Daily Briefing: Concerns rise as private mortgages surpass HDB loans; Temasek eyes stake in HNA's Hong Kong airlines

And here's how Catalist-listed production firm UnUsUaL struck a $25.8m royal deal involving the prince of Brunei.

From Deal Street Asia:

The Prince of Brunei Abdul Qawi and Singaporean magnate and OSIM founder Ron Sim bought a stake totalling 5.4% in Catalist-listed event and concert production firm UnUsUaL for $25.8m, mm2 Asia said. Qawi bought a 4.76% stake for $22.8m, whilst Sim bought the remainder for $3m.

"The shares were sold by a subsidiary of mm2 Asia at a price of $0.465 per share. The company noted that it had no immediate plans for the proceeds of the sale.

'UnUsUaL has charted a remarkable growth trajectory since its listing on SGX-ST Catalist slightly more than a year ago, offering more and more international acts as well as expanding regionally into Taiwan, South Korea and China. As such, the participation of His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Qawi, serving as Chairman and Board Member for several companies in ASEAN, allows UnUsUaL access to strategic business relationships in the region,' said mm2 Asia executive chairman Melvin Ang.

Read more here.

From Reuters:

According to an unnamed source, Temasek Holdings has expressed interest in buying into Chinese conglomerate HNA’s Hong Kong-based carriers, Hong Kong Airlines, and Hong Kong Express Airways.

"However, an investment in the unlisted Hong Kong carriers by Temasek remains subject to a due diligence process that has yet to begin, said the source on condition of anonymity.

The Singaporean investor would likely emerge as only a minority holder in the Hong Kong airlines, which control valuable slots at Hong Kong’s capacity-constrained airpor, if a deal is completed, the source said.

Temasek and the debt-laden HNA, an aviation-to-financial services conglomerate, last week signed a memorandum of understanding to explore business partnerships in aviation and logistics."

Read more here.

From Value Penguin via Yahoo! Finance:

According to Value Penguin, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of Singapore is rising and that this is a cause for caution and planning, not panic. LTV is a function of mortgage balances and home prices which fluctuates based on consumers' willingness to borrow and hence their risk tolerance.

"Since 2004, private financial institutions have become the primary source of home loans in Singapore. By the end of 2017, Singaporean homeowners owed $200b to financial institutions and $40m to the Housing & Development Board (HDB). This is a drastic change compared to the beginning of 2004 when loans from HDB ($60b) exceeded mortgages from private lenders ($56b).

It is possible that private lenders are increasingly allowing home buyers to make only the minimum downpayment (20% of home value), thereby decreasing the LTV ratio of many individual loans and the overall LTV.

The recent climb in LTV appears to be accompanied by two other trends. First, there has been a slight decline in HDB property prices over the past few years, during late 2013 to 2014 period in particular. While HDB prices seem to be stabilizing, this is a trend worth monitoring especially given the recent discussions around 99-year lease of public housing. Simultaneously, an increase in private home values may be increasing consumers' confidence and encouraging riskier and more speculative lending and borrowing activities, resulting in a higher LTV ratio."

Read more here.