Malaysia to introduce business trusts

An interesting story was published on Bloomberg today about the forthcoming introduction of business trusts in Malaysia.

SGX investors put their trust in Far East’s yield play

Making the deals fly

A guest column I wrote for the China Economic Review.

2011 was a year marred by extreme volatility in markets, an earthquake and tsunami that disrupted global supply chains, renewed inflationary worries in Asia and, above all, the near collapse of the euro zone.

The year in IPOs foretold

A Happy New Year to all! Set out below is a piece I wrote in today’s South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, looking at the year that was and at prospects for IPOs in the city.

Last year was difficult for Hong Kong initial public offerings. True, about US$32 billion was raised from 69 flotations as of December 15, according to the Hong Kong Exchange (thereby enabling the city to retain its global crown for IPO fund-raising, ahead of Shenzhen and New York), but last year was also notable for the below-par performance of most new issues – with many down by 20 per cent or more from their offer prices.

Fourth time’s a charm?

Hong Kong makes a tough call on PCCW

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – PCCW Ltd.’s hope of spinning off its telecommunications business into Hong Kong’s first listed business trust were shattered when the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong’s listing committee rejected the application. The decision, revealed last week by PCCW, reinforces the SGX’s lock on this type of security, and the temptation for Hong Kong to lure this class of listing away from Singapore must have been intense. But PCCW’s plan raised troubling corporate governance issues.

PCCW’s business trust – Like father, like son?

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Richard Li appears again to be following in his father’s footsteps. Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, just spun off the container port assets of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. as a business trust on Singapore’s SGX in the world’s largest IPO so far this year. Now PCCW Ltd., in which the younger Li holds a 27.1% stake, is considering a similar listing in Hong Kong for its telecommunications arm, which accounts for about 90% of PCCW’s business.

HPH Trust kicks-off bookbuilding

As previously reported on this blog, Hutchison Ports Holdings Trust (HPH Trust) kicked-off yesterday the institutional bookbuilding process for its multi billion-dollar business trust IPO in Singapore. The preliminary prospectus posted on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s OPERA website includes interesting features, which are highlighted below.