Daily Briefing: Temasek said to weigh Keppel sale; December factory output falls by 7.9%

And here’s why talent will be the game changer in Singapore.

Temasek Holdings Pte is discussing options for portfolio companies Keppel Corp. and Sembcorp Industries Ltd., ranging from divesting their non-core assets to selling shares, as the two Singaporean rig builders grapple with the oil-price slump, people with knowledge of the matter said. The state investment company is weighing the possibility of Keppel selling its 19.1 percent stake in wireless operator M1 Ltd. and paring its 44.6 percent interest in office landlord Keppel REIT, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Read more here.

Singapore’s industrial production fell for an 11th month in December as electronics and petrochemicals output declined amid slowing growth in China. That marks the longest slump since at least 2000. Factory output fell 7.9 percent from a year earlier in December, after declining a revised 6.4 percent in November, the Singapore Economic Development Board said in a statement on Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 16 economists was for a 7.2 percent slide. Find out more here.

Ahead of the official national unemployment numbers in Singapore, the glaring growth of unemployment rate in the last two quarters in Singapore is unmistakable – more and more Singapore residents are unemployed. The market downturn is looming all over our heads, and it is real. Read more here.