Stocks to watch: Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Sinarmas Land, Creative, Econ Healthcare
[SINGAPORE] The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Monday (May 19).
Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT): The acquisition of Northpoint City's south wing may be financed either with or without the issuance of perpetual securities, said FCT's manager in a bourse filing on Saturday. Proceeds from FCT's recent equity fundraising have been used to repay its existing debt. The trust will also draw down additional debt financing to pay for its recent acquisition of Northpoint City when the acquisition is finalised. Should the manager issue perpetual securities, the proceeds will be used to pay its existing debts. An illustrative coupon of 4.2 per cent per annum was assumed for the potential issuance of perpetual securities, while an all-in interest rate of 3.3 per cent was assumed for new debt financing. Units of FCT closed 1.4 per cent or S$0.03 higher on Friday at S$2.19.
Sinarmas Land : Lyon Investments said on Sunday that its offer price of S$0.375 per share of property developer Sinarmas Land is final, and that it does not intend to revise the current offer price. It will also extend the closing date of the offer from May 29 to Jun 2, 5.30 pm. The announcement comes after it raised the offer price on May 10. The revised offer price represents an increase of 21 per cent or S$0.065 over the initial offer price, and is higher than the highest closing price of the company's shares for more than six years. The counter closed 1.3 per cent or S$0.005 lower at S$0.375 on Friday.
Creative Technology : The company has named Freddy Sim, the younger brother of its late founder Sim Wong Hoo, as chief executive officer. The appointment took effective on Friday. Creative said in a bourse filing the same day that the 67-year-old, as an entrepreneur for more than 40 years in the field of consumer electronics and technology, would accelerate Creative's renewal journey. He will be paid a nominal monthly salary of S$1 a month, just like his brother, the founder and CEO of Creative who died in 2023 after having revolutionised sound quality in computers in the late 80s with the Sound Blaster sound card. Creative's interim CEO Tan Jok Tin will remain as executive chairman. The counter closed at S$0.90, S$0.02 or 2.3 per cent higher, before the announcement.
Trading halt
Econ Healthcare (Asia) : The nursing home operator called for a trading halt before the market opened on Monday, pending announcements to be released. It was previously reported that US private equity firm TPG, through its special purpose vehicle, is looking to take Econ Healthcare private by way of a scheme of arrangement, in a near S$88 million deal. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, the offeror Enabler Bidco is looking to acquire all of the issued shares of Econ Healthcare. As at the announcement on Feb 14, the Catalist-listed company has an issued and paid-up share capital comprising 265.9 million shares. Each shareholder will be entitled to receive, at their election, either S$0.33 per share in cash, or S$0.224 per share in cash and about 0.32 Enabler Holdco shares. The counter closed flat at S$0.35 on Friday.
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Business Times
9 hours ago
- Business Times
Asia healthcare assets risk overvaluation as private investors scoop them up
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Other factors driving investors to the healthcare sector – perceived as defensive, and so able to withstand the ups and downs of economic cycles – is the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and volatility in global financial markets. This is particularly so in Asia, where investors have been diversifying away from China in the last few years, to avoid being caught in the cross hairs of the nation's tensions with the United States. As PE firms and their investors focus on acquiring companies independent of China, more deals have been transacted in Japan, South Korea and India, where the demand for healthcare and related services is strong and largely unaffected by tariffs. 'Japan has always been a stable healthcare market, and particularly because of (its) demographics and medical needs,' said David Braga Malta, thematic health principal at Pictet Alternative Advisors, to BT. 'We saw some of the mid-sized Japanese pharma companies being very acquisitive in the recent months and years... And of course, we saw the boom in the IPO (initial public offering) markets in India last year.' BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Asia's appeal even drew European PE investors to buy South Korean assets for the first time in 2024, he added. Last September, France's Archimed spent US$742 million buying Jeisys Medical, a South Korean developer of aesthetic medicine devices. Like shopping in Louis Vuitton 'One of the key things that I always say to my investors is that... investing in healthcare in Asia is like shopping in Louis Vuitton. So, as an investor, we have to navigate that, be careful not to overpay,' said Quadria Capital's Mir. According to a Bain & Co report, global PE deal value in the sector surged last year to an estimated US$115 billion – the second highest on record. Bain added that PE firms continue to invest in healthcare in the Asia-Pacific, where deal values have been steadily rising since 2016. Industry participants named India as the country attracting the most number of healthcare PE investors. An ageing population, rising incidence of chronic disease and growing awareness of preventive care, combined with the opening up of its insurance market to foreign investment, are making India stand out. Bain estimated that the country made up 26 per cent of the 62 deals transacted in the Asia-Pacific last year. PwC said its health industries practice in India hit a double-digit compound annual growth rate in the past few years as well. But Ling Tok Hong, deals and private equity leader at PwC, cautioned that 'this continued focus on the India market could make it more susceptible to overvaluation if investors are not cautious'. South-east Asia's healthcare sector is also attracting PE investors, leading to 'unprecedented valuations' of Ebitda multiples in their 20s, noted Ling. He was referring to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. Room for growth; returns still strong Despite the rising valuations in Asia's healthcare sector, market participants point out that there is still room for growth, a key factor backing the higher valuations in the first place. The sector offers attractive long-term growth prospects as the supply of quality healthcare assets in the region is not growing quickly enough to meet demand. In markets such as South-east Asia, 'the number of large, institutionally ready platforms is still limited. This scarcity has helped sustain high entry multiples in recent years', said Alex Boulton, partner and Asia-Pacific lead for healthcare and life sciences private equity at Bain. He pointed out that South-east Asia's healthcare sector relies heavily on private players. For instance, the private sector accounts for roughly half of all hospital beds in Indonesia and the Philippines. 'That structural dynamic creates an enduring role for private capital in expanding and upgrading healthcare infrastructure.' Market participants emphasise that Asian healthcare is not in bubble territory. Boulton pointed out that even with rising valuations, healthcare PE in Asia is still delivering strong returns. Bain's analysis shows that from 2018 to 2023, the median multiple on invested capital (MOIC) for exited healthcare deals in the region was approximately 2.6 – meaning that a US$1 million investment generated a return of US$2.6 million. This compares with the global median MOIC of around two. 'That speaks to the sector's ability to compound value through growth and operational improvement, even in a more expensive entry environment,' noted Boulton. That said, while returns are likely to remain strong in the future, the median MOIC may not be sustained at these levels, he added. Thus, market players said, investors will need to have a clear plan to create meaningful impact and value over the life of their investments.
