New Jeans Danielle Gets Sued for S$38Mil In Damages-A Look Into Commercial Contract Law.

Latest news is that Danielle Marsh, 20 years old member of NewJeans, is being sued by her Agency ADOR for 43 billion won (S$38Mil). ADOR had earlier terminated its exclusive agency agreement with Danielle on account of its requests for correction of breaches which were ignored. Within 24 hours, ADOR had went on to file a lawsuit for damages to its reputation and unauthorised activities by Danielle. The bad news is that going by the penalties computation based on 1st 2 years of earnings and uncompleted contract, the financial penalties may go up to over 100 billion won (S$89Mil).

If Danielle loses the lawsuit, the debt could become non-dischargeable, meaning it cannot be eliminated through personal rehabilitation or bankruptcy under Korean law. 

Contract Law Consequences

It is strange that Danielle and her family thought that it is ok to self-proclaim breach of agency contract by ADOR and then self-terminate the original agreement. Even more reckless is the signing of endorsements deals and creation of a new group for performances. ADOR thus fought back with injunction and lawsuit regarding the validity of the original agency agreement. Subsequently, the Korean court ruled in favour of ADOR and this is where the nightmare for Danielle started. 

Negotiation Is Best Way Forward

Everyone has to honour the contract that they entered into. It seems that attempts to reconcile failed with suggestion that Danielle and her family having strong resistance to resolve the current impasse. Generally, if one party dug in and stubbornly refused to budge, then the aggrieved party (ADOR in this case) has no choice but to take a hard stance against Danielle. I thought that given the court ruling, Danielle ought to drop a bit of her ego & expectations and suck her thumb. 

Parting Thoughts

I am actually optimistic that NewJeans will make a comeback together with all 5 members including Danielle. Basically, with the ongoing lawsuit for breach of contract, Danielle will suffer a devastating blow to her integrity and artists value. Her fame and artistic value has plunged and no sane luxury brands will want to take a risk to seek her endorsement as ambassador or appear in advertisements. Similarly demand for her performance appearance will go down as the upcoming bankruptcy will destroy her career. Hence, the only route open to Danielle is to go back to the negotiating table with ADOR. 

Cool with you! 

Beware of Insurance Exclusions For Those Folks in Middle Age Who Still Do Not Have Private H&S Medical Insurance.

Well, this is really shocking. I have 3 colleagues who are in their middle age of 40-50 years old who do not have their own private H&S (Hospitalisation and Surgical) insurance plans. The reason they explained to me is that the Company is already offering Group H&S plans so if they have their own plans, then it will be a waste of money. I guess the problem is that as one goes past 40 years old, probability of numerous medical problems will suddenly shoot up. Consequently, if one tries to get H&S after the retirement age of 65 years old, most likely there will be various exclusions for different medical conditions. Insurability is another problem....I got another friend in his 30s who got a minor stroke and unable to get any insurer to provide H&S coverage. So, do see your financial planner to cover H&S risk while one is still young and free of chronic or major illnesses.

Sometimes, I wish life has a rewind button....but unfortunately, that only happens in drama series.

Fraudulent Insurance Claims Also Driving Up Healthcare Cost- Whistle Blower Cash Incentives.

In view of the recent increase in mandatory co-payment for integrated healthcare (Shield) insurance plans, I thought I will do a short post to share some of the blatant abuse by "black sheep" policy holders which drives up the cost of "Hospitalisation and Surgical" ("H&S") Plans for the general public. The typical insurance claims abuse as follow:

1. Getting H&S Insurers to Pay For Health Screening

There are some policy holders who want to save money for health screening packages by claiming on their H&S plans. Some of you folks will be very puzzled at this juncture as you are right to think that H&S plans are only for hospitalisation and surgical procedures and does NOT cover health screening. 

The trick to game the system is to work with the medical specialists in private hospital. It is easy to fake a chest pain and then get the specialist to write a memo for hospital stay to do a myriad of medical tests in order for them to diagnose the root cause. The black sheep policy holder thus get a free health check up that runs into exorbitant thousands of dollars and is a blatant waste of money as a routine health checkup package is only S$500. Such black sheep will also boast about the lobster porridge and lobster lunch/dinner that comes with their medical stay at private hospitals. 

The worst part is that some of these black sheep actually go around telling colleagues/friends to not be stupid to spend their own money to do health screening and to use this ruse to defraud insurance companies and get free medical health screening and free seafood at private hospitals. They will also recommend their specialist doctors that are expert in crafting medical memo to twist and turn a health screening into a medical issue that qualifies for H&S claims. 

 

2. Using TCM Benefits on Personal Accident Plan To Get Free Tui Na Massage

Since we are already on the abuse topic to the H&S insurance, I will also deviate to another minor ruse that the black sheep folks pulled on Personal Accident ("PA") Plan. Nowadays, PA comes with TCM benefits for accidental injuries. 

