Daily Brief Singapore: Mandarin Oriental International, DBS, Health And Happiness (H&H), Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Singapore Post and more

• Mandarin owns the One Causeway Bay precinct which is likely worth more than the company’s current Enterprise Value ($2.4b) having recieved an offer of $3.8b for the site in 2017.

• For those unfamiliar, this site is being massively re-developed into retail and office- not a hotel as might be expected given the company.

• Mandarin is transitioning to a capital light hotel management model by selling its owned hotels and maintaining management contracts with the purchasers.

• Institutions were net sellers of Singapore stocks over the five trading sessions through to May 16, with S$28.5 million of net institutional outflow, as 25 primary-listed companies conducted buybacks with a total consideration of S$32.5 million.
• Leading the net institutional outflow over the five sessions were Seatrium, UMS Holdings, Singapore Airlines, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Wilmar International, DBS, AEM Holdings, Jardine Matheson Holdings, Jardine Cycle & Carriage and City Developments.
• Between May 9 and 15, Raffles Medical Group executive chairman Loo Choon Yong acquired 2.6 million shares at an average price of S$1.03 per share.

Lucror Analytics Morning Views comprise our fundamental credit analysis, opinions and trade recommendations on high yield issuers in the region, based on key company-specific developments in the past 24 hours. Our Morning Views include a section with a brief market commentary, key market indicators and a macroeconomic and corporate event calendar.

• Softer US inflation data that came out the past week fuelled expectations of rate cuts once more.
• The US consumer price index increased 0.3 per cent from March to April but was lower than what markets were expecting.
• The iEdge S-Reit Index also rallied on Thursday, gaining 2 per cent.

The ongoing transformation of Singapore Post (SingPost) from a post and parcel delivery company into a global logistics operator appears to have slipped under the radar of investors and now offers an opportunity for investors to reassess its potential. We believe expansion into the Australian logistics market offers long-term growth and that historical issues surrounding structural weakness in postal volumes may be resolved by growth in replacement volumes from e-commerce and review of postal services in constructive engagement with the regulator. Implementing the March 2024 strategic review recommendations could help unlock value. We believe there is c 50% upside in the share price.