Stocks to watch: First Sponsor, Mencast, Chiwayland

WITH the quarterly earnings reporting season largely over, all eyes are on the US Federal Reserve chairman's speech this week, which will likely set the tone for the US dollar and in turn oil prices.

Some of the stocks to watch on Monday are:

First Sponsor Group: It has tied up with China Vanke and Regent Land Investment Holdings in developing the group's mixed-use project in Dongguan in Guangdong province. The group said on Monday it had on Aug 19 entered into a share subscription agreement and assignment agreement with subsidiaries of China Vanke and Regent Land for the collaboration.

First Sponsor will retain a significant 30 per cent stake in the project, while Vanke and Regent Land will end up with 55 per cent and 15 per cent interests respectively. First Sponsor's net gain from the transaction is expected to be about S$95.3 million.

Mencast Holdings: The maintenance, repair and overhaul solutions provider for the global offshore, marine and oil & gas sectors on Aug 19 entered into banking facility agreements with UOB to redeem its outstanding bonds. These include a secured loan of up to S$50 million and secured facilities of up to S$24.9 million comprising term loan facility, trade facility and money-market credit facility.

The funds from these banking facilities will be used for the redemption of the outstanding bonds of S$50 million issued by the group and due on Sept 12, the refinancing of certain existing loan facilities, general trade purposes and general working capital purposes.

Chiwayland International: The Chinese real estate developer said it has plans to continue ramping up its pipeline of projects in its home market in the mainland, as it maintains full confidence in China's property market despite talk of a possible property bubble.

It also has bold plans for the Australian and US markets, which will underpin its strategy to make non-Chinese revenue half of the group's total in five years, according to a Straits Times report.