ST Group Food ends Catalist debut at S$0.28 for first day premium of 7.7%

Singapore

ST Group Food Industries Holdings, a regional franchisee for various food brands such as Gong-Cha and Ippudo, closed its first day of trading on the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) Catalist board at S$0.28 on Wednesday, up two cents, or 7.7 per cent from its initial public offering (IPO) price of S$0.26.

The counter opened at S$0.28 and traded within a range of S$0.27 to S$0.285 for the rest of the day. Some 15 million shares changed hands.

Headquartered in Australia, the group also owns franchise and licence rights to brands including PappaRich, NeNe Chicken and Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart. The SGX debutant's outlets however, are mainly in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the UK - with none in Singapore.

Following the placement of 30.1 million shares and the issuance of 6.9 million new shares to cornerstone investors, ST Group raised S$9.6 million through its IPO. There was no public offer.

Saw Tatt Ghee, executive chairman and CEO of ST Group, noted that the group has "grown tremendously" since the opening of its first PappaRich restaurant in Melbourne, Australia in 2012, to a network of 101 outlets as at May 31 this year.

"We have also successfully expanded our portfolio to include six internationally popular F&B brands and two of our own brand concepts. Our listing is a significant development in our corporate journey, which will provide a platform for ST Group to embark on business expansion... while enhancing the visibility of our brands across key geographical markets," Mr Saw added.

With a market cap of about S$64 million, the listing of ST Group brings the total number of consumer companies listed on SGX to 143, with a combined market cap of about S$92 billion.

SGX has had eight F&B listings since 2015, with four listings over the past two years. They added a market cap of more than S$1.1 billion to the bourse, and raised a total of S$218 million in capital.