Similar to the H&S ruse, the black sheep will work with certain TCM shops to issue an invoice and memo for treatment of accident injuries. However, in actual fact, this payment is being converted into a Tui Na Massage package for 5-10 sessions. 

Parting Thoughts and Whistle Blowing Rewards

I thought that such ruses by these black sheep are actually very selfish behaviour that drove up the cost of insurances for everyone. The insurance company should cater for a whistle blowing hotline for friends or colleagues to report such incidents and to give a 20% cash reward for money saved by insurer for every successful claw back case. Have you also encountered such black sheep around you?

Review of High Distribution Yield of 8.2%- United Hampshire US REIT After Disappointing Results For FY2024.

Today, I decided to have a look back at United Hampshire US REIT ("UHREIT") which I last reviewed on February 11, 2025- it had been a horrendous bloodbath in terms of its market price over the past few years considering the fact that it debuted at an IPO offered price of US$0.80 per unit on SGX but is tragically now languishing at US$0.51 per unit as at Dec 5, 2025. UHREIT is the 2nd largest holdings in my overall consolidated portfolios. On a macro-economical level, conditions for REITs market have improved drastically relative to a year ago where the raging interest rate environment led to devastating impact on their financial performances. The time maybe ripe for further improvement in its DPU as well as also another 20%-30% capital appreciation. UHREIT has steadily climbed +7.3% in capital appreciation from US$0.475 to US$0.510 as at Dec 4,2025. Adding in dividends of US$0.0414 received in 2025, which is a +8.72% distribution yield on the market price of UHREIT at the beginning of the year. This translates to an impressive total return of +16% return for FY2025. Is things finally turning around for long suffering unit-holders of UHREIT? Let’s take a closer look below:

1.Revitalised DPU Finally For UHREIT.

For the longest time, we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel- DPU has been on a decreasing trend yearly since its IPO days in late 2020. The post COVID high interest rate era has taken a huge toll on the DPU of UHREIT. The good news here is that the distributions for the 2nd half of 2024, which is paid in March 2025 has improved. Furthermore, the 1st half FY2025 distributions has also continued this drastically improved trend. I will expect further improvements in FY2026 as UHREIT begin to further recover. 

2. Financial Performance of UHREIT For 1st Half FY2025 Relative to !st Half FY2024

Well, this is a little complicated as there are disposal of investment property (Albany Supermarket) during the year hence revenue and net income comparative will not be on an apple to apple and definitely show a decline without further normalisation. Additionally, the fair value gain/loss (as depicted in items circled in blue above) will also skew the net income numbers as these are actually non-cash adjustments. Therefore, we will need to do some mental acrobatics here by using the Net Income Before Tax and Before Fair Value Changes to compute the "normalised" Earnings Per Unit ("EPU").

Normalised EPU Computation To Assess Performance

Interestingly, there is a deterioration in financial performance with EPU dropping by a slight 2.8%. Nevertheless, the Dover Marketplace acquisition in August 2025 is yield accretive and bought at 4.8% below independent valuation. So, 2nd half financial performance should catch up and the differences is not expected to be material. With interest rate coming down, UHREIT will most likely be producing better financial results for FY2026 and generating higher distributions.

3. Leverage Ratio Improvement-Below 40%

UHREIT has come a long way to bringing down its aggregate leverage ratio from over 42% to the current healthier 38.9% as at the latest 3Q 2025 operational updates. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the management of UHREIT will continue to maintain this ratio. 

The good news here is that unlike our 3 US Commercial Office REITs on SGX which imploded shortly after COVID and are all struggling financially with partial or full suspension of dividends payout, UHREIT seems to be the only US REIT that is still paying out most of its distribution and in a much better shape. 

Parting Thoughts

The poignant thing about UHREIT is that it is trading at a substantial 32% discount to its NAV of US$0.74 per unit and offering a high distribution yield of around 8.2%-8.3% based on US$0.51 closing price as at Dec 5, 2025. There is an analyst report by UOB Kay Hian on UHREIT with a price target of US$0.70 per unit which presents a super optimistic view of 37% capital appreciation. Since UHREIT has always been trading at a huge discount to NAV, I will be happy if it goes up by just 20% capital gain and provides a yearly recurring 7%-8% distribution yield to unit-holders. 

The Bashing of PIMCO GIS Income Fund Which Offers Over 6.3% Annual Payout Yield.

