Striving for companies in China and Southeast Asia, the Singapore Exchange plans to collaborate with Nasdaq to revitalize IPOs

The Singapore Exchange is seeking to attract more Chinese and Southeast Asian companies to list in Singapore, aiming to reverse the trend of more delistings than listings over the past decade. The exchange hopes that the dual listing mechanism launched in collaboration with Nasdaq will inject new momentum into the long-sluggish IPO market.

On Thursday, Pol de Win, the head of global sales and underwriting at the Singapore Exchange, stated in an interview that the dual listing mechanism with Nasdaq, expected to launch in mid-year, will attract more high-growth companies. "The deal pipeline is more robust than it was six months ago," said the executive, who joined the exchange from Goldman Sachs in 2021, "We are seeing new deals entering the pipeline at a faster pace."

Signs of market recovery are beginning to emerge. Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that the total financing amount in the Singapore market is set to rise to USD 1.9 billion in 2025, marking a six-year high. Intellectual property data provider Patsnap is reportedly considering a dual listing in Hong Kong and Singapore, while Boustead Singapore's real estate investment trust units also plan to list in Singapore as early as March.

The Singapore Exchange's performance for the first half of the year, announced on Thursday, fell short of analyst expectations, with the stock price dropping by as much as 1.7% on the same day. For the six months ending December 31 of last year, net profit increased by 0.8% year-on-year to SGD 342.7 million, and the average daily trading volume in securities rose by 20% year-on-year to SGD 1.51 billion.

Financing Scale Rebounds to Six-Year High

The Singapore market is showing signs of recovery. The total amount raised through listings in 2025 is expected to reach USD 1.9 billion, the highest level since 2019. This performance is attributed to increased trading activity across multiple sectors.

Pol de Win revealed that the Singapore Exchange is building a healthy pipeline of IPO candidates in traditional sectors such as real estate and in the technology field. The dual listing mechanism with Nasdaq will attract companies that would not have chosen Singapore as a listing venue.

The Singapore government is also taking measures to boost trading activity, planning to invest SGD 5 billion (approximately USD 3.9 billion) to purchase local stocks to solidify the stock market recovery.

Over a Decade of More Delistings than Listings Remains a Challenge

The structural challenges facing the Singapore Exchange remain severe. For more than a decade, the number of delistings has exceeded the number of listings each year, highlighting deep-seated issues regarding the market's attractiveness.

The various initiatives being launched are aimed at reversing this long-term trend. In addition to the collaboration with Nasdaq, the exchange is actively exploring corporate resources from China and Southeast Asia, striving to broaden the sources of listed companies. Pol de Win stated:

"From the current supply of companies, many are from higher growth and new economy sectors."

In the competition among Asian exchanges for IPOs, Singapore lags behind regional rivals such as India. Over the past year, the Asian stock listing market has thrived, but the Singapore Exchange has not fully benefited. This competitive landscape has prompted the exchange to accelerate its reform efforts, enhancing its appeal to high-growth companies through collaboration with Nasdaq, while focusing on technology and new economy sectors to adopt a differentiated strategy in response to regional competitive pressures