Abnormal market return from real estate divestiture and acquisition announcements in a developing country

Real estate asset divestitures and acquisitions (D&A) are conducted as part of corporate restructuring. This study attempts to fill the knowledge gap on abnormal market return (AR) towards D&A activities during recession in a developing country. The samples are Malaysian listed non-real estate companies that conducted D&A during the 2008 financial crisis. Event study methodology is used to determine AR surrounding D&A announcements within (-10day, +10day) event window. Results show that both D&A announcements bring insignificant AR on and near the announcement date (-1 to +1). Prior to announcement, divesting (acquiring) companies incur negative (positive) AR, indicating that any leakage of information on divestiture (acquisition) is not favored (favored) by the market. Post-announcement results show that divesting companies continued to experience negative ARs even though majority of such companies divested at premium prices. However, acquiring companies experience significant and negative post-announcement AR. This is plausibly due to the majority of acquiring companies paid a premium above valuation for their acquisitions. In summary, the market frowns upon divestitures in general and acquisitions of real estate assets above their valuations during economic recessions

DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES IN MALAYSIA

This paper attempts to develop a knowledge management (KM) framework concept that can be used by property management companies in Malaysia. KM is a management method that consists of people, information technology (IT) and organisational elements to capture information, which is an organisation’s most valuable asset. Hence, it is believed that this study will contribute to the betterment of the real estate industry. The research findings suggest several magnitudes as well as an inclusive set of KM strategy activities that can be adopted by property management companies in Malaysia. The study, however, underpinned its findings based upon a limited number of samples. Only 16 out of 25 registered property management companies participated in the research, representing a small proportion of property management establishments that are registered under the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents, being the professional body that governs property management practices in Malaysia. This study proposes a KM strategies framework as a guideline for property management companies to embrace KM principles. The findings have showed that most of the strategies were significant to the property management companies in Malaysia. Nine strategies based on rankings were identified as very suitable and essential in order to ensure the success of the framework to the companies. Research in this area, which focuses on the practice of property management, is extremely rare, thus justifying its uniqueness within the existing body of knowledge. Keywords: Knowledge management, Malaysia, property management companies, strategie

A review on the effectiveness of safety training methods for Malaysia construction industry

Safety issues have become a vital issue in the management of facilities in the construction industry, as the labour-intensive construction industry is particularly regarded as one of the most unsafe industrial sectors worldwide. To increase workplace safety, Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) training has been introduced and pursued. Based on previous research, training methods range from less to more engaging. This paper has reviewed the research from 2006 to present done on effectiveness of different training methods as the first investigation research was carried out in 2006. The literatures were searched through multiple electronic databases for published peer-reviewed articles. Findings have suggested that both training methods were able to impart safety knowledge and safety awareness to the workers; however, more engaging training methods would be more effective on training outcomes. Nevertheless, it was noted that those research projects did not take into consideration on the multiculturalism issue where language communication problem exist. Hence, this research proposes a mix mode of less and more engaging training methods to be applied in a multi-cultural workplace to enhance the effectiveness of training outcomes. This review may provide information on effective safety training methods to be applied in the multi-cultural construction industry

Critical success factors for facilities management implementation in the healthcare industry

This paper will explore the current literature that delves into the critical success factors (CSFs) for the implementation of Facilities Management (FM) in Healthcare industry in terms of the implementation, preparation of a compilation, and identification of any gaps that might exist. The research makes reference to various journals using the key terms and only 90 articles were short-listed as the most accomplished and relevant article. Using the key term between facility management success and healthcare success, this paper identified healthcare success factors. CSF constructs were then identified using the content analysis methodology and an inductive coding technique. A subsequent analysis identified gaps that exist in the literature base. Currently, a framework found for FM healthcare encompasses maintenance management, performance management, risk management, development, ICT and supply service management. No research has been conducted to extract these six factors and validate them as CSF’s in FM healthcare. A comprehensive review of FM practice in healthcare is presented in this paper. The framework of healthcare success factors in the FM developed is clear, cohesive and it can be well understood by all levels among the healthcare professionals. There is a lack of FM studies in the context of the healthcare industry, which limits the knowledge and exploration of the research scope. This study can further be explored for future research to secure FM as an added value to the healthcare sector, and therefore enhance the service quality and improve the corporate image. This research provides a comprehensive compilation of all previously identified FM implementation success factors, through a clearly structured methodological approach and gives comprehensive key factors which define the critical success factors for FM in the healthcare industry

A review on critical success factors of sustainable retrofitting implementation

Sustainable retrofitting has been one of the alternate solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. However, it is apparent that limited existing buildings are being sustainably retrofitted and the reason lies within the influential forces which contribute to the failure of the sustainable retrofitting project. Thus, this study aims investigates the current literature based on critical success factors (CSFs) for sustainable retrofitting and to identify any gap that might exists. Journals were searched using the key words identified from the preliminary literature review. Successive round of article abstract reviews resulted in 59 articles being selected for compilation purpose. The CSF constructs were then identified using content analysis and inductive coding approach. Critical analysis of the literature revealed gaps in the literature. The most significant findings was the lack of research on CSFs for sustainable retrofitting from the stakeholders’ perspective. This research provides a comprehensive compilation of all previously identified CSFs for project purpose

