SINGAPORE/WELLINGTON (Reuters) – “Dark pools” and other alternative trading systems are not as big a threat to Asia’s bourses as they are for their western counterparts, given regulators’ reluctance to grant them a free reign and due to structural differences in markets.

Dark pools, so named because they represent large pools of “buy” and “sell” orders not visible to regular investors, operate relatively freely and match billions of dollars in stock transactions each day in the west.

But in Asia, where stock exchanges are often seen as national assets, regulators are likely to curb their activities to protect incumbents as well as ensure markets remain wholly transparent.

“Emerging market regulators have bad memories about the Asian financial crisis and are concerned about speculators,” said Richard Kang, CIO at New York-based Emerging Global Advisors, who manages about $120 million in exchange-traded funds.

“Liquidity pools, dark pools, alternative trading systems etc are still relatively new…they (Asian regulators) will wait for cues from the U.S. to see if dark pools are beneficial or a burden to their capital markets.”

Dark-pool operators acknowledge Asian markets will be harder to crack, but they remain keen to expand in the region where they account for just 1-3 percent of trades in the larger, more liquid markets and close to zero in smaller bourses.

Chi-X, a unit of Nomura (8604.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the biggest dark pool operator in Europe, last month launched a service in Japan and has plans to do the same in Singapore and Australia. Tora, a trading technology firm part-owned by Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), recently announced plans to set up a pan-Asian dark pool.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC GIC.UL has added three banks as joint bookrunners for the upcoming IPO of its logistics unit that could raise as much as $3 billion, two sources familiar with the deal said.

The three bookrunners — UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), China International Capital Corp (CICC) and DBS (DBSM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) — will help in the listing of Global Logistic Properties (GLP), which owns warehouses in China and Japan, sources familiar with the deal told Reuters.

GLP’s initial public offering could be the biggest in Singapore since Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) raised over S$4 billion in 1993, exceeding the $2 billion raised in CapitaMalls’ (CMAL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) November 2009 listing.

The listing comes during a hectic period for Asia’s primary equity market with American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) trying to list its Asian life insurance business in Hong Kong and following the massive IPO by the Agricultural Bank Of China (1288.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(601288.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of over $20 billion.

During the fourth quarter, Mapletree, which is backed by Singapore state investor Temasek, is planning a $700 million listing of an industrial real estate investment trust.

“There is still demand for property assets and it’s a good time as well to sell assets because capital value is still firm,” said Meenal Kumar, property analyst at OCBC Investment Research.

“We have kind of seen some earnings recovery in terms of rent and occupancy.”

SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC [GIC.UL] has added three banks as joint bookrunners for the upcoming IPO of its logistics unit that could raise as much as $3 billion, two sources familiar with the deal said.

The three bookrunners — UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), China International Capital Corp (CICC) and DBS (DBSM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) — will help in the listing of Global Logistic Properties (GLP), which owns warehouses in China and Japan, sources familiar with the deal told Reuters.

GLP’s initial public offering could be the biggest in Singapore since Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) raised over S$4 billion in 1993, exceeding the $2 billion raised in CapitaMalls’ (CMAL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) November 2009 listing.

The listing comes during a hectic period for Asia’s primary equity market with American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) trying to list its Asian life insurance business in Hong Kong [ID:nSGE66T0WV] and following the massive IPO by the Agricultural Bank Of China (1288.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(601288.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of over $20 billion [ID:TOE66E08A]

During the fourth quarter, Mapletree, which is backed by Singapore state investor Temasek, is planning a $700 million listing of an industrial real estate investment trust. [ID:nSGE65T09]

“There is still demand for property assets and it’s a good time as well to sell assets because capital value is still firm,” said Meenal Kumar, property analyst at OCBC Investment Research.

“We have kind of seen some earnings recovery in terms of rent and occupancy.”

SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC [GIC.UL] has added three banks as joint bookrunners for the upcoming IPO of its logistics unit that could raise as much as $3 billion, two sources familiar with the deal said.

The three bookrunners — UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research), China International Capital Corp (CICC) and DBS (DBSM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) — will help in the listing of GLP, which owns warehouses in China and Japan, sources familiar with the deal told Reuters.

GLP’s initial public offering will likely be the biggest in Singapore since Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) raised over S$4 billion in 1993, exceeding the $2 billion raised in CapitaMalls’ (CMAL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) November 2009 listing.

The three banks will join JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which were appointed as joint global coordinators for the IPO earlier this year, said the sources, who declined to be named because the deal has not been made public.

UBS and DBS declined to comment while CICC was not immediately available. GIC also declined comment.

GLP, or Global Logistic Properties, holds industrial and logistic properties in China and Japan which GIC’s real estate unit bought from ProLogis (PLD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in 2009.

According to GLP’s website, the firm is Asia’s largest industrial and logistics infrastructure provider with 60 logistics parks in 18 major Chinese cities.

SINGAPORE, Aug 4 (Reuters) – CapitaLand (CATL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Southeast Asia’s largest property developer, said its various businesses are set to improve due to strong economic growth in its main markets, after posting a fourth consecutive quarter of profits.

CapitaLand has benefitted from a run-up in home prices in China and Singapore, its two biggest markets, during the past few quarters. But the rally appears to be wavering as transaction volumes slow amid government measures to cool the market.

“Robust economic growth in Singapore, China and Vietnam ensure fundamentals in these markets remain strong, and this will generate real demand in the real estate sector,” CapitaLand Chairman Richard Hu said in a statement.

CapitaLand, 39 percent held by Singapore state investor Temasek [TEM.UL], earned S$476 million ($352.8 million) in the three months ended June, rebounding from a S$156.9 million loss a year ago when the firm was hurt by writedowns and revaluation of property assets. This is its best net profit since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Its second-quarter earnings were well above the S$166 million average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Excluding the effects of revaluations, CapitaLand posted a net profit of S$272 million for the second quarter, which was more than double the S$124 million it earned in the same quarter of last year.

