Asia-Pacific ex-Japan equity capital markets volume totaled US$50.7 billion through 406 deals in the fist quarter of 2013, down 1% as compared with the previous quarter, but up 16% on the first quarter of 2012 (US$43.7 billion).
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Like an endangered species clinging on to the last remnants of its natural habitat, the Hong Kong initial public offering was scantly seen in 2012. The euro-zone sovereign debt crisis rumbled through the markets for most of the year, putting paid to many issuers’ plans.
I participated, alongside 14 other professionals, in a study for an in-depth report from PwC and Baker & McKenzie (coordinated by consultancy Meridian West) on cross-border IPO trends.
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HONG KONG (Dow Jones Banking Intelligence) – Forget about everything you have read about banks in Asia being asked to provide hard underwriting commitments for IPOs. Brokers have now found a new way to avoid remaining stuck with shares on their books – thanks to increasingly common cornerstone investor arrangements.
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An old joke tells of two matrons having lunch at an expensive restaurant. One lady says, “The food is so bad,” and the other says, “Yes, and the portions are so small.” This neatly sums up IPO bankers’ first half: markets are challenging and they are working harder to sell smaller deals for less fee income. Bankers’ complaints about difficult deals are likely to be followed by grumbling that they don’t have enough of them.
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HONG KONG (Dow Jones Banking Intelligence) – The Facebook IPO and its confusing messages have, once again, highlighted differences in IPO market practices between the U.S. and the rest of the world. ECM bankers in New York and the Silicon Valley could in fact take some lessons from Asian ways to send clear guidance to investors – and avoid causing IPO bubbles.
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HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – A 10-year analysis using data supplied by Dealogic shows the number of IPOs globally has remained relatively constant, as well as the relative proportion of IPOs conducted in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and in Hong Kong in particular. However, there has been a clear shift in terms of the bigger deals, a much larger share of which now commonly takes place in the Far East.
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Much criticized at the time of the dot-com boom, the independence of research analysts is again in question as some say they could be compromised through interviews by independent advisers prior to IPO mandates being handed out. But as analysts’ views can on occasion differ from the sometimes rosy picture that ECM and origination bankers paint in their pitches, understanding the research take on a sector – or even on the market generally – can only help restore confidence in new issues.
