Novo Tellus gets nod for SPAC listing on SGX: sources

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's Novo Tellus Capital Partners has received permission from the city's stock exchange to list its blank-cheque company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The buyout firm got the eligibility-to-list letter last month for its special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Novo Tellus Acquisition Corp plans to raise S$150 million to S$200 million from an initial public offering, the people said.

The firm aims to file its preliminary prospectus this month, they said. Deliberations are still ongoing and the timing and details could change, the people said.

Representatives for Singapore Exchange and Novo Tellus declined to comment. Novo Tellus is among the first wave of sponsors looking to list blank-cheque firms in Singapore after the city's regulators rolled out a framework in September.

Vertex Venture Holdings, a unit of Temasek Holdings, became the first to win an approval, while Bloomberg News reported last week that European asset manager Tikehau Capital SCA also got the letter.

A SPAC-driven surge in listings would benefit Singapore's paltry listing volumes. Only 8 first-time share sales were priced last year on the local exchange, raising about US$1 billion in total, compared with almost US$12 billion in the rest of South-east Asia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

BLOOMBERG