CapBridge offers private equity investments from S$5,000

Singapore

SINGAPORE-BASED global private syndication platform CapBridge has launched an investment product that will enable individual accredited and expert investors to access private equity investment opportunities at a smaller ticket size - S$5,000.

Participants in the product, Preferred Access, will be able to view all available investment deals on the CapBridge platform. They can select the opportunity in which they wish to co-invest and pledge their desired investment amount, said CapBridge in a joint statement on Monday with its partner Wholesale Investor, an Australasia private investment platform.

The minimum investment is S$5,000. These deals have been negotiated and invested in by professional investors, who are committing their own funds and performing due diligence on the investment, according to the statement.

When the target interest amount as set by the company raising capital is achieved, the investment in the company will be executed.

Investors receive returns directly upon a liquidity event such as an initial public offering.

Private companies may also use the Preferred Access programme as part of their capital-raising exercise. With the CapBridge platform, growth companies can tap global private capital in an intelligent and cost-efficient manner while remaining privately held, said the statement.

One of the first few companies to participate in the Preferred Access programme is a healthcare equipment company based in the United States.

CapBridge said the partnership with Wholesale Investor "significantly boosts the global scalability of Preferred Access", providing instant access to key markets across Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea, and Australia.

The product launch follows Temasek-linked private equity vehicle Astrea IV's sale of a S$121 million retail offering of bonds linked to the returns of a portfolio of private-equity investments last year.

Private equity is typically classed as a high-risk investment, as a big part of its strategy is to invest in promising private firms or unproven startups in return for a big pay-off should these investments take off.

Which is why private equity investments have been open only to accredited investors and other high net-worth individuals and companies.