Stocks to watch: UOB, BreadTalk, Nam Cheong, Manulife US Reit

THE following stocks had announcements or developments that may influence trading on Wednesday.

United Overseas Bank: United Overseas Bank (UOB) has deepened its support of Chinese companies expanding through the Belt and Road initiative by signing two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on Sunday. The first agreement was signed with the Chinese Chamber of International Commerce (CCOIC), China's national business association, while the second was with the Qingjian Group, the largest construction conglomerate in Shandong province. The two contracts will build on the bank's existing efforts in facilitating Chinese business investment in South-east Asia.

BreadTalk: There is a change in leadership at multinational food and beverage corporation BreadTalk. It has appointed Henry Chu as its group chief executive officer (CEO). He takes over on July 1 from Oh Eng Lock, who will be stepping down on June 30. The move is in line with the group's leadership renewal process, BreadTalk said. Mr Chu, who has 20 years of experience in food and beverage (F&B) and retail in Singapore and the region, rejoined BreadTalk as group managing director last October.

Nam Cheong: A unit of offshore marine group Nam Cheong was issued a writ of summons and statement of claims by OCBC Bank in the High Court of Labuan in Malaysia on Monday. The firm owes OCBC over US$10 million and the bank is claiming against the subsidiary as borrower under a credit facility granted by it, and against Nam Cheong as guarantor of the loan.

Manulife US Reit: Manulife Real Estate Management, the manager of Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust (Manulife US Reit), announced on Tuesday that its private placement of 73.6 million new units in Manulife US Reit was "well over-subscribed with strong participation from new and existing institutional investors".