A special task force led by the Singapore government has submitted its first set of proposals to the government about seven months after vowing to tackle liquidity issues in local listings.
The proposals introduced tax incentives to attract more listings in the city-state as well as to incentivise the launch and growth of funds with substantial investment in domestic equities, according to a statement by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The MAS review group will provide a fuller update on its first set of measures on 21 February 2025.
It will also continue to work on the next set of measures to foster longer-term development and sustainable growth of Singapore’s equities market, which will be presented in the second half of 2025.
The MAS review group was set up in August and aimed at making Singapore’s public equities market a viable capital-raising avenue for local enterprises and private fund managers that have relied on M&A markets or US public markets to exit.
The group is chaired by Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat and joined by representatives from the public and private markets, including executives from Temasek Holdings, Singapore Exchange, and Tikehau.
Private equity and venture capital investors with Southeast Asian portfolio companies have been grappling with one of the worst exit conditions since the private market correction after 2021, making the subsequent fundraising journey an uphill battle.
Singapore, home to Southeast Asia’s largest stock exchange, saw four IPOs on its secondary bourse, which raised about $34 million in the first 11 months of 2024, according to data compiled by Deloitte.
The initiative by the review group is expected to propel more diverse listings and improve market efficiency, according to Darren Ng, Transactions Accounting Support Partner, Deloitte Singapore.
