While Southeast Asia hits a 9-year low, Malaysia's IPO reaches a 6-year high.

Southeast Asia saw a new record low for initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, but Malaysia surged ahead by completing 46 IPOs in the first 10 and a half months, setting a new six-year high. The funds raised, $1.5 billion (around 6.7 billion ringgit), accounted for half of the total funds raised in Southeast Asia.

Deloitte stated that Malaysia leads in three key indicators among Southeast Asian countries: number of IPOs, total funds raised, and IPO market cap.

In contrast, Southeast Asia has seen a stable number of IPOs, but the total funds raised hit a new 9-year low, much lower than last year's $5.8 billion (around 25.9 billion ringgit). The first 10 and a half months saw 122 IPOs raising approximately $3 billion (around 13.4 billion ringgit). Moreover, only one IPO raised over $0.5 billion, whereas four reached this size last year.

KPMG Malaysia's Exchange Accounting Services Partner, Wong Kah Chun, stated that Malaysia's IPO market has shown strong performance, mainly benefiting from bullish economic indicators, political stability, and active participation from investors, especially foreign investors.

He expressed today at a press conference that due to the increasing interest in IPOs from companies and investors, as well as Malaysia's excellent valuations, the Malaysian Exchange is expected to have great potential to become a hub for attracting regional companies to go public.

In a statement, KPMG emphasized that Malaysia raised $1.5 billion through IPOs this year, reaching the highest level since 2017. At the same time, the market cap reached $6.6 billion (29.5 billion ringgit), more than double the previous year, setting a record high since 2013, also marking the best year for IPO performance in Malaysia since 2012.

This year, Malaysian IPOs mainly came from the consumer and industrial products industries, with 16 and 17 IPOs completed, raising funds of $0.8 billion (approximately 3.573 billion ringgit) and $200 million (approximately 0.893 billion ringgit) respectively.

KPMG noted that, in contrast, the energy resources sector had 4 rather unusual IPOs, raising only $0.2 billion.

"As emphasized by the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia, a vibrant capital market ecosystem has accelerated the IPO approval process. This factor has enhanced the dynamism of Bursa Malaysia, leading to encouraging oversubscription rates of over 200 times."

KPMG also stated that Malaysia's GEM market continued to lead this year, with a total of 34 companies listed, dominating the IPO scene and setting a record high since the establishment of the GEM market in 2009.

Deloitte predicts that the Malaysian exchange will welcome 30 new companies to go public in 2025.

Wong Kah Chun predicts that the IPO prospects in Malaysia are optimistic, mainly benefiting from the optimistic expectations for Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with Malaysia's GDP expected to grow by 4.5% to 5.5% next year.

"The number of prospectuses at the end of this year is expected to be higher than last year, indicating that there may be a large volume of capital market trades next year.