This article will review four Singapore stocks with recent business development, and it is expected that their stock prices will have a positive trend.

CapitaLand Ascott Trust

CapitaLand Ascott Trust (CLAS) is a hotel trust with 102 properties located in 16 countries across the Asia Pacific region and over 18000 units. As of March 31, 2024, the asset management scale of CLAS has reached SGD 8.5 billion.

CLAS recently announced that it has acquired the remaining 10% equity of Standard at Columbia, a permanent student accommodation property located in South Carolina, USA. Over the past three years, nearly 90% of the equity in this property has been gradually acquired. Initially, CLAS and its sponsor The Ascott Limited established a joint venture in a 50:50 ratio, with the joint venture holding 90% of the aforementioned property. CLAS subsequently acquired The Ascott Limited's shares in the property in November 2022.

The EBITDA for the total development cost of Standard at Columbia is expected to be around 7%, higher than the estimated 6.2% in 2021.

Standard at Columbia has 678 beds and serves over 35000 graduate and undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina. The property was put into operation in August 2023, with an occupancy rate of over 90%. As of the end of May, the pre occupancy rate for the 2024/2025 academic year has reached 99%, achieving a 4% positive rent adjustment compared to the previous academic year.

Singtel

Singtel is the largest telecommunications company in Singapore, providing a range of mobile, broadband, and pay TV services. This blue chip group announced two important news last month.

Firstly, a final agreement was signed with KKR and ST Telemedia Global Data Centers (STT GDC), allowing consortia including Singtel and KKR to invest in STT GDC for a total of SGD 1.75 billion.

Singtel's CFO Arthur Lang commented that digital infrastructure is a rapidly growing asset class, and the global adoption of digitalization and artificial intelligence will drive growth in this field. This investment enables Singtel to participate in the mature platform of STT GDC. STT GDC is one of the fastest-growing data center providers in the world, with 95 data centers located in 11 geographic locations.

The second news involves the signing of a cooperation agreement between Nxera, a regional data center under Singtel, and TM, a leading telecommunications and digital technology group in Malaysia. Both parties will establish a joint venture to develop a data center in Malaysia, starting with the Sustainable Artificial Intelligence Preparation Data Center Park located in Johor. The initial capacity of this data center is 64 megawatts, and if demand continues to be strong, it can scale up to 200 megawatts.

Seatrium

Seatrium provides engineering solutions for the global ocean and energy industries. The group has 60 years of construction experience in designing and constructing oil wells, floating platforms, offshore platforms, and professional vessels.

On June 5th, Seatrium received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from BP to provide engineering services, pending the finalization of the Integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and commissioning (EPC) contract. This LOI is part of the Kaskida project, a green development project located 250 miles southwest of the Gulf of Mexico.

In mid June, Seatrium and GE Vernova announced their joint bid for the third contract from Dutch grid operator Tennet TSO B.V. (Tennet) to build a 2 gigawatt high-voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore power transmission system in the Netherlands. This contract is part of a five-year framework cooperation agreement signed in March last year by a consortium of Sealium and GE Vernova. The plan is to start construction in June 2024 and is expected to be put into operation in 2031.

Sembcorp Industries

Sembcorp Industries (SCI) provides sustainable solutions to support energy transformation and urban development. The group has a balanced energy portfolio of 21.2 gigawatts in 10 countries.

Recently, SCI has signed preliminary agreements with Japanese companies Sojitz Corporation and Kyushu Electric Power to finalize the purchase and sale agreement for green ammonia. The group will serve as the main developer and operator of the project, utilizing renewable energy to produce 200,000 tons of green ammonia in India at the beginning of the year.

Just last week, SCI signed a Long Term Power Purchase Agreement (PPAs) with a subsidiary of global pharmaceutical company GSK. Sembcorp Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group, will provide up to 10 megawatts of electricity supply to GSK's three manufacturing plants in Singapore. These PPAs have a term of up to 10 years and will be implemented starting from January 1, 2025.