GHY Culture & Media's public tranche of IPO 16 times subscribed

ENTERTAINMENT and content provider GHY Culture & Media Holding Co received applications from both retail and institutional investors for 16 times the number of shares available in the public tranche of its initial public offering (IPO).(see Amendment note) The company is selling 21.7 million shares priced at S$0.66 apiece as part of its listing on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange. The offering comprises 18.7 million placement shares and a public offer of three million shares. (see Amendment note)

GHY said it received 1,402 valid applications amounting to 48.1 million shares under the Singapore public offer, translating to a subscription of 16 times.

For the placement shares, the firm received indications of interest for some 160.4 million shares with a total value of S$105.9 million, which translates to a subscription of 8.6 times.

Concurrent with but separate from the IPO, 10 cornerstone investors also subscribed for and purchased an aggregate of 162.7 million cornerstone shares, of which 141.2 million will be new shares issued by the company. The remaining 21.5 million shares are vendor shares belonging to investment holding company Taiho Holding and group adviser John Ho.

The cornerstone investors in the IPO consist of Epical Entertainment, Hong Kong Chixin Investment, consultancy company ICH Capital, entertainment service provider iQIYI International Singapore, King Kong Media Production, Osim International founder Ron Sim, Songful Global Investment, Qilin Asset Management, brand developer V3 Brands and investment holding company Yinson Capital.

The offering, issuance of new cornerstone shares and sale of vendor cornerstone shares will collectively raise gross proceeds of some S$121.7 million, said GHY.

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The company's market capitalisation will stand at about S$708.7 million post-placement.

Guo Jingyu, CEO of GHY, said: "We are encouraged by the strong and broad support shown by institutional and retail investors for our listing.

The positive response is a testament of investor confidence in GHY's robust financials, capabilities and business strategies. We look forward to leveraging on our strengthened market position to expand our international reach and regional presence."

The company said in the prospectus that it plans to use the proceeds from the IPO and issuance of new cornerstone shares to invest in production, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances to expand its TV programme and film production, as well as concert production business segments. Proceeds will also be used for general corporate and working-capital purposes.

DBS, UOB Kay Hian and Bank of China, Singapore are the joint underwriters and book runners of the IPO. The listing and trading of GHY's shares is expected to commence on a "ready" basis at market open on Friday.

Amendment note: This article has been edited to clarify the subscription rate for the public and placement tranches of the offer.