Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) revealed that its electronics arm has signed an agreement with DSO National Laboratories (DSO) to set up a joint venture company (JVCo) in which ST Engineering’s planned investment of US$3m (about S$4.1m) is for a 51 percent stake in the JVCo, with the remaining 49 percent to be held by DSO.
The agreement was signed by Mr Cheong Chee Hoo and Mr Ravinder Singh at the Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC) 2019 today, and witnessed by Mr. Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Trade and Industry, and Mr. Vincent Chong, President and CEO of ST Engineering.
The JVCo, to be named ST Engineering Geo-Insights Pte. Ltd., will leverage the strengths of its parent companies to offer analytics, information products and value-added services based on satellite imagery to address growing global demand for insights that enable better and faster business decisions. The JVCo also intends to participate in emerging new space technologies to pursue potential business opportunities for low cost small satellites, or smallsat constellation design, development, manufacturing and operation.
Mr. Ravinder Singh, President, Electronics, ST Engineering said that they are excited by this joint venture with DSO. Leveraging the complementary strengths of both organizations, they will offer advanced geospatial analytics to the global market and exploit the vast possibilities in smallsat constellation for commercial applications. This joint venture will enhance the space eco-system in Singapore as we work with industry partners to commercialise geospatial services and new space technologies.
Mr. Cheong Chee Hoo, Chief Executive Officer, DSO National Laboratories added that this is DSO's third joint venture with ST Engineering. They share a common vision to support the growth of Singapore's space industry. DSO is happy to be able to contribute their research and systems engineering competencies, as well as geospatial analytic capabilities to the success of this vision.
The satellite industry is being disrupted by technological advances that enable faster development and launch of lower cost yet reliable high resolution small satellite constellations, making large volumes of satellite imagery readily available. This, coupled with the advancement of data analytics and machine learning technologies, are empowering customers with critical insights to drive business growth and smart city applications. Some of these include the remote detection of real-time changes of on-site infrastructure development projects; movement of ships for enhanced maritime safety; as well as precision agriculture mapping for enhanced yield and sustainability.
The setup of this JVCo is not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current financial year.
