World Aquatics Championships aims to set new green standards for sports events in Singapore
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Citigroup hiring for Asia rates, prime teams on hedge fund flows
[HONG KONG] Citigroup plans to increase headcount in its Asia rates and prime businesses by 5 to 10 per cent over the next year to cope with booming demand from customers including hedge funds, according to the bank's regional markets chief. 'Client activity in the Hong Kong market has been buoyant,' said Paul Smith, head of markets for Japan, Asia North and Australia, citing especially strong growth in prime and rates divisions. The bank's prime hedge fund clients in Asia have doubled in two years as initial public offering flows into Hong Kong and China bounce back, he said. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index is up almost 50 per cent over the past year with the bourse hosting three of the four biggest stock offerings in the world in 2025. 'There is a real sentiment shift,' Smith added, pointing to heavy inflows from US hedge funds and growing demand from quantitative funds seeking access to less-liquid A-shares in China. 'The big theme this year has been about the ability to provide A-shares to quant funds, particularly A-shares that are outside the top 100 names which are less liquid,' said Smith. 'Our robust, stable inventory is proving invaluable in securing mandates from prominent US-based quant funds.' 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 Client flows into Hong Kong and China rose about 30 per cent in the first half of 2025. Citigroup has also ramped up investor visits to China's second- and third-tier cities. With equity revenue concentrated in Hong Kong, some staff are returning to the city post-Covid-19. Robert Stewart, the firm's head of Asia-Pacific equity trading, relocated this year from Singapore. The bank's Hong Kong markets business employs several hundred people, with about 75 per cent in equities. Smith relocated from London to Hong Kong about 18 months ago to take on his current role after the Wall Street bank went through a sweeping reorganisation. Citigroup's traders posted their best second quarter in five years, with fixed-income revenue jumping 20 per cent to US$4.3 billion and equities sales and trading revenue reaching US$1.6 billion. BLOOMBERG
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
European investment firm EQT to take Japan's Fujitec private for $2.7 billion
TOKYO :European investment firm EQT will launch a $2.7 billion tender offer for Fujitec at 5,700 yen per share, the Japanese elevator maker said on Wednesday. Following completion of the tender offer, EQT would own 85 per cent, while Fujitec's founding family would roll over a 15 per cent minority stake, EQT said in a statement. The deal via EQT's BPEA Private Equity Fund IX, its latest Asia-focused buyout fund, would be the firm's largest buyout in Japan and the largest private equity-led take-private deal this year, the firm said. Shares in Fujitec plunged 9.5 per cent to 5,616 yen in early Tokyo trade. Founded nearly 80 years ago and headquartered in Shiga, Japan, Fujitec is the only independent, full-scope elevator and escalator original equipment manufacturer in Japan with presence in 24 markets globally, EQT said. The investment firm is planning to work with Fujitec's management to improve its operations, accelerate digitisation and expand in Japan, India, North America and Southeast Asia, it said. EQT's tender offer comes as mergers and acquisitions involving Japanese companies reached a record $232 billion in the first half of this year. The government's call for better corporate governance, including the privatisation of listed subsidiaries, as well as outbound acquisitions by Japanese firms seeking new growth avenues, will keep igniting mega deals, bankers have said. A host of global investment firms are beefing up headcount in Japan as deals surge, Reuters has reported. EQT, which established its Tokyo office in 2006, has received commitments of $11.4 billion for the latest Asia-focused buyout fund, according to a statement earlier this month. The fund is expected to reach its $14.5 billion hard cap at final close in 2026, it said.