The PIMCO GIS Income Fund has an extremely impressive pay-out rate of approximately 6.30% per annum. It invests in mostly fixed income like US government bonds, corporate bonds as well as mortgage backed securities. Interestingly, it has been getting flanks recently on social media for various reasons. Some of these retail investors frowned upon the points that part of the invested assets such as mortgage back securities are risky and that there are drawing down of leverage for its investments which will magnify losses. Additionally, its Net Asset Value ("NAV) per unit has gone down from its S$10.98 peak 5 years ago hence there is another assertion of PIMCO making high pay-out via its original capital which implied an ever declining NAV per unit. 

High Distribution Yield of Over 6%

1. Declining NAV Per Unit?

I think a picture speaks more than a thousand words. So I attached the NAV per unit chart over the last 3 years (2023-2025) of post COVID era and exclude the low interest rate environment era (2022-2023). Based on the above chart, we can see that PIMCO GIS Income Fund NAV per unit is pretty much stable over the last 3 years. 

I will not want to compare the low interest rate environment performance with the sudden interest rate spike era as the fair value definitely would have fallen given the inverse relationship between value of bonds and interest rates. Investors during those period would also have received the interest payment distribution to cover the valuation decline.

We must all remember that fixed income securities are not the same as Singapore Government Bonds or Singapore Saving Bonds which are close to being risk free. Consequently, there will always be a degree of capital loss risk when we decided to invest in a fixed income fund but which offers a higher interest rate. 

2. The Fear of Mortgage Back Securities ("MBS") in PIMCO Funds

This probably stamped from the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and many older folks still vividly recalled the toxic subprime mortgages that triggered the avalanche of defaults and bankruptcies. I think that we need to have an objective view on this item. 

I attached the below extract from the PIMCO November 2025 Income Strategy Update:

<Quote>

Q: Agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) remain a focus in the Income Strategy. What is your outlook for the position?

PIMCO Chief Investment Officer (Daniel J Ivanscyn): We continue to like agency MBS. They have been trading at wider spreads than investment grade corporates, which is highly unusual as corporates tend to be more sensitive to economic fundamentals. Also, the market for agency MBS offers an attractive liquidity profile, enabling us to remain nimble.

Agency mortgages tend to benefit from periods of low interest rate volatility, which has generally been the case this year, though the situation is evolving. Agency MBS also tend to perform well when the yield curve steepens as the Fed cuts short-term rates. Also, the Fed ending its balance sheet reduction should be another tailwind for the asset class.

We are often asked about the potential privatization of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has clearly stated that any action on the GSEs must not raise borrowing costs or disrupt the mortgage market. Thus, we see privatization as a minor risk.

</Unquote>

Parting Thoughts

Personally, I am vested in PIMCO Income Fund via Endowus and I believe it is widely diversified enough that it will not collapse till becoming worthless unlike buying individual stocks or holding on to a single fixed income instrument. There will always be market risk even for a fixed income fund in exchange for a relatively higher interest income yield. There is always a triple-conflicting dilemma of (i) capital guarantee, (ii) high dividend/interest return yield and (iii) least volatility facing any financial asset class. One simply can't have all cake and eat it right?

[P.S: Please also see the sharing by Hello World blogpost related to PIMCO: "Pimco Income Fund (any good?)"]

Manulife US REIT Expansion of Investment Mandate Beyond US Office Sector.

This is awesome news! Manulife US REIT is seeking a mandate from its Unit-holders to go beyond US commercial office space and venture into industrial, living sector and retail assets across the US and Canada.  Personally, I thought that this is a wonderful and brilliant initiative. Nevertheless, retail investors need to be aware that the old legacy issue of the "The Curse of the 9.8% Unit Holdings Limit Imposed On US REITs Sponsor" is ever present and is just a tickling time bomb. 

US Ambassador to Singapore Is Calling in Favour For Making Singapore's Economic Miracles Possible.

The latest controversy on the social media these days is over the remarks made by President Donald Trump's ambassador to Singapore, Dr Anjani Kumar Sinha. When asked about the 10% baseline tariff imposed on Singapore by Donald Trump in spite of a free trade agreement since 2004, Dr Sinha commented that "over many decades, American taxpayers and service members have underwritten regional security, playing an important role in making Singapore's economic miracles possible". 

Personal Thoughts

So despite the trade surplus enjoyed by the US trading with Singapore, the 10% import tariff imposed on Singapore by Donald Trump is actually a form of "Protection money". This reminded me of the early days of Singapore when Triads or Secret Societies run amok. Historically, Triads or Secret Societies in Singapore heavily relied on demanding protection money (extortion) as a primary source of income, particularly during the colonial era and the mid-20th century. This activity was a major menace to shopkeepers, hawkers, and residents during that dark historical era.

Interestingly, it appears that Dr Sinha is insinuating that US is acting like a Mafia and imposing "Protection money" on Singapore and Singaporeans should be grateful for it. So, now we know that the 10% import tariff levied on Singapore is actually not a tariff on imports but rather "Protection money".