Companies to get more help for IPOs even as some have concerns about volatile market

SINGAPORE – Jefferies Singapore will be helping to build the market for companies looking to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs), even as some of them express doubts about listing publicly owing to the volatile market.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has added Jefferies Singapore as a newly accredited issue manager, qualifying it to advise companies seeking to list on the SGX mainboard.

The two held the SGX-Jefferies Spotlight on High Growth Disruptors Conference on May 16 at the SGX Centre, to link investors up with promising private and high-growth companies from Singapore and South-east Asia.

One of these companies was car e-commerce platform Carsome, whose ecosystem includes buying and selling, financing, insurance and after-sales services for used cars.

“We thought that (2025) would be the year (to launch an IPO), but I guess the world is not really fully ready yet. To some extent, we also want to assess what other countries are going to do (in this industry),” said Mr Eric Cheng, chief executive officer and co-founder of Carsome, which was started in 2015 and has been profitable since December 2023.

“We don’t have the urgency, so we will try to be more optimal towards finding the right window and right opportunity,” he said.

Acknowledging that listing publicly will strengthen the company’s brand equity, he also said: “There’s also a lot of public liquidity we can unlock.

“It’s not just investors that we met at this event, but also (learning about) different instruments we can make use of, such as securitising our loan books and so on.”

Second-hand e-commerce platform Carousell, whose representatives also attended the event, said it has no definite answer regarding launching an IPO.

Mr J.J. Ang, chief financial officer of Carousell, said that “Singapore has always been known as strong and stable from a regulatory perspective”, but “in terms of the conduciveness of the market, the ecosystem is not there yet”.

He also highlighted the importance of profitability and the potential for listing, emphasising the need for the right market conditions and investor base.

Carousell’s focus is on growing into a profitable and sustainable business, supported by its classifieds and e-commerce business model, and improved operational efficiency year on year, said Mr Ang.

He noted that Carousell, which was started in 2012, is tracking well towards profitability.

One of its dominant business models is the classifieds model, where a merchant has to pay for advertising packages should it wish to increase the spotlight on its listed items.

“When it comes to a strategic outcome, IPO is not the only option,” said Mr Ang, adding that he believes listing publicly should also be aligned with a company’s growth trajectory.

Logistics and marketing platform ShopBack, which was also at the event, said that launching an IPO is in the company’s considerations.

Founded in 2014, the platform offers online rewards, giving users cashback when they shop online with the platform’s merchants.

It also provides an offline payments-based loyalty rewards programme, under which users can shop at bricks-and-mortar stores working with ShopBack to get cashback from repeat transactions at the same shop.

“We are looking to continue to demonstrate profitable growth and get compliance and governance up to public market standards,” said Mr Henry Chan, CEO and co-founder of ShopBack.

“The markets currently seem pretty challenging with the Trump tariffs, but we want to be ready. When there is a window that opens, we want to have that option of making the decision on whether to go public or not,” he said.

Operating as a public company would give the company access to capital, Mr Chan said, adding that ShopBack aspires to grow into a global company.

“It also gives us access to the ability to do things from a commercial strategic standpoint – your shares are now a currency that’s marked to market and has a value you can use for various things, such as acquisition,” he said.

Ms Felicity Chan, Jefferies’ head of Asia equity capital markets (ECM) syndicate and ECM origination for South-east Asia, said the event is “designed to be a profiling event to spotlight companies that may want to seek a future listing on the SGX”.

It is a first step to introduce these companies to the market and help them make informed decisions on the right time, size and venue for listing.

“The companies featured at today’s SGX-Jefferies Spotlight on High Growth Disruptors Conference are in the consumer, technology and healthcare sectors. These sectors are not only Jefferies’ core expertise, but they are also in high demand by investors,” said Ms Chan.

“The path to being a listed company is a journey. We are seeing that investors now have a preference to meet potential issuers early, to find out more about the companies and the management team before the IPO event.”