Whether to fund growth, pare debt or just to stock up on cash for a rainy day, companies are increasingly hustling to refill their war chests through share placements and rights issues. At least 20 firms have gone ahead and completed their raise or are in the process of doing so. Proceeds from secondary fundraising for August alone came to $610 million, the highest since November last year.
Companies in Singapore are tapping investors for cash with renewed vigour, seizing on cheaper money and surprisingly buoyant risk appetite to issue equity cash calls, even as clouds thicken over the global economy.
Fundraising is surging on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), and it’s not newcomers driving the action. The headline-grabbing debut of NTT DC REIT on the mainboard and the listing of Vin’s Holdings and a few other companies on Catalist in recent months prove that IPOs have not vanished entirely. Yet, these are outliers compared with the flurry of secondary exercises so far this year.
