PHOTO: COURTESY OF POWER SERAYA

The news in the papers really shocked me! Power Seraya was sold to Malaysia's YTL for a really good price of $3.8billion, the least among the 3 power plants. This also surprised many market analysts.

The price tag of $3.8billion is low compared to Tuas Power being sold to Chinese firm Huaneng for $4.23 billion and Senoko Power to a consortium led by Marubeni Corp for $4 billion.

My question is why the sale of a Key National Assets to a foreign company. Thank God, Singaporeans are not like citizens of other countries, we don't take to the streets. Most recent case, the sale of Thailand telecommunication to Temasek caused a out cry among the Thais and that lead to them taking to the streets.

Since both GIC and Temasek has reported good growth and healthy dividen growth why is there a need to sell of all 3 of Singapore's power plant?

Just wondering will this 3 Gencos gang up like those fuel supply companies...after all is the 2 are in the oligopoly market.. .. remember the days when our fuel exceed $2 per liter? It just take 1 company to increase it prices and the rest will follow..vice versa...



Reports by Straits Times:-

TEMASEK Holdings has stunned the market by announcing that it has sold electricity generator Power-Seraya to a unit of Malaysia's YTL Power International for $3.8 billion.

This came just a week after the Singapore investment company said it would shelve tender plans for PowerSeraya, owing to 'market conditions'.

Market talk had suggested that relatively poor investor interest and lower-than-expected indicative bids by investors had led to Temasek's earlier decision.

Temasek said in a statement yesterday, however, that Sabre Energy, a wholly-owned unit of YTL Power, would pay $3.6 billion for PowerSeraya and assume $201 million of its adjusted net debt as at March 31 this year.

The transaction for PowerSeraya - the third and last of the electricity generation companies (gencos) to be sold by Temasek - is expected to be completed early next year.

In June last year, Temasek announced it was selling the three gencos to liberalise the power generation industry. It had targeted to complete the sale by the middle of next year.

Ms Gwendel Tung, Temasek's director of investment, said yesterday that after the company put a stop to the tender process last week, YTL Power submitted an 'unsolicited proposal' that met Temasek's requirements.

Referring to YTL Power, Ms Tung said: 'We are confident that their expertise and experience will add significant value to Singapore's electricity market and PowerSeraya in particular.'

Other factors may have also come into play. One possibility, suggest industry watchers, is that the funds will come in handy in helping cushion losses from other investments that have soured amid the global financial crisis.

They say another possibility concerns Temasek's outlook on market conditions. Temasek might have worried that, with asset prices declining rapidly, it might not have been able to secure such an 'acceptable' price again had it 'procrastinated'.

Temasek's other gencos fetched higher prices. Tuas Power went to Chinese firm Huaneng for $4.23 billion. Senoko Power, meanwhile, was sold to a consortium led by Marubeni Corp for $4 billion.

A third theory concerned the other bidders for PowerSeraya, which were said to be a Hong Kong CLP Holdings-led consortium and Bahrain's Arcapita.

Due to deteriorating market conditions, and with banks taking more precautions on lending, Temasek might have been concerned over whether these bidders would face difficulties in financing the deal.

Temasek declined yesterday to comment on the talk and also declined to provide the names of the shortlisted bidders.

The sale of the three gencos is aimed at liberalising the power generation industry. Private ownership can trigger stronger competition, possibly leading to lower costs and lower electricity prices.

The acquisition of PowerSeraya is not YTL Power's first foray into Singapore-based assets.

Its parent company, YTL Corp, owns majority stakes in two Sentosa Cove projects. In November last year, the group made history here by paying $2,525 per sq ft per plot ratio for Westwood Apartments in Orchard Boulevard - the most expensive site to be sold collectively.

YTL Power managing director Francis Yeoh said the 3,100MW of licensed capacity operated by PowerSeraya would give YTL Power 'significant participation' in the Singapore energy market.

YTL Power believes its participation in Singapore's electricity market will put it in a prime position to contribute towards the liberalisation of the Malaysian electricity market.

gabrielc@sph.com.sg

Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before December 25; in other words, the Sunday between November 27 and December 3 inclusive. And ends on the eve of Christmas. The colour Purple is the colour for Advent, it symbolizes penitence and readiness to learn.

Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming. Christians believe that the season of Advent serves a dual reminder of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting that Christians today endure as they await the second coming of Christ.

Train travel made easy...

Railways could soon link South East Asia to China and Europe.

Train lovers and travel nuts have long had a dream of going from Europe to Singapore by rail.

The journey to the East goes well as far as China, and the upgrading of tracks - sometimes with high-speed trains - is easing passage as far as Hong Kong.

From then on south, the rail buff, and potential cargo carriers, must wait just a few more years.

From south China into South East Asia is a bigger leap than it looks on the map - and not only for trains.

Diplomacy and funding from France and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been agreed for the next step, from China to the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.

And there are more routes being built from Kunming in the Chinese province of Yunnan.

Regional transport specialists told the BBC that two-thirds of the line from Kunming to the Chinese side of the border is completed, and a project is under way on the Vietnamese side to Lao Khai on the border.

Dreams to reality

Moving southwards through Vietnam, the aged track from Hanoi in the north to the southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in the south does daily duty for thousands.

It works, but is old and needs upgrading.

