Keppel Group has terminated its proposed divestment of its stake in M1 following the termination of the sale and purchase agreement with Simba Telecom, after the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) halted its assessment of the proposed M1-Simba merger until further notice [1, 2, 3]. The regulatory pause came amid growing scrutiny, effectively stopping the deal’s progress.
Separately, Keppel secured a 25-year agreement with Australian telecom company Telstra to use a fibre pair on the Bifrost Cable System, expanding its subsea network footprint [1]. On May 21, Keppel’s shares closed at S$10.42, up 1% or S$0.10 from the previous day, reflecting cautious investor confidence amid the halted M1 deal [2, 3].
In other Singapore corporate news, SingLand acquired UOB’s 20% stake in the Novena Square joint ventures for S$299 million in cash, consolidating its ownership position [1]. City Developments Limited (CDL) appointed Kwek Leng Peck as vice-chairman and non-independent, non-executive director effective June 1, 2026, marking a board leadership change [4]. Meanwhile, Lendlease Global Commercial REIT reported a positive retail rental reversion of 12.2% for its third quarter ended March 31, 2026, indicating strengthening rental income in its portfolio [4].
Hongkong Land posted a 5% rise in underlying profit for its first quarter ended March 31, 2026, driven mainly by lower net financing charges, showing improved operational efficiency [5]. Shipbuilder Yangzijiang secured US$1.03 billion in new orders so far this year, maintaining a strong outstanding order book of US$22.3 billion [5].
Singtel reported a net profit of S$2.2 billion for the half-year ended March 31, 2026, down 20.9% from S$2.8 billion the year before, but highlighted underlying growth and plans to consolidate Indonesian digital bank Superbank into Grab’s financial services segment following a stake transfer to GXS Bank, their joint venture [6]. CDL’s first-quarter Singapore property sales fell sharply to 242 units valued at S$609.6 million, a steep drop from 795 units and S$1.9 billion a year earlier, signaling continued weakness in residential sales [6].
Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio narrowed its first-quarter net loss to 332.1 million yuan (S$62.5 million) from 6.8 billion yuan a year earlier as revenue more than doubled to 25.5 billion yuan, showing progress toward profitability [2, 3].
Keppel’s formal termination of the divestment agreement with M1 was announced May 22, closing the chapter on the flagship deal after months of regulatory delay. CDL’s Kwek Leng Peck will join the board June 1, while stakeholders await the outcome of ongoing market and sector developments.
