Just as the country’s prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, met with Donald Trump on a US tour, Vietnam’s equity capital markets were repeatedly in the news over the last few weeks, with a flurry of IPOs and new listings, heralding that issuers there may finally be coming of age. read
Around this time last year, I reviewed the dismal performance of the Hong Kong primary markets, and ventured a guess that investors could instead turn en masse to ECM transactions in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia – and even the Philippines. How wrong I was! read
Forget about reindeer with shiny noses, fir trees and shopping mall carols. For those in the finance industry, the end of the year takes an altogether different meaning. read
In Asia, cornerstone investors are regarded as a vital ingredient for successful major listings. And Hong Kong – where such investors are subject to lock-up restrictions – has also increasingly seen the advent of anchor investors. read
Hong Kong’s IPO drought continues. According to data from Thomson Reuters, the year to date has seen a respectable 42 new listings on the local bourse. But these offers combined raised only US$5.5 billion. read
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Pavilion REIT, a real estate investment trust which will invest in one of Kuala Lumpur’s major shopping malls, is reportedly about to launch an IPO and thus become the latest addition to Malaysia’s REIT (M-REIT) success story. read
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – The board of San Miguel Corp., the Filipino beer-to-infrastructure conglomerate, approved the reorganization of its power business and an increase in its share capital on August 12. After exploring several options, including a possible backdoor listing, San Miguel has settled for an IPO in Manila of up to US$500 million for its 75% subsidiary SMC Global Power Holdings. Macro factors, as well as current expansion plans for the business, look attractive, but San Miguel shareholders are unlikely to gain much through the value arbitrage.
