storm in Singapore in 1996 has been buried alive by the PAP. But its ghost will continue to haunt those involved.
It all started when the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) censured a publicly listed property development company called Hotel Property Ltd (HPL) for not seeking shareholders' approval for the sale of some of its condominium developments at a discount price.
Dr Lee Suan Yew, Lee Kuan Yew's younger brother, was on the board of directors of the company. He had purchased a unit in a condominium project developed by HPL called Nassim Jade.
Shareholders of HPL had been grumbling about the way business was conducted in the company especially when it came to dealings with the Lee family. Many of the shareholders were waiting to buy units at the said project. When the launch of the property never came to pass, the shareholders saw red and demanded an explanation.
The stock exchange authorities quickly announced that HPL had breached regulations. One day later, Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Lee Hsien Loong, publicly revealed that they too had bought HPL condominiums. The story made headlines and started tongues wagging. The story was then traced back to one Ong Beng Seng, a property tycoon in Singapore, and Managing Director of HPL.
Ong had developed two condominium projects at the choiciest districts of Singapore. One was the abovementioned Nassim Jade situated where opulent and expansive embassies and mansions were located around Nassim Road. The other, Scotts 28, was at the heart of Singapore's shopping and tourist district Scotts Road. Both projects consisted of condominum apartments valued at millions of dollars per unit before the property slump.
More red faces
It was also revealed that not only had Lee Kuan Yew, his brother and his son purchased these apartments, they were offered substantial discounts to boot. The apartments were due to be put on sale on the open market on 17 April 1995. Three days before the official launch, HPL conducted a "soft launch" where a select group of potential customers were invited to have first go at the apartments. This was not exactly an unheard of practice amongst property developers. The problem was that because HPL was a publicly listed company, it had shareholders to account to. Rules under the SES Manual Listing stated that approval had to be sought for transactions involving "connected persons" of the company involved and those persons' associates. The HPL did not seek the permission of its shareholders. Suan Yew, Lee's brother, was a non-executive director of the company.
At the soft launch, Madam Kwa Geok Choo, chose an apartment to buy. She was quoted a price of $3,578,260 (or $1,583 per square foot) for the apartment. This was a seven percent discount on the list price. Buyers at soft launches are usually given only a five percent discount.
Later, Kwa Geok Choo contacted her son, Hsien Loong, and told him of the Nassim Jade apartments upon which he called Aunty Pamelia Lee, wife of Uncle Suan Yew, and said that he and his wife, Ho Ching, were interested in buying the property as well. Aunty Pamelia then later came back to her nephew and offered him an apartment for $3,645,100 a discount of 12 per cent or $437,412 on the asking price. The Deputy Prime Minister accepted the offer.
This was not all. On the Scotts 28 condiminiums, similar offers and purchases were made. Lee Kuan Yew and son bought two more units and paid $2,791,500 and $2,776,400 respectively for them, each bagging a five percent discount.
All in all, Lee Kuan Yew received from HPL a total of $416,252 whilst Lee Junior got $643,185 in discounts. All the purchases amounted to more than $10 million and were carried out without mortgages and loans.
It must be remembered that all this while, decisions of sales and the discounts were carried out at the directors' level which involved Lee Suan Yew. None of the shareholders nor the SES had the slightest idea of what was going on.
And yet, this was just the tip of the iceberg.
It was later found out that Lee Kuan Yew's entire family was in on the purchases. Daughter Lee Wei Ling, a medical doctor in a government hospital; sister Lee Kim Mon; and his two other brothers Freddy and Dennis; Kwa Kim Li, a niece of Lee; and Gloria Lee, Lee's sister in law, all bought the condos at hefty discounts. Wei Ling bought two apartments at Nassim Jade and was reported to have sold one off for a tidy profit. Again, all these transactions were carried out without the approval of the shareholders of HPL.
Shareholders' anger
News was leaking out about the Lee family's purchases of the HPL condominiums and the shareholders were getting increasingly alarmed and disgruntled. When pressure was brought to bear on the management, HPL decided to belatedly seek the approval of its shareholders a full eleven months later.
The SES had no choice but to issue a statement censuring HPL for the breach of regulations. It noted that some of the discounts given to directors and their relatives in respect of the Nassim Jade units were higher than those given to non-related buyers and that the publicly listed companies have a duty to obtain the best price so as to maximise the return to its shareholders.
Unanswered questions
In spite of this, there was no investigation nor inquiry, merely a censure for the company. Meanwhile, Lee Suan Yew quietly resigned as a director with HPL.
To date, many questions remain unanswered:
1. Who made the decisions to sell the apartments at such discounts to the Lee family?
2. Who authorised Pamelia Lee to sell the units to her relatives?
3. How many more relatives or friends, apart from those readily identifiable, bought the units through such connections?
4. Why did Ong Beng Seng, owner of HPL, offer the units, and presumably the discounts, to the Lee family?
5. Why was there no enquiry into Lee Suan Yew's involvement in affair?
14 SEPTEMBER 1998
As they are the ones setting the rules & laws, as well as overseeing that all organisations adhere to them, it will be almost impossible for them to be fair.
Just take a soccer match as an example. If the match was Man Utd vs. Liverpool and the chief referee was Sir Alex Furguson, do you think that the match will be refereed in the most fair and unbiased way? Don't you think that if MU were to score even if it was offside, it would still be a goal? And in the case of a 50-50 tackle by Gerrad on Rooney, Furguson can easily send Gerrad off even if he did not deserve it?
This scenario is quite apt if we were to use in the case of PAP's involvement in Singapore's business. -
if the WP and SDP are smart they should raise this topic on Scotts 28 face on with the PAP.
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if the WP and SDP are smart they should raise this topic on Scotts 28 face on with the PAP.
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They should bro, they really should...Originally posted by gill_hfc:if the WP and SDP are smart they should raise this topic on Scotts 28 face on with the PAP.