Felda Global is Malaysia’s largest plantation owner, and its decision to price its shares at 4.55 ringgit each ($1.43) put it close to the top of a range predicted by experts, and valued the offering at around 10bn ringgit ($3.13bn), according to press reports.
As reported, the Felda Global IPO is being seen as boosting the ex-China Southeast Asian market’s image as a hot place to list a company, particularly since much of the demand was said to have come from domestic investors.
State-run Felda produces palm oil and rubber, two of Malaysia’s largest commodity exports after oil. Foreign observers said Malaysian investors had not been affected as badly as those in many other major markets, and noted that domestic pension funds were thought to be among those most interested in taking a stake in Felda.
The Felda IPO comes a little less than three months after another major Southeast Asian IPO, that of a Thai property fund launched by Tesco, the UK retailer, which ended up being the biggest IPO in Thailand since 2006, and Asia’s second-largest at that point in 2012.
The largest Asian IPO thus far this year, until Felda, was that of a Philippine company, GT Capital Holdings Inc.
To view a list of recent IPOs on the Bursa Malaysia, click here.
