PrimePartner's JV with UK stock brokerage

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Financial services firm PrimePartners Corporate Finance or PPCF, is set to become a bigger IPO player in the Asian market as it ties up with UK investment bank and stockbroker, Seymour Pierce, in a joint venture.

As 938LIVE's Irene Chan finds out, the tie-up targets Asian companies seeking an IPO on the London Stock Exchange's, Alternative Investment Market or AIM.

AIM allows smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than what is applicable to the London Main Market.

Seymour Pierce's Chairman, Keith Harris, says there has been a rising number of foreign companies seeking to raise capital in the London markets ever since the United States introduced the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which increases regulatory costs on companies listed there.

Mr Harris says it makes sense for Asian companies to look at AIM for listings.

He adds that last year alone, 26 China companies were successfully listed on AIM.

"To get a benchmark for the relative valutation, it makes strong sense to be able to list along side companies from other parts of the world but in the similar sector. And the capital inflows into the institutions which are predominantly UK, but also increasingly institutions that are based in other parts of Europe and the United States, the capital inflows into all those institutions are very strong."

PPCF's Chairman, Quek Peck Lim, says the venture has already secured two mid-sized IPO mandates, targeting a total of US$70 million in fund raising.

"The first two are substantial mainland Chinese companies in growth industries, generating sizeable profits and sales revenues. We should be able to add considerably to the current pipeline of IPO candidates in the foreseeable future."

Mr Quek says they're targeting to launch the IPOs within the next 6 months.  He adds that there are 3 more potential candidates in the pipeline, out of which one is a reasonable large Singapore-based company.

PPCF is part of PrimePartners Group, a private equity firm co-founded in 1994 by Hsieh Fu Hua, the current chief executive of Singapore Exchange.