United Kingdom
£2.9 billion raised on AIM by East and South-East Asia companies, says new report
147 companies in East & South-East Asia that have tapped into the region’s rapid growth, have raised a total of £2.9 billion of IPO funds on AIM to date, according to a report by Growth Company Investor in conjunction with accountants and business advisors, BDO LLP.
China dominates the list with 72 Chinese companies in the study that have managed to raise £1.7 billion from AIM investors at IPO. This number rises to 82 if ventures in the semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau are added, taking the total raised to £1.8 billion in this region alone.
Generally, the largest IPOs have been for property investment funds, led by China Real Estate Opportunities’ £245 million issue and Vietnam Infrastructure’s £201 million. Furthermore, 18 out of the largest 25 flotations were for investment companies or funds of various types. Eight AIM firms in Vietnam, including a number of investment funds that have been set up by local specialists to take advantage of the county’s economic emergence, have raised £555 million in IPO cash.
The natural resources sector had a total of 26 companies. 19 of these are in mining, which amounts to the largest number of companies in any sector in the study.
Commenting on the report, Oliver Haill, Growth Company Investor’s head of research, says: “Companies from East & South-East Asia have outperformed the larger AIM market. Although this is based on the especially strong performances of a few companies, it supports our findings that increasingly companies focused on this region are fast-growing and profitable and exactly the sort of companies AIM needs.”
Jack Clipsham, Corporate Finance Partner at BDO, says: “Despite current world economic and market conditions we remain convinced of the future potential within the region. Undoubtedly, there is evidence of the negative effect that the current financial crisis is having on businesses in Asia. The export-led growth of China in recent years may slow in the short term as a result, but we should not forget that the rapid growth of internal markets has also been a driver.
Jack adds: “Economic growth in the region will continue. It may not be at the recent highs of 12 per cent year on year GDP growth, but even if it were to return to the eight per cent levels of 2000 and 2001, this is still significant. As for AIM, I have no doubt that when the capital markets pick up, we will see strong flotation candidates once again coming from East & South East Asia.”
SNAPSHOT
• Total market value of East & South-East Asian companies £8.8bn
• Average value of East & South-East Asian companies £59.7m
• Average value of AIM companies £48.0m
• Countries represented in this report 13 (Brunei , Cambodia, China, East Timor,
Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam)
• Average share price performance of East & South East Asian companies -1.76 per cent
• ( against the performance of AIM All-Share Index since 2005 -27.0 per cent)
• ( and the performance of FTSE SmallCap Index since 2005 -8.2 per cent )
• Number of companies valued at over £100m from East & South-East Asia 25
• Number of £100m-plus Asian companies as a percentage of the total 17 per cent
• Number of AIM companies valued at over £100m 192
• Number of £100m-plus companies as a percentage of AIM 12 per cent
- ENDS -
Notes to editors:
For more information contact Stephanie Aneto in the BDO press office on 020 7893 3073, Email: stephanie.aneto@bdo.co.uk
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