Li Heng Signs Contracts For Construction Of Polyamide Chip Plant

Li Heng Chemical Fibre Technologies announced that it has entered into contracts with leading German engineering and construction company Lurgi Zimmer GmbH and Chinese firm Beijing Sanlian Hope Textile & Chemical Technology to commence the construction of its polyamide chip plant as part of the Liheng (PRC) Phase III Development set out in its Prospectus dated 29 February 2008. The plant, costing approximately Rmb550m, has a designed daily production capacity of 200 metric tons of high quality textile grade polyamide chips and it is expected to commence commercial production in the 3Q09.

Furama Proposes Acquisition In Silom, Thailand

Furama’s 49% owned joint venture company, Furama-Unico Silom Holdings has entered into a sales and purchase agreement to acquire Unico Grande Silom Hotel, which consists of 205 rooms and located at a very prime area in Bangkok, from Prasert Chansrichawla and his related companies. Furama, which will invest approximately $16m in the acquisition, believe that this is an opportune time to continue expanding its hotel operations in Thailand. Despite the recent political events, the management believes that Thailand remains a strong tourism market as it is able to maintain its resilience due to the many attractive propositions it offers both tourists and business travellers.

Keppel Integrated Engineering Forms Second JV with Tianjin Partners

Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation, announced that it has signed an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) company, Tianjin Eco-City Energy Investment and Construction (TECEIC) with Tianjin Eco-City Investment & Development (TECID) and Tianjin Jinneng Investment. This will be the second joint venture that KIE is partnering TECID to explore opportunities for infrastructure projects in the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC). TECEIC will focus on the investment and implementation of energy and utilities-related infrastructure, as well as the operations and maintenance of these facilities in SSTEC.

Mercator Lines’ Revenue Surges 155% To US$51.7m

Mercator Lines (Singapore), a leading Indian-owned international dry bulk shipping company focused on high growth markets, reported a 155% increase in revenue to US$51.7m and a 16-fold jump in net profit to US$23.2m in the three months ended June 30, 2008 (1Q09). Additional capacity, as well as the Group’s ability to secure new contracts at firm freight rates, has resulted in the increment. The Time Charter Equivalent rate for 1Q09 was US$49,894 - a 96% increase yoy. Total number of Operating days also increased by 68% to 999 days in 1Q09 yoy. As at June 30, 2008, the Group maintained a strong balance sheet and working capital position with approximately US$109.9m cash and cash equivalents and a debt equity ratio of 0.99, down from 1.2 times reported at March 31, 2008.

Cambridge Industrial Trust Outperforms Annualised DPU forecast by 13%

Cambridge Industrial Trust Management, the manager of Cambridge Industrial Trust (CIT), has announced distribution of 1.561 cents per unit for 2Q08. CIT’s DPU, Net Property Income and Distributable Income all exceeded forecast with annualised DPU of 6.278 cents representing a 13.3% increase over the forecast DPU for the same period. Occupancy rate remains at 100% and is expected to remain at this level for the rest of 2008. In addition, CIT hope to acquire its first overseas asset in 2H08, subject to ability to raise equity on accretive terms. Ang Poh Seong, CEO of the manager said that CIT’s major initiative in 2008 is to make the REIT Shariah Compliant. This uniquely positions CIT to access deep and growing pools of capital in the Middle East and South East Asia.