GL Limited (formerly: Guoco Leisure)

[heifien91]

Anyone know any news with regards to Guocoleisure? Don't see any significant news but price has moved up by 10% these 2 days. Currently trading at a 5Y high.

(Vested)

SG Value Investor
http://www.sgvalueinvestor.wordpress.com

[greengiraffe]

http://www.netplasm.com/article/bso.html

Exxon, BHP mark 50 years of Bass riches
MATT CHAMBERS THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 28, 2014 12:00AM
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The Kingfisher rig, part of the Esso Australia oil and gas field platforms in the Bass St
The Kingfisher rig, part of the Esso Australia oil and gas field platforms in the Bass Strait. Source: Supplied
EXXON Mobil and BHP Billiton will start their sixth decade of one of the nation’s longest-standing corporate partnerships with a fresh look at the exploration potential of the Bass Strait oil and gas fields that have so far provided an estimated $300 billion to federal government coffers.

Friday will be the 50th anniversary of the Gippsland Basin joint venture between the pair that in the mid-1960s found the nation’s biggest oilfields and what is still Australia’s biggest domestic gas-producing operation.

Exxon Mobil Australia chairman Richard Owen said there was still plenty of potential in the field. “Some of it hasn’t been discovered so we may have to go through another phase of gas exploration,” he told The Australian.

“We are currently working with BHP to review all the potential prospects. We don’t have anything in the very near term but in the next year or two we’ll go through that and decide what’s the appropriate pace and time for another phase of exploration.”

Exxon is building a $1bn carbon dioxide stripping plant at Longford in Victoria so high-CO2 gas from the recently completed $4.5bn Kipper Tuna Turrum project can be extracted and sold into east coast gas markets, where ­prices are expected to surge on the back of $70bn of LNG projects being built at Gladstone.

“When we finish the onshore plant, that will be about the right time for us to review the portfolio and an opportunity to determine what the next phase of development might be,” Mr Owen said.

Exxon is yet to announce its intentions for two previous discoveries, South East Remora and South East Longtom, at least one of which was considered for a stand-alone development.

At its peak in the early to mid 80s, the Bass Strait oilfields were producing 525,000 barrels of oil a day, worth about $200 million a year at current prices and contributing an estimated 10 per cent — or $300bn in today’s money — to federal government revenues.

“They were one of the crown jewels for Exxon,” said Mr Owen, who started working with the company in Australia in 1983.

“They had high-quality reservoirs, they were very prolific, with fantastic oil.”

While the glory days as one of the world’s biggest oil-producing regions are behind it, the joint venture’s investment in KTT and the CO2 removal plant indicate the joint venture plays an important role in the portfolios of the two international giants.

In 2012-13, BHP’s 50 per cent stake in Bass Strait accounted for $US1.45bn of earnings before interest and tax from revenue of $US1.92bn. Earnings and revenue are expected to increase as gas prices rise.

While Exxon is keen to commemorate the milestone, which marks its 50th anniversary into Australia, the excitement coming out of non-operating Australian mining giant BHP has not been as evident.

Mr Owen said their were some opportunities coming up where the pair had a chance to jointly commemorate 50 years together.

[greengiraffe]

Guoco Leisure running on the news...

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/busi...23890.html

Hotel group Accor on Tuesday announced the purchase of 97 hotels in Europe through its HotelInvest business for a total of 900 million euros ($1 billion).

[heifien91]

Guoco Leisure running on the news...

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/busi...23890.html

Hotel group Accor on Tuesday announced the purchase of 97 hotels in Europe through its HotelInvest business for a total of 900 million euros ($1 billion).

Don't really see the link though?

