SGX recovers from IPO dearth as equity listings surge 65% in H1

Equity offerings have reached US$1.4 billion so far this year.

After a dearth of equity listings in 2015, the local bourse is finally seeing a revival in transaction volume. According to data from Thomson Reuters, Singapore-listed equity offerings—made up of combined initial public offerings and follow-on offerings—totaled US$1.4 billion so far this year, a 65.2% increase in proceeds after a really slow start during the first half of 2015.

IPO activity in Singapore stock exchanges showed signs of life after a lackluster year in 2015.

This was led by Frasers Logistics and Industrial Trust’s US$935.4 million IPO in the SGX Mainboard, the biggest IPO in Singapore since 2013. Manulife US REIT IPO, the first mainboard listing of the year, raised US$493.2 million.

Meanwhile, five companies headed for the SGX Catalist board and raised a total of US$38.6 million.

IPO proceeds accounted for 62.0% of the market share while Follow-on offerings listed in Singapore represented 38.0% market share.

"The pipeline for new listings in Singapore looks healthy for this year, which includes IPOs from Singapore-based Equis Funds Group, Fullerton Healthcare and China-based EC World REIT and Greenland Holdings REIT," Thomson Reuters said.