SINGAPORE (June 27): The Singapore Exchange (SGX) ranked 10th among exchanges around the world in terms of initial public offering (IPO) proceeds for 2Q19, thanks to sizeable IPOs by two real estate investment trusts.
During the quarter, ARA US Hospitality Trust (ARAUS) and Eagle Hospitality Trust (EHT) led the way for SGX with IPOs that raised gross proceeds of US$498 million ($679 million) and US$453 million, respectively.
According to EY’s quarterly global IPO trends report published Thursday, SGX is currently leading the Southeast Asian region in terms of IPO proceeds so far this year.
Year-to-date, SGX’s IPO proceeds account for some 61% of the total across Asean.
Exchanges across the region have seen a total of 48 IPOs in 1H19, raising some US$2 billion in proceeds – less than half than the same period a year ago.
“Economic uncertainty and ongoing trade issues continued to cast a shadow over IPO markets across the Asean region,” says Max Loh, EY’s managing partner for Asean.
“As geopolitical volatility subsides and as average post-IPO performance stabilises, we expect Asean IPO sentiment to commensurately improve,” he adds.
To be sure, Asean is not alone in seeing a decline in IPO activity.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, IPO activity was down 12% y-o-y by volume to 266 IPOs and down 27% y-o-y by proceeds to US$22.3 billion.
This was mainly attributed to economic uncertainty amid ongoing trade tensions between China and the US.
Globally, deal numbers fell 28% to 507 IPOs in 1H019, raising total proceeds of US$71.9 billion.
Technology, health care and industrials saw the largest share of IPOs in 1H19, accounting for just over half of global IPOs by deal numbers.
IPOs from these three sectors also raised US$47.8 billion in total, making up 66% of global proceeds in 1H19.
