More firms may exit SGX even as it moves to attract listings
ST understands that at least 15 companies have received privatisation offers in 2025 so far. PHOTO: THE BUSINESS TIMES
More firms may exit SGX even as it moves to attract listings
SINGAPORE – Two more companies have announced moves that may impact their Singapore Exchange listing status even as efforts are being made to boost market interest and attract new IPOs.
Local medical services company Singapore Paincare has received a privatisation offer from Advance Bridge Healthcare at 16 cents a share, valuing the company at about $27 million. This was announced after the firm requested a trading halt on May 27.
The offer represents a 27 per cent premium over its last traded price and 77.8 per cent above its share price in March 2024, when a potential deal was first announced. Singapore Paincare will be delisted from the SGX's Catalist board if the deal is successful.
The company said in a bourse filing on May 28 that it saw 'no necessity for access to equity capital markets' and that it has not carried out any exercise to raise equity capital on the SGX since its initial public offering in 2020, except for a share placement exercise in the same year.
It also noted that delisting from the Catalist board would reduce costs relating to the maintenance of its listed status, allowing more resources to be channelled to its business operations.
Singapore Paincare did not respond to queries from The Straits Times.
Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturer Fuxing China Group, listed on the SGX mainboard since 2007, has received approval to list on the Nasdaq. In a bourse filing on May 23, it said trading in its American Depositary Shares would begin 'very shortly'. The company requested a trading halt on May 29.
Fuxing China Group declined to confirm whether it would maintain its SGX listing or provide further details on the Nasdaq move when contacted by ST.
ST understands that at least 15 companies have received privatisation offers in 2025 so far.
They include Paragon Reit, Fraser's Hospitality Trust, Sinarmas Land, Japfa and Amara Holdings.
The offers to Paragon Reit, Japfa and Amara Holdings have been declared unconditional, and they will be delisted from the SGX. Earlier in May, the controlling shareholders of Sinarmas Land also made a second higher offer to take the property developer private.
The wave of offers come even as efforts are under way to raise the number of IPOs on the SGX and offset the tide of companies leaving the local bourse.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore and SGX RegCo on May 15 unveiled proposals to ease the IPO process, including measures to enable better price discovery on the SGX, or how a fair stock price is determined through market supply and demand. These plans are currently under public consultation.
A Reuters report on May 19 noted that at least five companies from mainland China or Hong Kong are looking to launch IPOs, dual listings or share placements in Singapore over the next 12 to 18 months. The report, which cited four unarmed sources, said the companies are eyeing expansion plans in South-east Asia amid global trade tensions.
Mr Jason Saw, group head of investment banking at CGS International Securities, said the combination of sluggish domestic consumption and rising competition in the world's second-largest economy has made overseas expansion more urgent for Chinese firms.
This might be why interest in SGX listings from Chinese companies exploring secondary listings in the region has picked up noticeably in 2025.
'The IPO 'queues' in China and Hong Kong are also very long – SGX offers a much shorter time to market and serves as a good launchpad into the South-east Asia region,' said Mr Saw, who also noted that Singapore's appeal lies in its transparency, neutrality and clear regulatory framework,
'Companies from the consumer-facing sectors are the ones keenly exploring an SGX listing,' he added.
Despite the current dearth of IPOs, Singapore's bourse has emerged as the third-largest Reit listing venue globally by fund-raising, after China and India, in the last five years.
Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in its earnings release in May said it plans to list its data centre Reit on the SGX in the future.
Singapore's Centurion said in a January filing that it is exploring the establishment of a Reit involving some of its workers and student accommodation assets. If the plan materialises, the Reit will be listed on the mainboard of the SGX.
There are 613 companies listed on SGX as at April 2025, compared with 623 in the same month a year ago.
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