A glimmer of hope despite local market's problems

The dearth of mainboard initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) continues to be a source of hand-wringing, along with the potential delistings of notable names.

While part of the problem is a cyclical downturn, some perennial issues remain bugbears. The first issue is that there are simply not that many quality companies eligible or interested to list on SGX, especially in a regional downturn caused by a structurally slowing China.

An IPO should be a source of pride, the culmination of the blood, sweat and tears of entrepreneurs who have laboured long to grow a firm that they believed in, to a stage where it needs public capital to pursue new frontiers. But companies in a number of industries are struggling with excess capacity. There are not that many promising investment opportunities for an entrepreneur to take advantage of.