Dear readers, Singapore Biotech Startup Mirxes launched its initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong on Thursday 15 May 25.
Based on Mirxes’ website, the company is a Singapore-headquartered micro ribonucleic acid (miRNA) technology company that is making diagnostic solutions for the screening of diseases accessible across our key markets in Asia, including Singapore and China.
Mirxes, as a Singapore’s company could have chosen to list on SGX and hence its listing in Hong Kong means one less IPO here for Singapore. Year-to-date so far, there is only 1 Singapore IPO on Singapore stock market: Vin’s Holdings. The debut on SGX for Vin’s Holdings on SGX has also been very modest. Specifically, Vin’s Holdings stock is now trading at its IPO price of 30 cents per share.
The lacklustre IPO scene in Singapore stock markets has been well highlighted. And adding on to the dearth of new IPOs on the Singapore stock markets, there has been a spate of delisting of listed companies. Already, for this year, we can potentially see up to 9 SGX-listed companies to be delisted.
Just yesterday (15 May 25), i.e. a day after Mirxes’ IPO debut, it was reported that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it is consulting the public on proposed amendments to regulations under the Securities and Futures Act to potentially simplify disclosure requirements for companies considering initial public offerings (IPOs) to make the listing process easier and help firms provide more relevant information to investors. MAS’ moves follow earlier announcements of the MAS-led Singapore Equities of measures to boost the Singapore stock markets
I believe it is good that the authorities here are focusing efforts to revigorate the Singapore stock markets.
I would also propose that we can go further to set a target for the Singapore Straits Times Index for benchmarking of the efforts. What about a Straits Times Index (STI) of 5,000 by 2028?