City Spring

City Spring just gave dividends rights issue and on that particular day, the stocks plunged from 80 cents to 60 cents. It had the same behavior as any other REITS - real estate investment trust. For those who uses dividend reinvestment strategy.

It is a good time to enter with the current support holding. It just reminds me of Capitacomm. It’s been testing my patience for more than 3 months or so. Definitely something not for trading. Today finally make its move. and if the stock close above 0.92. It might signal start of new trend.

Roller coaster ride in Wall Street

These few days on Wall Street is really a roller coaster ride. What amazes me is the up and down despite the gloom from financial sector. It has been suspicious for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to only come out and said after the bloodbath

“The banks had enough money”

Well, it doesn’t make sense if the macro-economics is is shambles. They have been delaying the stress test report for quite sometime. What are they trying to imply?

I felt the recent surge is all due to speculators from Financial Institutions. Trying to keep myself rationale, there is no common sense in the surge at all if the companies is still losing money. Beware of the bear trap, the market may have yet to bottom.

Is it time to buy stocks now? I don’t think there’s any best time to buy stock for now, anytime now is good time for fundamentalist.

Extracted from WSJ
U.S. stocks turned around on Wednesday after an early dip, following a similar pattern to the previous day’s trading when enthusiasm about the financial sector overcame a set of sour earnings reports from several major companies.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by about 46 points after an early decline of more than 50 points. Other major indexes also reversed after early drops - the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.3%.

Stocks bounced on Tuesday, led by financials, after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the vast majority of banks had more than enough capital, easing some fear about the results of the government’s stress tests of top lenders. Wednesday, Geithner said at a speaking engagement that he would welcome strong banks repaying bailout funds to the government.

Earnings news in the financial sector was again far from upbeat. Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley reported a first-quarter loss and said it plans to cut its dividend by 81% to five cents a share. Its shares declined more than 4%.

Wells Fargo, meanwhile, reported that its net income jumped 52% in the first quarter thanks to its acquisition of troubled lender Wachovia. But the bank also boosted its credit reserves by $1.3 billion in anticipation of higher losses from its consumer-credit and real-estate portfolios. Its shares rose about 7%.
…

What investment strategy you employ?

In order to generate some topic of interest to kill the silence, I asked about investment, which I have been studying for months. And this is when I drag someone down with me. lol…

So I asked the most basic question.

I: So uncle eh, what type of strategy do you employ in investment? fundamental or technical?

He: I employ the winning strategy.

I: ….

I was feeling out of words for a moment. But I come to a realisation that it doesn’t matter what techniques one use. One don’t have to marry a investment technique until he/she died. But it do matter that the one you use is making money.

We continue to talk about the topic and investment at their age is about making sure everything is safe. Is the company going to bankrupt if this recession goes wrong? How long the company can survive without making any money. Does it pay dividend?

Just to add on, I’ve finally receiving all the necessary documents from The Central Depository(Pte) Ltd and can start doing my own trading.

The main point is that when people ask you what strategy you use for investment, you will know what to reply

GIC Citi conversion

Extracted from Hard Hitting in the Lion City

1) Citi’s closing price on Thursday is at US$2.46 a share!
2) By converting, GIC will lose the 7% annual dividend that it has been receiving if it chose not to convert its holdings.
3) based on Thursday’s closing price of US$2.46 for Citi shares, GIC will now suffer a US$1.67 billion loss
4) data clearly show that the U.S. recession is going to get worse before it get any better with the U.S. economy shrinking more than expected in the fourth quarter of 2008
5) U.S. government has just taken a 36% stake in Citigroup (I don’t care if the Americans don’t want to admit it, that’s a nationalization of a bank)
6) GIC is now the second-biggest shareholder in Citi with a stake of about 11%, and Citi’s shares plunged 37% to US$1.55 at the start of US trading on Friday after the bank’s announcement. GIC is paying US$3.25; the current price is US$1.55. Do the math!
7) The profitability of all US banks is likely to be impaired in the next two years’ and Citi is still in danger

Another articlefrom asiaone is also worth reading

THE Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) will convert all its preferred shares in Citigroup into common stock to cut its losses. The swop will give it an 11.1 per cent stake in the troubled US bank, which yesterday announced a sweeping plan to boost its common equity base. The conversion will pare GIC’s paper loss on its original US$6.88 billion investment in Citi from 80 per cent or US$5.5 billion to 24 per cent, or US$1.67 billion, based on Thursday’s closing price of US$2.46 for Citi shares.

