Courts Asia to raise S$137 million in S'pore IPO
2012-10-08 18:01:28
Courts Asia, an electronics and furniture retailer, is seeking to raise about S$137 million from an initial public offering in Singapore. Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The company, owned by Asia Retail Group, plans to sell 178 million shares for S$0.77 apiece, according to its IPO prospectus lodged on Monday with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Courts is seeking to list on the Singapore Exchange on Oct 15. HSBC is handling the deal.
The retailer, which operates 70 stores in Singapore and Malaysia, plans to use the net IPO proceeds of about S$130 million to fund its expansion into Indonesia, where it hopes to open its first store in 2014.
Asia Retail Group, partly owned by Barings Private Equity Asia, acquired Courts' operations through a series of private equity transactions on the Singapore and Malaysian stock exchanges in 2007 and 2008. It has since combined them into one entity.