DBS, UOB, OCBC return surplus capital with over S$700 million of buybacks
[SINGAPORE] In the first five months of 2025, 63 primary-listed Singapore companies conducted share buybacks through open market acquisitions, spending a total of S$930 million – an 84% jump from S$505 million in the same period last year.
This was the highest buyback level for the first five months of a year since 2020, based on an SGX (Singapore Exchange) market report on Monday (Jun 2).
The local bourse said this was largely due to market volatility in April, which saw S$425 million of primary-listed shares purchased by issuers.
'The month of April 2025 produced the fourth highest monthly tally in buyback consideration for the past 10 years,' they added.
The surge in buybacks does not include activity from secondary-listed companies or Singapore-listed Real Estate Investment Trusts (S-Reits).
May alone accounted for S$176 million in share buybacks from primary-listed companies. UOB led the charge with S$144 million worth of shares at an average price of S$35.33. This brought UOB's total buybacks to S$253 million for the year so far.
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DBS followed with S$18 million in buybacks at an average price of S$44.07, while Olam Group repurchased S$6 million worth of shares at an average price of S$0.93.
For the first five months of 2025, the trio of local banks accounted for 77 per cent of the total S$930 million in filed buybacks.
In the first five months of 2025, DBS led the local banking trio in share buybacks, repurchasing S$277 million worth of shares at an average price of S$42.13. UOB followed closely with S$253 million in buybacks at an average price of S$34.84 per share, while OCBC repurchased S$182 million worth of shares at an average price of S$16.69.
'The trio are actively returning surplus capital through share buybacks over the next two to three years,' the report noted.
Beyond the primary list, secondary-listed Hongkong Land has also been actively buying back its shares, spending US$55 million at an average price of US$5.05 under a US$200 million programme announced on April 24. The deals, funded by recent transactions and capital recycling, are part of the company's strategy to cancel repurchased shares by Dec 31, 2025.
This aligns with Hongkong Land's broader shift, launched in 2024, to focus capital away from build-to-sell projects and towards developing ultra-premium commercial properties in key Asian cities for long-term growth.
Meanwhile, managers of ESR Reit and Stoneweg European Reit have also continued to buy back units as part of their capital management strategies.
ESR Reit repurchased 838,700 units in May at an average price of S$2.21, following the buyback of 50.3 million units in the first four months of 2025 ahead of its 1-for-10 reverse stock split.
The Reit manager views buybacks as a flexible, cost-effective tool to boost return on equity (ROE) and net asset value (NAV), while also helping to reduce market volatility and support investor confidence, SGX said.
Stoneweg European Reit acquired 37,000 units at 1.47 euros each on May 15, following earlier buybacks in March and April. In FY2024, the Reit repurchased 1.5 million units as part of its capital management strategy to enhance ROE and NAV.
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