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According to Chan Yew Kiang, IPO practice partner at consultancy firm Ernst and Young, many Singapore-based companies think that listing in the US is a “holy grail” of sorts.
The comparison got me thinking about the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which Indy must race against the Nazis who are looking for the actual Holy Grail. Along the way, he must overcome a bunch of lethal booby traps to get to the Grail, many of which are extremely tricky to solve.
Like the film, attaining the holy grail of a Nasdaq listing is something that contains lots of challenges. Additionally, simply debuting on the US bourse isn’t the end goal – companies want to see a rise in their share prices, and that is something they may not have full control over.
So why do so many Singapore businesses undertake this dangerous journey? Let’s find out in today’s story.
Today we look at:
- Why Singapore firms love the Nasdaq so much
- The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore bringing up potential issues with Grab’s planned Trans-cab acquisition
- Other newsy highlights such as GoTo Group‘s co-chairman selling a portion of his shares and Digital Classifieds Group’s acquisition of Lamudi’s Indonesian and Philippine units
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They chose … poorly
Image credit: Timmy Loen
Two Singaporean tech startups recently made surprising moves to list on the Nasdaq: property platform Ohmyhome and facilities management platform Simpple. However, it’s only been downhill since then. Let’s see whether the Nasdaq is really the “holy grail” for Singapore IPOs or if it’ll just leave more startups as skeletons.
- Skeletal remains: The IPOs of Ohmyhome and Simpple raised less than US$20 million in total. As of October 9, Ohmyhome’s share price dropped 27.8% since its listing, while Simpple’s was down 2.5%.
- No booby traps: Why is the Nasdaq so attractive? Perhaps it’s because it has lower barriers to entry compared to other exchanges. In particular, a company listing on the Nasdaq doesn’t have to be profitable before going public.
- Too many choices: Still, this is a double-edged sword. With the Nasdaq being easier to list on, they can get lost in the crowd of over 3,000 companies.
Read more: Singapore firms’ love affair with Nasdaq continues despite post-IPO heartaches
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