W Capital's Series A fundraising round from Thakral values firm at S$21 million

CORPORATE finance firm W Capital Markets has completed its Series A fundraising round in which mainboard-listed Thakral Corporation has invested in a 5 per cent stake in the firm on Tuesday.

W Capital on Wednesday said this values the company at about S$21 million. Thakral's investment was about S$1.07 million. W Capital was founded by merger and acquisition investment banker Wayne Lee in July 2018. He is also chairman and CEO of his firm.

Since then, the firm has completed 15 capital market transactions. It is currently also the agent for Yongnam's placement to raise about S$7.5 million and the independent financial adviser to JEP Holdings' independent directors on the offer by UMS Holdings.

Besides Mr Lee, W Capital's board also includes Drew & Napier corporate lawyer Sin Boon Ann, Food Empire's founder and executive chairman Tan Wang Cheow and representatives from Chinese conglomerate Nanshan Group Chen Aijun and Sui Xinpeng. Nanshan has a one-third stake in the firm, while Mr Lee owns another 53 per cent.

W Capital has targets to be an international financial group with presence in key financial centres. Asked for the rationale behind its partnership with Thakral, a real estate investment company which also invests in the management of beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands, he replied that Thakral's investment is "strategically important for our immediate expansion plans going forward".

Thakral invests in real estate in Australia, Japan and Singapore, and markets its brands in China, South-east Asia and India.

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Thakral's group CEO and executive director Inderbethal Singh Thakral said he is confident that W Capital, with its experienced team and "substantial deal flow", will deliver strong returns in the long term.

Asked how the investment ties in with its own strategy, Mr Bethal said its investment portfolio focuses on companies and assets with positive growth potential. For instance, it recently invested in the Intrepid Group, a fast-growing e-commerce service provider for brands in Southeast Asia, offering both enterprise-grade SaaS and end-to-end e-commerce management.

"We have our target internal rate of return for investments in our portfolio which is in the region of about 15 to 20 per cent. We are optimistic that our investment in W Capital will add value to our investment portfolio," he said.

Thakral's shares added S$0.005 or 1.1 per cent to S$0.46 on Wednesday.