Separately, Citi said yesterday that it plans to swop up to US$52.5 billion of its preferred stock, including US$25 billion of the US$45 billion held by the US government, for ordinary shares.

Citi also recorded a massive US$10 billion charge for impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets in the fourth quarter, resulting in an additional net loss of US$9 billion for the final three months of last year.

For GIC, the decision to convert its shares appears to have been the lesser of two unpalatable choices. Citi yesterday suspended dividend payments on its preferred shares as well as common stock, which means that GIC would lose the 7 per cent annual dividend that it has been receiving if it chose not to convert its holdings.

The conversion will make GIC the second-biggest shareholder in Citi with a stake of about 11 per cent, compared to about 4 per cent at the time of its original investment. The US government will be Citi’s largest shareholder, owning 36-38 per cent of Citi’s common equity. The final stakes will depend on how many investors in the publicly held tranche of Citi’s preferred stock decide to participate in the share conversion.

One thing is certain: Existing ordinary shareholders will suffer massive dilution of more than 70 per cent. Citi shares plunged 37 per cent to US$1.55 at the start of US trading yesterday after the bank’s announcement. At that price, GIC’s unrealised loss on its Citi investment would be US$3.6 billion. The profitability of US banks ‘is likely to be impaired in the next two years’, said Ng Kok Song, GIC’s group chief investment officer in a statement.

So is this a move of investment interest or otherwise? Either or, it doesn’t bode well for Citi having to rely on others to bail out from this recession. As well as the interest of Singaporeans watching closely on higher losses by GIC and TH as compared to our resilience plan given out.

GIC convert Citi stocks

GIC downgraded its Citi preferred stocks with common stocks. The catch is they’re exchanging 7% of annual dividend (confirm will get) for another extra 11% of stake in the company. Many funds are yet to exchange their stocks. If others investment institution did the same, the same 11% of stake in the bank will watered down to a few percentage. It seems likely this move is more of to provide a helping hand for Citi and the possibility upside of the stock will raise to a level hight enough to pay them back in the future. But with US increasing their stake to 36%, it gives a scary possibility of the bank being nationalized and our dearest GIC will have to default on this investment.

Another to note is that Singapore is always on the back heel to react to stuff like Lehman brothers fiasco (remember Hong Kong government and Tan Kin Lian?) and for this they decided to convert just within days that Citi announce the news to convert preferred to common shares. It just makes me wonder the real meaning behind this move.

From CNA
SINGAPORE: The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) has said it will convert its convertible preferred notes in the US lender Citigroup to common stock in a bid to help shore up the troubled US lender.The exchange price is US$3.25 a share – a 32 per cent premium to Citigroup’s closing price on Thursday. The price is way under the conversion price of US$26.35 a share under the original terms of the investment.

With the conversion, GIC’s stake in Citigroup will rise to an estimated 11.1 per cent, without any injection of additional funds.

In January 2008, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund bought about US$6.88 billion worth of perpetual, convertible notes in Citigroup. These preferred stocks would pay a 7 per cent annual dividend.

Slapped with Letter Of Demand

This is related to the investment fiasco (hint: somewhere right of my blog) I’ve been through for almost a year and it’s still not been settled. It’s really not worth wasting the trouble for that sum of money.

What’s more bewildering is that I’m slapped with letter of demand aka LOD within a week I’m back and what’s written is absolutely ridiculous.

Bravo~ Good job done.

I don’t think it’s paranoid for me to think that they have been targeting for my return. Now, I have to defend myself becase I have no choice but to defend my reputation. Keep quiet is not an option even though I’m a peaceful person.

