SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Fullerton Healthcare Corp, the medical service provider that took orders for its Singapore initial public offering last week, is facing delays to the share sale after regulators received complaints, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Singapore regulators are asking Fullerton Healthcare more questions after receiving letters outlining concerns about its business, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The company is engaging with the regulators and still hopes to complete the IPO, according to one of the people. It hasn't yet set a new timeline, the people said.
Fullerton Healthcare was planning to price the offering this week at S$1.52 a share, the bottom end of a marketed range, to raise S$213 million, the people said. It was slated to finish taking orders from institutional investors on Oct 7, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg earlier. The company had targeted to open the offering to individual investors from Oct 10 to Oct 13 and begin trading Oct 17, the terms showed.
First-time share sales in Singapore are rebounding from the lowest level in at least a decade, led by property deals like the S$928 million offering from Frasers Logistics & Industrial Trust in June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The city-state's IPOs have raised S$2.3 billion this year, compared with S$160 million during the same period in 2015, the data show.
The public can submit comments on IPO prospectuses filed with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which will review the statements. Under the Singapore listing process, MAS will normally register the prospectus, allow the offering to go ahead, within seven to 21 days of lodgement. Fullerton Healthcare submitted its prospectus on Sept 28, according to the regulator's website.
"In assessing any company's suitability for listing, SGX considers a full range of factors including the company's business model, the structure of the business, and the character and integrity of members of its board and senior management," the exchange operator said in an e-mailed statement, adding it can't comment on the progress of any specific listing application.
MAS said in an e-mailed response it doesn't comment on its dealings with individual parties as a matter of policy. A representative for Fullerton Healthcare declined to comment.
Fullerton Healthcare plans to use about half the share sale proceeds for acquisitions, while the rest will go toward expansion into China, according to its prospectus. The company, which has more than 190 medical centers across five countries, plans to grow in China by partnering with Singapore sovereign fund GIC and Citic, China's biggest conglomerate.
JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS Group are joint global coordinators of the offering.
