Singapore to provide support for Southeast Asia's muted IPO market this year

Fundraising via IPOs in the city-state hit $1.7b in 2016.

Singapore is set to be 2017's hottest spot for initial public offerings (IPOs) in tropical Southeast Asia with sales of stakes in business and real estate trusts, while currency volatility and weak investor sentiment curb deals elsewhere in the region, according to a report from Reuters.

Singapore's stock exchange has promoted itself as a centre for business trusts and real estate investment trusts (REITs), which offer stable dividends. That has helped it partly make up for a drop in major share sales as large Chinese firms favour the higher valuations and liquidity of Hong Kong. Fundraising via IPOs in Singapore hit $1.7 billion last year, up fivefold from 2015 when it slumped to its lowest since 1998, Thomson Reuters data showed.

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