Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Chengdu Municipal Finance Affairs Office (Chengdu FAO) announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate on facilitating capital raising by companies from Chengdu on SGX.
The MOU was signed by Mr Liang Qizhou (梁其洲), Deputy Director General of Chengdu FAO, and Mr Lawrence Wong (黄良颖), Executive Vice President and Head of Listings, SGX, at the 16th Singapore-Sichuan Trade and Investment Committee Meeting held in Singapore.
Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province and Chengdu FAO is the authority responsible for all financial-related matters in the municipality. Chengdu is Western China’s centre of commerce, finance, science and technology, as well as a major transportation and logistics hub. It is one of the fastest growing cities in China in economic terms, registering GDP growth of about 9% last year.
Under the terms of the MOU, Chengdu FAO will encourage and help Chengdu companies to leverage on SGX as an international fund-raising venue. In turn, SGX will assist Chengdu companies to gain familiarity of international capital market practices, products for fund raising, and listing regulations and requirements.
Mr Liang said, "The financial cooperation between Singapore and Chengdu has expanded rapidly in both depth and breadth over the last few years, and a number of Singapore financial institutions and corporates have chosen Chengdu to be their regional office in Western China. The MOU Chengdu Municipal FAO entered today with SGX will strengthen the relationships and foster closer ties in facilitating more Chengdu enterprises to list on SGX via IPOs, bonds and REITs.”
Mr Wong said, “We are excited at this opportunity to deepen and strengthen our collaboration with Chengdu FAO. Chengdu and Sichuan with their geographical location and rich resources are poised for growth under China’s economic strategy. SGX can play a pivotal role in enabling the growth of enterprises from this region by helping them connect with our pool of international investors.”
Today’s MOU builds on SGX’s existing partnerships with government agencies from China’s provinces and municipalities to help companies from China list in Singapore. SGX has signed equivalent MOUs with Chongqing, Fujian, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shandong, Tianjin and Zhejiang.
