A home-grown engineering company that designs and builds high-tech research labs, healthcare and clean-room facilities is launching its initial public offering on the Catalist board today.
Acromec is betting on Singapore's big push into science and tech research to help it drive growth.
The company wants to raise about $4.5 million, mostly for working capital to expand the business. The offer comprises 27 million new shares at 22 cents each, including 1.5 million public offer shares, 22.5 million placement shares and three million reserved shares.
Executive director Lingo Goi said the company is driven by the need to raise its profile to clinch bigger deals. "We felt that as a company of $20 million revenue, the client looks at us and thinks, 'Do I award my $40 million contract to the company?'
"So we felt that it was really time to raise our profile because we see many big projects in the pipeline."
Founded in 1996 by three schoolmates from the University of Glasgow, the company designs and builds engineering solutions for controlled environments such as research labs and medical operating theatres. These projects comprise about 70 per cent of its orders. The rest is mainly work for the electronics sector.
Some of its notable projects include designing and building a Class 1 clean room, Singapore's highest standard for clean rooms, for the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) in Fusionopolis Two. It has also designed and built operating theatres for Singapore General Hospital.
The company has projects for several upcoming hospitals, including the Admiral Medical Centre.
It is also looking to bring its expertise in designing operating theatres to countries like Myanmar, where demand for healthcare is growing.
Chief financial officer Jerry Tan said the company is in robust financial health and is debt-free, with $11 million in cash.
Managing director Lim Say Chin said one of the company's challenges, and an objective of its IPO launch, was to attract more talents to work on the bigger projects it is gunning for.
He added that Acromec is "rare" among local players because it offers a multitude of services.
Its main competitors are multinationals from Japan and Europe but Mr Lim cites his firm's ability to build a sniff sensory lab for Procter and Gamble which can purge smells in 30 minutes, more than two hours faster than labs its competitors have built.
The public offer closes at noon on April 14, with trading of the shares begins on April 18.
