In fairness, the investing public’s fascination with IPOs and first-day pops have dwindled as markets mature and attain a greater balance between institutional and retail participation. Some of us may still remember the queues around Raffles Place for paper-based IPO prospectuses and application forms.
Much has been and continues to be said of late about the IPO market in Singapore — or the lack of it rather. To be sure, Singapore is not alone. Global markets for new issues have been frozen over since the 2021 binge when Dealogic calculated over US$600 billion was raised globally. This is twice the last major top which was in 2007 just before the Global Financial Crisis and almost three times as large as 2000 at the apex of the Dotcom bubble. This 2021 record was more remarkable given that it came amid a pandemic that ironically fuelled risk-taking in NFTs, meme stocks and blank cheque spacs.
The global primary listings window is all but shut, even in the mighty US. From the record of 2021, IPO proceeds plunged 90% last year. Singapore’s forte in the listing of REITs too grounded to a halt as the sector grappled with rate hikes rather than the fallout from the failure of Eagle Hospitality Trust.
