Mooreast made its trading debut at 29 cents on the Singapore Exchange's Catalist board yesterday, seven cents or 31.8 per cent above its initial public offering (IPO) price of 22 cents.
The mooring systems company was among the most active counters by volume in early trading, with more than 15.7 million shares changing hands as at 9.10am, rising 6.5 cents, or 29.5 per cent, to 28.5 cents.
The company estimates its post-offering market capitalisation to be $57 million.
In a bourse filing on Tuesday, Mooreast announced that shares for its IPO - comprising a public offer of 800,000 shares and a placement of 38.1 million placement shares - were subscribed by 1.3 times in total.
The public offer was about 17.3 times subscribed while the placement received strong interest from investors, said Mooreast.
The placement shares' placees include Lion Global Investors, Pheim Asset Management and ICH Capital. EDBI, the investment arm of Singapore's Economic Development Board, had already invested $10 million as a pre-IPO investor.
Mooreast will use the bulk of its IPO proceeds and EDBI's investment to develop a waterfront facility in Jurong, as part of its floating wind-energy venture. The rest of the proceeds will be for equipment and machinery, mergers and acquisitions, business development in the renewable energy sector, recruitment and research and development.
The firm is a total mooring solutions specialist primarily serving the offshore oil and gas, marine and offshore renewable energy industries. Headed by chief executive Sim Koon Lam, who has been in the industry for three decades, Mooreast provides solutions that involve the design, engineering and fabrication of mooring systems, with a focus on wind, solar and tidal platforms.
The company shifted into renewables in 2013 and aims to develop offshore floating renewable energy sources using relevant technology. Mooreast is in talks to continue expanding into the renewable energy space in hopes of securing more contracts, according to Mr Sim.
THE BUSINESS TIMES
