Singapore’s stock exchange (SGX) is closing out a good year for IPOs, with 26 companies going to market this year raising S$6.22 billion, according to new data published by Deloitte Singapore.
This is a hefty 28% increase on 2012′s SGX listings of S$4.86 billion proceeds. Nearly half of the proceeds raised this year were driven by 11 IPOs in the third quarter, which led to the year-to date listings outperforming the deal flow and volume of IPOs in the first three quarters of 2012.
Dr Ernest Kan, Chief of Operations for Clients & Markets at Deloitte Singapore, says abundant liquidity and positive investor sentiment have propelled Singapore’s IPO market in the past 12 months. Interest in real estate counters remains high, dominating the market over the past year.
Kan says Deloitte expects the Singapore IPO market to remain positive with in 2014. “Even though there remains the prospect of the eventual quantitative easing , we believe our capital market will be resilient as it has grown stronger from the expansion of SGX’s global presence in establishing a strong international investor base and their active outreach to attract IPO candidates.”
Why India might be the next private equity hotspot
The Financial Times reports that India’s central bank governor Raghuram Rajan has started the ball rolling in a bid to resolve the country’s problem with heavily indebted companies that are tightly controlled by industrial tycoons.
Rajan is calling for private equity groups such as KKR and Blackstone to take over distressed companies.
KKR told the FT that if the central bank’s moves work, private capital will definitely flow into the country.
Why working for a Korean bank could limit your career
Despite a strategy to become global players, many Korean banks have fallen short of the mark, says the Financial Times.
Lack of international experience and weak sales networks, and huge challenges in markets such as China and southeast Asia because of strict regulation and low brand recognition have all hampered their efforts.
Hong Kong bans former DBS staffer for life
The city’s securities regulator has banned a former banker at Singapore’s DBS Bank after she was found guilty of stealing US3.4 million from clients between 2004 and 2009, reports Asian Investor.
Ivy Kiu Keen Yee, a former relationship manager, was jailed for over six years, and will never be permitted to work in the industry in Hong Kong again.
Former Deutsche banker’s nasty divorce
Bloomberg reports that a divorce being heard in the UK between former Deutsche Bank executive and his estranged wife has heard claims that they used a charity to save China’s tigers to hide assets while she spent the group’s money on furniture and expensive meals.
Stuart Bray and his wife, Li Quan, are fighting over about 50 million pounds of assets held by Save China’s Tigers, which they founded in 2000. Bray is disputing his wife’s claims that the trust was used as a shelter for their personal wealth.