DBS (Development Bank of Singapore)

[weijian]

Sale of 100% interest in DBS China Square Limited

DBS Group Holdings Ltd (“DBSH”) wishes to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, DBS Bank Ltd., has agreed to sell its entire equity interest in DBS China Square Limited (“DCS”) (the “Sale”) to an indirect subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation (the “Purchaser”) for approximately S$358 million (the “Consideration”) in cash. DCS owns a 28-storey office building at 8 Cross Street, Singapore 048424 known as “PwC Building”. The building was constructed by DCS in 1999, and is currently held for investment purpose.

The Consideration was arrived at on a “willing-buyer willing-seller” basis and takes into account the unaudited book value of DCS as at 31 December 2016 adjusted based on an agreed property value of S$747 million for the building as well as the repayment by the Purchaser of the shareholder’s loan of S$402.6 million to DCS. The Consideration is subject to certain post-completion adjustments which are not expected to be material.

The Sale is expected to be completed by the end of March 2017. DCS has accounted for the building on a historical cost basis. Upon completion, the Sale is expected to contribute approximately S$350 million to the consolidated net tangible assets as well as earnings of DBSH Group.

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Sale_of_...eID=438634

[MINX]

Sale of 100% interest in DBS China Square Limited

DBS Group Holdings Ltd (“DBSH”) wishes to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, DBS Bank Ltd., has agreed to sell its entire equity interest in DBS China Square Limited (“DCS”) (the “Sale”) to an indirect subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation (the “Purchaser”) for approximately S$358 million (the “Consideration”) in cash. DCS owns a 28-storey office building at 8 Cross Street, Singapore 048424 known as “PwC Building”. The building was constructed by DCS in 1999, and is currently held for investment purpose.

The Consideration was arrived at on a “willing-buyer willing-seller” basis and takes into account the unaudited book value of DCS as at 31 December 2016 adjusted based on an agreed property value of S$747 million for the building as well as the repayment by the Purchaser of the shareholder’s loan of S$402.6 million to DCS. The Consideration is subject to certain post-completion adjustments which are not expected to be material.

The Sale is expected to be completed by the end of March 2017. DCS has accounted for the building on a historical cost basis. Upon completion, the Sale is expected to contribute approximately S$350 million to the consolidated net tangible assets as well as earnings of DBSH Group.

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Sale_of_...eID=438634

Raise some cash to help pay for the soured O&G loans... 

[brattzz]

so any activist actions to call for dbs chief to step down after losing close to 2Bs to swiber & ezra? :O

can this be the biggest accumulated losses by a single chief? :O

[corydorus]

Need to figure out the total earning. But I guess as long DBS stock price stays up, unlikely

[kichialo]

Sale of 100% interest in DBS China Square Limited

DBS Group Holdings Ltd (“DBSH”) wishes to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, DBS Bank Ltd., has agreed to sell its entire equity interest in DBS China Square Limited (“DCS”) (the “Sale”) to an indirect subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation (the “Purchaser”) for approximately S$358 million (the “Consideration”) in cash. DCS owns a 28-storey office building at 8 Cross Street, Singapore 048424 known as “PwC Building”. The building was constructed by DCS in 1999, and is currently held for investment purpose.

The Consideration was arrived at on a “willing-buyer willing-seller” basis and takes into account the unaudited book value of DCS as at 31 December 2016 adjusted based on an agreed property value of S$747 million for the building as well as the repayment by the Purchaser of the shareholder’s loan of S$402.6 million to DCS. The Consideration is subject to certain post-completion adjustments which are not expected to be material.

The Sale is expected to be completed by the end of March 2017. DCS has accounted for the building on a historical cost basis. Upon completion, the Sale is expected to contribute approximately S$350 million to the consolidated net tangible assets as well as earnings of DBSH Group.

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Sale_of_...eID=438634

The building is accounted for on a historical cost basis. Does not mention what is the independent valuation of the building?

