How to Stay Up to Date with American Baseball When You Live in Asia
 
Dec 27, 2017
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One of the best parts of living in the 21st Century is that we now live in a global community. Yes, we still have national borders and there is still strife among the nations, but we can hop on a jet today and by tonight be halfway around the world. Because of this, many people live and work in other countries, which provides a good income, but also keeps them missing home a good bit of the time. This is especially true of baseball season and why Americans have learned how to stay up to day with American baseball when living in Asia. How do they do it? Here are just a few ways!

Satellite Television

Today, we take satellite television for granted. However, there was a time when few people had the pleasure of being able to catch broadcasts from around the globe. Back in the 1990s, satellite providers didn’t offer the mini dishes we have today and only a small portion of the population could afford those mammoth dishes, typically ground mounted, that we saw in the ‘better neighborhoods.’ Now, satellite is cost effective no matter where you live and dishes are inexpensive and easy to mount atop almost any roof. Want to keep up with sports while living abroad? Subscribe to satellite networks where available!

Gaming Sites

One of the most popular ways of keeping up with American baseball is to join online gaming sites where you can find a baseball league simulator that allows you to be any player on any team and follow along as the season progresses. It’s a fun way to keep baseball alive in your heart, even if you must get the news in more traditional ways. Gaming sites are even better than disks played at home simply because players can be updated as teams change their rosters due to such things as trades and injuries. All it takes is having the latest Xbox and an Internet connection and you can almost hear that iconic “Let’s Play Ball!”

Social Media

Then, there’s always Facebook and Twitter. If you have an active account, you can follow your favorite team day by day throughout the season. Set up your account with a news feed that alerts you when there is any activity at all in your favorite team or within the league. Most followers subscribe to mobile social media newsfeeds, so they will know, in real time, anytime something of interest occurs.

While American football has overtaken baseball in popularity within the past few decades, it is still an All-American sport that speaks to the heart of every little boy aspiring to be a pro-player when he grows up. Men were raised on the sport and will love it until the day they die. There’s just something so American about baseball and that’s why we follow it, no matter where we go or what we do. Football may be in the driver’s seat at this point in time, but baseball will always be the American sport. That’s something you can bet on and always come out a winner.

 
 
Why Are Companies In Singapore Delisting?
 
Aug 11, 2016
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Over the past few months, the Singapore stock market has witnessed a succession of privatisation exercises. Companies that have delisted include OSIM International, China Merchants Holdings, and Eu Yan Sang International to name a few. Forecasts suggest mild consolidation for the Asian markets though, thanks in large part to fears of a rate hike and slump in the price of crude oil.

What’s more, if the Singapore stock market follows recent positivity in Europe and the US, made possible by the decision to unlock €10.3 billion in new bailout loans to Greece, there could be plenty of promise for investors, especially via a leveraged product like CFD trading. So, why are companies in Singapore delisting?

Details of recent delistings in Singapore

In March 2016, OSIM International’s founder Ron Sim launched an offer to take the company private. This was followed in May by the majority owner of China Merchants Holdings’ decision to acquire all the company’s shares it did not already own.

Earlier this month, Eu Yan Sang International also announced that chief executive Richard Eu made an offer to take the company private with the help of other investors including family members and Temasek, one of the Singapore government’s investing arms.

In its fiscal year ended 30th June 2015, Eu Yan Sang saw net profit figures fall from S$15 million to just S$4.6 million. Furthermore, profit shrank by over 90 per cent from $8.2 million to just S$634,000 in the first nine months of FY2016.

However, its particularly interesting to note that at the firm’s share price of S$0.65 just prior to the buyout offer, it was valued at 1.8 times book value, meaning Eu Yan Sang has had an average price-to-book ratio of 2.0 over the past three years.

Reasons for recent delistings in Singapore

One of the many problems listed companies face is keeping track with management responsibilities while at the same time providing quarterly or half-yearly reports to investors. Listed companies on Singapore’s stock market must also answer to public shareholders, making it harder for struggling businesses to implement turnaround strategies successfully.

Therefore, if a company decides to go private, it can realign attention on managing core operations with the diminished responsibility of answering to a small handful of investors. However, it is imperative that companies strike the right privatisation deal to satisfy the interests of all parties.

Instead of going voluntarily with a general offer, like most delistings, the potential acquirer of Lantrovision recently picked a “Scheme of Arrangement” method for privatisation, which requires a court meeting and vote. Due to its valuation angle, this could have put shareholders in a disadvantageous position, but as Stanley Lim Peir Shenq, CFA explains, a favourable arrangement was agreed upon.

“As part of the deal, the company’s three co-founders and all its employees will remain employed after the buyout. As for the minority shareholders, the buyout price is higher than any price at which the company’s shares have been trading at since late 2012.”

Contributor / Sophie Davidson