SG Morning Call｜Singapore Stocks Opened Higher on Tuesday; Keppel Rose 2% to Take Over 13 Legacy Rigs Held by Rigco

Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Tuesday. STI up 0.4%, Keppel up 2%, Seatrium up 1.6%, SATS up 2.7%, YZJ Shipblg up 3.6%.

Stocks to Watch

Keppel: Keppel will take over 13 legacy rigs held by Rigco following a selective capital reduction exercise, which will cancel all of Rigco’s shares that are not held by a Keppel unit as at the date of the announcement. On Tuesday, the group also said it plans to establish a private fund to own and manage the legacy rigs, as well as attract third-party capital. Shares of Keppel closed 0.3 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$6.58 on Monday.

Genting Singapore: The casino licence of Resorts World Sentosa, an integrated resort operated by Genting Singapore, has been renewed by the authorities for another two years starting from Feb 6 next year. The integrated resort also announced plans last Friday to complete a major expansion by 2030. Shares of Genting Singapore closed flat on Monday at S$0.775, before the announcement.

Silverlake Axis: The enterprise technology company will soon be delisted from the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange. This follows the close of its voluntary unconditional offer on Monday. Less than 10 per cent of Silverlake Axis’ shares are now held by the public, and trading of the company’s shares will be suspended. Shares of Silverlake closed at $0.37, up 1.4 per cent or S$0.05, before the news.

Trading halt: Keppel DC Reit requested a trading halt on Tuesday morning, pending the release of announcements. Its units ended the previous day 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$2.19.

SG Local News

Another S$1.9 billion from major money-laundering case surrendered to the state

An additional S$1.9 billion in assets seized from the major anti-money laundering case that broke in Singapore last year have been surrendered to the state, the police said on Monday (Nov 18).

The amount represents 98.6 per cent of the assets the police seized and issued prohibition-of-disposal orders on. The assets were linked to 17 suspects who fled the Republic during the police operation that took place on Aug 15, 2023.

Speculation grows over StarHub, M1 merger by June 2025 as telcos defer spectrum payment

Speculation is growing around a merger between telcos StarHub and M1 after a Macquarie report had analyst Foo Zhiwei noting that StarHub has deferred the payment for its 700-megahertz (MHz) spectrum to somewhere between November 2024 and end-June 2025.

Similarly, M1’s parent company Keppel has also deferred its payment for the same spectrum to June next year, Foo reported on Nov 5.

These moves suggest that one party may try to close the deal before June to avoid the spectrum fees.