Deloitte's recent Southeast Asia Annual IPO Press Conference brought forward a positive outlook for Malaysia's initial public offering (IPO) landscape. The disruptive events advisory leader of the firm, Wong Kar Choon, speaking at the event today, projected a strong Malaysian IPO market for 2024, highlighting the role of quality issuers and solid investor interest in driving this growth. He pointed to a series of capital market initiatives that have bolstered the market, including green technology incentives, tax deductions for tech-based companies on the ACE and LEAP Markets, and capital gain tax exemptions for IPOs approved by Bursa Malaysia.
The forecast is supported by a steady stream of IPOs with reasonable valuations already submitting draft prospectuses to regulators. Despite a slight decrease in the number of listings from 35 in 2022 to 28 as of yesterday, amounting to roughly $715 million, the total market capitalization for 2023 has outpaced the previous year, reaching $2.77 billion. This growth is attributed to the ACE Market's 21 listings, favored for its lower IPO offer share sizes and more accommodating listing requirements for high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Main Market accounted for seven listings.
Wong emphasized the dominance of the ACE Market on Bursa Malaysia due to its affordable pricing and supportive investment bankers' guidance. He also noted that post-IPO share price performance has generally been satisfactory. Attracting double-digit price-earnings multiples, Malaysia has drawn international companies to list locally. With Bursa Malaysia nearly reaching its annual target of 31 listings in just over ten months this year, there is anticipation for a robust pipeline of consumer and tech or tech-related industry IPOs in 2024.
In a broader Southeast Asian context, there were 153 IPOs that raised approximately $5.5 billion as of yesterday, a decrease from $7.6 billion raised through 163 IPOs in 2022. Indonesia stood out with $3.6 billion raised by 77 IPOs, ranking it fourth globally behind China, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.