Warren Buffett conceded in his latest annual letter, opens new tab to Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), opens new tab shareholders released over the weekend that he made a “costly mistake” about electricity. The error was thinking that investing huge sums to supply it to American homes and businesses would generate a steady return. Instead, it is turning into a gigantic problem.
https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/buffett-puts-1-trln-grid-problem-bad-light-2024-02-26/
MU’s outspending the Oppo in the transfer market, but still losing to them on the pitch.
Bayer slashes dividend by 95% as it steps up effort to cut debt
German conglomerate is still struggling with the costly fallout of its $63bn acquisition of Monsanto
… warned late on Monday that it would pay a dividend of just €0.11 per share for 2023
FT
Like StanChart it’s rubbish. Both are Ho Ching’s legacy.
Lithium prices collapse.
Loong is Dragon. Ah Loong was born in the year of the Dragon
Singapore’s $300bn investment fund Temasek and the venture capital arm of one of Abu Dhabi’s largest sovereign investors, Mubadala, have held talks with biotechs to fund development of psychedelic mental health treatments and clinics, according to three people familiar with discussions.
… are bankrolled by countries that have some of the world’s most restrictive laws on drug possession … Singapore has executed at least 15 people for drug-related offences in the past two years.
FT
I’m old enough to remember when S’pore govt websites did not enable Chrome and I was told to use IE if I wanted to use e-services.
Glad that a Li interned at Google.
Doing his duties “would have led him to realize that the company was being defrauded,” Justice Aedit Abdullah said in published remarks dated Jan. 24 on a petition involving Inter-Pacific Petroleum Pte. The defense argued there was no such breach or causation of loss, and regardless, the company qualifies for relief from liability under the companies act.
“The financial position of the company was suspect, and should have primed the defendant to look further and obtain a picture of the true state of the affairs of the company and monitor what was happening within it,” the judge said. “That was his duty as a director.”
“Loss was caused to the plaintiff through the transactions and drawdowns which should not have been carried out and would not have been had the defendant performed his duties,” the judge said.
https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-ex-pms-son-found-liable-for-millions-lost-by-company-082519893.html
But pa would still be happy if he was earning millions?
Remember GCT saying publicly that if S’pore reduced its ministerial wages, it will “end up with very, very mediocre people, who can’t even earn a million dollars outside”?
Remember GCT saying publicly that if S’pore reduced its ministerial wages, it will “end up with very, very mediocre people, who can’t even earn a million dollars outside”?
So maybe Goh Jr was trying real hard to earn a million dollars or more to show pa he wasn’t a bankrupt lying bum, like one Karl Liew? Karl’s pa was earning millions.
Justice Abdullah said Goh had an obligation to oversee the affairs of the company as a director.
“The obligation is to monitor the affairs of the corporation,” he said. “This entails, among others, at least broad level supervision of the activities of the officers of the corporation, for the protection of the company, shareholders and creditors.”
The judge said the evidence showed that Goh played an active role in the management of the company and had assumed responsibilities, and obtained knowledge and information.
While Justice Abdullah said a director need not know all details, the evidence showed a lack of knowledge by Goh about IPP’s cargo trading business, which was a significant portion of the company’s activity.
There were three “red flags” that should have triggered Goh’s inquiry into the financial position of the company, said the judge. About US$132 million was owed to the company, its bunker licence got suspended, posing a threat to its profitability, and large sums totalling about US$15.6 million were owed to Maybank while the licence was suspended.
“The financial position of the company was suspect, and should have primed the defendant to look further and obtain a picture of the true state of the affairs of the company and monitor what was happening within it. That was his duty as a director,” said Justice Abdullah.
He said if Goh had performed his duties, transactions and drawdowns that caused loss to the company would not have been carried out.
While Goh pointed to certain information within the company to say there was enough basis to be satisfied or not probe further, the judge rejected this.
An honest and reasonably diligent director would have persisted and probed further,” he said.
Goh also argued that the banks had breached their duties to the company, but the judge found this “speculative” and a separate issue from Goh’s liability.
The judge found that relief under the Companies Act was not applicable to Goh, as that provision requires that the court finds the person had acted “honestly and reasonably”.
“At the very least, the circumstances precluded the conclusion that the defendant had acted reasonably,” said Justice Abdullah.
He allowed the full extent of losses claimed by the company, measuring the breach from Feb 7, 2018 and encompassing the whole amount of the drawdowns during June to July 2019, for a total of US$146,047,099.60, and the relevant interest claimed.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/goh-jin-hian-liable-146-million-inter-pacific-petroleum-director-4105606
And let’s not forget, he’s pleaded “not guilty” to a charge of false trading in his role as former CEO of New Silkroutes Group last September.
US, Canadian and Ozians want to be like Chris Kuan.
JPMorgan has forecast the MSCI China index \will finish the year at 66: up 30%. Fallen 10% this year.
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor 