Hot stock: Zico Holdings makes strong debut on Catalist

CATALIST-LISTED Zico Holdings, which made its debut on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Tuesday, opened at 46 Singapore cents and rose to a high of 48.5 cents in the morning.

At around 9.30am, the stock had eased to 47 cents, with about 7.21 million shares changing hands.

Zico offered some 48 million new shares at 30 cents each to raise S$14.4 million from institutional investors. Its initial public offering (IPO) had no retail tranche.

With operations in Malaysia, Singapore and six other Asean countries, Zico provides professional services including legal services, syariah advisory and business consulting. The firm is made up of former lawyers from Kuala Lumpur-based Zaid Ibrahim and Co.

Managing director of Zico, Chew Seng Kok, highlighted that the listing marks an exciting part of Zico's corporate strategy as well as a transition since its executive directors have left legal practice to manage Zico.

"With our first-mover advantage, coupled with ASEAN's bright economic outlook and growth trends towards multi-disciplinary professional services, we are excited by these positive developments which are poised to drive the demand for Zico's business forward," he added.

The listing of Zico Holdings takes the total number of SGX-listed companies on Catalist to 153, with a combined market capitalisation of more than S$10.8 billion.