Daily Briefing: GIC to buy US$70m of shares from pharma firm Hansoh; NWC proposes $50-$70 pay hike for low-wage workers

And CapitaLand plans to achieve 100% green certification by 2030.

From Bloomberg:

Sovereign wealth fund GIC will purchase shares worth $96.6m (US$70m) from pharmaceutical firm Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO of US$1b.

The Jiangsu-based company is offering 551 million shares at $2.30 (HK$13.06) to $2.51 (HK$14.26) apiece, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg. The offering has attracted nine cornerstone investors to buy a combined $474.7m (US$344m) of the base offering based on top-end pricing.

GIC’s subscription is the biggest amount amongst the nine cornerstone investors, followed by a $82.8m (US$60m) commitment from Boyu Capital. Ally Bridge, OrbiMed Advisors and Prime Capital will each purchase $55.2m (US$40m) of shares. Hillhouse, Cormorant Asset Management, Vivo Capital and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Investment are also attracted to the deal.

Read more here.

From ChannelNewsAsia:

The National Wages Council (NWC) recommended that low-wage workers receive a pay increase of $50 to $70 per month, with a further recommendation that employers which achieved productivity gains give employees a one-off payment.

This is the fourth time that NWC is proposing a pay hike range for low-wage workers.

At the same time, it is also increasing the basic wage threshold for low-wage workers by $100 to $1,400.

Explaining the need for the increase, it said: “The proportion of full-time resident employees earning a basic monthly wage of up to $1,300 is estimated to have decreased from 9.2% in 2017 to 7.9% in 2018.”Increasing the threshold would cover more employees within the quantitative guidelines, it added.

Read more here.

From PropertyGuru:

With the Ascendas-Singbridge acquisition expected to be completed by June, CapitaLand aims to achieve 100% green certification for its expanded global portfolio by 2030.

The group also seeks to have at least 20% of its extended group’s energy consumption to come from renewable energy by 2025, revealed CapitaLand president and group chief executive Lee Chee Koon in the group’s 10th sustainability report.

CapitaLand had already achieved green certifications for 70% of its properties on a per square meter basis in 2018, prior to the company’s announcement of plan to acquire Ascendas-Singbridge.

The two goals are aligned with the company’s broader aim of having its carbon emission targets approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative.

The initiative is a worldwide effort to get companies to indicate, based on science, how quickly and how much they need to lower their greenhouse gas emissions under the 2015 Paris Agreement commitment to have global warming limited by up to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Read more here.