Friday, March 28, 2014

Massaging Profits

uSqueez for the U.S. prez
Although George Bush was one of America's most unpopular presidents in history, he was clearly a favourite with foreign leaders, who showered him with lavish presents during his last year in office. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for instance, sent a £2,700 Mercedes mountain bike. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, president of Algeria, and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy sent richly decorated saddles, probably thinking of Mr Bush's Texan roots.

Sadly for Mr Bush, the goodies had to be handed over to the State Department. Rules forbid U.S. officials from keeping most gifts given by foreign representatives - Singapore officials declare their gifts, have them valued by a government estimator, and then are allowed to buy them at a discount. One item Bush was probably happy to hand over must be the $579 OSIM uSqueez calf-and-foot-massager contributed by a Singapore official.

OSIM is in the news again. Brookstone, the loss making unit of lifestyle group OSIM, is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, and may be sold off within days. OSIM made a $77 million write-off of Brookstone in 2009. Then, in 2013, OSIM also made a $31 million "impairment and foreign translation loss." That's a good $100 million down the drain.

Brookstone was Nasdaq listed until it was taken private by OSIM in 2005 together with Temasek Holdings, in a US$456 million buyout. As late as Sept 2013, OSIM was boasting it had 258 Brookstone outlets. Months later in January 2014, Brookstone, with $140 million of debt, missed a payment. It had only US$1.1 million in cash on 28 Sep 2013, having burnt away the US$32 million in the kitty just a year ago.

Privately owned retailer Spencer Spirit is rumoured to offer US$120 million for the OSIM/Temasek's US$456 million acquisition in 2005. That's pittance compared with the US$4.2 billion dangled by Temasek to take over Olam International Ltd. (OLAM). “Temasek is already a large holder of Olam so they probably know the business better than everybody else,” said the Singapore-based head of equity investment strategy at Standard Chartered Plc. It may be easy to tickle George Bush's tootsies with the uSqueez calf-and-foot-massager, but squeezing blood out of stone in a bad buy is quite a different matter. You need fingers and toes crossed to pray that public money is not poured down the drain.

12 comments:

  1. We better vote out PAP before there are no more reserves in the reserves.
    Or worse.
    Our taxes are increased to top up the alleged losses in our reserves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is already no reserves because it is all creative accounting and fake reporting. What the point of asking if there is reserve when all along it is all fake figure ?

      Please go figure out.

      Delete
    2. Fake or not, Sinkies can't even know how much the reserve is, not to say have a share in it.

      But, the saddest part is that Sinkies will still be screwed, even if they want no part in or share of the reserves, if Tummysick continues to have diarhea with bloody symtoms. The greatest irony is, heads they win, tails you loose.

      Delete
  2. To avoid manipulation and exploitation by the Elites, Sinkies can migrate, not to vote the Pappies or wait for the Pappies to be booted out by other circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And kiss your money goodbye before you leave.

      Delete
    2. That is playing into their hands, and they can let in more foreigners to share your money ie the fake reserves.

      Delete
  3. Oh, no. That is $100 lost per sinkie. Are we going to be taxed more? The guy always say money must come from somewhere.

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  4. Is the silent majority going to say anything on this one?

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  5. Temasek buys Olam.
    Where is the money going to come from?
    From higher taxes lah!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome to lah lah land.

      Delete
    2. Don't worry. GST is going up in lah lah land right after Matland

      Delete
  6. I quote Mrs peanuts: "its peanuts la!", only a few hundred bucks (btw one buck is a million dollars among traders). As is widely, Temasek's offer at over 50% premium for remaining Olam shares is basically to help mark up their existing under-the-water billion dollar stake in same company. As is the window dressing now taking place in earnest on the SGX this whole week. How much is driven by the gamblers in The atrium at 680 Orchard Rd? For sure those Chinese bank stakes brought over from muppet-master goldman sachs just before Hang Seng peaked last year are deep under water, great timing Madam, you the one girl, goldman love you! Same for their Barclays,.Stanchart (whatever is left) DBS, Singtel, Indian telcos, etc etc. If you have strong stomach, hang around into first half of April, cos after the pump, comes the dump. In any case, Madam and cronies would be off to Bahamas after they collect their year-end bonuses :) Sucks arghhh!

    ReplyDelete