Stocks to watch: Keppel, SPH Reit, Thomson Medical, Spackman Entertainment

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Friday:

Keppel Corporation: Its property arm, Keppel Land, is partnering a Vietnamese developer to build homes in Ho Chi Minh City, expected to cost more than 7,400 billion dong (S$439 million). Keppel Land's wholly owned subsidiary entered into a conditional share purchase agreement with Phu Long Real Estate Corporation to acquire a 60 per cent interest in three land parcels, according to a filing on Thursday after the market closed. The partners plan to develop about 2,400 premium apartments on the site; ancillary shophouses will offer around 14,650 square metres of commercial space. Keppel Corp shares closed up 1.38 per cent at S$6.62 on Thursday.

SPH Reit: The retail landlord's distribution per unit climbed 1.5 per cent to 1.39 Singapore cents for its third quarter ended May 31, while income available for distribution for the quarter grew 4.8 per cent to S$36.8 million from the previous year. Contributions from its purchases of malls in Singapore and Australia boosted its results, it said on Thursday evening. The real estate investment trust's units closed at S$1.12, up S$0.01 or 0.9 per cent on Thursday before it announced its financial results.

Thomson Medical Group: The mainboard-listed healthcare provider on Thursday night priced its S$225 million senior notes due 2022 at 4.8 per cent, to be issued at par. This is its debut bond offering, and the notes were two times oversubscribed. They are expected to be issued on July 18. Net proceeds will be used to refinance existing loan facilities and extend the company's debt maturity profile. Shares of Thomson Medical closed at 6.6 Singapore cents on Thursday, up 1.54 per cent or 0.1 cent.

Spackman Entertainment Group: An indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Spackman Entertainment will start filming its next major film in the second half of 2019, according to a bourse filing early on Friday morning. The project's working title is Alone, and will be headlined by actor Yoo Ah-in and actress Park Shin‐hye; the former is from UAA & Co Inc, a subsidiary of the group's associated company Spackman Media Group. Catalist-listed Spackman's shares closed flat at S$0.017 on Thursday.