DBS, South-east Asia’s biggest bank, has several listings lined up for the Singapore market, including some potential blockbusters with valuations of US$1 billion.
Clifford Lee, the global head of investment banking at DBS, said the bank is in talks with IPO candidates that were earlier keen on a US listing but are now reconsidering Singapore.
Likening it to small fish in a big pond, Lee said: “Anything less than a US$3 billion valuation, interest falls away quite rapidly.”
But such Asian companies trying to sell shares in the US market would be well received in Singapore as it is receptive to listings of that size and a viable option, Lee said in an interview with Bloomberg.
“It’s not every year you have this kind of lineup,” he added. Indeed, the Singapore Exchange has been suffering from a listing drought for several years now. The dry spell is even more conspicuous next to its Asean peers. Last year, the Republic had a paltry four new IPOs; Indonesia had 39 and Thailand about 30, with Malaysia leading the pack with almost 50.
To make matters worse, the exchange has at the same time been hit by an exodus of listcos, which surpassed new entrants by a wide margin in 2024.
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The sorry flow of listings comes despite several measures iintroduced over the years to reinvigorate the local market – including subsidising the cost of getting a listing, introducing special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs), and tightening the rules governing delisting.
To put the Republic back on the IPO radar, the MAS Review Group was set up last August to recommend measures to strengthen equities market development in Singapore. It is chaired by Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Transport, Second Minister for Finance and board member of MAS, and comprises key private sector stakeholders and public sector representatives.
Though the group is supposed to report back within 12 months, some expect Budget 2025 to offer some clues to what measures it will take.
Amid suggestions from various quarters – including the use of public money to boost the market as a potential game changer – Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong earlier this month said the MAS group is studying how to make optimum use of seed capital to attract more commercial capital.
This will ensure that government developmental capital is deployed in a fiscally prudent manner.
Speaking at the SGX’s 25th anniversary ceremony on Jan 2, Gan said: “While there have been suggestions to channel sovereign monies into our equities market, it is not practical to rely on sovereign monies alone to sustain these funds and to support the equity market.”
Gan instead called for the crowding in commercial capital on a sustained basis – such as institutional wealth, individual investors and family offices – as a key measure to stimulate market interest and maintain trading liquidity.
Any move to improved trading liquidity would be welcomed by investment bankers and others in Singapore’s IPO ecosystem.
DBS’s Lee said: “We are having discussions with clients to get them listed in Thailand, Indonesia and many are considering listing in Singapore… They are waiting for the initiatives by the Singapore taskforce to address low trading volumes and valuations.”
Deals that DBS handled last year include Keppel DC Reit’s S$700 million private placement, the biggest such deal on the domestic stock exchange in 2024, the HK$5.8 billion Hong Kong listing by express courier SF Holding, as well as a S$200 million private placement by Frasers Centrepoint Trust.
