SINGAPORE SHARE MARKET UPDATE 4july2008
- Another IPO bites the dust

Hong Kong dry-bulk shipping line Maritime Capital Shipping has
decided not to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) in the Singapore Stock Exchange due to weak sentiment for the Singapore stock market in recent weeks.

"The performance of the global equity markets has deteriorated
sharply in the last few days and equity markets have closed for
IPOs, regardless of the underlying fundamentals of the company,"
said Maritime Capital chief executive officer Mark Harris. Mr. Harris
did not say when or whether the company might revive listing
plans.

After witnessing the "failure" of some of the recent IPOs in Singapore stock market, most investors would find it hard to jump into another IPO.
Most recent Singapore IPOs have tanked on day one of listing and are
still trading below their respective IPO prices. The last count is that
15 of the 18 new companies whose shares are listed in the Singapore stock exchange this year are now trading below their offer prices.

After the recent sell off in the broad market, some recent IPOs are
trading at 3-4 times FY08 earnings.......its no wonder new IPOs are finding hard
convincing investors to subscribe to them at 4-5 times FY07 earnings.