Epigram Books becomes non-profit Epigram Literary Foundation
Home-grown publisher Epigram Books has restructured to become Epigram Literary Foundation, a non-profit entity that it hopes could help it convince more donors to loosen their purse strings.
The public company limited by guarantee, or CLG, was incorporated with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) on May 1. This is the latest bid by Epigram to keep operations sustainable, after it collaborated with seven other Singapore indie booksellers to launch online bookstore Bookshop.sg.
A CLG differs from a private limited company, where maximising profit for shareholders is the goal of the company. For a CLG, any surplus is meant to be reinvested into the organisation, and they are generally seen to be more credible, requiring approval from Acra that it is serving some public or national interest - in this case, the promotion of the arts.
Founder Edmund Wee, 72, said he had been pondering the move for over a year, but had always been told by lawyers that the restructuring would be difficult until he received the right advice.
Profits have always been meagre, and he has not paid himself a dividend in the 14 years he has run Epigram - so not much would change in that respect, he told The Straits Times.
A CLG, if it encourages businesses aligned with its mission to contribute - possibly as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes - could create an endowment so that it generates significant enough money interest to aid cash flow.
Mr Wee said: "Publishing is getting harder and harder, and I can't borrow from the bank any more now that I'm past 70. I cannot go around to ask for $50,000 or $60,000 every year. I'm hoping for a bigger lump sum."
To bolster Epigram Literary Foundation's credibility and set donors' minds at ease, he has enlisted nine dignitaries to sit on an advisory council.
They are former diplomats Tommy Koh and Kishore Mahbubani; historian Wang Gungwu; former chief economist of GIC Yeoh Lam Keong; special research adviser at the Institute of Policy Studies Arun Mahizhnan; Mr Robert Tomlin, vice-chairman of the Asian arm of investment firm Lepercq de Neuflize; Dr Hong Hai, emeritus professor of business at Nanyang Technological University; former chairman of The Substation and consultant in philanthropy Chew Keng Chuan; and author Meira Chand.
Mr Wee said: "I'm hoping that they will give the non-profit more standing so that when I go see companies, they are more willing to donate. I had the choice to drastically reduce the outfit so Epigram publishes only three or four books a year, but I didn't want to do that. There's nobody in the ecosystem now publishing Singapore fiction like us. I find that terrible."
Epigram Books hosts the annual Epigram Fiction Books Prize, which awards the winner a $25,000 cash prize and a publishing contract. Three other finalists each receive $5,000 and a publishing contract. It is the richest pot dedicated to unpublished literary manuscripts in Singapore.
Mr Wee said he is also working with partners to start a regional book prize for Asean, with a long-term launch date for probably 2027 or later.
In theory, the change to a CLG structure should not affect the salaries of its 13 full-time and two part-time employees, but this will depend on how much can be raised, he added.
Epigram is Singapore's largest independent book publisher, publishing upwards of 50 titles a year. Notable titles in its stable include the Eisner-award winning The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015) by Sonny Liew, Jeremy Tiang's State Of Emergency (2017) and Meihan Boey's The Formidable Miss Cassidy (2021).
All three have secured releases in countries outside Singapore, boosting the Republic's global literary footprint.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
14 hours ago
- Business Times
Can US ports handle a freight spike or will they be overwhelmed?
