Singapore's Biggest Property Broker Is Said to Prepare IPO
Singapore's Top Property Broker Is Said Preparing to Launch IPO
(Bloomberg) -- PropNex Realty Pte, Singapore’s biggest property broker, plans to seek about S$40 million ($30 million) from a proposed Singapore initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The company is targeting a market capitalization of as much as S$250 million, the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private. PropNex is considering launching the offering as soon as next week and aims to list as early as the end of June, according to one of the people.
PropNex is considering marketing the IPO shares at 62-68 Singapore cents apiece, the person said. Details of the offering could still change, the people said.
The company, which has nearly 7,000 agents, became Singapore’s biggest property broker by salesforce last year after a merger with Dennis Wee Group. PropNex is seeking to repeat the success of smaller rival APAC Realty Ltd.’s IPO, which raised S$58 million in Singapore last year.
Shares of APAC Realty have risen 43 percent since they began trading in September, compared with a 5.9 percent gain in Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index over the period.
“As a private company, PropNex will evaluate the company’s capital needs whenever necessary and does not comment on these matters publicly,” it said in an emailed statement.
Real estate redevelopment deals have been taking off in Singapore, the latest sign that the local housing market is in full recovery after four-year slump. So-called en-bloc sales are projected to reach S$12.8 billion this year, the highest in more than a decade, according to Cushman & Wakefield Singapore.
Singapore’s private home prices rose 3.9 percent in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, the most in nearly eight years, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
To contact the reporters on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at atan17@bloomberg.net;Joyce Koh in Singapore at jkoh38@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, ;Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.