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JP MORGAN expects as many as 10 initial public offers of about US$200 million each in Singapore by the end of the year, senior bankers said yesterday.
'You're probably looking at six to 10 IPOs . . . at over US$200 million each,' said Arjun Khullar, head of equity capital markets in South and South-east Asia.
This follows the recent stirring in IPO markets of China and India. In April, building materials supplier China Zhongwang Holdings launched a US$1.3 billion IPO in Hong Kong - Asia's biggest IPO this year.
About half a dozen IPOs are also expected in India within a few months, said Mr Kullar.
Interest is likely to filter through to Singapore, which remains a listing option for some overseas firms in Asia, said Philip Lee, chief executive officer for investment banking in South-east Asia.
'Some Chinese companies are still quite keen to list in Singapore,' said Mr Lee, adding that interest could also come from firms based in Singapore, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The Singapore Exchange's new tie-up with the Norwegian stock exchange Oslo Børs could also spark interest among marine players in listing shipping trusts here, he added.
JP Morgan - which currently has the highest share of equity market deals in the region - also expects some Chinese companies to make 'strategic and sizeable' acquisitions in the second half of this year.
'Asia as a whole has been quiet in terms of M&A,' said Mr Lee. 'What we'll see in 2009 and in 2010 is Asian companies - specifically, Chinese companies - investing outside Asia.'
This is partly due to the better financing options offered by banks today, as well as stabilising valuations, he added.
But earlier predictions by analysts that companies would be able to snap up assets at fire-sale prices have not come true.
This is partly because the swift rebound in the markets has saved a lot of companies from becoming 'fire sale candidates', said Mr Lee, though he noted that valuations are still lower than they were two years ago.
The managing director of JP Morgan's investment banking unit, Rohit Chatterji, said that with the financial crisis affecting almost all players across most industries, lenders have had 'little motivation' to prompt fire sales.
'If you take the shipping sector, the banks have not moved in and taken securities because everybody else is also in the same place, so who do you give it to?' he said.
Mr Khullar said some real estate investment trusts in South-east Asia are likely to raise money from the capital markets in the second half of the year - such as through rights issues - to make accretive acquisitions.
More convertible bond issues are also expected here against a backdrop of the recovering stock market, easing volatility and tightening credit spreads, he added.
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