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Singapore Exchange (SGX) today celebrates the 10th anniversary of Catalist, its sponsor-supervised board for growth companies.
Catalist was launched in November 2007 with a vision to provide high-growth companies access to efficient capital and faster time-to-market. The sponsor-supervised regime with no prescribed quantitative criteria has enabled companies at varying stages of growth and sizes to tap the capital market to propel to the next growth stage.
Today, Catalist is home to 197 companies with a combined market capitalisation of about S$12 billion, from geographical regions such as Singapore, Australia, Greater China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Sweden, across diverse sectors including Consumer, Energy, Financials (including Real Estate), Healthcare, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Telecommunication Services and Utilities.
On the development of Catalist, Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer of SGX, said, “In fulfilling its vision to provide aspiring companies easy and efficient access to growth capital, Catalist punches well above its weight, with companies spanning a gamut of sectors and hailing from international markets. Catalist is today one of the most established growth boards globally, and Catalist companies have attracted participation from both institutional and retail investors looking at investing in companies which demonstrate high potential to become stronger and bigger businesses.”
“As Catalist celebrates a decade of supporting and championing innovative homegrown and global growth companies, we would like to thank our Catalist-listed companies, sponsors and market professionals who have contributed to the success of Catalist,” he added.
Over the past decade, Catalist has grown to become one of the most liquid growth boards in the world, with a five-year weighted average turnover velocity* of 129% - a display of strong investor interest for Catalist companies.
In catalysing the growth of companies, fundraising activity on Catalist grew significantly in the second half of the decade compared to the first half. Funds raised by Catalist companies at time of listing increased 120% in the 2013 to 2017 year-to-date period over the 2008 to 2012 period. Post-listing, Catalist companies raised three times more funds through secondary fundraising compared to during time of listing. Overall, from 2013 to 2017 year-to-date, a total of S$3.8 billion were raised by Catalist companies on the primary and secondary market, compared with S$2.0 billion raised between 2008 and 2012.
The Catalist 10th anniversary celebratory event today saw more than a hundred attendees, comprising Catalist companies, Catalist Sponsors, market professionals and listing aspirants. Two new industry-led initiatives, aimed at deepening the ecosystem and raising awareness for Catalist, were launched at the event. The formation of an industry-led Association of Catalist Companies was announced, while ShareInvestor launched its Investor-One portal (http://www.investor-one.com/) , a one-stop information portal on Catalist companies.
As part of its efforts to continually engage and profile its listed companies, SGX commissioned mm2 Asia to direct and produce a Catalist video, which was aired for the first time at the event. mm2 Asia, a Mainboard-listed company that began its foray as a listed company on Catalist in December 2014, is also currently producing a series of videos featuring the CEOs and founders of Catalist companies. The video series will be distributed on SGX’s YouTube Channel and various social media platforms in November 2017.
*Annualised ratio of the traded value of shares to the market value of stocks.
