There are 29 listings to-date this year with good interest from investors despite the sustained presence of the Covid-19 pandemic 

By S BIRRUNTHA / Pic TMR

MORE companies are expected to be listed on Bursa Malaysia in 2022 as the country’s economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact. 

The local exchange has seen some 29 listings to-date with good interest from investors despite the sustained presence of the Covid-19 pandemic. 2019 saw 30 new listings but the number fell to 19 in 2020 as the pandemic hit. 

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd VP of research Vincent Lau told The Malaysian Reserve that most of the IPOs in 2021 have done quite well in terms of the subscription rates and market performance. 

“Most of them debuted at a premium and are still above their IPO price. Only a handful are below. For next year, we expect to continue to see many more IPOs based on the prospectus exposure and also the approval in process. There are two other prospectus launches for this year,” he noted. 

Of the 29 listings this year, 16 were trading above their IPO price according to Bursa Securities data as of Dec 21 and only three of the counters closed below their IPO price on the maiden day of trading. 

Lau said the IPO pipeline in 2021 was one of the most active and busiest in years.

He expects the corporate exercise pipeline for next year to remain healthy as a lot of companies are reopening and focusing on gaining back their momentum to pre-Covid levels. 

“A lot of companies are jumping for IPOs and they want to do it as soon as possible, which is also why we have seen many IPOs this year,” he noted. 

On the matter of the new Covid-19 Variants of Concern, Lau said the rapid expansion and deployment of booster shots should be able to cushion the impact on the market. 

“So, we are hopeful that it can only get better and there should be another good year for IPOs in 2022,” he added. 

For the year, the LEAP Market saw the highest number of listings with 12, followed by the ACE Market (11) and the Main Market (9). 

LEAP Market welcomed the listings of Jishan Bhd, UCI Resources Bhd, BV Land Holdings Bhd, One- tech Solutions Holdings Bhd, RTS Technology Holdings Bhd, NovelPlus Technology Bhd, DynaFront Holdings Bhd, Lim Seong Hai Capital Bhd, Carzo Holdings Bhd, Steel Hawk Bhd, Sunmow Holding Bhd, and Alpha Ocean Resources Bhd. 

On the ACE Market, the new listings were HPP Holdings Bhd, Mobilia Holdings Bhd, Teladan Setia Group Bhd, Flexidynamic Holdings Bhd, Volcano Bhd, Pekat Group Bhd, Nestcon Bhd, Ramssol Group Bhd, Haily Group Bhd, CEKD Bhd and Ecomate Holdings Bhd. 

The Main Market’s listings were Tuju Setia Bhd, OM Holdings Ltd, Yenher Holdings Bhd, CTOS Digital Bhd, VP-DJ Shariah China A-Shares 100 ETF, IGB Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Aurelius Technologies Bhd and Swift Haulage Bhd. 

Notable IPO in 2022 include Senheng New Retail Bhd that has signed an underwriting agreement with Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd and AmInvestment Bank Bhd to list on the Main Market. 

According to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd, the introduction of the Capital Market Masterplan 3 by Securities Commission Malaysia, digitalisation of operations and overall recovery of the economy from Covid-19 has made the firm optimistic that more companies will be listed on the local exchange in 2022. 

In a recent webinar, Deloitte Malaysia expects 2022 will be a busy year for IPOs, keeping an eye on the macro-economic impact of fiscal and regulatory policies, including sustainability reporting on global markets.