[new-comer1]

PwC building sold

http://www.todayonline.com/business/dbs-...llion-deal

[weijian]

Smells bad for any business

DBS and UOB in home loan war with zero per cent spread

A FIERCE home loans war has broken out between DBS Bank and United Overseas Bank, to the delight of home buyers. The prize, for now at least, is the prospect of financing the purchase of at least 1,225 homes being offered in the year's first two new-property launches. Both banks are slugging it out with a zero-per-cent spread under their fixed-deposit home-loan rate (FHR) packages aimed at projects under construction, with no lock-in period and a one-time free conversion for a limited time only.
.........................
Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed a 16 per cent jump in private residential transactions in 2016 to 16,378 units. UOB, which began fighting back in the second half of last year, is now the market leader for new home loan sales, at about 31 per cent, UOB chief executive Wee Ee Cheong said this month when the bank released its Q4 2016 results. DBS grew its home loan book 10.1 per cent last year to S$64.5 billion. UOB was not far behind, expanding 9 per cent to S$61.5 billion. OCBC Bank, the second largest bank in Singapore, grew its home loan book by 7.3 per cent to S$60.1 billion. Ms Tok said DBS intends to maintain its top-market-share status. "We are DBS. We have to and we will," she declared......

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-...ent-spread

[cyclone]

'Unbridled Greed' Behind DBS Private-Wealth Dispute, Says Judge

by Paul Panckhurst and Benjamin Robertson
May 2, 2017, 5:00 AM GMT+8

Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd. lost part of a case over losses on millions of dollars of investments for the family trust of a wealthy Chinese banker and his wife during the global financial crisis.

The plaintiffs were Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. executive Zhang Hongli, his wife Ji Zhengrong, the trustees of their family trust, and the trust’s investment company.

In a ruling in Hong Kong’s High Court on April 13, Justice Mohan Bharwaney ordered the bank to pay compensation to the trustees and the investment company, with the amount to be determined at a later date, saying two DBS entities were negligent in approving investment decisions by Zhang’s wife on behalf of the family trust.

“Unbridled greed” played a role in the case, when the unfolding crisis in 2008 should have deterred some of the risky investment decisions which led to the losses, the judge said.

A Zhang family trust account manager at DBS, Linda Liu, “was clearly driven by the wish to enjoy bigger and bigger bonuses,” while “Ji was no less greedy,” Justice Bharwaney said. “The evidence shows clearly that Ji was demanding, proactively and oftentimes aggressively, larger and larger credit lines."

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...th-dispute

[cyclone]

DBS Profit Sinks as Bank Tries to Put Bad Loans Behind It

By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
November 6, 2017, 7:08 AM GMT+8 Updated on November 6, 2017, 12:53 PM GMT+8

DBS Group Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta was determined to put the pain of soured energy-industry loans behind him -- even if it meant profit missing the lowest analyst estimate by a wide margin.

Southeast Asia’s largest bank on Monday said it boosted bad-loan allowances more than sixfold in the third quarter, resulting in a 23 percent drop in net income to S$822 million ($602 million).

The move “will enable investors to return their focus to our operating performance and digital agenda,” Gupta said in a statement. “I can say with high confidence that we’ve cleaned the book,” he said later at a news briefing.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...nces-surge

[cyclone]

Singapore's Biggest Bank Takes on China Giants in Fintech Battle

By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen  and Joyce Koh
May 15, 2018, 4:30 AM GMT+8

Piyush Gupta sees himself as uncomfortably close to the action in the battle between traditional banks and China’s insurgent fintech giants.

The chief executive officer of Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd. has been trying to re-engineer his brick-and-mortar bank so that it operates more like a technology company, in order to give it a better chance in the struggle with Chinese online payment firms Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Ant Financial, owned by billionaire Jack Ma. Both companies are targeting DBS’s core markets of Southeast Asia and India for expansion.

“We are in the front line” said Gupta, 58, who took over at DBS in 2009 after rising up the ranks at Citigroup Inc. DBS is more exposed than U.S. and European counterparts, because technology firms like Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. have been slower than the Chinese to diversity into online finance, he said, adding that U.S. banks “could afford to be a little more sanguine."

In contrast, Gupta is keenly aware of the massive transformation underway in China that’s changing how people spend, borrow and save, thanks to the rise of tech-savvy fintech startups over the past decade. Ant and Tencent have vast online payments businesses inside China, where they control 92 percent of the market.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ina-giants