Asia/Pacific News
MPA in Push for More SGX Listed Shipping Companies
The Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) is encouraging more maritime listings on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) through a newly formed working group, Business Times reports.
The working group, which also includes the SGX and the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) in its membership, is said to be intended to help Singapore become a maritime financial hub - a crucial part of the MPA's plan to make Singapore a leading international maritime centre, said a MPA spokesperson.
Simon Lim, senior vice-president and head of listings, South-east Asia and sectors for SGX, says the working group has been "organising listing seminars for potential issuers as well as investor education events."
SSA's president, Esben Poulsson, asserts that a softened global maritime equity market could be an opportunity for the SGX to gain a better footing against more common choices that include New York and Oslo.
Currently, the SGX is reported to have 62 maritime listings worth approximately S$45 billion ($32.5 billion), including 14 shipyards, 12 shipping companies, three shipping-related business trusts, as well as 33 offshore services companies.
The SGX is also said to have almost 70 listed maritime cluster bonds, and the SGX notes that, since 2013, more than S$18 billion ($13 billion) has been raised for Singapore-listed maritime entities from bond and equity markets.
Poulsson says that, with 130 international maritime companies in Singapore and about 5,000 vessels registered to the city-state, there is plenty of opportunity for the exchange to see maritime sector growth.
