Straits Trading Company

Third Avenue's stake of 7,366,668 shares was picked up by Franklin

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/_Straits...eID=321806

http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-655-p...l#pid99558

they bought suntec reit at $1.72.

now suntec reit $1.87.

This type of track record how to trust them to build newer track record... too big a conglomerate... lack focus...

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/3Q2014Re...eID=324907

Third Avenue's reasons for exit as reported in their letter to shareholder:

The Fund acquired its shares of Straits in January 2013. Fellow shareholders may recall that the Fund had swapped its shares of WBL Corp, a Fund holding since May 2005 and the Fund’s largest holding since 2009, for shares of Straits Trading. For several years we had worked diligently to encourage a change in strategy within WBL’s board, attempting to produce a more proactive approach to value creation and realization. We shared a number of simple yet excellent ideas with regard to value creation. In the end, the resistance within WBL’s board proved a considerable obstacle, notwithstanding a number of changes we and other shareholders were able to make to the composition of the board over that time. Gradually, we concluded that the untangling of this knot required a single shareholder with control or virtual control of WBL to direct the process of harvesting the considerable value held hostage within the company. For this reason, we contributed our shares of WBL to Straits, already one of the largest shareholders of WBL, which in turn made Straits rather than WBL the largest position in the Fund. Shortly thereafter, recognizing that the balance of power had changed, companies historically affiliated with WBL rallied together to produce an attractive takeover offer for WBL. Straits accepted this offer and the Fund benefited via our ownership of Straits and later as recipients of some of the proceeds, which Straits paid out in the form of a special dividend.

The transaction, among several others executed by Straits during the last couple of years, positioned the company very nicely to execute on a plan to transform itself from an investment company rich with property and a variety of other investments, into a real estate-focused business profiting from the entire eco-system of real estate, from property development to real estate asset management. Straits is progressing down this path with an attractive business plan, considerable financial wherewithal and a very sensible management team. Our decision to exit the position derives first from the liquidity of the position and secondarily from its valuation. Our position was initially sized for a larger asset base and grew unwieldy as the size of the Fund declined. Given the very high level of controlling-family ownership and related low level of public float, Straits stock trades quite sparsely in public markets. It had always been our intention to exit the position through a “block transaction” rather than by selling into the open market. When presented with multiple opportunities to do just that we availed ourselves of the liquidity and greatly enhanced the flexibility of the Fund. Further, we would certainly not characterize Straits as an expensive or even “fully valued” company. It is reasonably attractive from a valuation perspective but the world in which the Fund operates has changed and materially more attractive valuations are currently available to the Fund and therefore the Fund’s flexibility to take advantage of various other investment opportunities has become increasingly important. PGS, described in the following section, is one such example. The combination of these considerations drove the decision to conclude a nine year investment at this time. From our initial investment in WBL in May 2005 through to our exit of Straits Trading, we realized an IRR of 6.2%.

Pretty average returns considering all the trouble they went through.

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Aug 3 2015 at 12:15 AM Updated Aug 3 2015 at 12:15 AM

Singaporean Straits Real Estate swoops on William Street tower

Singapore's Straits Real Estate is acquiring 114 William Street in Melbourne Paul Jeffers
by Nick Lenaghan

Singapore investor Straits Real Estate has forged into the Australian market, securing a 26-level office tower on William Street in Melbourne, held by the Kyko Group, for $125 million.

Straits Real Estate, a subsidiary of the Singapore-listed investment company Straits Trading Company, acquired the property through a mandate to CorVal Partners, the specialist property fund manager established by former Multiplex chief executive, Andrew Roberts.

"We are pleased to announce our entry into the Australian real estate market through the acquisition of 114 William Street," Straits Real Estate chief executive Desmond Tang said.

"We see a very significant opportunity to enhance the yield of the property through upgrading and repositioning the building."

"This transaction will complement SRE's existing commitments in China, Japan and South East Asia and is in line with our strategy of tapping into higher returning real estate investment opportunities."

Standing on a leafy stretch of William Street heading into the legal precinct, the property was handled by Colliers International's Leigh Melbourne and Nick Rathgeber and CBRE's Rick Butler, Mark Coster and Luke Etherington.

Fully leased the asset's net passing income is a little more $9 million, giving plenty of scope for reworking the 21,000 square metre building by its manager, CorVal and its new owner, Straits Real Estate.

The Singaporean mandate broadens the horizon for the Andrew Roberts platform, which has been active in the market elsewhere on behalf of a club of local super funds, comprising the Future Fund, Funds SA, and Victorian Funds Management.

Straits Real Estate was incorporated in November 2013 with a capital commitment of up to S$950 million. Its Melbourne acquisition is expected to be completed by mid-August, subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-223-p...#pid122803

The track record of this grand old lady can never be overlooked...

Once again their wrong term move has proven to be very painful... Write-offs on the way before major moves seen by the high profile foray here into an asset light platform...

Odd Lots Vested
GG

Billionaires are made when someone buys from them...

Just like if there is no 'DubaiWorld', there wont be any offshore tycoons in SG.

(22-11-2015, 10:29 PM)opmi Wrote: Billionaires are made when someone buys from them...

Just like if there is no 'DubaiWorld', there wont be any offshore tycoons in SG.

Your comments also come with experience. Salute...


Most of the time, it looks like a con game. Very seldom we have win-win stories.

GG