Record Number of ASEAN IPOs in H1 2021
(3 August 2021 – Asia) Companies in Southeast Asia raised a record US$4.9 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first six months of 2021, according to the latest equity capital markets data from Bloomberg.
Indonesia saw the most deals in the region, with 23 companies listing on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the first half of 2021. Bloomberg deemed the country to be “on track for a record year”, with e-commerce firm Bukalapak.com's US$1.5 billion IPO in July being the largest listing in a decade.
By amount raised, however, Indonesia ranked third in the region at US$503 million in the first half of 2021. Thailand came in top with US$2.8 billion, accounting for 57 percent of the region's total. This was driven by the listing of PTT Oil and Retail Business PCL, as well as that of microfinance lender Ngern Tid Lor PCL.
“About one-third of companies declared that they will use part of the funds raised to repay debt or loans. This is a marked increase from less than 5% of companies using their proceeds for refinancing in the same period last year and 19% in 2019,” said Bloomberg APAC Head of Global Data Vatsan Sudersan.
“We continue to see companies tapping the debt markets to raise capital in this region. We have seen less bond defaults as government measures have helped businesses weather a liquidity crunch. Investors should monitor current restructured loans to see how much will be converted into banks’ Non-performing Loans (NPL) or be written off, post government support. Investors should continue to watch the debt-to-equity ratio of companies to gauge their ability to pay off or take on more debt. In the medium term, investors should review the investment in companies’ capital expenditures and the impact of that in revenue growth to determine their sustainability,” Sudersan added.
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