SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Investors lapped up Singapore Global Logistic Properties’ (GLP) IPO but shunned the non-precious metals unit of London-listed gold miner Petropavlovsk Plc (POG.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a day of mixed fortunes for Asian share offerings.

Asia has led the world in initial public offerings so far this year, raising $89.9 billion in the first nine months of the year as investors shift funds to emerging markets, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

In contrast, IPOs in the United States brought in $11.8 billion while $27.3 billion was raised in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Besides GLP and Petropavlovsk unit IRC, other large Asian IPOs currently ongoing include AIA, the Asian life insurance arm of American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) which plans to raise about $15 billion, Singapore property trust Mapletree Industrial and Philippine budget carrier Cebu Air.

Cebu Air priced its share sale at 125 pesos each, near the midpoint of its indicative range, that could raise at least $538 million, making it the Philippines’ largest ever IPO.

Fund flows tracker EPFR estimates more than $6 billion flowed into emerging market equity funds in the week to Oct 6, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2007 and the second best figure on record.

“With the value of the U.S. dollar slumping to multi-year lows versus other major currencies, flows into emerging markets assets and commodities accelerated sharply in early October,” EPFR said in a statement.

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Investors lapped up Singapore Global Logistic Properties’ (GLP) IPO but shunned the non-precious metals unit of London-listed gold miner Petropavlovsk Plc (POG.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a day of mixed fortunes for Asian share offerings.

Asia has led the world in initial public offerings so far this year, raising $89.9 billion in the first nine months of the year as investors shift funds to emerging markets, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

In contrast, IPOs in the United States brought in $11.8 billion while $27.3 billion was raised in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Besides GLP and Petropavlovsk unit IRC, other large Asian IPOs currently ongoing include AIA, the Asian life insurance arm of American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) which plans to raise about $15 billion, Singapore property trust Mapletree Industrial and Philippine budget carrier Cebu Air.

Cebu Air priced its share sale at 125 pesos each, near the midpoint of its indicative range, that could raise at least $538 million, making it the Philippines’ largest ever IPO. [ID:nSGE697019]

Fund flows tracker EPFR estimates more than $6 billion flowed into emerging market equity funds in the week to Oct 6, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2007 and the second best figure on record.

“With the value of the U.S. dollar slumping to multi-year lows versus other major currencies, flows into emerging markets assets and commodities accelerated sharply in early October,” EPFR said in a statement.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Private banks in Asia are advising clients to hold bonds and stocks with high dividend yields to ensure they receive a steady stream of income amid continued market uncertainty.

The private banking arm of JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is telling clients to invest in emerging market currencies such as the Indonesian rupiah and high-dividend U.S. blue chips, while Citi’s (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) private Bank says high-yield U.S. corporate bonds and Asian firms that pay good dividends are good bets.

“Since it is a trading environment… you’ll want to have a core portion of your portfolio that is heavy weighted on fixed income so that while markets find a direction, you at least earn an amount of carry along the way,” Citi Private Bank’s Debashish Dutta Gupta said at the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit.

Asia’s millionaires, particularly the more risk averse, are faced with a quandary over where to put their money as traditionally safe investments such as U.S. government bonds offer low yields even as the dollar looks set to depreciate against Asian currencies.

“All the talk on exiting policy and exiting stimulus has completely disappeared. Now it’s going to be quantitative easing,” said Julius Baer’s (BAER.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief investment officer for Asia V. Anantha-Nageswaran.

“It’s essentially a policy of who gets to cheapen the currency fastest and the United States should be considered the hot zone favorite to do that,” he added.

Besides holding gold, which other banks such as UBS are also advising, Anantha-Nageswaran recommends Asian investors hold Asian bonds for their higher yield and currency appreciation along with high dividend yield stocks such as Singapore-listed Starhub (STAR.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Suntec REIT (SUNT.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Standard Chartered’s consumer banking group, which has been aggressively expanding its private and priority banking operations, is now turning to the SME business which it hopes to double in the next three years, its CEO said on Monday.