The new real estate investment trusts in Malaysia : lessons from listed property trusts

Institutional investors hold significant equity levels in overseas Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and evidence reveals that their active participation brings tremendous benefits to the REIT markets. In Malaysia however, the level of institutional investment have historically been rather poor since the establishment of the first Listed Property Trust (LPTs) in 1989. Nowadays, interests in REITs are renewed in Malaysia due to encouraging government incentives and the revised regulations in Securities Commission Guidelines 2005. Axis REIT is listed and a number of REITs are planned for listing by corporations with large property portfolios in the near future. As the investment market welcomes exciting new opportunities, it is timely to consider the needs of institutional investors in Malaysia on the new REITs. This paper examines the reasons of lukewarm response from institutional investors in LPTs and their desirable investment conditions for participating in the new REITs. Finally, the intended actions from corporations planning to list REITs are obtained in response to the institutional investors’ needs. The findings from the paper depicts that the thin trading volume of LPTs, small market size of LPT market and slow capital appreciation are the main reasons deterring institutional involvement in LPTs market

Property as an investment

table of content preface, acknowledgement, chapter one: introduction to investment, what is an investment?, investment definitions, principles of investment, types of This book contains several chapters like investment risks, chapter two: investment media and objectives, types of investment media, investment qualities, objectives of investment, investor profile and typical investments, chapter three: direct property investment, property asset characteristics, property market characteristics, property as investment class, advantages and disadvantages of property investment, costs involved in direct property investment, property investment process, chapter four: indirect property investment, property company shares, real estate investment trusts (REITS), real estate mortgages securities, appendices, references

Estimating the impact of the financial development on energy consumption: evidence from the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries

This study investigates the impact of the financial development on energy consumption in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. The panel data methodology was utilized taking the period 1980e2009. By using Pedroni cointegration test, it was found that LEC (energy consumption), the LFD (financial development), GDP (LGDP), LUR (urbanization) and LTD (total trade) are cointegrated. Furthermore, the panel dynamic OLS (ordinary least squares) revealed that LFD, LGDP, LUR and LTD have a long run positive effect on LEC. The Granger causality results show a bi-directional positive relationship between LEC and LGDP, LFD and LGDP, LTD and LGDP, LTD and LFD, LTD and LUR and between LTD and LTD. In addition, a one way positive causal relationship was found from LFD to LEC and from LUR to LEC. The study revealed that the financial development is one of the factors that increased energy consumption in the GCC in the short and the long run. From the findings of this study, a number of recommendations were formulated regarding the GCC policy makers to help reducing their energy consumption

Asset divestitures and corporate operational returns: an agency theory perspective on Malaysian public-listed companies

Divestitures of property, plant and equipment (PPE) assets are a common form of corporate restructuring. However, divesting companies do not necessarily attain improved post-divestiture shareholder wealth. Studies show company characteristics and use of divestiture proceeds may influence divestiture outcomes. This paper attempts to determine these divesting company characteristics and use of proceeds associated with improved shareholder wealth based on the Agency Theory. A sample of Malaysian public-listed companies that divested assets within 2002–2005 is used. Logistic regression segregates these companies based on their industry-adjusted operational returns. Companies that improve post-divestiture operational performance require urgent pay out motives to divest. Companies with deteriorated post-divestiture performance divest without urgent pay out motive and tend to retain proceeds. This suggests agency problem of managerial discretion in asset divestitures. In asset selection, divestitures of larger and more inefficient assets were found associated with improved company performance. Malaysian companies prefer divesting assets related to their core businesses indicating a diversified company structure is more beneficial than a focused structure in developing countries

Temporal aggregation and seasonality problems in Malaysian housing index

The housing market has is one of the largest asset bases in Malaysia and housing index is an important housing performance indicator. The rapid growth of property investment leads to transformation of physical property investment into financial products such as housing derivatives or home equity insurance based on housing index. There are two issues to be considered in this paper which are temporal aggregation and seasonality problem in housing index. Geltner (1993) mentioned that temporal aggregation will lead to smooth and erroneously eliminate noise in house price movement. As a result, houses become less risky and the volatility of house price is understated which may not be true. For example, the risk and return of quarterly index may be lower compared to monthly index because the information of monthly index is missing. Moreover, Kaplan (2010) defined seasonality in a time series is a pattern that tends to repeat from year to year. In other word, seasonality appeared in time series when the price or index movement is repetitive around the trend line. If the housing index consists of seasonal effect it will mislead measurement on real housing performance based on economic situation. In order to investigate these problems quality adjusted index will be developed by hedonic model based on Laspeyres, Paasche, Fisher and time dummy price index formula. The case study to be investigated is housing index of double storey house in Plentong Johor. Thus f-ratio and volatility of housing index for each period (quarterly, monthly and yearly) used to evaluate temporal aggregation problem. Seasonal Analysis will be adopted in this study to identify the existence of seasonality problem in monthly housing index. It contained two objectives in this study. First is to determine whether housing index should be represented in the most disaggregated level (monthly index). Second is to identify the existence of seasonality problem in housing index