ARE Los Angeles and Long Beach heading for another port congestion crisis? Since the United States put tariffs on hold for a 90-day trade war truce with China on May 14, the market has expected a shipping surge driven by Chinese exports. Ocean carriers have re-instated suspended services, restarted vessels lying idle, and introduced new routes – revitalising transpacific lanes. But how much capacity has actually returned to the US-bound trade? Estimates vary. According to maritime consultancy eeSea, total capacity from Asia to North America will reach 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in June – 400,000 TEUs more than May. That figure is projected to climb further in July to 2.8 million TEUs. The majority of this added capacity targets the US West Coast, particularly the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Data provider Sea-Intelligence reports similar trends. Its latest weekly update shows a 17 per cent year-on-year rise in Asia-US West Coast capacity in June, with a projected 19 per cent jump in July. Meanwhile, East Coast capacity is growing more modestly – up only 7 per cent in June but expected to match the West Coast's 19 per cent rise in July. These figures are based on carriers' existing schedules, which remain subject to change. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The big question is whether Los Angeles and Long Beach can handle this influx. Will the port congestion seen in the pandemic era re-appear? Preliminary forecasts indicate that container volumes at both ports will begin rising in the second week of June, topping 100,000 TEUs a week. Volumes will continue climbing in the third week. While fourth-week data is not yet available, estimates suggest traffic will remain elevated. Many extra sailings are scheduled to arrive in late June and early July, suggesting persistently high throughput at least into mid-July. Historically, both ports handled their highest Asian import volumes in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic – about 10 million TEUs for the year. The Port of Los Angeles alone processed a record 520,000 TEUs in May 2021, while the Port of Long Beach reached its single-month peak of 400,000 TEUs the same month. Will the same influx appear again this time? Industry opinion is divided. Senior executives at leading carriers and terminals suggest the tariff deferral may not trigger a pandemic-style shipping boom. While June volumes are likely to exceed May's, early expectations may have overshot. Much of the inventory that had been sitting in warehouses shipped out quickly after the May 14 tariff suspension. And even if buyers place new orders, lead times mean many shipments will not depart until late June or July. Moreover, despite the suspension of a 125 per cent reciprocal tariff, the 30 per cent levy added this year – on top of 2018's Section 301 duties – means US-China trade has not returned to normal. The truce may offer temporary relief, but it is unlikely to generate a prolonged surge. Freight rates on transpacific routes have spiked in recent weeks. But does that signal true demand strength? A key indicator is the balance between cargo booked under negotiated contract (NAC) rates versus freight-all-kinds spot rates. At present, many freight forwarders are still able to secure lower-priced NAC slots — suggesting excess capacity remains. While sentiment may push prices upward temporarily, ultimate rate direction hinges on ship utilisation. If vessels sail full, rates will hold firm. If not, the rally will fade. So, will there be port congestion? A sudden and sustained spike in volume could strain operations. However, if elevated cargo volumes last only two to three weeks, the ports can manage. If imports climb more than 20 per cent above normal and stay high through July, congestion risks increase sharply. The bottom line is that Los Angeles and Long Beach are entering a high-alert phase. If disruption comes, it will probably begin to show in late July. CAIXIN GLOBAL Zhang Huafeng is the chief operating officer of Duke Shipping Agency
Business Times
15 hours ago
- Business Times
Global funds bet on South Korean stocks' big break on reform tailwinds
After years of frustration with South Korea's underperforming stock market, investors are growing more optimistic that the new president's push for shareholder-friendly policies will finally deliver stronger returns. Global money managers, including Aberdeen Investments, Pictet Wealth Management, and Franklin Templeton, have recently added positions or upgraded their outlook on local stocks. They are encouraged by newly-elected Lee Jae-myung's vows to boost corporate governance and nearly double the market's return, after months of political chaos in the nation triggered by his predecessor's short-lived martial law imposition. Foreigners are returning to the stock market, helping to push the benchmark Kospi Index into a bull market on Lee's first day in office. The early euphoria suggests investors are confident that Lee will accelerate efforts to boost shareholder returns – reminiscent of a similar drive that unleashed a stock rally in Japan – and succeed in the passage of a commercial law revision aimed at improving corporate governance. 'We are starting to see early signs of change,' said Pruksa Iamthongthong, deputy head of Apac equities at Aberdeen Investments, whose US$1.2 billion Asian ex-Japan fund turned overweight on South Korean stocks in May. 