Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Liverpool dropped their first home points of the Premier League season as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester United and the Reds' captain Virgil van Dijk felt "only one team tried to win" - a comment that pundit and former Red Devil skipper Roy Keane, felt smacked of arrogance. Was it arrogance or was it frustration? You be the judge! Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

The World Economic Forum reports that the global gender gap will take 135.6 years to close at the current rate. Ongoing wars and conflicts exacerbate humanitarian needs and economic instability, and the World Bank notes that many developing countries are struggling to return to pre-pandemic growth levels.  So how can one emerge as an effective leader in such turbulent times? What should leaders focus on?  Durreen Shahnaz, Founder and CEO, Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and IIX Foundation shares her views. 

We take a journey into the hearts and minds of netizens in Singapore with Yahoo Year in Review 2023.  The review highlights all the top things that have captivated and captured their attention, from the most searched local celebrities and newsmakers to tech gadgets, athletes, beauty brands, travel, stocks, and more. Esther Au Yong, Head of Yahoo Finance, SEA delve with us into details of all that has captured the interest of Singapore netizens this year. 

The US House of Representatives has voted to formally open an impeachment inquiry into US President Joe Biden. Is there evidence that Biden committed any wrongdoing? And will the president really be impeached? On Washington Report, we take stock of the year that was and what’s on the agenda for the US in 2024 with Cedomir Nestorovic, Professor of Geopolitics, ESSEC Business School, Asia-Pacific.

Nourishing your body and soul with good food does not have to come with a heavy price tag. Chitose Agriculture is importing the farming techniques right to our local farms instead, bringing the freshest Japanese produce right to your table. So how does their proprietary advanced monitoring system work?  Justin Lim, Regional Business Development Manager, Chitose Agriculture shares more with us. 

Singapore stocks opened muted today amid a mixed performance among index counters. That is in contrast with global markets, which finished higher overnight. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.04 per cent to 3,121.85 points, after 93.4 million securities changed hands in the broader market.  In terms of companies to watch today, we have Keppel DC Reit. That’s as the Reit’s Chinese subsidiary has issued a letter of demand to its tenant of three data centres in Guangdong, to recover 48.3 million yuan (S$9.1 million) of late rentals, interests and taxes.  Meanwhile from more on China’s home prices and retail activity to US regulators adding artificial intelligence to its list of potential financial system risks, more international headlines remain in focus.  On Market View, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments withSunny Soh, Lead Technical Analyst (Capital Markets & Investor Education), SIAS.

Global digital ecosystem enabler Tata Communications is partnering with Singapore Airlines to transform the airlines communications and collaboration tools to enhance employee productivity and boost user experience. Amitabh Sarkar, Vice President & Head of Asia Pacific and Japan – Enterprise, Tata Communications shares more about the cutting-edge technologies delivered as part of this partnership, and how does Tata Communications sets SIA up for the future of aviation.

One Holland Village has opened to the public this December. Part of the One Holland Village development by Far East Organization, the pet-friendly mall is designed as a welcoming open-air space, with a slew of special features that cater specially to you and your pooches.  Graham Ng, Managing Director, Retail Business Group of Far East Organization shares more about One Holland Village's bold development into a vibrant and dynamic urban retail space.

Finalised Ministry of Manpower (MOM) data for the third quarter of 2023 has shown that the number of job vacancies was at 78,400 in September. The data also revealed that Singapore retrenchments numbers saw an increase in 3Q2023.  As we embark into a new year, will Singapore’s job market continue to cool? Song Seng Wun, Economic Consultant, CGS CIMB Securities shares his views. 

How does a SPAC merger work exactly and how does a special purpose acquisition company’s management choose a target firm to acquire, and eventually exit?  These are the questions we seek to address in today’s session with our guest from RF Acquisition.  Listed on the US NASDAQ in March 2022, RF Acquisition is a SPAC or a blank cheque company which uses proceeds from its initial public offering to merge with a private firm.  It had in October signed a deal with Singapore-based video game distributor Grand Centrex Limited that values it at US$1.2 billion.  For context, GCL is a firm with over 15 multi-year deals with big name publishers like CD Projekt Red, Warner Brothers and SEGA and is responsible for bringing games such as the Cyberpunk 2077 into Singapore.  It sells and distributes to retailers and consumers in Asia physical and digital copies of video games that are compatible with major gaming consoles such as Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, and personal computers.  The company also moved into media and content creation and you might also know it as the company that backed YouTuber Jian Hao Tan’s Titan Digital Media Group.  But a number of questions here – how did RF Acquisition eventually decide on merging with GCL and what’s next after signing the deal with the target firm?  Meanwhile, the deal is set to fetch US$42.9 million in proceeds for GCL - so what is the basis behind the projection? How and when can the management of RF Acquisition cash out and what is the ROI RF Acquisition is seeking? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Ng Tse Meng, Chairman and CEO, RF Acquisition Corp.