IPO roadshow warriors a dying breed?
“So where are we going to travel to on the roadshow?” – that’s usually one of the first questions a prospective IPO issuer will ask bankers pitching to lead its flotation. read
Year: 2012
Fifty shades of greed
Once an IPO finishes and the power brokers have pocketed their fees, the marketing spree begins. Assuming the offering was reasonably successful, the banks will roll out detailed case studies to prospective issuers. These documents hash out key aspects of the deal and, most importantly, how well they were able to package and sell it to investors. read
SGX investors put their trust in Far East’s yield play
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Banking Intelligence) – Order taking began last week for the IPO of Far East Hospitality Trust (“Far East HT”) in Singapore. Pricing is currently scheduled for August 16, with listing on August 27. The offering is large and visible and was already substantially covered at the time of launch by cornerstone investors. This could provide a well-needed boost to Singapore’s primary market, which has so far this year seen a number of deals pulled, cancelled or otherwise postponed. read
A Plus interview
I was interviewed on Hong Kong IPOs in the August edition of A Plus with George W. Russell, Editor of this magazine of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. read
Cornerstones are difficult to corner
In this day and age, and amid continued volatile markets, for an IPO to succeed it’s pretty much a pre-requisite to secure cornerstone investors. Not only does their involvement considerably de-risks a transaction by parking away a big chunk of the shares on offer at an early stage; it also provides a high degree of confidence to other institutions – and to retail investors – to encourage them to subscribe to a deal that’s already been taken up by big, visible names. read
SGX increases thresholds for IPOs
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Banking Intelligence)— Singapore Exchange Ltd (the SGX) has just introduced a new set of rules for admission to listing on its main board. This makes perfect sense and also addresses one of the exchange’s key weaknesses: a lack of liquidity caused by the presence of too many smaller, and lower quality, issuers. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) should take notice. read
Neither quantity nor quality
What a difference a few years can make. Initial public offering volumes are sharply down in Hong Kong, while some markets in Southeast Asia appear to be enjoying a revival not seen since the 1997 financial crisis. I have mentioned earlier in Money Post on July 2 that much of this is due, at least in part, to the shrinkage of deal flow from China’s giant state-owned enterprises, which has generated much of the steady fee income for IPO bankers since the mid-noughties. read
Espinasse on CNBC’s Squawk Box
I was interviewed this morning on Asian IPOs on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” show with anchors Lisa Oake and Bernie Lo and Anthony Scaramucci, Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital. read
The enduring mystery of IPO pricing
In 2004, Google came to market with an IPO. The company took an unconventional approach to pricing. It put its offer to all investors through an open, Dutch auction. All investors, whether individuals or institutions, were asked to submit orders. The deal was then priced at exactly the level required to sell all shares at the highest possible valuation. read
Too much information that comes too late
Knowledge is power. And it’s especially true when it comes to investing in initial public offerings. On July 8, fellow columnist Jake van der Kamp argued that retail investors seem to be getting too little of it – or rather that information on IPO issuers is being made available to the public too late in the process (“SFC appears to be in la-la land over listing documents”). read