Some Surprises in IPO Market

It is hard to believe anyone would be able to pull off a public share offering in 2009 and as one would expect, there were very few successful listings in Asia. Based on our records, Singapore-based bunkering company Yujin International was the only Asian shipping company that had found success in the IPO market. Interestingly, the company chose to list not in Asia but on the London AIM in a deal organized by nominated advisor and broker Seymour Pierce. The size may be small, but to have a Singapore company listing on a small alternative market in London is a big step. The company listed with 30,000 shares priced at GBP 0.33 each, making its total market capitalization after expenses just shy of GBP 10 million. Continue Reading

Pipavav Shipyard

This week, we are impressed to see another shipyard finding success in the IPO market. This makes India’s Pipavav Shipyard the third successful shipbuilder to raise equity following Taiwan’s China Shipbuilding Corporation and Malaysia’s TAS Offshore since the beginning of this year.

Pipavav Shipyard will soon be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange upon the completion of its book building. The private shipyard has offered its shares at a price band of Rs 55 – 60 a piece and plans to raise between Rs 4.7 billion (USD 98 million) and Rs 510 billion (USD 106 million). This amount is significantly lesser than the USD 200 million it had previously planned when the shipyard registered its IPO during the first quarter of 2008. Out of the 85.45 million shares on offer, 2.6 million shares have been set aside for the employees. We have provided a summary of the transaction in the Guts of the Deal table that follows. JM Financial Consultants, Citigroup Global Markets India, Enam Securities and SBI Capital Markets are the appointed bookrunners for this IPO. Continue Reading