Mapletree Commercial Trust: IPO in early 2011.

For anyone who did not get any shares in MIT's IPO, here's a chance to own some of Mapletree Commercial Trust's. This is a S$1.3 billion IPO expected to take place early next year.

The commercial REIT will draw its initial portfolio from Mapletree Investments’ $6.4 billion worth of Singapore commercial properties, including assets like Vivocity, the island’s largest mall, and several office buildings west of the city-state’s central business district. 

Besides its plan to list its commercial trust, Mapletree Investments also intends to launch several private property funds including a US$300 million Japan fund focused on IT-related infrastructure, a US$300-500 million Vietnam fund in which Mapletree may inject existing commercial and residential projects, and a US$500 million China-focused fund that will invest in a wide range of sectors.

Read full article here:

Mapletree hires bankers for $1.3b IPO: Update
Friday, 29 October 2010

© 2010 - The Edge Singapore

Tea with AK71: A better car.

Reading the latest issue of Newsweek and this really makes sense:

"Instead of jumping through hoops to make an electric car that most people can't even afford, why not just develop an internal-combustion engine that gets really amazing gas mileage? That's the premise of Troy, Michigan based EcoMotors...."

"Our carbon footprint will be smaller than a full blown electric car running on electricity generated in the U.S., where about 50 percent of electricity is made by coal.  In places like China, where 90 percent of the electricity comes from coal, we'll be far below the carbon footprint of an electric car," says EcoMotors CEO Don Runkle.."

Source:  "Finding more in the tank" by Daniel Lyons in Newsweek, 1 Nov 10.

I have never heard people questioning whether electric cars are really environmentally friendlier, questioning how the electricity that would run the cars is produced.  This is a pertinent question.

There is also the question of wastage as other forms of fuel are combusted to produce electricity which would in turn run the electric cars.  How much is wasted in the conversion process? Would it not be better to build a more efficient internal combustion engine?

I am not an engineer but this idea makes a lot of sense to me. Any thoughts?