Thailand to Be Southeast Asia’s IPO Star This Year

Julia Cristina Silvi Fioretti

21 Sep 2020, 03:58 PM IST

(Bloomberg) -- Thailand is shaping up to be the biggest Southeast Asian initial public offering market this year, with the country’s biggest packaging company kicking off a $1.27 billion offering on Monday.

SCG Packaging Pcl set a price range of 33.50 baht to 35 baht for its 1.13 billion share offering, putting the Siam Cement Pcl unit’s float on course to be Thailand’s second-largest offering this year.

Almost $3 billion has been raised from Thai IPOs so far in 2020, most of it from Central Retail Corp.’s $2.5 billion IPO in February before global markets saw the worst of the impact from the pandemic. Across Southeast Asia, just $4.23 billion has been raised from first-time share sales, 21% down from the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

No other market in the region has had IPO volumes exceeding $1 billion this year, the data show. Singapore is closest with $515 million raised. Just $71 million, a decade low, has been raised in Malaysia, although issuers there are gearing up again.

Relatively lower liquidity and lagging stock-market performance in Southeast Asia has meant share sales in the region have been slower to recover versus other markets like Hong Kong and China, both of which have enjoyed some of their busiest periods in years. Many countries in Southeast Asia are also lagging in emerging from coronavirus-induced lockdowns.

The second quarter was one of the slowest for Southeast Asian IPOs in more than a decade. Some $605 million was raised in the region in the three months to June, the second-lowest quarter since $330 million was raised in the third quarter of 2009.

UPCOMING LISTINGS:

ZTO Express
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size up to $1.6b
- Pricing Sept. 22, listing Sept. 29
- Goldman Sachs
Ming Yuan Cloud
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size $797m
- Listing Sept. 25
- CICC, Citi
Zai Lab
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size up to $883m
- Pricing Sept. 22, listing Sept. 28
- JPM, Goldman Sachs, Citi
Baozun
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size up to $536m
- Pricing Sept. 23, listing Sept. 29
- Citi, CMB International, Credit Suisse
Huazhu Group
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size $783m
- Trading Sept. 22
- Goldman Sachs, CMBI
Joy Spreader Interactive Technology
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size up to $225m
- Books close Sept. 15
- China Securities, China Merchants Securities, BOCOM International
Neusoft Education
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size up to $134m
- Pricing Sept. 22, listing Sept. 29
- Citic Securities
JHBP (Genor Biopharma)
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Pre-marketing Sep. 14-16
- Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Jefferies
Kioxia
- Tokyo stock exchange
- Size $2.9b
- Pricing expected Sept. 28, listing Oct. 6
- Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Nomura, Bank of America
Big Hit Entertainment
- South Korea exchange
- Size up to $812m
- IPO pricing on Sept. 28, subscription from Oct. 5-6
- NH Investment, Korea Investment, JPMorgan
Gland Pharmacy Ltd.
- India stock exchanges
- Filed July 10
- Citi, Haitong, Nomura, Kotak
Computer Age Management Services
- BSE
- Size up to $304m
- Offer period from Sept. 21-23
- Nomura, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC, ICICI

More ECM transactions we are following:

Jack Ma’s Ant Group is seeking to raise at least $35 billion in its initial public offering after assessing early investor interest, people familiar with the matter said, putting the Chinese fintech giant on track for a record debut sale.
Yihai Kerry Arawana will set its offer price on Wednesday for what is poised to be the biggest ever listing on the Shenzhen stock exchange’s ChiNext board.
Everest Medicines starts gauging investor demand for a Hong Kong IPO.
Route Mobile surges 110% above its IPO price in its Mumbai trading debut.