AsiaOne
3 hours ago
- AsiaOne
No clarity yet on baseline or pharmaceutical tariffs with US: DPM Gan, Singapore News
SINGAPORE – The US government did not negotiate its tariffs on Singapore and did not want to commit on whether the 10 per cent baseline tax could rise or fall in the future, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong. DPM Gan, who visited the US from July 20 to 26, added that he did not get to further discussions on pharmaceutical tariffs being contemplated by the Trump administration. He told the SG60 IPS-SBF Conference on July 29 that these talks did not take place as he did not get the chance to meet Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. He did, however, meet other officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. They discussed ways to keep up the long and mutually beneficial bilateral economic relationship, as well as potential collaboration in areas like the digital economy. DPM Gan also met business leaders in New York, and congressional leaders handling trade issues in Washington. He also visited an ST Engineering aerostructures factory in Maryland. The US administration was 'not in the mood to discuss any discount to the baseline tariff', DPM Gan said at a dialogue moderated by David Rennie, The Economist's geopolitics editor. 'We also wanted to know whether the baseline tariff will stay at 10 per cent or will it be higher or lower? The answer was non-committal. They are still reviewing the tariff and, in time to come, they will make the appropriate announcement. So we just have to wait and see.' DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry, said he has told US officials that Singapore would be keen to negotiate its baseline tariff rate if the opportunity arises. Pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, which are key exports from Singapore to the US, are currently exempt from baseline tariffs. But US President Donald Trump had earlier in 2025 threatened to end an exemption for pharmaceutical imports, saying tariffs would be imposed 'at a level that you haven't really seen before'. The US is a major market for Singapore-based drugmakers including American multinationals like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. DPM Gan said official-level discussions between Singapore and the US Department of Commerce, which commenced before his trip, are still ongoing. 'I can't go into detail because negotiation is ongoing and there's a bit of a confidentiality we need to maintain on both sides,' he said when asked what the US was looking to secure through these talks. He added that the US generally had concerns about what the country experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, when supplies of critical pharmaceuticals were disrupted. 'They want to make sure that they have a secure supply line of pharmaceuticals. They do want to see whether they can onshore this production, so that they can produce (it) themselves. But they also know that it's not possible to onshore everything, because some of the raw materials are actually (from) outside of America,' he said. 'They do need to think about how they can work with partners, trusted partners, to make sure that their supply chain is secure and reliable. So that is what they are looking for in their partners, including Singapore,' he added. 'I think the administration's focus now is to finish the negotiation of reciprocal tariffs. Then it will start to engage countries on specific sectoral tariffs in pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.' DPM Gan said Singapore has yet to engage the US on the prospect of semiconductor tariffs. However, he added that discussions to preserve the country's access to artificial intelligence equipment and semiconductors are under way. Speaking at the same conference earlier in the day, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Singapore's trade and investment relationship with America, even with the tariffs, remains important. 'We would prefer to have zero tariffs of course, but if it is the baseline rate, then we are at the lowest category. We can live with it, and we can still do business and there will still be many opportunities for trade with the US, because whatever is happening in America now, the economy is still resilient, and there is still tremendous innovation happening in American companies, and so there will still be opportunities there,' he said. DPM Gan in his dialogue said the US economy continues to be relatively resilient. He said that based on the feedback from US businessmen he met on his trip, the outlook for the US economy seems cautiously optimistic, adding that Mr Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, which includes tax cuts and business support measures, may have contributed to this. He said Singapore continues to have a good working relationship with the US. The US was Singapore's second-largest trading partner in 2024, while Singapore was its 16th-largest trading partner. Singapore was also the third-largest Asian investor in the US. More than 250 Singapore companies operate across 45 states, supporting around 350,000 jobs in the US, according to the Republic's Ministry of Trade and Industry. The US also has a longstanding trade surplus and free trade agreement with Singapore. [[nid:720678]] The recent deals between the US and several countries, as well as the European Union economic bloc, are good news, DPM Gan said. 'This gives us a sense that there's good progress in the tariff negotiation. But I also come back with the sense that there remains significant uncertainty. I'm not sure whether the uncertainty has really been eliminated or even reduced,' he added. He cited the lack of clarity on the rules of origin that will be used to determine where products originate from. He also said it is unclear how reciprocal tariffs will be implemented, and how components from different countries and transshipped goods will be assessed. This comes on top of the uncertainty around sectoral tariffs, which are yet to be determined. There is also uncertainty about whether the investments that countries have pledged to the US under tariff deals are new contributions, or money that is currently invested in another country, DPM Gan said. 'For example, the EU has committed to make an investment... over a period of time. Japan has also committed investments into the US. Japan has been a major investor in Singapore. Whether the Japanese investment in Singapore will be diverted to the US is a question that is yet to be seen,' he said. 'There are (also) uncertainties as to how countries will respond to the outcome of the tariff negotiation. Some countries have also committed to purchase more from the US, and they would have been purchasing these products from other countries. Whether now, instead of purchasing from country A, country B, they will now purchase from the US, and therefore exports from these countries to affected countries will be changed,' he added. 'I think these uncertainties (are) second derivative uncertainties. No one is paying much attention yet, because we need to have a tariff settled, then we work out how the secondary impact would be.' Global supply chains will also be restructured if countries move their investments from destinations facing higher US tariffs to those facing lower tariffs, he said. 'The overall global trading system, what we call the rules-based multilateral trading system, that we depend on rules, respecting trade agreements with one another, and not change at will, is something that has been challenged,' DPM Gan said. 'Today, we can agree with one another on a certain tariff, but tomorrow, something happens. We start to change our tariff rate, and that is something that is very uncertain, and that has been seen over the last few months.' [[nid:720154]] This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.
