I was surfing the net and came across this exceptional episode of 60 Minutes where they spoke to people, well kids really, whose family had lost their homes to foreclosure, and unemployment benefits ran out, losing almost everything they have, ... and having to live in a truck or a car because many of the shelters are already full.
You do not need a subprime crisis to find homeless people, people whose livelihood had been so broken up by things that happen around them. If you had not tasted hardships, you may not truly appreciate the things and people you have around you.
What is most wonderful is the attitude shown by the two kids being interviewed. Brings tears to your eyes to know some had to suffer so young. However, it is exactly that kind of attitude that I am sure will bring them success - monetary, relationships and career - in the near future. If you have kids, do your kids have that kind of attitude? Or like some, they just shrivel up into a cocoon, and blame everything around them for causing the misery ...
I am not much for positive thinking therapy or those -rah-rah rallies by super salesmen to motivate us to excel and achieve. I believe if you have the right attitude, you can climb yourself out of any rut. The attitude that you alone can change your destiny, that you alone can make things better for yourself and those around you, that you alone is enough to make sense of the world again, and that you do not have to be a super human being to do all that. Just accept what life is now, and mark out where you want to be, and pinpoint how you are going to get there.
No one is going to gloss over it all, it will be long suffering at times when we are down, but no amount of self-pity will do anyone any good.
If our kids had that kind of attitude exemplified by the two kids in 60 Minutes, you can die happy knowing that they will do well in life.
Monday, 28 November 2011
Thursday, 24 November 2011
You Will Never Walk Alone
Our hero has a voice and she is doing it for our future. Have you registered to vote? That's the least you can do for yourself and your loved ones.
Annie Ooi Siew Lan and Rosni Malan have pleaded with the king not to dissolve Parliament until electoral reforms have taken place.
Rosni’s husband, Baharuddin Ahmad, died from heart complications during the rally. Ooi, nicknamed “Aunty Bersih” was seen being sprayed with chemical-laced water cannons and tear gas during the rally.
They are asking the king, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, to use his discretion to not consent to Parliament’s dissolution anytime soon.
Speaking on their behalf, their lawyer M Visvanathan said: “What we’re trying to achieve is to put enough pressure on the powers-that-be, especially the Yang Dipertuan-Agong, to invoke his discretion. He does have the discretion, it should be exercised in this case.”
“It is not a demand…(We ask) that the Agong use his discretion not to dissolve Parliament.”
http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/per2011b/signatures
Pavilion REIT Updated
FinanceAsia: Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust is set to raise M$710 million ($228 million) from its initial public offering after fixing the price at the top of the range at M$0.90 per unit for institutional investors, according to sources.
The retail tranche, which accounts for 4.4% of the deal, was priced at M$0.88 per unit. About 35% of the institutional portion was allocated to six cornerstone investors, which include domestic pension funds and insurance companies as well as pan-Asian insurer AIA. At the final price, the rest of the 95.6% institutional tranche was nearly 30 times covered, one source said.
The strong interest in Pavilion Reit is believed to have been underpinned by the defensive nature of Reits, which typically yield stable revenues and pay high dividends, particularly as global markets remain highly volatile.
Although the company received almost an equal amount of demand from international and domestic investors, it has allocated almost 70% to local players. The reason, the source said, is to ensure domestic support in the aftermarket as there is no greenshoe option to help stabilise the performance.
Analysts say liquidity provided by local funds tends to help deals in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
In a further attempt to limit the selling when Pavilion Reit starts trading, the deal was tightly allocated. About 200 institutional investors submitted orders, but 65% of the deal went to just 15 accounts. The cornerstone investors also bought some additional units through the bookbuilding, the source said. Aside from AIA’s Malaysian unit, the cornerstone investors include Employees Provident Fund Board, Great Eastern Life Assurance, HwangDBS Investment Management, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan and Permodalan Nasional, which are all high-quality domestic names.
Pavilion Reit, which is backed by Malaysian businessman Lim Siew Choon and his wife Tan Kewi Yong, as well as the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), sold 790 million new units, or 26.3% of the trust. The units were marketed to institutional investors in a range between M$0.88 and M$0.90.
The IPO price of M$0.90 translates into a 2012 dividend yield of about 6.5%, according to the sources. That is roughly in line with where domestic competitors like Sunway Reit are trading. However, it is well below what telecom-focused HKT Trust is offering. The spin-off from PCCW priced its Hong Kong IPO at a 9% yield yesterday morning.
Aside from the steady yield, retail property-focused Pavilion Reit also emphasised its growth prospects through potential acquisitions and increases of rents and leasable areas at its existing properties. At the time of listing, the Reit will own a seven-storey shopping mall and a 20-storey office tower, which are both part of the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur project.
Southeast Asian stock markets, particularly the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, have been outperforming their peers in Asia-Pacific this year, which likely helped shore up investor confidence in investing in the region. So far this year, the Philippine Stock Exchange Index is up almost 2%, while the Jakarta Composite Index is down 0.5% and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index is down about 6%. This compares with a decline of about 20% in both Hong Kong and Japan this year.
Pavilion Reit is the fourth-largest IPO in Malaysia this year after Bumi Armada, UOA Development and MSM Malaysia Holdings, according to Bloomberg data. Ananda Krishnan-backed Bumi Armada raised nearly $890 million in a popular IPO in July, while the other two raised about $350 million and $270 million, respectively, from their IPOs in June. Pavilion Reit will start trading on December 7.
CIMB, Credit Suisse, Maybank and QNB Capital are joint global coordinators for the offering. The first three are also joint bookrunners together with Deutsche Bank.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Well Said
Dear Salivating Door
Its 'refreshing' that ur taking a poll of sorts to gauge reader's reaction to scantily clad, sexist pictures.