'We believe that such a collective effort on the part of the government and domestic companies will go a long way in boosting trust in Korea's capital markets and creating a culture of a greater heed to shareholder value.' Agitated investors South Korea's economy is dominated by family-controlled conglomerates, known as chaebols, which have come under criticism for failing to protect the rights of minority shareholders. That's resulted in investors often pricing local stocks below their book value and lower than overseas rivals, a phenomenon known as the 'Korea discount'. Shareholders are getting increasingly agitated, with activism campaigns targeting companies rising by seven-fold between 2020 and 2024, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'That link between what a company earns and what minority shareholders get back was broken,' said Jon Jhun, managing director at Management HK Advisors in Hong Kong. It's 'about to be fixed by the Democratic Party and their legislation'. One of Lee's early priorities is to root out rubber-stamping directors by revising the commercial code to broaden board fiduciary duty to shareholders – and not just to the company itself. The ruling party's officials are proposing new revisions, which include enhancing the nomination process for audit committee members and adopting electronic voting systems. Such revisions largely target chaebol conglomerates and their founding families, who wield outsized influence in the economy and at listed companies' management and boards. The new political leadership will likely look to further galvanise a wave of changes that were put in motion more than a year ago, in a programme called the 'Corporate Value-up'. Modelled after Japan's 'name and shame' initiatives, the programme urges companies to self-start a range of measures to boost shareholder returns. A total of 160 companies have unveiled Value-up plans, though many lacked details, said John Cho, South Korea equity portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management. 'We anticipate that future iterations of medium-term planning should lead to more refined Value Up plans,' Cho said. 'Korea is only in its second year of the Value Up plan, compared to Japan's decade-long governance journey.' Signs are emerging that companies are taking proactive measures. Kospi members' total dividend payouts rose 12 per cent in 2024 to 44 trillion won (S$42 billion), according to Korea Exchange's data. Share buybacks more than doubled to 18.7 trillion won in 2024. 'These chaebols are actually changing their plans due to the pressure from the government and from the market,' said Yiping Liao, a portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity, which has been selectively adding South Korean stocks before the election. Earlier this year, arms maker Hanwha Aerospace also cut the size of a share offering after backlash from investors who were concerned about value dilution. Even with the legislature largely in his corner, Lee is not taking on his agenda without challenges. Some investors and activists have called for revising taxes on inheritance and dividends to help lift stocks, but that would require broader public support. The new president will also have to juggle a host of issues that darken the country's outlook, such as the prospect of higher tariffs from the US, an economy in contraction, and a deep-seated polarisation. Still, a corporate culture shift is underway, said Jonathan Pines, lead portfolio manager and head of Asia ex-Japan at Federated Hermes. 'We are significantly overweight Korean equities because of low valuations, and in the hope that the landscape continues to improve,' he said. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
Why Washington's call for Asia to buy more American arms falls flat
A US Air Force F-35 fifth-generation jet fighter flies over Leeuwarden Air Base on April 8. The US hopes to sell more of this military equipment to Asia. PHOTO: AFP SINGAPORE/TOKYO/JAKARTA - US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's rousing call in Singapore recently for Indo-Pacific countries to ramp up their defence spending and, if one reads his lips correctly, buy more American weapons, is likely to fall on deaf ears across much of Asia. While US allies such as Japan and Australia are natural candidates to heed the call, they have been coy so far in their responses, emphasising instead that defence spending decisions should be based on their own needs assessment. Most South-east Asia countries are unlikely to be spooked into action by Mr Hegseth's assertion on May 31 at the security forum the Shangri-La Dialogue that a security threat from 'Communist China' is imminent. This is not least because their spending priority continues to be butter, not guns. The United States is by far the largest global supplier of arms, exporting almost as much as the next eight largest exporters combined. Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that its share of total global arms exports was 43 per cent in the period of 2020 to 2024, up from 35 per cent in the previous five years. This rise was largely fuelled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in a spike in US sales or transfers of arms to Ukraine and other European countries. The US's largest customer in the Asia-Pacific region is Japan. Tokyo relies on the US, its sole security ally, for 97 per cent of its arms imports, such as F-15 and F-35 fighter jets and Tomahawk guided cruise missiles. A close second-largest buyer of US arms in the Indo-Pacific is Australia, which buys 87 per cent of its arms imports from the US, including a deal to buy nuclear-powered submarines. Although Taiwan is similarly reliant on the US for arms, with 98 per cent of its arms imports coming from the US, its absolute volume of arms imports is only about one-sixth of Japan's and Australia's. Self-ruled Taiwan's primary security threat stems from China's refusal to rule out the use of force