(vested)

[greengiraffe]

LIM & Tan:

In response to SGX’s query about the substantial increase in
share price and trading volume, Guocoleisure’s ($1.13, up 6 cents)
management said that they are not aware of any reason that may
have caused the rise in their share price as well as trading interests.
As a result, we expect SGX to advise investors to trade the stock with
caution.
We believe the recent rise in trading interest in Guocoleisure could be
due to the company’s strong 3Q and 9 Months to Mar’14 performance
which revealed that it is benefi tting from the acceleration of pricing
power of their hotels in the UK as well as management’s upbeat
assessment of their prospects ahead.
The recent M&A interests in the hotel sector from UOL’s privatization
of Pan Pac Hotel and 68 Holdings bid for HPL in Singapore as well as
Starwood’s 6bln pound bid for Intercontinental Hotels in the US is also
benefi tting sentiments.
We had initiated coverage with a BUY on Guocoleisure in Mar’14
when the stock was trading at 83 cents and are happy to note that the
stock has done well since then.
While we continue to like the stock given our RNAV estimate of $1.70
a share, given its big 36% gain over the past 3 months (against STI’s
gain of only 5%), historical NTA of $1.15 and short-term over-bought
position (with technical indicators such as RSI at the top end of its
range), we believe the stock may consolidate its gains in the nearterm
before trending higher over the mid-longer term period as it
continues to close its valuation gap with its RNAV estimate of $1.70 a
share as management delivers on their global hotel operator strategy
and divest non-core assets such as Molokai Island.

[greengiraffe]

highly likely recent strength due to the macro news

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Article/1377...sets-soars

Investor appetite for European assets soars
May 27 2014
With Accor buying 97 of its managed hotels, continental portfolios being snapped up and rumors of IHG rejecting a $10-billion takeover bid, European investment is reaching new heights.

(Photo illustration: Dana Shelton)
Highlights
News reports indicate IHG rejects rumored £6-billion ($10.1-billion) takeover attempt.
Demand for European assets is likely to be strong into 2016, but a lack of product will hinder deals.
U.S.-based companies are increasingly attracted to switching to the U.K. tax base.

By Terence Baker
Reporter, Europe
tbaker@hotelnewsnow.com

EUROPE—Hotel investors are apparently growing increasingly hungry for European hotel and hotel companies.

During the last few weeks Europe has experienced plenty of activity, including:
Accor SA, following its decision last November to split its business into two units—one focusing on franchising and management and the other on ownership and investment in hotel assets—announced on 27 May that its HotelInvest wing purchased two real-estate portfolios (12,838 keys) representing 86 and 11 hotels, respectively, for approximately €900 million ($1.2 billion). The properties are in Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Accor did not reply to messages by press time.
Sky News reported on 24 May that U.K.-based InterContinental Hotels Group rejected a £6-billion ($10.1-billion) takeover bid from an unidentified buyer, rumored to be Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide or Starwood Capital Group, a private-equity firm unrelated to Starwood Hotels. According to the London Stock Exchange, IHG’s market cap rate is valued at £5.8 billion ($9.7 billion).
In a separate deal, Starwood Hotels is in discussions to purchase Germany-based Design Hotels, according to Hotel Analyst (subscription required). The board of directors of the independent-hotel representation brand, with approximately 250 properties in more than 40 countries, is reportedly mulling the deal.
On 1 May, JLL brokered an 18-asset, pan-European hotel portfolio on behalf of Ivanhoé Cambridge to Apollo Management International, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management. Propertyweek.com reported the deal is worth approximately €425 million ($579 million). The acquisition comprises 3,878 keys in 14 cities in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain.
On 16 April, Swedish real estate company Fastighets AB Balder bought a portfolio of 14 hotels (2,430 keys) from Swedish company Pandox for 2.2 billion Swedish krona ($335 million).

On the heels of the rumored takeover bid, shares in IHG listed on the London Stock Exchange jumped 5.7% to £23.53 ($39.62) per share at press time (27 May). On the New York Stock Exchange, IHG shares had jumped approximately 4.2% at 11 a.m. EST.

On 2 May, IHG reported global revenue per available room growth of 6% for its first quarter 2014, driven by a 2.4-percentage-point increase in occupancy and a 1.9% rise in average daily rate.

A spokesman for IHG declined to comment on the reported bid. Starwood Hotels did not return messages by press time.

Shares in Starwood Hotels & Resorts were up approximately 1% at 11 a.m. EST on 27 May.

Hunger for deals
Sources said there is a great deal of appetite for large European portfolio deals, but the biggest problem is a lack of product to acquire.

