Market Insights
OCBC CEO Helen Wong to retire; SGX at 10-year high as IPOs return
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The benchmark Straits Times Index hit a new all-time high at around 4,100 points on July 11.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE - Shares of OCBC Bank climbed 2.6 per cent over the week to close at $16.89 on July 11, just before the bank announced after market hours that its chief executive would be retiring.
Ms Helen Wong, 64, will be retiring on Dec 31
Mr Tan, a veteran with more than 30 years of banking experience, was the group chief risk officer at DBS Bank before he joined OCBC in March 2022.
Insurer Great Eastern (GE) was also in the spotlight last week after a vote to delist it from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) fell through.
Around 63.5 per cent of minority shareholders present at a July 8 extraordinary general meeting voted in favour of the delisting resolution, falling short of the minimum 75 per cent required for the delisting to take place.
Mr Wong Hong Sun and his family, who hold 25.5 per cent of the 29.6 million shares owned by minority shareholders, voted against the delisting. Mr Wong is the grandson of Mr Wong Siew Qui, who was chairman of Great Eastern Life Assurance Co from 1951 to 1969.
If enough shareholders had voted to delist, they would have received $30.15 per share under a $900 million exit offer by OCBC for the remaining 6.28 per cent of GE shares it does not own.
This final offer is higher than the bank’s original $25.60 per share offer for GE in May 2024, and was assessed as fair and reasonable by Ernst & Young, the independent financial adviser appointed by GE.
Moving forward, GE will remain listed and may resume trading on the SGX if its free float is restored at 10 per cent.
But there is also a chance that GE may not be able to restore its free float
Class C non-voting shares in GE still carry full economic rights, including dividends – but no voting power. Unlike ordinary shares, they will not count towards restoring the free float.
If minority shareholders owning more than 9.8 million shares elect to receive Class C non-voting shares, OCBC’s stake will not be diluted below 90 per cent and trading will not resume.
GE shares last traded at $18.70 before OCBC’s initial offer.
SGX gets a boost from new IPOs
Shares of SGX touched $15.85 on July 10, just a few cents shy of their all-time high of $15.90 in October 2007. They closed on July 11 at $15.46.
That helped drive the benchmark Straits Times Index to a new all-time high at around 4,100 points on July 11, before closing the week at 4,087.81 points.
SGX is expecting a boost from the initial public offering of a data centre real estate investment trust (Reit) by Japan telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) on the mainboard.
NTT DC Reit’s offering comprised an international placement of 569.9 million units to institutional and other investors, including sovereign wealth fund GIC, and a Singapore public offering of 30 million units.
At the close of the Singapore public offering at noon on July 10, NTT DC Reit had received 14,166 valid applications, amounting to 294.8 million units, making the offer 9.8 times oversubscribed.
Indications of interest received for the international placement were in excess of $2.2 billion, which translates to the placement being approximately four times oversubscribed.
NTT DC Reit is looking to raise US$773 million (S$988 million) from the IPO, making it the largest Reit listing on the SGX mainboard in a decade.
The Reit will include six data centres across Singapore, Austria and the US, with a total appraised value of US$1.57 billion in its portfolio.
The company plans to use the capital raised to further develop new data centre assets in its portfolio. It is forecasting an annualised distribution yield of 7.5 per cent for the nine-month period from July 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.
Another IPO contender is property restoration firm Lum Chang Creations, which is aiming to raise around $12.3 million to fund expansion.
The company, which will trade on the Catalist board, is offering 49 million shares at 25 cents apiece, its prospectus noted on July 9. The IPO will comprise one million new shares available to the public in Singapore, and 48 million offered via placement – 34 million new shares and 14 million existing ones.
CEO Lim Thiam Hooi said the company will be looking for merger and acquisition opportunities and has already identified potential targets. It also plans to expand to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Ms Tay Hwee Ling, Deloitte South-east Asia transactions accounting support leader, noted in a July 11 report that signs of recovery in the IPO market in Singapore are emerging, following recent regulatory proposed reforms.
She added that NTT DC Reit’s IPO signals renewed interest from global issuers and “reinforces Singapore’s position as a compelling hub for cross-border capital raising”.
The local bourse operator also ended its financial year on a positive note, reporting gains in the trading value and volumes of its key products in June.
Total securities market turnover value rose 23 per cent year on year in June to $26 billion.
For its financial year 2025 ended June 30, total market turnover rose 28 per cent to $336.4 billion, according to SGX’s monthly market statistics report released on July 9.
In terms of volume, nearly 24.8 billion shares were traded in June 2025, up 4.9 per cent from about 23.6 billion in June 2024.
More delistings possible
Local tycoon Sam Goi, who is widely known as Singapore’s “popiah king”, on July 10 made a mandatory offer
He has already spent $25.2 million on 63 million shares to raise his stake to 43.38 per cent.
Mr Goi is the executive chairman of PSC, a fast-moving consumer goods manufacturer and distributor. He is also the executive chairman of Tee Yih Jia, the world’s largest producer of the pastry that makes popiah skins.
Hotel and property group Amara Holdings received approval from SGX to delist, according to a filing on July 8.
It was reported on April 28 that the company received a $514.6 million takeover offer from a consortium involving its bosses and Singapore property developers Wing Tai and Hwa Hong Corp.
The consortium, DRC Investments, offered to buy all the shares of Amara Holdings for 89.5 cents per share in cash.
Piping steel supplier CosmoSteel also saw a revised offer made by 3HA Capital, which was declared “unconditional in all respects” on July 7.
The offer price was revised to 25 cents, up from an earlier offer of 20 cents per share announced on May 15.
The firm’s CEO Ong Tong Hai, together with his brother Ong Tong Yang and their father Ong Chin Sum, had told ST on May 30 that they were “deeply concerned” with the offer price of 20 cents per share, and said the offer did not represent fair value for shareholders.
Dutch firm Aalberts Advanced Mechatronics on July 10 offered to buy up all of Grand Venture Technology’s shares at 94 cents each, valuing the company at $318.9 million.
The precision manager’s key shareholders, including investment firm Novo Tellus and founder Ricky Lee and CEO Julian Ng, have already committed to selling their combined stake of 64.24 per cent.
Other market movers
Singtel closed the week at $4.08, up 5.4 per cent during the week. The telecommunications firm breached the $4 level on July 10 for the first time since October 2016.
Genting Singapore shares fell by about 1.4 per cent on July 11 to around 73 cents. On July 8, news surfaced that Thailand’s Cabinet had dropped a Bill to legalise casino gambling. The Bill was meant to help boost the country’s economy by making it a regional gambling hub.
In February, Genting Singapore said it was evaluating and exploring diversification opportunities in Thailand, which possibly included casinos.
On July 10, DBS downgraded Genting Singapore to “hold”, citing macroeconomic uncertainties and tariffs as factors that could dampen its outlook.
The analysts also lowered earnings forecasts for the company, due to possible softer gaming revenue, as inbound tourism could be affected by macroeconomic uncertainty.
What to look out for this week
NTT DC Reit starts trading on July 14, which will be one to watch for investors.
The local market could be in for some volatility this week, given that US President Donald Trump, who has sent more than 20 letters to trading partners outlining the tariff rates for different countries, has yet to send a letter to Singapore.
Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said he will travel to the US later in July to hold talks with his counterparts in the US administration. Key discussion points will include potential US tariffs on pharmaceuticals and opportunities for Singapore companies.
