Daily Briefing: Singaporeans losing interest in retail shopping, Reimann-backed coffee maker Jacobs eyes Asia with Super bid

And, has anyone heard of activist investing?

The economy is not doing so well and shopping malls are no longer fully occupied. Consumers are holding tightly onto their wallets (or moving towards online shopping), making it tough for retail outlets to make ends meet and leading to lower occupancy in malls. An analysis conducted by Colliers shows that the rate of vacant space around the submarkets of Orchard has risen 0.7% to 8.7%. This has been the highest recorded percentage since the Urban Redevelopment Authority first started taking notes on retail space data for entertainment, food and beverage as well as fitness centres in 2011. Read more here.

Dutch coffee company Jacobs Douwe Egberts BV offered S$1.45 billion ($1 billion) to buy Singapore's Super Group Ltd., extending a caffeine empire backed by Europe's billionaire Reimann family into Asia. The all-cash offer of S$1.30 a share by the closely held company is 34 percent more than Super's share price on Oct. 31, before it was halted from trading. Shareholders of Super who hold about 60 percent of its share capital have made an irrevocable pledge to tender all their stock, the Singapore-based company said Thursday. Read more here.

Activist investors, having targeted companies in Japan and South Korea in recent years, have discovered a new playground in Asia. In Singapore, where activist investing was virtually unheard of until now, two companies have found themselves in the crosshairs in the past month alone. Quarz Capital Management Ltd. urged retailer Metro Holdings Ltd. to return excess cash to investors and Dektos Investment Corp. pushed Geo Energy Resources Ltd. to change its debt structure, saying the coal-miner's shares are undervalued by as much as 60 percent. Read more here.

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