At the end of this year pointing to an upturn after pandemic hit market and week economic growth clashed fundraising the handful of companies from the technologies and consumer durable sector are aiming to launch IPOs in Southeast Asia. Mr. DIY a Home Improvement retailer in Malaysia has restarted the process for its up to $ 500 million initial public offerings (IPO) which has been boosted by a business recovery and the sources familiar with the deal.
Due to confidentiality, the company declined to comment and the sourced declined. At the beginning of this month, the Philippine Fibre broadband services provider Converge ICT solutions filed for an IPO of up to $ 725 million. There had been held over 50 meetings with the investors on this month to chart demand for the deal. The first real estate trust AREIT, PHILIPPINES had also raised $ 275 million. The activity is being picked up in the region after grinding to halt in the first quarter.
Tham Tuck Seng, the capital markets partner at PwC in Singapore said that IPOs which had been planned before the pandemic is now just waiting for the right moment to come back. He also said that as the health care sector has become more important now they have seen heightened interest from the health care issuers, and also highlighting interest from consumer tech firms. Total fundraising from the IPOs in Southeast Asia had also fallen to $ 1.4 billion so far this year from $ 2.9 billion a year ago. But $ 3 billion raised by Thailand Central Retail CRC.BK in February had excluded. With the $ 38 billion raised this year in IPOs and secondary listing, the Hong Kong market has started to heat up again.
The pullbacks in the global market in the recent weeks could still delay listing by Southeast Asian companies but launches were being ready for later this year, sources cautioned. At the beginning of this year, the Philippines’ equity index has dropped 25 percent while Indonesia is down 19 percent and Thailand has lost 15 percent. As the markets were roiled by the epidemic the Siam Cement Groups in Thailand packaging subsidiary testing investor appetite for its $ 1 billion IPO in the fourth quarter which was shelved in March. Just before the country went into lockdown, Malaysia’s Mr. DIY had put its IPO on hold. The companies business recovery has been so fast was the reason for the push towards the IPO.
