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🇸🇬 Singapore /Economy & Trade

As Asian IPO markets boom, Singapore seeks value over volume in SGX rebound

From CNA · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Singapore Exchange has recorded eight listings in 2026 and could approach 30 by year-end, analysts said, despite stronger IPO activity in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
  • Analysts said reforms introduced since 2025, including an equity market development programme and streamlined listing rules, could support further growth in the second half.
  • Singapore’s market typically produces fewer but higher-value listings, with tax rules, transparency and its triple-A credit rating seen as advantages.

Singapore’s stock exchange may look subdued beside Asia’s hottest IPO markets, but analysts say the comparison hides a real recovery under way at the Singapore Exchange. The SGX has recorded eight listings so far this year, and earlier reports said it could approach 30 listings in 2026.

The expected pickup follows measures introduced since 2025, including an equity market development programme and streamlined listing rules. DBS global head of investment banking Clifford Lee said the market still needed sustained effort. “We have to keep looking at it and keep our foot on the pedal because we’re trying to start an engine on a cold start. The engine hasn’t been moving,” he said.

Hong Kong and Malaysia have set a faster pace. Malaysia raised US$1.3 billion across 36 listings in the first half of 2026, while Hong Kong hosted 85 IPOs that raised about HK$210.4 billion. Hong Kong also eased listing requirements in July for companies with dual-class share structures and widened access to confidential IPO filings.

We have to keep looking at it and keep our foot on the pedal because we’re trying to start an engine on a cold start. The engine hasn’t been moving.

· Clifford LeeDBS’s global head of investment banking described the continued effort needed to revive Singapore’s IPO market.

Yet analysts said Singapore is having one of its strongest years in both listing numbers and proceeds compared with recent history. Singapore recorded four IPOs in 2024, its lowest total in more than a decade, after typically seeing only four or five listings annually. OCBC head of equity research Carmen Lee said 2025 and 2026 looked strong against the weak period from 2022 to 2024. “We see this as a healthy trend and interest should pick up if interest in small-mid cap stocks continues,” she said.

Lee pointed to Singapore’s tax regulations, transparency and triple-A credit rating as reasons it could attract more offerings. Assistant Professor Goh Jing Rong of Singapore Management University said the market was characterised by low numbers of high-value listings. Sunway Healthcare Holdings in Malaysia and Singapore’s UI Boustead real estate investment trust were among three major Southeast Asian listings that each raised more than US$500 million in the first half.

We see this as a healthy trend and interest should pick up if interest in small-mid cap stocks continues.

· Carmen LeeThe OCBC head of equity research assessed the recovery in Singapore listings.
About this summary

Originally published by CNA in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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