Thakral Corp, which has interests largely in property and distribution of consumer products, has taken a 5% stake in W Capital Markets, which values the corporate finance firm at $21 million.
Founded by M&A banker Wayne Lee in 2018, W Capital Markets has already completed 15 capital market deals.
According to W Capital's website, the firm most recently acted as the financial adviser to the voluntary general offer for Sunvic Chemical; it played a similar role to the general offer made for Penguin International.
W Capital and Thakral are no strangers. Back in April 2019, W Capital advised Thakral's controlling shareholders in their voluntary conditional cash partial offer for Thakral Corporation.
“We are confident that W Capital Markets with its experienced team and a substantial deal flow in hand will deliver strong returns in the long-term,” says Thakral’s group CEO and executive director, Inderbethal Singh Thakral. “This investment is in line with our strategy of expanding our investment portfolio to improve returns to shareholders,” he adds.
SEE:Thakral's property bets
W Capital Markets has the license to be a mainboard IPO issue manager and also a Catalist full sponsor.
Besides Lee, the company’s board includes Sin Boon Ann, Tan Wang Cheow and two representatives from Chinese conglomerate Nanshan Group, Chen Aijun and Sui Xinpeng.
“The extensive network, experience and resources of Thakral will definitely create positive synergies that will help spur our growth,” says W Capital's chairman and CEO Lee, who was previously CEO, executive director and head of corporate finance at Tata Capital Markets.
“With our exciting expansion plans in the pipeline, this strategic investment will enable us to scale new heights as one of the top corporate finance firms in Singapore,” he adds.