My honest reaction is - u probably fancy yourself a brainy dick. And someone died and u anointed yourself as an uber financial blog cum (pun intended) Playboy copycat.
Oh tq so much for focusing on Asian women. I suppose your twisted logic is as follows : Asian women need to catch up with the sexual revolution and be up there with the Americans and Europeans. A sexually liberated society is an advanced society. That's just bullshit.
(These women are somebody's daughter, sister and eventually mother, grandmother. Such pictures are degrading and disrespectful of all women).
Women have fought against discrimination over centuries and have achieved much accolades beyond sainted motherhood. You hv shown your specie has not evolved that much from the homo erectus age.
May I ask - Can't u keep sex (and its innuendoes) within the confines of the bedroom. Tak boleh get traffic to your blog without peddling porn kah ?
Its a shame you have sullied your blog in this manner.
- Holly How Proud Your Mother Must Be
2 Cellos
Bought tickets to Elton John late as I had already seen him twice but that was some 15-20 years ago. As the date drew closer, I saw his photo performing in Singapore and naturally he has aged, and I said to myself, "do you think you will catch him live again over the next 10 years ... how old would he be then?"
For someone whose career spans over 30 years, the audience will be made up of different groupings. There are those who loved him from day one and would appreciate his Madman Across The Water and Levon, or even Honky Cat. Then there are those who got in in the 80s with his Sacrifice, and then the last ten years or so with the Lion King. Hence there will be gaps in appreciation in his concert.
Still, he gave an earnest performance and you cannot begrudge his brilliance as a songwriter with everlasting tunes such as Your Song, Rocket Man, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, Daniel, Candle In The Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Crocodile Rock, Saturday Night's All Right ... so glad he did The Bitch Is Back (thought that was too risque).
I can go one with songs he should have done: Island Girl, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Empty Sky, and his brilliant instrumental Song For Guy ... but he could only do so much.
Anyway, he introduced the 2 Cellos as his opening act, and they were brilliant, have a listen.
For someone whose career spans over 30 years, the audience will be made up of different groupings. There are those who loved him from day one and would appreciate his Madman Across The Water and Levon, or even Honky Cat. Then there are those who got in in the 80s with his Sacrifice, and then the last ten years or so with the Lion King. Hence there will be gaps in appreciation in his concert.
Still, he gave an earnest performance and you cannot begrudge his brilliance as a songwriter with everlasting tunes such as Your Song, Rocket Man, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, Daniel, Candle In The Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Crocodile Rock, Saturday Night's All Right ... so glad he did The Bitch Is Back (thought that was too risque).
I can go one with songs he should have done: Island Girl, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Empty Sky, and his brilliant instrumental Song For Guy ... but he could only do so much.
Anyway, he introduced the 2 Cellos as his opening act, and they were brilliant, have a listen.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Liquidity Creeping Into The Markets
One sure fire way to anticipate a bull run is access to liquidity. I have been hearing this more than a couple of times over the past two weeks, bankers are flying in from Singapore and HK to offer decent loans to listed corporations at highly undemanding rates.
The last 6-7 years saw much of the liquidity in Asia gravitating towards supporting property loans. Hence equity markets did not get much of a boost from the excess liquidity in the system. There has been a dramatic shift in property outlook in HK, Singapore and Malaysia. Most have gone neutral or hold from buys. What that means is that banks are too flushed with liquidity and have to keep them working.
Local banks are doing the same but apparently the foreign banks are a bit more aggressive. Ringgit loans of RM50m to RM300m can be had at 2% or 3% below BLR. The juiciest one is USD loans can be had at just 0.1%. Many of the top tier companies do not really need the funds, so the bankers are going second tier and soon I think not so blue companies as well.
The natural chain of events would be that once they take the loans, they have to put it to work, usually expansion or asset acquisition, hence more corporate developments. I see this as the beginning of a bull run cycle and it would probably take another 2-4 months to ripen.
Liquidity is a massive force in charging a bull run. You have been warned.
The last 6-7 years saw much of the liquidity in Asia gravitating towards supporting property loans. Hence equity markets did not get much of a boost from the excess liquidity in the system. There has been a dramatic shift in property outlook in HK, Singapore and Malaysia. Most have gone neutral or hold from buys. What that means is that banks are too flushed with liquidity and have to keep them working.
Local banks are doing the same but apparently the foreign banks are a bit more aggressive. Ringgit loans of RM50m to RM300m can be had at 2% or 3% below BLR. The juiciest one is USD loans can be had at just 0.1%. Many of the top tier companies do not really need the funds, so the bankers are going second tier and soon I think not so blue companies as well.
The natural chain of events would be that once they take the loans, they have to put it to work, usually expansion or asset acquisition, hence more corporate developments. I see this as the beginning of a bull run cycle and it would probably take another 2-4 months to ripen.
Liquidity is a massive force in charging a bull run. You have been warned.
Sunday, 20 November 2011
An Acoustic Evening With Richard Marx
Richard Marx is coming to town to serenade you and I at Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands this 11 December 2011!
“An Acoustic Evening with Richard Marx – World Tour 2011”will be Richard Marx’s only concert in Malaysia in more than 10 years!
Hurry! Don’t miss the chance to enjoy a romantic evening with your loved one, listening to everlasting ballads such as “Right Here Waiting”,“Now & Forever”, “Endless Summer Nights”, “Hazard” and many more.
Interested? Then contact the representatives below to book your tickets NOW!
June Fong
03-5623 8941 or june.fong@splendid8.com or askus@splendid8.com
Shaun Chin
03-5623 8988 or shaun.chin@splendid8.com or askus@splendid8.com
Websites:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)