The UK-based emerging markets-focused lender aims to hire 1,200 relationship managers to serve small and medium enterprises in the next three years, and will offer a broader range of services such as managing foreign exchange risks and coping with volatile commodity prices.

“Almost everything we are trying to do, we want to double,” Stanchart’s (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) CEO for global consumer banking Steve Bertamini told Reuters in an interview.

Stanchart has been a beneficiary of the global financial crisis, which led to the collapse or government-led bailouts of many larger rivals. Its three-and-a-half-year old private bank is already a big player in Asia while its priority banking business saw a doubling in new customers last year.

In August, the UK bank said it will try to further grow its wealth management business by hiring around 800 bankers for a new service aimed at affluent Asians who do not qualify for priority banking services.

Stanchart said its expansion plan involved trying to find synergies among its different businesses to win new clients as well as offer existing customers a broader range of services.

“We’re not just trying to bank the SMEs but we’re trying to bank the owner as well,” Bertamini said, referring to the synergy between private banking and SMEs.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Citigroup’s (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) private bank is advising clients to hold more bonds as the outlook for financial markets remain uncertain except for areas such as Indonesia, its head of investment for Asia said on Tuesday.

“Since it is a trading environment… you’ll want to have a core portion of your portfolio that is heavy weighted on fixed income so that while markets find a direction, you at least earn an amount of carry along the way,” Citi Private Bank’s Debashish Dutta Gupta said at the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit.

For conservative investors, Dutta Gupta is recommending they invest about 50 percent of their assets in fixed income, 15-20 percent in equities, 10-15 percent in alternative investments such as hedge funds, and the balance in cash to take advantage of opportunities such as new share or debt issues.

Investors around the world, in particular wealthy clients of private banks, have become increasingly cautious about the global economy and are holding gold to protect themselves against the large amounts of currency being put into the system by Western central banks.

Citi, which manages about $165 billion in its wealth management business in Asia, recommends private banking clients hold bonds of developed countries with longer maturities to take advantage of the higher yields, given that central banks are unlikely to raise interest rates anytime soon.

In the case of emerging market bonds, which allow investors to enjoy higher yields as well as pickup from currency appreciation, bonds should be of shorter duration to minimize the risk of rising interest rates.

BULLISH ON INDONESIA

SINGAPORE, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Citigroup’s (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) private bank is advising clients to hold more bonds as the outlook for financial markets remain uncertain except for areas such as Indonesia, its head of investment for Asia said on Tuesday.

“Since it is a trading environment… you’ll want to have a core portion of your portfolio that is heavy weighted on fixed income so that while markets find a direction, you at least earn an amount of carry along the way,” Citi Private Bank’s Debashish Dutta Gupta said at the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit.

For conservative investors, Dutta Gupta is recommending they invest about 50 percent of their assets in fixed income, 15-20 percent in equities, 10-15 percent in alternative investments such as hedge funds, and the balance in cash to take advantage of opportunities such as new share or debt issues.

Investors around the world, in particular wealthy clients of private banks, have become increasingly cautious about the global economy and are holding gold to protect themselves against the large amounts of currency being put into the system by Western central banks. [ID:nLDE6931LH]

Citi, which manages about $165 billion in its wealth management business in Asia, recommends private banking clients hold bonds of developed countries with longer maturities to take advantage of the higher yields, given that central banks are unlikely to raise interest rates anytime soon.

In the case of emerging market bonds, which allow investors to enjoy higher yields as well as pickup from currency appreciation, bonds should be of shorter duration to minimise the risk of rising interest rates.

BULLISH ON INDONESIA

SINGAPORE, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikko Asset Management is in “serious” talks to buy Singapore’s DBS Asset Management, in a deal that would also involve DBS Group (DBSM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) buying a small stake in Nikko, three sources said on Tuesday.

The deal is another sign of ongoing consolidation in the fund management industry where size has become increasingly important amid rising costs and falling fees for mutual funds.

“Nikko has already made an offer,” one of the sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

The deal size was not immediately known, but industry sources and analysts said it could be a few hundred million dollars or around 2 percent of the S$26 billion ($19.8 billion) managed by DBS Asset Management. Nikko manages about $125.2 billion in assets.

