Losing A Friendly Wager

I made a friendly bet with Han Khim Siew, CEO of OUE Commercial REIT. Both of us were convinced we were the elder of the two. Han had a lot on his plate when he assumed the chief executive role early last year. The REIT owns a number of prized assets in hospitality (Hilton Orchard, … Read more

En-Bloc King’s Latest Venture Takes Off

Meet “en-bloc king” Karamjit Singh. He brokered Singapore’s largest en-bloc deal – the S$1.338 billion sale of Farrer Court in 2007. CapitaLand emerged as the buyer, and it transformed the expansive site (840k sq ft) into D’Leedon. What made this accomplishment more astonishing was the fact that Karamjit was not from a globally recognised brand … Read more

Disruptor Takes On A Fresh Role

Tan Chin Hwee has a penchant for disrupting his life. In 2015, he retired as the founding partner of Apollo Global Management, where he earned recognition as the Best Asia Hedge Fund Manager. After 20 years of managing money, he went on to manage people at Trafigura as its Asia-Pacific CEO. After 8 years, Chin … Read more

Japan Trailblazer

Singapore investors have been actively snapping up Japanese properties this year, surpassing all other countries with over US$3 billion. This surge comes as Japan’s economy and property market show signs of revival. Jeremy Yong was ahead of his time, making a big bet on Japan over a decade ago when he founded Croesus Retail Trust, … Read more

Comm Chest Chair Can’t Sit Still

Congrats Chew Sutat and Community Chest team for raising $16.7m last night! I recall having coffee with Sutat on his last day as Senior Managing Director at SGX in 2021. I could have sworn he told me that he was going to take it easy. Two years on, this hardly seems the case. Other than … Read more

Turning Around… Almost

Melvin Ang, chairman of entertainment company mm2 Asia, went through some really tough times. Covid affected all of mm2’s business lines – film production, concert and cinema. It bled the most with cinema, having spent almost S$200m on Cathay in 2017, only to see the valuation slide more than half. It is in the midst … Read more

Being Schooled On Roads

Tagged along a group of promising students from Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) to visit Samwoh Group, a well-known name in civil engineering and infrastructure construction. Many roads that we ride on, including the Marina Coastal Expressway (Singapore’s costliest) and the F1 circuit, were built by Samwoh. We never knew so much science goes into paving … Read more

Seeing (Michelin) Stars

Loh Lik Peng has earned one of the most Michelin Stars in the world, amassing over 20 since 2016. Last year was a record as the restaurants he own picked up 11 Michelin Stars, including Zen (3 ), Cloudstreet (2 ), Burnt Ends and Nouri (1  each). Trained as a lawyer, Peng started his entrepreneurial journey with boutique … Read more

A Blast From The Past

David Kuo and I were judges in Singapore’s first reality TV stock competition on CNA back in 2017. Ten contestants from across the island, including two celebrities, had to construct their own stock portfolios, and the one with the best returns over eight weeks would go on to win. Any one who follows David’s media … Read more

The Man Behind “Mark to Market”

Ben Paul made quite a splash when he joined The Business Times almost 4 years back. His ‘Mark to Market’ columns remind me of Lee Han Shih, who was known for penning hard-hitting articles on stocks in the 1990s, particularly on government-linked companies. It is clear from Ben’s articles that he taps on his past … Read more