DR NEWS
Uttam Galva Steels, based in Khopoli in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, has become the first Indian company to list global depositary receipts on the Singapore Exchange. Uttam Galva, a maker of galvanized and cold-rolled steel products, issued $20 million of GDRs in Singapore. Its shares are listed on four exchanges in India. The company recently formed a joint venture with UK-based trading company Liberty Commodities to build a steel re-rolling mill in Ghana. It made a failed bid last year for a steel mill in Detroit, Michigan. JPMorgan Chase is the depositary bank for Uttam Galva’s GDR program.
In 1994 Germany-based Daimler-Benz became the first European company to establish a Singapore depositary receipt program. So far this year companies from China and Hong Kong have been the only other non-Singaporean companies to list IPOs on the Singapore Exchange. Last year companies from Thailand, Indonesia, Greece and Australia also listed in Singapore.
The Singapore Exchange is trying to position itself as the Asian gateway for companies seeking international funds. Last month it signed a cooperation agreement with the Hanoi Securities Trading Center, which will assist Vietnamese companies in accessing the Singapore market. Companies issued a record $4.7 billion in equity financing in Singapore last year, with about one-quarter of the total accounted for by mainland China-based firms. In April Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, China’s second-largest builder of container ships, raised $620 million in a Singapore IPO.
Gordon Platt
