Share buybacks jumped to $2 billion in 2015

Banks were particularly active buyers.

Locally-listed companies spent $2 billion snapping up their own shares in 2015, according to data from the Singapore Exchange.

Share buybacks peaked at $544 million in August, which coincided with the global stock market rout sparked by China’s devaluation of the yuan. Buybacks also remained elevated at $445m in September.

Banks became particularly active in buying their own shares in the second half of the year. In the third quarter, for instance, DBS splurged $137.4m to buy back its own shares. UOB spent $17.94m to buy its shares in the fourth quarter, while OCBC used $19.03m to buy its shares in the same period.

In December, there were a total of 67,681,884 shares repurchased by 38 stocks, with a total consideration of $63.1 million.

The five stocks with the largest considerations in buybacks in December were United Overseas Bank, PEC, DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Pacific Century Regional Developments.

There are two common motivations for a listed company to buy shares back from the open market – when they feel that their share price has been undervalued or simply to facilitate employee share option schemes.