Nikko, part of Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co Ltd (8403.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is keen to expand outside Japan and it recently hired Blair Pickerell as head of Asia from Morgan Stanley Investment Management as part of a strategy to expand in the region.

One of the sources said that Nikko is not the only group DBS is talking with.

KEY PLANK

SINGAPORE, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Singapore’s APS Asset Management, which manages about $1.85 billion, says there is money to be made in many poorly researched Asian firms but Chinese consumer stocks are headed for a fall.

The firm’s Asia Pacific Hedge Fund’s current holdings include Korean computer chip maker Melfas (096640.KQ: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Indonesia’s Panin Life, while its short positions include several Chinese consumer plays that have become expensive.

“This is a very old theme which is seeing a little fatigue. Valuations are rich and imputed in the share price is very high growth for the next five to 10 years,” APS Chief Investment Officer Wong Kok Hoi said of Chinese consumer stocks in an interview with Reuters.

Chinese consumer stocks such as Suning Appliance (002024.SZ: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the country’s largest home appliance retailer, have been the main beneficiaries as equity investors look for ways to benefit from China’s near-20 percent growth in retail sales.

Wong, whose funds were one of the early investors in Chinese carmakers Geely and BYD, declined to say which stocks his funds had shorts on, as firms were sensitive about such matters.

The fund, which does its research in-house, was prepared to hold its short positions for as long as two years, he added.

APS was founded in 1995 as a long-only fund manager by Wong, a former head of Citicorp Investment Management in Japan. Hedge funds account for about $150 million of the firm’s assets.

SINGAPORE, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Singapore’s APS Asset Management, which manages about $1.85 billion, says there is money to be made in many poorly researched Asian firms but Chinese consumer stocks are headed for a fall.

The firm’s Asia Pacific Hedge Fund’s current holdings include Korean computer chip maker Melfas (096640.KQ: Quote, Profile, Research) and Indonesia’s Panin Life, while its short positions include several Chinese consumer plays that have become expensive.

“This is a very old theme which is seeing a little fatigue. Valuations are rich and imputed in the share price is very high growth for the next five to 10 years,” APS Chief Investment Officer Wong Kok Hoi said of Chinese consumer stocks in an interview with Reuters.

Chinese consumer stocks such as Suning Appliance 002024.SZ, the country’s largest home appliance retailer, have been the main beneficiaries as equity investors look for ways to benefit from China’s near-20 percent growth in retail sales.

Wong, whose funds were one of the early investors in Chinese carmakers Geely and BYD, declined to say which stocks his funds had shorts on, as firms were sensitive about such matters.

The fund, which does its research in-house, was prepared to hold its short positions for as long as two years, he added.

APS was founded in 1995 as a long-only fund manager by Wong, a former head of Citicorp Investment Management in Japan. Hedge funds account for about $150 million of the firm’s assets.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The logistics unit of Singapore sovereign fund GIC GIC.UL has assets worth over $8 billion and the fund hopes to sell a minority stake in the business at 1.3 to 1.4 times book value, a source briefed on the listing said on Tuesday.

The source also said that 65 percent of Global Logistic Properties’ (GLP) asset value comprises warehouses and other buildings in Japan, with China accounting for the remainder. The GIC unit owns 296 properties of which 69 are in Japan.

GIC will retain at least 50 percent of its logistics unit after the initial public offering next month, added the source who was at a briefing for fund managers held by one of the bookrunners for GLP’s initial public offering.

“At such valuations, the IPO may be a tough sell. It’s not a China story as the bulk of the assets are in Japan,” said the source, who declined to be identified as the briefing was confidential.

GIC was not immediately available for comment.

GIC last week kicked off the “pre-marketing” of GLP’s IPO that aims to raise as much as $3 billion, potentially making it Singapore’s largest IPO ahead of Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) S$4 billion listing in 1993.

The bookbuilding is scheduled to begin on Sept 23 and the IPO will be priced on Oct 8, according to a note seen by Reuters.