Straits Times
9 hours ago
- Straits Times
Corporate financier expects to help list at least four Singapore firms on SGX in next 18 months
The developments are being fuelled by a programme to allocate $5 billion in seed capital to Singapore-based funds for investing in local stocks which are not on the benchmark STI. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO Corporate financier expects to help list at least four Singapore firms on SGX in next 18 months SINGAPORE - Interest from Singapore firms to list on the local bourse via initial public offerings and reverse takeovers (RTO) has been returning ahead of a $5 billion capital injection that is expected to help revive the local stock market. 'We are currently working on several listings, including the Yangzijiang Maritime spin-off and the proposed reverse takeover involving Sincap and Skylink Apac, both expected to list on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) within the year,' Mr Ong Hwee Li, chief executive of corporate finance firm SAC Capital, told The Straits Times. This follows April announcements by SGX-listed Yangzijiang Financial to spin off its maritime investments into a separately listed company, and by Sincap Group to acquire vehicle leasing firm Skylink for $42.3 million via an RTO, paving the way for Skylink to become publicly listed. SAC Capital is also advising 'two to three' local IPO aspirants in sectors including events management, co-living and natural resources. These firms expect to list on SGX in 2026. 'We are receiving more listing inquiries, about one to two per month, from companies in other industries like construction, food and beverage, technology, and financing sectors, highlighting renewed interest in IPOs,' Mr Ong said. He added that SAC Capital's IPO pipeline is now full, with much stronger investor interest in book-building compared to 2024. Book building is a stage in the IPO process where investors bid for the number of shares they want at certain price points, which helps corporate advisers gauge demand for a company's shares and how to price them before they are listed on the stock exchange. These developments are being fuelled by a central bank-led programme to allocate $5 billion in seed capital to Singapore-based funds for investing in local stocks which are not on the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI). The STI tracks the performance of the top 30 largest and most liquid companies listed on SGX. Announced in February as part of a string of measures to revive the Singapore stock market, the programme has received positive interest from global fund managers. Suitable investment strategies will be shortlisted by end-September, the Monetary Authority of Singapore has said. Analysts reckon the funds will likely be deployed before the end of 2025. Listing interest has gained momentum as a result. On June 6, Bloomberg reported that Hong Kong-based Link Reit is considering listing a Reit in Singapore that would include some of its properties outside of China and Hong Kong, while Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in its earnings release in May said it plans to list its data centre real estate investment trust (Reit) on the SGX in the future. In May, Reuters reported that at least five companies from mainland China or Hong Kong are planning IPOs, dual listings, or share placements in Singapore in the next 12 to 18 months. The companies include a Chinese energy company, a Chinese healthcare group, and a Shanghai-based biotech group. In April, LHN Group announced plans to take its co-living business Coliwoo Group public on the SGX. The real estate management services group, dual-listed in Singapore and Hong Kong, said it has submitted applications in both places for the proposed spin-off and separate listing of the shares of Coliwoo on the mainboard of SGX. In January, Centurion Corp said in a bourse filing that it is exploring the establishment of a Reit involving some of its worker and student accommodation assets that it plans to list on the SGX mainboard. US data security firm AvePoint, which trades on Nasdaq, in January also filed for a secondary listing in Singapore. If they take place, these listings will give the SGX a much-needed boost after the bourse saw just four IPOs in 2024, a record low. The bourse hosted just one notable IPO in 2025, that of automotive group Vin's Holdings, which is now trading at 29 cents, close to its IPO price of 30 cents. Key to their success is how the shares are traded post-listing, Mr Ong said, noting that many IPOs, particularly on Catalist, are too small and have controlled floats, where a company limits the number of shares available for public trading. While a limited float may initially create strong demand and price momentum, it also means there is little market depth to absorb selling pressure once investor sentiment shifts. Mr Ong noted that SAC Capital encourages retail participation in the IPOs it manages by offering ATM tranches, which allows retail investors to apply for shares directly through their bank ATMs. He added that retail investors who receive shares through the ATM tranche tend to trade more actively, contributing to a more diversified and engaged shareholder base post-listing. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
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- Business Times
Kim Heng inks deal with Singapore Energy Interconnections on submarine power projects
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