The Merlion roars again
Something quite extraordinary has just been happening in Singapore. For the first time in several years, investors in the city-state have been able to punt on a local, multi-billion-dollar IPO. read
Tag: Business trusts
All quiet on the Eastern front
There seems to be no end in sight for the Asian ECM bout of depression. Above all, it’s been a pretty miserable year so far for IPOs, in sharp contrast to new listings activity in other parts of the world. read
Asian IPOs go binary
2014 has come and gone, with a fairly honourable tally for Asia’s busy ECM desks. According to Dealogic, last year’s ECM volume on Asia ex-Japan exchanges, and excluding China’s A-share markets, was just under US$135 billion, more than in each of 2013 and 2012. read
Espinasse on HK Electric Investments
I was back in CNBC’s Hong Kong studio this morning to comment on “The Call” hosted by Bernie Lo, on Hong Kong Electric Investments’ IPO trading debut on HKEx. read
Espinasse on CNBC’s “Cash Flow”
I was back in CNBC’s Hong Kong studio this morning for live interviews with anchors Emily Chan and Oriel Morrison to comment on local IPOs. read
Malaysia to introduce business trusts
An interesting story was published on Bloomberg today about the forthcoming introduction of business trusts in Malaysia. read
SGX investors put their trust in Far East’s yield play
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
Making the deals fly
A guest column I wrote for the China Economic Review.
2011 was a year marred by extreme volatility in markets, an earthquake and tsunami that disrupted global supply chains, renewed inflationary worries in Asia and, above all, the near collapse of the euro zone. read
The year in IPOs foretold
A Happy New Year to all! Set out below is a piece I wrote in today’s South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, looking at the year that was and at prospects for IPOs in the city.
Last year was difficult for Hong Kong initial public offerings. True, about US$32 billion was raised from 69 flotations as of December 15, according to the Hong Kong Exchange (thereby enabling the city to retain its global crown for IPO fund-raising, ahead of Shenzhen and New York), but last year was also notable for the below-par performance of most new issues – with many down by 20 per cent or more from their offer prices. read
Fourth time’s a charm?
It’s been quite a journey for the long-suffering shareholders of PCCW since the merger with Cable & Wireless HKT in 2000. Macquarie Bank’s and TPG Newbridge’s offers for its telecommunications business in 2006 were vetoed. Other attempts to sell the assets came to nothing in 2008, while a privatisation proposal by chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai in 2009 was ruled out by the Court of Appeal. And in April, the exchange rejected PCCW’s application to list a business trust – a type of transaction untried in Hong Kong.