And the person is crying foul that I’m one of the few responsible for her situation !@#$

Town Council on how to invest?

After losing so much money is so called “low risk” investment product, we now got lesson 101 on investment. Isn’t it an irony? Alright, to be truthful, hindsight is always 20/20. Investment do have certain risk involved and shit do happens due to economic cycle. And sometimes, it’s good to do your own due diligence rather than listening to fund managers with a different set of priorities.

Due to my personality, I’m more of a low-risk appetite investor. Index and value investing is the way for me. I would recommend Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet as model for study.

Right now, I think it’s the best time to put certain percentage of money into stocks every month diversifying into several portfolios especially on renewable energy.

How to invest?: ”

TWO People’s Action Party (PAP) town councils are reviewing their investment strategies, just days after it was revealed that they had some funds exposed to toxic products.

Pasir Ris-Punggol and Tampines town councils told The Straits Times yesterday that they are rethinking how best to invest their funds in the light of the global downturn.”

(Via Straits Times Interactive - LATEST NEWS.)

Finally seeing some light

I just had a good news from my lawyer friend Rufus that someone invested $85k for the investment thingy. It came as a surprise because firstly 85k is a lot of money and also because it comes from Alvin’s friend who has just graduated also.

Of cos I don’t know how true it is… It’s all hearsay you see.

CAD has yet to contact me but I believe I will see the light very soon. At least I hope Singapore is a place where Justice prevail.

Summary: Full account of investment incident

This is a summary of my previous post “Full account of investment incident.”

On 12/08/2007, I had signed an Agreement of Business Venture Investment Desposit of $2000/- with a company “VR Global Metal Trading Pte Ltd.” The registered address of the company is a virtual office provided by Servcorp at “Level 31, 6 Battery Road, Raffles Place” with a mobile number that cannot contacted. The agreement was signed through a middleman S whom I met during one of the E&I networking session organized by NTC (Nanyang Technopreneurship Center) in School (Nanyang Technological University).

After listening to her, I was interested and subsequently deposited $2000/- in the investment with the promise of 40% return after 5 months amounting to $800/- which is due in February.

However till to date I have yet to receive the dividends and my investment deposit. When I clarified this matter with S, I was informed that the bank which “VR Global Metal” have an account with do not wish to release the money to me.

Only after I contacted Alvin (also another NTU peers) did I know he had a similar contract with 90% return. I met him during one of the motivation seminar and S wedding. We seek advice from AMK police post, Small Claim Tribunal and Law Of Society.

I bought the business profile of VR and went to the building the company is suppose to occupy but it was nowhere to be found. I’ve lodge a police report for this incident.

Right now, MAS has replied that they are not the one holding onto the money. VR Global Metal is also not in the MAS alert list and they are also not given the license to sell financial services.

CAD has also been informed of this matter and I was told by my friend that police will only handle cases that has a quota hit which can be based on the amount of money or the number of cases.

ACRA has also been informed of the VR’s company address has not been updated.

Taking up a civil law suit is not an alternative as $2000/- does not make any economical sense.

Hence, I’m stuck and force to play a waiting game with losing $2000/- almost as a forgone conclusion.

Full account of investment incident

I always believe in telling the full story. Not partial. Because it can be misleading. This post may be quite long so bear with me. I will write whatever I can remember. I’m not accusing her for it but rather an account of what has happened to me.

For summarized version, click here.

How I met her
It’s a sunny day and I was pulled in by the E&I (Entrpreneurship and Innovation) 2006 week committee to help as as facilitator in NTU (Nanyang Technological University) organized by NTC (Nanyang Technopreneurship Center). At that time, being someone very passionate on startup, I seek out for entrepreneurs who I can relate with to.

Very luckily, I met S. She seems helpful and knowledgeable. She’s also a friend of Jerry, whom I previously met in Bel’air. Of cos I got to MLM talk just because I want to see how different MLM is being runned.