Even more urgent for the Vietnamese government are the urban rail projects it announced in September.

At least $15bn (£9.7bn) is to be spent on building tramways, sky trains and subways within Hanoi, and a metro in Ho Chi Minh City.

In Hanoi, complex upgrading works are being propelled by Japanese and French assistance; Japan is funding a feasibility study into elevating the entire urban railway, and a metro line is planned between the airport and the city.

In Cambodia, the entire national network is now being overhauled, rehabilitated and privatised, with the help of a foreign investor and multilateral funding.

Missing links

The Trans-Siberian train links Russia to China.

Getting from Vietnam to the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, remains difficult.

The terrain demands several challenging bridges, feasibility studies for which have been funded by China.

A route has been identified to meet the Vietnamese border at Loc Ninh, which suits Vietnamese mining interests in the area.

But the money has not yet been found to meet the costs of the project of up to $500m.

Getting from Phnom Penh further westward into Thailand is perhaps the most startling difficulty, ever since the Khmer Rouge ripped up the train lines between their strongholds in north-west Cambodia and the border.

The Thai government is fixing up the six missing kilometres (nearly four miles) of track on their side.

Contractors are now working on the 48 km missing on the Cambodian side, from Sisophon to Poipet.

Just a few kilometres are missing between Thailand and Laos.

It is now agreed that the Thai government will pay for the rail track over the Friendship Bridge that crosses the Mekong River between the two countries.

Once it reaches a rail head on the other side of the river, a few more kilometres are needed for it to reach the Laotian capital Vientiane.

Big ideas

Other links are on the drawing boards, if the mountains and rivers can be tamed.

One idea is to link Chinese rail southward through Laos along the Mekong River, although the technical challenges presented by the dramatic landscapes would make this expensive.

That would still be easier than linking China to the south seas through Burma, where huge mountain ranges - and a cash-strapped government of ruling generals - bar the way.

This steam train on the River Kwai harks back to earlier times.

He and his colleagues have been asked by regional governments to upgrade recent transport plans "with a view to multi-modal transport", meaning the swapping of containers from trucks to trains and back.

In future it would be possible to catch a train, or put a container on a train, from Singapore to Phnom Penh within two years, and from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City within five years.

A train ride along the banks of the Mekong might take a little bit more time.

Just abit of sharing..was quit surprised that within and hour of my posting, I got 14 visitors from 9 different Countries.

Never happen to me before and this is for the very 1st time. Take a look below..that is the proof!

In memory of Ms Lo Hwei Yen

Is a tragic news that a Singaporean lady was held hostage in India in the recent terrorist attack in the city of Mumbai was found dead.

She is Ms. Lo Hwei Yen, 28 a law graduate of the National University of Singapore, Ms Lo worked with Stephenson Harwood, a foreign law firm based here. She is the first Singaporean to die in a terrorist attack.

"The loss of any life to terrorism is sad, and the loss of a fellow Singaporean is a pain more keenly and closely felt by every Singaporean." Professor S Jayakumar.

See what the insane mind of a terrorist can do? Have they no regards for human life? What if the terrorist's love ones are held hostage? Is there a need for 'an eye for an eye' attitude?

"Do unto others what you want others to do unto you"

Let there be peace on earth....

More of Julian... ...

Art for the people.
' My art is for anybody, it ' s for people who wouldn ' t go into an art gallery.
It ' s art for the people. '
' Art shouldn ' t be locked away in galleries and libraries and books.
Art should be for everybody and not just art buffs, historians
and so-called experts. '

Julian works in chalk, so his art, which takes up to 3 days to complete,
is there only as long as the elements allow,
' If it rains it means I ' ve done a lot of hard work for nothing,
but I usually manage to avoid that. '
Visit with Santa


The important thing for me is to get a photo of it at the end.
For me, I ' m working towards building a photograph as my end result,
and if I get that I ' m happy. '
Taking on a fly


' The secret is to set up a camera on a tripod and keep it in one spot
and check every mark you make. It ' s really just playing with perspective
to make it appear different to what it really is. '
Julian Beever - Self Portrait

What is this Black Friday about? Some might think ah.. another Financial market down trends? Well not really! But it has something got to do with figures.

Black Friday is a day after Thanksgiving (in America is the 4th Thursday of Nov) got its name because historically it was the day when a surge of shoppers will fill the Malls helped stores that are in the reds to break into profitability - 'into the black' - for the full year, thus "Black Friday"

More of Julian Beever... ...

Baby Food, viewed from the opposite side


' Once I realised you could make things go down,
I realised you could make them appear to go up
and I began experimenting. '
Make Poverty History - side view - 40 ft long

Make Poverty History - front view

Amazing! Need Help?

Clinging onto a Pole

Archaeology

Felix the Cat gate-crashing the Chinese New Year
of the dog He ' s popping put of the ground in a Chinese dragon costume. '
Chinese Dragon with Felix the Cat .

Politicians get sucked into a pit.

2nd Installment for Julian Beever's Art

The 3D aspect to his work came much later while he was working in Brussels,
' I decided to get into 3D after seeing the effect of tiles being removed
from the street, and later trying to recreate the sense of depth in a drawing.

People avoid the hole.
Hosing down the street

Watch out!
Canal Street - New Orleans

Land Use
Underground Band