Stocks to watch: DBS, OCBC, UOB, Singtel, Keppel, Sabana Reit, iFast, Japfa

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Monday:

DBS, OCBC, UOB: Singapore banks may move to review or even cut their exposure to Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) customers, as a recent wave of high-profile SOE bond defaults become a wake-up call for lenders counting on government bailouts, The Business Times (BT) reported on Monday.

Separately, UOB is counting on an omnichannel approach to hold off competition from the upcoming Singapore digital banks, it told BT.

Meanwhile, DBS told BT that it aims to have a million retail customers insured and invested in the next few years, as it looks to tap a more consolidated trove of customer data to ramp up its digital financial advisory tool.

At Friday's close, DBS rose S$0.08 or 0.3 per cent to S$25.66, OCBC was up S$0.03 or 0.3 per cent to S$10.10, while UOB gained S$0.08 or 0.4 per cent to S$23.05.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel): The telco's alliance with Grab has bagged one of the two coveted Singapore digital full-bank licences up for grabs. The Grab-Singtel consortium is making cybersecurity a top priority for its digital bank, and will hire about 200 staff in the city-state by the end of next year. Singtel shares rose S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent to finish Friday at S$2.34, before the results of the digital bank applications were announced.

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Keppel Corp: Its shipbuilding company Keppel FELS has terminated a US$425 million contract from Awilco Drilling to build a mid-water drilling rig, Keppel Corp said on Friday night. The conglomerate also announced on Saturday that its wholly-owned unit FELS Offshore has signed a lock-up agreement for a proposed restructuring of offshore vessel player Floatel. Shares of Keppel Corp advanced 2.1 per cent or S$0.11 to close at S$5.26 on Friday.

Sabana Shari'ah Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Sabana Reit), ESR-Reit: The two trusts' proposed merger has fallen through, after an extraordinary general meeting on Friday afternoon. Activist funds Quarz Capital and Black Crane Capital thus said they will be fast-tracking the plan to internalise Sabana Reit's management to improve value for unitholders. Both trusts called for trading halts on Thursday after market close, before lifting the halts on Friday evening. Sabana Reit units finished Thursday at 35.5 Singapore cents, while ESR-Reit ended at 41 Singapore cents.

iFast Corp: The mainboard-listed wealth management platform was unsuccessful in its bid for a digital wholesale bank licence in Singapore. Nonetheless, iFast on Saturday said it still plans to continue pursuing a digital banking licence both in Singapore and abroad. The Singapore Exchange also queried iFast on Friday afternoon about the trading activity in its shares, to which the company replied that it was unaware of the digital bank application's outcome at the time. iFast shares climbed 6.9 per cent or S$0.25 to end at S$3.90 on Friday.

Japfa: The agri-food company said on Monday it will sell 80 per cent of its South-east Asia branded dairy business to affiliates of investment firms TPG and Northstar Group for US$236 million. Japfa will retain 20 per cent of the shareholding in Greenfields Dairy Singapore. The counter closed on Friday at S$0.77, up S$0.02 or 2.7 per cent.

CapitaLand: The property giant on Monday said it has formed a US$300 million joint venture (JV) to scale its multifamily asset portfolio in the US. The JV partner is an Austin-headquartered real estate investment, development and property management firm. CapitaLand shares closed at S$3.17 on Friday, up S$0.04 or 1.3 per cent.

Sembcorp Industries: The industrial conglomerate said on Monday that it will record impairments of about S$89 million for the second half ending Dec 31, 2020. As a result of these exceptional items, the group expects to incur losses for the full year. Sembcorp shares fell S$0.01 or 0.5 per cent to end at S$1.85 on Friday.

Singapore Airlines (SIA): The flag carrier has seven Boeing 747-400 freighters waiting in the wings to transport Covid-19 vaccines, while its passenger aircraft fleet is also ready to be deployed to ramp up capacity, SIA said on Saturday. Its stock moved up S$0.03 or 0.7 per cent to S$4.42 at Friday's close.

Medtecs International Corp: The Catalist-listed firm and its supplier Mytrex Health Technologies will together explore opportunities to co-locate production plants in Taiwan, the Philippines, the US and other regions. This is to vertically integrate their production operations for personal protective equipment, Medtecs said on Monday. Its stock fell two Singapore cents or 2.1 per cent to 92.5 cents on Friday.