The Singapore firm said its low debt levels and large cash reserves of S$4.9 billion will allow it to continue investing in new projects and make strategic acquisitions.

SINGAPORE, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Singapore Exchange (SGXL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research), Asia’s second-largest bourse by market capitalisation, posted a 13 percent fall in fourth quarter net profit and warned expenses will continue to rise as it spends more on technology.

But SGX said it was confident about the future and that heavy investment in IT and the launch of new investment products and trading platforms would translate into higher revenues in coming years.

SGX and Asian rivals such as Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) have seen new listings and stock trading volumes fall in recent months due to uncertainty about Europe and fears Chinese economic growth will slow.

Christian Nolting, lead Asia-Pacific strategist at Deutsche Private Wealth Management, said he was bullish about Asian stock exchanges despite a recent fall in volumes and concerns that alternative trading platforms could take market share from incumbents and drive down margins.

“The money flows coming into Asia — that is what is important,” Nolting said. “Flows to Asia are very strong and that would mean more trading volumes, which would be positive for the stock price.”

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For StarMine comparative data on SGX, HKEx and ASX:

SINGAPORE, July 29 (Reuters) – Target Asset Management, one of Singapore’s most successful boutique fund managers, will wind down its operations over the next four to five months as founder and chief investment officer Teng Ngiek Lian is retiring.

Investors in Target Asset’s $2 billion Target Asia Fund, an Asia ex-Japan equities fund, can begin redeeming their shares in the fund from Aug 31, the firm said in a notice to investors.

Teng and his family, who have about $39 million in the fund, will take out their money on Nov 30 which is the last day for redemptions.

“I celebrated my 60th birthday recently… As much as I enjoy my work as a fund manager, I also realise that it is time for me to move on to do some other things in the next phase of my life,” Teng wrote in a letter to investors dated Wednesday.

Target Asset was set up in April 1996 by Teng, a former managing director at Morgan Grenfell and UBS Asset Management.

Its flagship Target Asia Fund, which once held as much as $3 billion in assets, has returned an annualised 17.4 percent since its started in September 1996, beating the 3.1 percent average yearly gain in the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index .MIAPJ0000PUS over the same period.

The Target Asia fund lost 7.8 percent between Jan 1 and June 30 after gaining 68.4 percent in 2009.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) will offer a euro-dollar currency futures contract when it starts operations in late August, broadening its planned offering from an initial focus on energy and commodities.

SMX, wholly owned by India’s Financial Technologies(FITE.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), will be the city-state’s second exchange when it comes onstream, putting in competition with Singapore Exchang, which is trying to grow its commodities and derivatives business.

SMX plans to introduce other currency contracts as it expects Asia’s share of foreign exchange trading to rise over time and as pressure grows on banks to settle over-the-counter trades on regulated exchanges to minimise risks to the financial system, CEO Thomas McMahon told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

“It’s a logical conclusion that since we are in Asia, we will best serve the industry by offering the currencies that are relevant,” he said.

The euro-dollar contract will also complement the planned euro-denominated Brent oil contract that will trade on SMX, he added. Other contracts announced by the Indian-owned firm to-date include WTI crude oil futures and gold.

McMahon said SMX expects to go “live” in late August and that 11 of its planned contracts have been certified by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which is the industry regulator.

“We will choose part of this basket going into the launch,” he said without giving details of the other contracts.

SINGAPORE, July 19 (Reuters) – Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] is looking to sell sterling-denominated bonds, its first issue in the British currency, to diversify its funding sources, people with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

Temasek plans a benchmark issue, industry jargon for an issue equivalent to at least $500 million, and is in the process of sounding out potential investors through UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the sources said.

Temasek and the banks declined to comment.

“They see sterling as an additional pool of capital for them,” said one of the sources who spoke to Reuters. “They want to create a yield curve in different currencies.”

Temasek has sold bonds worth $6 billion under its existing $10 billion medium-term note programme, mostly in the Singapore and U.S. dollar, according to its annual report released earlier this month.

Its bonds have a weighted average maturity of 13 years and are rated AAA by both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

Its biggest investment in the United Kingdom is Asia-focused Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in which it has a stake of about 18 percent.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore state investor Temasek, whose energy and resources portfolio grew by $3.6 billion last year, on Thursday dismissed talk it had held discussions with BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) for a strategic stake.

Temasek’s comment comes amid speculation the troubled British oil major is approaching several sovereign wealth funds for cash to ward off a takeover and help pay for the worst oil spill in U.S. history. BP boss Tony Hayward met an Abu Dhabi state investment fund on Wednesday.

“It’s speculation,” Temasek Executive Director Simon Israel told reporters on Thursday when asked if Temasek was indeed talking to BP. Israel did not comment further.

Analysts say an investment in BP by Temasek is unlikely as it has repeatedly said it will focus on Asian investments, after losing billions investing in Western banks such as Merrill Lynch and Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in the financial crisis.

A more likely candidate could be the $250 billion-plus Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), Temasek’s sister wealth fund, whose investments are more diversified internationally. GIC, which already owns about 0.7 percent of BP shares, has declined to comment on the subject.

Temasek released its 2010 annual report on Thursday, which showed the value of its portfolio rose 43 percent to S$186 billion at end-March, and said it was not searching for a successor to Chief Executive Ho Ching.

The growth took the portfolio of the world’s eighth-largest sovereign fund to a record high, but it lagged some benchmarks and peers. Officials also said the value had fallen since March in line with weak global markets, but declined to give a figure.