Stocks to watch: ComfortDelGro, Hongkong Land, Boustead Singapore, Rex International

[SINGAPORE] The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Friday (Sep 19):

ComfortDelGro : The transport giant announced on Thursday that commuters heading to Johor Bahru will be able to book a cross-border ride from any location in Singapore through ComfortDelGro’s hotline from Sep 25. This initiative will ensure that its 90 cabbies with a valid cross-border taxi licence will be available for this service. Most trips will be at a fixed cost of S$80. The drop-off point will be Larkin Sentral Terminal in Johor Bahru, designated for Singapore taxis. Shares of ComfortDelGro closed flat at S$1.50 before the news.

Hongkong Land : The real estate group said on Thursday that it will sell its Singapore and Malaysian property arm MCL Land to Malaysia’s Sunway Group in a S$738.7 million cash deal. Hongkong Land chief executive officer Michael Smith said that most of the proceeds will go into funding future endeavours, such as the growth of its ultra-premium integrated commercial projects in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and other Asian gateway cities. The deal brings the total capital recycled by the Jardine Matheson-owned company since 2024 to US$2 billion, hitting half the company’s target of at least US$4 billion by end-2027. The sale is effectively at net asset value as well, he noted. The counter closed down 1.6 per cent or US$0.11 at US$6.65 on Thursday.

Boustead Singapore : The Singapore-headquartered group estimated on Thursday that the portfolio value of its proposed real estate investment trust listing, UI Boustead Reit, would be S$1.9 billion. The portfolio will consist of 23 logistics and industrial properties – 21 leasehold ones in Singapore and two freehold ones in Japan. The company said that UI Boustead Reit will use this valuation to decide on the amount it is willing to pay to acquire these assets. Shares of Boustead Singapore last closed at S$1.76 on Wednesday, and a trading halt was put in place on Thursday morning. The trading halt was lifted on Thursday evening.

Metro Holdings : The property investment and development group announced on Thursday that it has not made any decision nor entered into any agreement with respect to the divestment of Boustead Singapore’s stake in four Singapore properties through Boustead Projects to UI Boustead Reit, or the portfolio valuation of UI Boustead Reit. The company, through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary Metrobilt Construction, holds 26 per cent of the units in the Boustead Industrial Fund and the 7 per cent notes due 2031 issued by Perpetual (Asia). Metro Holdings noted that there was no certainty that a definitive agreement would be entered into and/or that any possible transaction would materialise from the talks. The counter closed flat at S$0.53 on Thursday.

Rex International : Its subsidiary Lime Petroleum Holding (LPH) raised around 1.1 billion krone (S$142.8 million) from an issuance of senior secured bonds, the oil exploration and production company said on Friday. Around half the proceeds, some 550 million krone, will be used to refinance LPH’s existing bond. The remaining amount will be used for onshore field development activities in Germany and general corporate purposes. The counter finished on Thursday flat at S$0.179.