“We’ve seen increasing appetite from investors … due to (their) ability to invest in real estate and operating platforms. U.S. (investors are interested) from the operational side, where they see opportunity,” said Christoph Härle, JLL’s CEO, Europe, Middle East and Africa, hotels and hospitality. “It is not a demand challenge (in Europe). The operational numbers are making the right turns, the U.S. is getting pricier, the debt environment is loosening (and there is more) non-traditional lending. Europe is a great opportunity.”

Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global, a sister company to HNN, agreed available supply remains a problem, especially for portfolio transactions.

Härle said the window for European transactions to occur is a little less than a year, perhaps nine months.

“Private equity is active in both sides of the table,” Härle said.

Härle suggested that during the next one to two years there will be less portfolio activity across Europe, mainly the result of less availability, although there will be an increased number of single-asset transactions and thus a larger overall number of transactions.

“2014 and 2015 will clearly be very strong years, as might 2016. It is going to be very interesting to watch,” he said.

The potential Starwood Hotels/IHG tie-up was previously muted in 2001 when current Starwood Capital chairman Barry Sternlicht was leading the Starwood Hotels portfolio, according to sources.

“There would be economies and marketing benefits from a consolidation if, indeed, Starwood is the suitor. As hotel trading is improving in the U.S. and U.K. markets, with Europe likely to follow suit in the coming years, there’d be benefits to coming together in a rising market,” said Jonathan Langston, senior director of business advisory company CBRE Hotels.

Starwood Hotels manages approximately 1,200 properties in more than 100 countries across nine brands, including St. Regis, W Hotels, Westin, Le Meridien and Sheraton.

IHG manages approximately 4,600 properties in almost 100 countries across 11 brands, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hualuxe and Holiday Inn.

London sunshine
IHG expects a follow-up bid would soon come, according to Sky News. The bids are likely fueled by U.S. companies’ appetites to move tax bases to the United Kingdom. That business tactic that has been widely discussed and criticized in the U.K. in recent weeks in regards to the attempted takeover of drug giant AstraZeneca by U.S. peer Pfizer. That failed £70-billion ($118-billion) deal was so controversial Pfizer’s CEO was brought on two occasions to speak before the U.K. parliament.

“At the moment, it is very attractive for any U.S.-based company to have a U.K. tax domicile. A merger with a U.K.-based company would create the opportunity for tax inversion,” Winkle said.

Winkle said the IHG rumor is a result of the industry environment.

“IHG is a well-performing and highly regarded international brand, and as there has been a great deal of speculation lately regarding possible industry consolidation through mergers and acquisition, therefore a rumor such as this does not come as a surprise,” Winkle added.

Many likely-to-be-transacted assets are out of receivership, said sources, and many of these and additional assets have been held by banks for far longer than were originally anticipated. That does not necessarily mean, however, that they are all available.

“Spain is a great example, with everyone highly excited and ready to deploy large capital but no one playing on the other side,” Härle said.

[greengiraffe]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/...k-20140531

PUBLISHED MAY 31, 2014
GuocoLeisure shares up on more delisting talk
BYLYNETTE KHOO
lynkhoo@sph.com.sg @LynetteKhooBT

SHARES in GuocoLeisure were again bolstered by speculation that the hospitality operator controlled by Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan could be privatised.
The stock jumped by as much as 7.7 per cent in intra-day trading yesterday to $1.195, before ending at a multi-year closing high of $1.155, up 4 per cent from Thursday.
A share price surge earlier this week prompted a query from Singapore Exchange. GuocoLeisure responded on Thursday that "it was not aware of any reasons that could possibly explain the trading in its securities".

[greengiraffe]

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/GL%20Res...eID=299699

Have a good laugh... lol

[CityFarmer]

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/GL%20Res...eID=299699

Have a good laugh... lol

I am curious on "joke" in SGX announcement, so went in to take a look.

Delist will push share up? Yes, worth a laugh...

(not vested, and know nothing on the company)

[heifien91]

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/GL%20Res...eID=299699

Have a good laugh... lol

I am curious on "joke" in SGX announcement, so went in to take a look.

Delist will push share up? Yes, worth a laugh...

(not vested, and know nothing on the company)

However, sometimes us value investors require such people to help us realise the fair value of our investments. Likewise, in times of panic selling, it allows us to buy fundamentally strong companies at cheap prices.

SG Value Investor
http://www.sgvalueinvestor.wordpress.com