SINGAPORE - Singapore-based online firm PropertyGuru started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday (March 18) after its merger with blank-cheque company Bridgetown 2 Holdings.
The combined entity, which is trading under the ticker PGRU, opened at US$8.61.
Bridgetown 2 Holdings stock had closed at US$8.33 on Thursday. Bridgetown 2, like other Spacs or special purpose acquisition companies, started trading at US$10 when it went public.
PropertyGuru's listing was celebrated by around 150 employees, partners, investors and other guests at an event held at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The official bell-ringing ceremony in New York was live-streamed at the event in Singapore.
PropertyGuru chief executive and managing director Hari Krishnan, other executives and the company's founders were in New York for the market debut.
Mr Krishnan told employees and other guests on Friday that the listing creates new opportunities and avenues to "exploit the future for the group".
"It's taken us 15 years to get here. We still have a lot of work ahead of us," he said.
"We're very, very proud to wave the flag of South-east Asian tech and to bring it to the New York Stock Exchange and share that story in the years to come," he added, paying tribute to the efforts of the company's employees over PropertyGuru's 15-year history.
The merger of PropertyGuru and Bridgetown 2 Holdings, which is backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel, was approved earlier this week at a special shareholder meeting.
The deal gave PropertyGuru an equity value of about US$1.61 billion (S$2.18 billion).
The firm - launched in 2007 by founders Jani Rautiainen and Steve Melhuish - has operations across several South-east Asian markets, including Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
Aside from its property search and digital marketing services, it has also expanded into other related offerings including a mortgage marketplace and now employs around 1,400 people.
In 2019, PropertyGuru scrapped plans to list in Australia due to uncertain market conditions.
Last month, it announced a 22.7 per cent increase in revenue to $100.7 million for the 2021 financial year, exceeding its projected turnover of $97.5 million.
It said it expects revenue in this financial year to grow 44 per cent year on year, in part due to the firm's strong business momentum and the projected expansion of South-east Asian markets as they emerge from the impact of Covid-19.
Friday's listing comes at a difficult time as investor interest towards Spacs wane, partly down to heightened scrutiny by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and falling stock prices of firms that listed through Spac mergers.
Spacs raise capital from public markets and use that cash to merge with a private company, typically with the goal of taking the target firm public within two years.
