Funds raised by Asian IPOs surge 87% to US$14.5b

And Singapore Exchange is among the top 12 exchanges by the number of deals and capital raised with four listings raising US$349m.

Global IPO activity saw an improvement in Q2 2012, according to Ernst & Young’s Global IPO update. So far this quarter, a total of 206 deals has raised US$41.8b, an increase of 5% by deal numbers and 141% higher by capital raised compared to Q1 2012 (US$17.4b via 196 deals). However, this quarter was 46% lower by number of deals and 36% lower by capital raised than in Q2 2011 (US$65.6b via 383 deals). The latter was, however, the highest second quarter since Q2 2007.

This quarter, the overall capital raised was boosted by Facebook’s US$16.0b IPO, which made up 38% of this quarter’s total. Even without this IPO, the overall global IPO activity in Q2 2012 (US$25.8b) was 49% higher by capital raised compared to Q1 2012. By funds raised, the top three exchanges in Q2 were NASDAQ, which accounted for 42% of global capital raised with 12 IPOs (US$17.5b), New York Stock Exchange (10.9%, US$4.6b in 15 IPOs), and Bursa Malaysia (8%, US$3.4b in 4 IPOs).

Asia IPOs

IPO activity in Asian markets accounted for 35% of global IPO funds raised in Q2 2012 (or 56% of global funds raised when excluding the Facebook IPO), with 104 deals raising US$14.5b. This was an 87% increase compared to the previous quarter (US$7.8b via 96 deals) but 47% decline compared to Q2 2011 (US$27.7b via 165 deals).

The largest Asian IPOs this quarter were the US $3.1b listing of Malaysia’s palm oil producer, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd on Bursa Malaysia and China’s Haitong Securities Co Ltd (US $1.8b) on Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Out of the top 20 global IPOs this quarter, eight were listed on Asian stock exchanges.

The Singapore Exchange, with four listings raising US$349m, came up among the top 12 exchanges by the number of deals and capital raised. This excludes the two IPOs listed on Catalist, which raised some US$17m.

Max Loh, Country Managing Partner at Ernst & Young LLP comments: “As we expected, former state-owned enterprise (SOE) listings on Greater China stock exchanges continued to decline. However, Asian IPO activity saw increased volume this quarter. The IPO pipeline remains relatively strong in Southeast Asia. There are still many regional players looking to tap the equity market to raise capital. Notwithstanding concerns over the global economy, resilient financial performance, the support of cornerstone investors, pension and other funds, and ample liquidity, will serve to drive the momentum of IPOs in Southeast Asian markets.”