Medinex opens 14% above IPO price on debut

Singapore

MEDICAL support services company Medinex made its Catalist debut on Friday at S$0.285, a 14 per cent jump from its S$0.25 initial public offering (IPO) price

Shares in Medinex, which provides professional support services to medical clinics, traded sideways on Friday morning, with close to three million shares changing hands by 9.25am. The counter rose to a day-high of S$0.29 and touched a low of S$0.27 before closing at S$0.28 after 8 million shares changed hands.

All 30 million shares of the IPO's placement tranche were subscribed for at the close on Wednesday. There was no public tranche.

Medinex helps clients to oversee the setting up of clinics and facilitates applications for relevant clinic licences. It also offers accounting and tax agent services, human resource management services and corporate secretarial services.

The IPO raised gross proceeds of S$7.5 million, of which Medinex will receive S$5.32 million in net proceeds. Based on the IPO price, Medinex will have a market capitalisation of S$32.8 million, which is 25 times its pro forma net profit of S$1.3 million in 2017.

Medinex chief executive Jessie Low said the company is positioned to benefit from the growing demand for quality healthcare services in Singapore. "With access to the capital markets, we will be able to grow our business operations further, to provide even more comprehensive integrated services to our customers in the medical industry," she said.

The company intends to use S$4 million of the net proceeds to expand its marketing and business development team, and could also acquire human resources consulting services group Ark Leadership & Learning for an undisclosed sum. Ark is owned by Ms Low's sister Valerie.

The remaining S$1.3 million is earmarked as working capital.

Mohamed Nasser Ismail, head of equity capital market (SME) and head of capital market development at the Singapore Exchange (SGX), welcomed Medinex's Catalist listing, as changing demographics and rising affluence will drive demand for healthcare services in Singapore, he said.

Medinex's listing brings the total number of companies listed on Catalist to 213, with a combined market capitalisation of more than S$10 billion.