to bring the island under its control. Elsewhere in the region, the picture is more mixed. The share of US weapons in Asian countries' arms imports ranges from 86 per cent in South Korea, to 32 per cent in Singapore, to zero in Myanmar. So why aren't Asian countries buying more US arms? One reason that Asian countries are cool to Mr Hegseth's sales pitch is that spending on defence simply isn't a top priority. In 2024, South-east Asian countries on average spent around 1.5 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence, a level that has been consistent over the last decade, according to a recent survey by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The global average is 2.5 per cent. Mr Hegseth at the Shangri-La Dialogue urged countries in the region to take a leaf from the Europeans and pledge defence budgets of 5 per cent of GDP. 'His suggestion is tone deaf and not in line with the realities on the ground,' Dr Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, told The Straits Times. Emerging economies in South-east Asia are already stretching their limited fiscal resources to meet urgent needs in infrastructure, healthcare and education. Most do not feel they have the luxury to splurge on defence, he noted. 'Most countries in the region would rather spend on socio-economic priorities, because that's what wins votes,' said Dr Koh. Another reason South-east Asian countries are not motivated to significantly boost defence spending is that, unlike in Europe where the Ukraine war rages on, Asia is largely peaceful, except for skirmishes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, and the occasional border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand and Cambodia and Vietnam. Faced with growing tensions with China, the Philippines has in recent years shifted its defence focus from internal to external security. It was keen to buy F-16 fighter jets from the US. However, because its Air Force has not operated jet fighters since the 1990s, it has instead purchased lightweight jet fighters from South Korea, which are cheaper, to ease its transition to more advanced US weapon systems. Mr Hegseth might have tried to create a sense of urgency to buy arms by saying a China attack on Taiwan is imminent. But most countries in the region that are not US allies don't expect to be dragged into a hot war over Taiwan. 'The argument is not valid because practically all the countries in the region have cooperation and relatively open communication with China,' Jakarta-based military analyst Mufti Makarim told ST. 'If Indonesia were a proxy country of the US, Indonesia would automatically follow the US' lead, but Indonesia is not,' he said. Even close allies Japan and Australia are not near the 5 per cent mark. Japan's defence spending will hit 1.8 per cent of its GDP in the fiscal year ending March 2026, according to budget estimates. This is already a hike from the 1 per cent cap in spending that was in effect between 1976 and 2022. There is , however, debate about whether Japan should pledge to buy more US arms as a bargaining chip for lower tariffs for its exports to the US. Washington in April imposed tariffs of 10 per cent to 50 per cent on trading partners, later suspended for 90 days. Japan faces a 24 per cent tariff rate starting in July unless it can negotiate a deal with the US. It also hopes Washington can exempt its automakers from a 25 per cent tariff on automobiles, Japan's biggest industry. Still, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Defence Minister Gen Nakatani have both rejected the idea of setting defence spending targets at the behest of another country, reiterating that Japan will determine its own budget independently. But Japan's chief tariff negotiator, Mr Ryosei Akazawa, who was in Washington on June 5-8 for a fifth round of talks, have suggested leaving that option open. Amid perceptions that the US commitment to its security alliance with Japan was wavering, senior fellow Ippeita Nishida of the Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation think-tank told ST that Japan would likely raise its defence spending beyond 2 per cent. This was a figure that Mr Ishiba himself has previously said might not be enough to defend the country. In the case of Australia, when Mr Hegseth met his Australian counterpart on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, he told the Pacific nation to boost its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of its GDP 'as soon as possible'. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded by saying his country would spend based on its defence needs. His government has previously set a defence budget goal of 2.3 per cent of GDP by 2033-2034. Mr Albanese had won a general election in May, in which the message of standing up for Australia against America proved popular among voters. Mr Hegseth's sales pitch for Asian nations to spend more on US arms may sound compelling to the hawks in Washington. But in the diverse political and economic landscape of the Indo-Pacific, his message risks being dismissed as out of touch. National interests here are shaped less by ideological rivalry and more by domestic imperatives and long-term pragmatism. For many countries in the region, development still trumps deterrence. Yew Lun Tian is a senior foreign correspondent who covers China for The Straits Times. Walter Sim is Japan correspondent at The Straits Times. Based in Tokyo, he writes about political, economic and socio-cultural issues. Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja has been Indonesia correspondent at The Straits Times since 2008, and is based in Jakarta. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
