The dating game: Why a CapitaLand-Mapletree merger could turn into a marriage of inconvenience
A union of the two Temasek stalwarts would essentially bring together two different souls who have little cultural DNA in common
EVEN as the “China Dragon” breathed fire across the balance sheet of CapitaLand Investment (CLI) with a bruising S$142 million net loss for the second half-year ended Dec 31, 2025, group CEO Lee Chee Koon at the briefing last Wednesday (Feb 11) offered a metaphor more along romantic lines than one on corporate manoeuvring.
Fending off rising speculation about a mega-merger with Mapletree Investments, he said to a crowd of journalists and analysts: “It’s like dating.
“Sometimes you get married in a month, sometimes you take a few years, and sometimes when you are almost going to get married, you decide that you cannot (go through with it).”
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