We’ve build a very good rapport and even after the entrepreneurs meet up, we’ve still occasionally come out for coffee. I also attended some of the book talk by Jerry in his luxurious home. I regard her as a mentor who is providing guidance towards my dream.

She also kinda been a motherly figure to me I guess. She’s my idol. She told me she owned The Sail @ Marina. Just another five years and she can retire to do whatever she likes. She’s been on the radio with Jerry too and also been voted for some entrepreneurial award.

One week before investment deal
She came up to me and said she has a investment deal willing to share with me. It’s something exclusive only for the rich. Some secret friend of hers are giving her the deal of 40% return to be cashed out after 5 months. I probed further but she say it’s not something I should know. Basically, what she tell me is that her friend owns mineral-riched mountain. She also said that she is not suppose to tell me who the person was and that person is very influential in Taiwan.

With the mindset that people invited by the school must be credible and also her appearance in radio, why should I even doubt her? She seems to be a successful business women to me.

Forty percent is a high ROI for any investment. Maybe it’s quite possible. Actually, my psychological barrier is at 45-50% for a fraud investment. If given that rate, I wouldn’t have signed it. With almost nothing told to me, I got nothing to base my judgement on except trust I had for her.

My mom discovered when she saw my bank book. I explained to her about the whole incident. She was skeptical about it and I give my loads of reason why she cannot be cheating me. She kept quiet.

Signing the contract
It’s been a long day after school but nothing beats knowing that you will get 40% return after 5 months. Can you imagine how much money can be rolled from this investment alone?

We’ve met up in MacDonald opposite Clementi MRT station. There was another girl also accepting the same offer. The girl and I signed the contract by this company “VR Global Metal Trading Pte Ltd”. I did not check out hers  but the return should be the same.

One important thing to note is that the contract I signed is a pre-signed contract. It means I’ve never met anyone in the company before. Everything is done between a third party S. Even so, S name is no where to be found in the contract

After I went back home, I do a bank transfer to her account (I don’t know if it’s her account) not knowing that it’s just the beginning of nightmare.

5 months later
It should be two weeks after Chinese New Year. I gave her a call wanting to cash out the dividend. She told me that the snow storm in China has delayed the shipment of metal.

She asked if I want the money to continue to roll. I hesitated. I consulted my mom thinking of all the possible scenarios. We come to a conclusion is to cash out. Firstly, it’s a test of confidence for this deal. Secondly, I need cash for work and travel programme. Quite lucky or unlucky, work and travel had to be pushed back to serve my NS liability a priority. It means I have more time to settle this issue.

So I told her I would wait for the money to come. It’s been a disappointment. Every 2 weeks, I would call up to check to get only the same answer. Subsequently, one week once and then few times a week. My patience is at boiling point.

At the 8-10th months
It’s after my FYP and all the school work I’ve to cleared. I returned to camp to serve my 6 weeks of liability. In camp, as usual, it’s hard to communicate with the outside world.

But of cos I know deep in my mind, I can’t wait anymore. After I ORD, I would need the cash. Now she explained that the company account is being checked by MAS.

I know I will have to get to the bottom of things once I ORD. I will have the time to do all the necessary checks.

After ORD. Eureka
I called Alvin who is also from NTU. He is a friend I got to know from S. I know that Alvin and S are developing some business idea. We even attended S wedding. All the while, I has been wanted to call him to check on this. He asked me to call him.

Eureka.

He also had the some contract. But he got a 90% ROI! My sixth sense is telling that that something is definitely not right. We confirmed our story and decided on our next move. We agreed to lodge a police report at AMK police station together.

At the police station
After all the story we had told to the police, they said it’s a breach of agreement. The police will only take action after a quota has been hit. If we really want to pursue this matter, we would have to file a civil law suit against her. We had no other choice but to suck thumb and think of other avenue to report our situation to.

Subordinate Court
We went to small claim tribunal after being advised by a uncle. SCT said that they only handle goods and services. We were directed to Law of Society for advice. We met Rufus and he was very helpful. But at the end of day, he said this is a very difficult case to fight but still encourage us to lodge a police report against her.

