Grabbing the opportunity: IPOs kick off in ASEAN
Investors in ASEAN, who are not necessarily interested to launch big projects, manage complex joint-ventures, manufacturing or trading operations, don’t need to look much further. ASEAN is set to become the world’s most active region for initial public offerings in 2013 after it has already earned a solid reputation in this field with several mega-IPOs happening in Malaysia in 2012. Among them, most notably, is palm oil conglomerate Felda Holdings, with its $3.2bn raised in June 2012 ranking only second behind Facebook in that year.
By Arno Maierbrugger
Putting money to work at ASEAN exchanges has become easy with all major banks offering brokerage services from tax-friendly locations such as Singapore or Hong Kong, and a new ASEAN trading platform, the ASEAN Exchange Link, also seeking to attract individual investors and bolster volumes by offering cross-border trading.
What’s on the IPO plate for 2013? Malaysia will see more major deals after Kuala Lumpur rose to become the world’s fourth largest centre for bourse debuts in 2012, overtaking other financial hubs in Asia and, most notably, London. Three IPOs with the potential to become new blue chips at the Bursa Malaysia in 2013 are power producer Malakoff Berhad along with long-haul budget airline AirAsia X and Westports Malaysia, operator of the country’s busiest port: all three slated to go public in the first half of 2013. New regulations in Malaysia are now also allowing the listing of Business Trusts, corporate entities that combine assets such as property and enjoy certain tax incentives. Such trusts, namely real estate investment trusts, or REITs, that are paying regular dividends at higher yields to make them more palatable to investors, had been available only in Hong Kong and Singapore in the past.
After record share trading in 2012, Thailand looks likely to have another strong year of bourse activity in 2013. The country’s largest-ever IPO, an infrastructure fund of Bangkok’s Skytrain operator BTS Group Holdings, is slated for February and aims to raise $1.5bn. Other interesting IPOs will be the Thai branch of Australian miner Kingsgate Consolidated and budget carrier Nok Air.
In Indonesia, a number of medium-sized companies are waiting in the 2013 IPO queue, among them Blue Bird Group, the country’s biggest taxi operator aiming to raise around $200mn, as well postal service group PT Pos and Bank Maspion Indonesia. However, the IPO spree should be topped by AirAsia Indonesia’s debut expected in the third quarter of 2013.
The Philippines will see the IPO of Philippine Business Bank, and the power unit of investment conglomerate GT Capital is reportedly also ready to go public.
Interestingly, the former IPO capital of Southeast Asia, Singapore, is currently facing a famine in initial public offerings or at least repeated delays of big-ticket stock deals such as auto-racing franchise Formula One Group. Clearly, the attention has shifted to the new markets mentioned above and smart investors will certainly know how to make sense of it.
This comment is Inside investor’s weekly contribution to Qatar’s leading newspaper Gulf Times and is published every Sunday.
Investors in ASEAN, who are not necessarily interested to launch big projects, manage complex joint-ventures, manufacturing or trading operations, don’t need to look much further. ASEAN is set to become the world’s most active region for initial public offerings in 2013 after it has already earned a solid reputation in this field with several mega-IPOs happening in Malaysia in 2012. Among them, most notably, is palm oil conglomerate Felda Holdings, with its $3.2bn raised in June 2012 ranking only second behind Facebook in that year. By Arno Maierbrugger Putting money to work at ASEAN exchanges has become easy with all...
Investors in ASEAN, who are not necessarily interested to launch big projects, manage complex joint-ventures, manufacturing or trading operations, don’t need to look much further. ASEAN is set to become the world’s most active region for initial public offerings in 2013 after it has already earned a solid reputation in this field with several mega-IPOs happening in Malaysia in 2012. Among them, most notably, is palm oil conglomerate Felda Holdings, with its $3.2bn raised in June 2012 ranking only second behind Facebook in that year.
By Arno Maierbrugger
Putting money to work at ASEAN exchanges has become easy with all major banks offering brokerage services from tax-friendly locations such as Singapore or Hong Kong, and a new ASEAN trading platform, the ASEAN Exchange Link, also seeking to attract individual investors and bolster volumes by offering cross-border trading.
What’s on the IPO plate for 2013? Malaysia will see more major deals after Kuala Lumpur rose to become the world’s fourth largest centre for bourse debuts in 2012, overtaking other financial hubs in Asia and, most notably, London. Three IPOs with the potential to become new blue chips at the Bursa Malaysia in 2013 are power producer Malakoff Berhad along with long-haul budget airline AirAsia X and Westports Malaysia, operator of the country’s busiest port: all three slated to go public in the first half of 2013. New regulations in Malaysia are now also allowing the listing of Business Trusts, corporate entities that combine assets such as property and enjoy certain tax incentives. Such trusts, namely real estate investment trusts, or REITs, that are paying regular dividends at higher yields to make them more palatable to investors, had been available only in Hong Kong and Singapore in the past.
After record share trading in 2012, Thailand looks likely to have another strong year of bourse activity in 2013. The country’s largest-ever IPO, an infrastructure fund of Bangkok’s Skytrain operator BTS Group Holdings, is slated for February and aims to raise $1.5bn. Other interesting IPOs will be the Thai branch of Australian miner Kingsgate Consolidated and budget carrier Nok Air.
In Indonesia, a number of medium-sized companies are waiting in the 2013 IPO queue, among them Blue Bird Group, the country’s biggest taxi operator aiming to raise around $200mn, as well postal service group PT Pos and Bank Maspion Indonesia. However, the IPO spree should be topped by AirAsia Indonesia’s debut expected in the third quarter of 2013.
The Philippines will see the IPO of Philippine Business Bank, and the power unit of investment conglomerate GT Capital is reportedly also ready to go public.
Interestingly, the former IPO capital of Southeast Asia, Singapore, is currently facing a famine in initial public offerings or at least repeated delays of big-ticket stock deals such as auto-racing franchise Formula One Group. Clearly, the attention has shifted to the new markets mentioned above and smart investors will certainly know how to make sense of it.
This comment is Inside investor’s weekly contribution to Qatar’s leading newspaper Gulf Times and is published every Sunday.
