Asia's capital market needs a 'Taylor Swift' of IPOs to catalyze listings, venture capitalist says
Asia's "nascent capital market" needs a catalyst to kickstart it, an expert said at a CNBC Delivering Alpha event last month.
The solution to having more listings in Asia involves having more products, information, fund managers and even good issuers, according to Jenny Lee, founder and senior managing partner at the Singapore-headquartered venture capital firm Granite Asia.
The venture capitalist said that having a "Taylor Swift of IPOs," in the region will also help, alluding to a potential acceleration in the IPO market from the listing of a prominent company.
Lee is optimistic on how private companies will perform in 2025 after what she calls a "terrible year" in 2024. She attributes this possible pickup to private companies' strong fundamentals and an opening in listing windows.
High interest rates in 2024 meant that the IPO window was "relatively shut" in mature markets like the U.S., China, Hong Kong and several parts of Asia excluding Japan and India, Lee said. The many elections held in 2024 also increased uncertainty on how economies will perform, she added.
Compared with 2023, Asia's IPO activity declined further in 2024. There was a drop of 35% in deals and 51% in proceeds year on year, according to data from EY.
Still, there were some bright spots in the region. India saw 327 listings, the highest number in major IPO markets. Other Asian markets, such as Japan with 84 and South Korea with 75, also saw substantial IPO activity, the same data showed.
Serena Tan, chief executive officer and co-founder of the Malaysia-headquartered Gaia Investment Partners, sees alpha in "high growth" areas within Asia such as health tech and preventive care.
Alpha, in the context of markets, is a measure of the performance of an