HONG KONG (Dow Jones Banking Intelligence) – Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEx) has faced much distraction this year. It now needs now to focus on the issues which can help it regain its status as an IPO destination. read
The simplified Chinese character edition of “IPO: A Global Guide” for the mainland market will go to print this coming week end – and should be available for sale towards the end of the week starting 27 August 2012.
“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
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
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
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
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
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
