Euromoney (May Issue)
“The record stock market debut of BTS Group Holdings in Thailand provides fresh hope of a broader revival for public offerings across the Asia Pacific region.” The $2.1 billion IPO was the region’s largest in a year when “deals have been notoriously difficult” amid “volatile equity markets fuelled by geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty.” The BTS deal may prove a bellwether, prompting “long-awaited rush of listings.” In contrast, the otherwise successful $1 billion IPO of Japan Prologis REIT in February proved a “false dawn;” the rush of deals never followed.
Tags: Asia Pacific, BTS, Geopolitical, IPO, Japan Prologis, Macroeconomic, REITs, Thailand, Uncertainty
Businessweek (January 6, 2012)
Japan was the first country in the Asia Pacific region to allow proprietary platforms to compete with traditional exchanges and these platforms have had a stellar year. “Volume on SBI Japannext and Chi-X Japan since the March 11 earthquake has been triple the level seen in the year leading up to the natural disaster.” In contrast, trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange declined by roughly 19%. Altogether the proprietary markets accounted for 7.8% “of the volume in Topix Index stocks last year, up from 6 percent in 2010.”
Tags: Asia Pacific, Chi-X, Japan, SBI Japannext, Trading platforms, TSE
