Stocks to watch: OUE, Singpost, Manulife US Reit, FLT, SIIC, Envictus, Transcorp

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

OUE: Property developer OUE Limited on Thursday said it has inked agreements to sell Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore, its luxury serviced residences and hotel business along Shenton Way, for S$289 million in total. The buyers are joint venture firms formed by Hong Kong financial services firm AMTD Group and hotel operator Dorsett Hospitality International. Dorsett is wholly-owned by Hong Kong-listed property giant Far East Consortium International (FEC). OUE shares closed flat at S$1.46 on Wednesday.

Singpost: The mail and logistics firm said on Thursday that its six-month sale process for its US e-commerce businesses, Jagged Peak and TradeGlobal, have closed with "no acceptable offers". The group had received eight expressions of interest which resulted in two non-binding offers, the terms of which were "commercially unfeasible" to SingPost, the mainboard-listed firm said in a regulatory filing. Following the developments, the boards of directors of the US companies have set up special board committees comprising only independent directors to seek additional liquidity. If that is not possible, they will explore options such as restructuring - including filing for bankruptcy. Singpost shares closed down S$0.005 or 0.5 per cent at S$0.93 on Wednesday.

Manulife US Reit: The Reit on Thursday morning announced it is buying a freehold 29-storey Class A office building in California through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary for US$198.8 million. It will raise gross proceeds of about US$142.1 million through a private placement and preferential offering to partially fund the acquisition. The Reit called for a trading halt before its announcements. Its units closed unchanged at US$0.91 on Wednesday.

Frasers Logistics and Industrial Trust (FLT): The mainboard-listed company will be a constituent of the GPR 250 Index Series from Sept 23, it announced in a bourse filing on Wednesday. Published by the Dutch firm Global Property Research, the series comprises two indices: the GPR 250 Index, representing the 250 most liquid listed property securities globally, and the GPR 250 Reit Index. To qualify for inclusion, companies must have a free float market cap of at least US$50 million and must derive at least 75 per cent of their operational turnover from property activities. Units of FLT closed at S$1.20 on Wednesday, down two cents.

SIIC Environment: Two units of the water treatment firm have inked agreements for concession rights regarding water tariff hikes in China, the mainboard-listed company announced in a Wednesday bourse filing. SIIC Environment (Dalian) Co, an indirect subsidiary of SIIC, signed a supplementary agreement on concession rights for its Dalian Wan Wastewater Treatment Plant project in Dalian City in Liaoning province. The plant has a total design capacity of 40,000 tonnes/day. SIIC shares closed flat at 24 Singapore cents on Wednesday.

Envictus International Holdings: It is set to cease its loss-making Texas Chicken operations in Indonesia, with the sale of the master franchise agreement and its six stores for RM9.25 million (S$3 million). Its wholly-owned Indonesian subsidiary, Quick Service Restaurant, has entered a sale-and-purchase agreement to sell its Indonesian Texas Chicken operations to the firm Quick Serve Indonesia, a franchisee of Texas Chicken for Surabaya. Shares of Envictus, which is on the bourse's watch-list, closed at 13.1 Singapore cents on Wednesday, up 0.1 cent.

Transcorp Holdings: It called for a trading on Thursday morning pending an announcement. The property leasing and development firm's shares closed flat at S$0.004 on Wednesday.