The London terrorist bombings have reduced the expected IPO value of the STX Pan Ocean IPO, but it is still the largest public offering in Singapore this year.
The Korean-based shipping company listed on the day after the London attacks of July 7, with analysts estimating this reduced the proceeds by up to 30%. The offering raised just under US$361m when trading closed on July 14.
"Pan Ocean were very brave to go ahead with the offering after what happened in London," said WongPartnership's Raymond Tong, the Singaporean counsel to STX Pan Ocean and the selling shareholders. "It was still oversubscribed by a little more than twice over, but we were hoping to push up to three times over the subscription level."
The entry of STX Pan Ocean onto the Singaporean market IS the first time a Korean company has listed on the SGX mainboard.
"A considerable number of Korean companies may have an interest on listing on the SGX given the easiness of fund raising and geographical access, globalised securities market and listing requirements which are easier than those of the Korea Stock Exchange (KRX), " said Hee Woong Yun, the leader of the Woo Yun Kang Jeong & Han team that advised STX Pan Ocean as to Korean law.
Five legal firms from three jurisdictions acted on the deal.
Woo Yun Kang Jeong & Han were the Korean counsel advising STX Pan Ocean and the selling shareholders. The aforementioned Hee Woong Yoon led, with partner Seong Koo Cheong assisting. WongPartnership provided Singaporean counsel to STX Pan Ocean, with equity capital markets co-head Raymond Tong leading the team that included fellow partner Koh Peng Chua and associates Gin Nee Goh and Wanyi Huang.
Allen & Gledhill acted as local counsel to the underwriters. These included the lead manager Goldman Sachs (Singapore), receiving banker DBS Bank, Macquarie Securities (Singapore) and ABN Amro Bank. Partners Lim Mei and Leonard Ching participated, with assistance from associate Elaine Ho.
The Hong Kong office of Cleary Gottleib Steen & Hamilton acted for the issuer as to US Federal Securities law. Partner Jinduk Han led, with associates David Lee and Donghoon Lee assisting. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was the international counsel to the underwriters Goldman Sachs and DBS. Hong Kong partner Jin Park led, with associate Christina Kang assisting.