Back to Starbucks for additional advice
I met up with Alice, Jean and DK. We bought the company profile, check out on the company using google and found out lots of interesting info. We’ve also done a lot more things just by checking online.

Next day
Proceed to Jalan Pemimpin Foo Wah Building to check out the company. The company is not there anymore. The current occupant Zanden Singapore Pte Ltd has moved in for 2-3 months. I asked the security guard to asked the management about it but they have yet to contact me.

I proceed to one of the two director’s landed property according to ACRA. Lets call her A. It’s just a hundred meter away from S’s shop. I saw a car drove out from the home just as I am about to reach. I waited outside her home to get some contact but only 3 dogs were there to greet me.

I lodged a police report for good. Return to the same home, I managed to pass a old lady a name card. I think she should be A’s mother or grandma.

Next thing I got was a call from Alvin saying that S or A might take action against me for harassment. But I’ve done nothing wrong. I wasn’t scared though cos I know I did not do anything wrong.

Write in to MAS
I’ve written in to MAS personally to verify if what is told by S is really the truth. MAS replied and said this company is not licensed to offer such service.

So I’ve been lied all along.

One thing to emphasize, the company is not on the alert list and this means I may be the first one to report about this incident.

I asked MAS to pursue the matter as well as write in to CAD on this matter. CAD replied that they will look into the case.

As a friendly gesture knowing I need the cash, she offered to return my money. Asked about the lawyer, she declined to name anyone and said it’s the company who is engaging the lawyer. According to S, A is now in Hongkong. S gave me A Hongkong number. My friend helped me to call the HK number but it’s not picked up.

She wanted to do installment but then the terms on conditions will be set by her. I counter-offer with a credit card installment payment using my friend’s terminal. She said she don’t want to foot the extra charges. I offered to pay the charges. She replied that such money are not well-spent and don’t want me to waste the money. I’d rather lose a small sum than to waste my time and energy pursuing her for money. After that, she has yet to reply.

At NorthWest
Alvin and I went down for a lawyer consultation again. As expected, there’s little for us to do unless we hire our lawyer. This has now become a cost factor we’re not willing to go into.

Our only hope is that enough quota has been reached for the police to take action. That’s the only hope we have.

Retaliate? Should I?

I happen to read a friend’s blog. My 6th sense is telling me that she is trying to act as the helpful and goodie goodie buddy with a series of posts. But with all the facts I’ve gathered with the help of my close friends, I would rather trust my own eyes.

Trust is now at rock bottom and it’s an luxury. After all these things, should I even trust her at all? Hello, it’s been 5 months overdue.

I still think justice will prevail. If I’m really wrong, I will apologize to her. Nothing wrong about it.

I don’t expect her to accept me back as friend. To me, friendship is like a life; they have their lifespan. When it’s about to end, it will end.

Do I think she owe me anything? Seriously not. It’s my responsibility to do the due diligence but I did not. So it’s MY fault. I trust people too easily and too lazy to do the research.

All the while did I retaliate? I don’t think so. I’m just doing the right thing. It’s within my rights to find out the truth. I can do a lot of b****** things if I want to. And thanks to Vandalin for all the recommendations. Oops

Is knowing the truth so hard?

I think it’s almost time for me to reveal my side of the story.

Failure to update company address

With regards on my previous post on “Inaccurate company information provided by ACRA“, I just found out ACRA won’t pursue the matter if the company did not update their address.

They will send letters to make sure that the owner did their job to update it. At the most, the owner will get a penalty.

Hello, they did not update the company profile for MONTHS.

I know Singapore are pro-business. However, looking at my situation, I found myself no place I can seek help from. The company just vanished into thin air. And it’s really a lot of patience waiting for the company profile to be updated. Approach the director home and just passing her family member a namecard warrant a so called report for harassment?

It’s like throwing money into a blackhole and expect things to come out. The only way is to stop or throw more money in.

Hmmm another lesson learnt.

