I was invited on Bloomberg Television again this morning for a live interview on Astro Malaysia’s IPO debut in Kuala Lumpur – and on Asian IPOs generally – with anchor Rishaad Salamat in the “On The Move Asia” show. read
Hong Kong’s IPO drought continues. According to data from Thomson Reuters, the year to date has seen a respectable 42 new listings on the local bourse. But these offers combined raised only US$5.5 billion. read
“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
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
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
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
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
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
I was interviewed live today in CNBC’s Hong Kong studio on IPOs in Asia, in particular on the proposed flotations of Graff Diamonds and Formula One in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively. read
The Hong Kong market for initial public offerings is as dull and dank as swamp water. Some deals have even been pulled, which means the line of listing applicants just gets longer. read
