Singapore rolls out tax rebates, $3.7 billion program to boost stock market (updated)

NTT

21/02/2025 13:00

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      Singapore to launch S$5 billion Equity Market Development
Program
    

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      Will offer a 20% tax rebate for new primary listings
    

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      Will work on other proposals, to be completed by end-2025
    

  
 (Adds more details from statement and context from paragraph 5
to 13)
    By Yantoultra Ngui
       SINGAPORE, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Singapore announced on
Friday a set of measures to rejuvenate its equities market,
including a 20% tax rebate for primary listings and a S$5
billion ($3.74 billion) program that focuses on investing in
domestic stocks.
    The statement offers more details on measures Singapore's
equities market review group announced on February 13 to revive
its stock market that has come under pressure from a dearth of
mega listings and softer trading liquidity. 
    "We aim to have these measures lay the foundations for a
sustainable and well functioning equities market, and we think
if we take the proposed measures together, they will hopefully
make an impact," Singapore's second finance minister Chee Hong
Tat said in a briefing on Friday.
    Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of
Singapore or MAS, set up the review group chaired by Chee in
August last year to recommend measures to strengthen equities
market development in the country. 
        The review group said in a statement that MAS and the
Financial Sector Development Fund will launch the S$5 billion
program, called Equity Market Development Program, which will
draw in investments from other investors over time.
        MAS will begin evaluating eligible fund managers and
strategies for the program over the next few months. They should
be actively managed and invest in a range of companies in
Singapore and not just index component stocks.
        Other measures include narrowing the qualifying
investment categories for new family office applicants under the
Global Investor Program to equities listed on approved Singapore
exchanges. 
    Single family offices are one-stop firms that manage the
finances of the very wealthy. 
        This compares to current categories that range from
qualifying debt securities to non-listed Singapore-based
operating companies that family office applicants under the
program must deploy at least S$50 million to invest into.
        To attract listings, the review group announced measures
including a 20% corporate income tax rebate for new primary
listings and a 10% tax rebate for new secondary listings with
share issuance.
        The overall proceeds raised from Singaporean IPOs was
$152.3 million last year, 37.7% higher than $110.6 million in
2023, but just 4.6% of the total market share of the whole of
Southeast Asia, according to LSEG data.
        Nevertheless, the outlook is improving with a slew of
companies potentially looking to go public in the country,
including Singaporean private healthcare group Foundation
Healthcare Holdings and the data centre real estate investment
trust of Japan's Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp  9432.T .
        Singapore's initiatives to revive the domestic stock
market, coupled with factors such as inexpensive valuations and
high dividend yields, led analysts at JPMorgan  JPM.N  to
upgrade Singapore equities to "overweight" on Wednesday. 
   
($1 = 1.3368 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
 ((Yantoultra.Ngui@thomsonreuters.com;))