Things to check while making investment

Before you signed any paper on investment, whether it’s from your friend, your relative, please visit the MAS website to check if it’s a legitimate company licensed by MAS to sell financial product.

Seriously, it’s worth some effort to check out on the company since it’s just a click away. Also check out with the alert list provided.

Secondly, check if the dealer is legitimate. Check out with the company. Why so troublesome?

MAS strongly encourages consumers to deal only with persons that are regulated by MAS. If a consumer chooses to deal with persons that are not regulated by MAS, he forgoes the protection afforded under the laws administered by MAS.

Lastly, I highly recommend you to read the “PITFALLS OF DEALING WITH UNREGULATED PERSONS“. It may save your own ass in the future.

Learn an expensive investment lesson for free from an expert

Thanks to Vandalin the Romantic for what can be learnt in this incident. For me, it’s a very expensive and painful lesson. But like it or not, what happen has already happened.

What’s more important is to learn from this lesson and don’t make the same mistake again.

Once again, credit must be given to Vandalin for writing this email for me to learn about it. I must thank him for his precious time spent to craft this out. Thanks a lot!

Alright, here’s the “expert’s” point of view.

Like it or not, folks there is not “ignorance is bliss” when it comes to investment and trading.

1. Caveat Emptor. Buyers beware. That’s the excuse when even the “big boys” use, especially when suddenly your mutual fund which your advisor was praising to the sky plummets like a fucking rock even when they have a “diversified portfolio” and “risk minimization”. Strangely enough, even in times like that, they still get “management fees”.

So since ignorance is no longer an excuse, it’s time to get educated and learn how to read BETWEEN THE LINES.

2. Due diligence. Understand what the money you have invested in is used for. Understand what EXACTLY you are investing in. The person that is selling you the product? the company? the venture that the company is going into?

JUSTIFY the return on revenue. If they are getting back an estimated 30% returns, and you are suppose to get 40%. Forget it. Nobody is going to ask money from you and make a loss in the process. They might as well donate to the “new age monk early retirement fund right now”.

3. Let’s take a look at the contract. Since we have a good example right here, hey, let’s use it. Note also, that an INVESTMENT contract means that you’re liable for unlimited loss. Meaning that you’re gonna expect to lose everything, unless an amount is agreed upon. Next, consider if the company is suppose to be able to take in investments in the first place. Companies in Singapore need a license to receive money from the public. If not, they are to give something back in return.

That means, that for $2,000 in investment, our monk is suppose to get back X amount in terms of services, or shares, or SOMETHING. Not just a piece of paper.

If not, then it is a personal loan to the company. If so, then it should be backed by something tangible of equivalent value. Shares in the company should the contract be exercised would be nice, especially since if you are a shareholder, you can demand for the company accounts and books from ACRA if anything cocks up.

4. Understand your worst case scenarios and recourses. What’s gonna happen if something fucks up? Nobody likes to think about it, but we all need to know what the worst case scenario is. If you are naturally optimistic, like our dear monk, look for doom sayers and get them to rip apart the entire deal.

5. Read between the lines. If something sounds too good to be true, ther are probably some kind of catch in it. Find it. If you’re not bastard, twisted or deviant enough to read between the lines, find someone who is. Your friends who have businesses in China, Indonesia and all those countries where corruption is rife would be good.

Well there are other ideas that I can give, but let’s leave that for another day.

Maybe one now should write on the RECOURSE available. Popular demand of course. Laters!

For those who read this, read and pass this post “Help me spread this around. This may help lots of people.” to others, I need more people to be aware of it.

Help me spread this around. This may help lots of people.

These are the 2 investment venture contract I’ve signed, which I have case to strongly believe it’s not the real thing. I desperately need more people who have signed/seen this contract to contact me. You must understand police will only step in if the media talk about this or there’s 20/30 of such cases happening and hence the need to gathered strength.

The important details are blurred out so that I can properly protect myself from any law suit.

For those who just want entertainment, spot out the loop holes in this contract?

For those who want to learn from this lesson, continue to come back to see what the expert says.