SREITs ride IPO market recovery, grab lion's share of deals

One REIT raised almost US$1 billion in funds.

Three new REITs gave the Singapore equity market a vote of confidence this year. According to BakerMcKenzie, REITs were among the biggest fundraisers in the domestic initial public offering market this year.

The year's largest domestic IPOs were led by Frasers Logistics and Industrial Trust, which raised US$951.29 million, followed by Manulife US REIT which raised US$493.24 million.

Meanwhile, EC World REIT raised US$464.07 million in its Singapore IPO. Other large IPOs include tech company Procurri Corp, which raised US$28.66 million, and consumer company Secura Group, which raised $19.4 million in the Catalist.

Local firms also embarked on more cross-border IPOs this year. The largest cross-border IPO by a Singaporean company was BOC Aviation's US$1.12 billion debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Chuan Holdings was a far second, raising US$32.48 million in its Hong Kong debut.