Secondary listings like Nio, Nomura, Prudential, IHH add heft to SGX, but trading interest lags

[SINGAPORE] The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is courting companies listed abroad to trade locally via secondary listings, as part of efforts to reinvigorate the domestic stock market.

Such listings are not new – there are currently 29 of them, lodged by companies that hail from New York and London to Tokyo and the closer region. 

These stocks bring heft and trading activity to Singapore’s equities market – secondary listings have a combined market capitalisation of S$177.1 billion as at August 2025, making up almost 20 per cent of the SGX’s total market capitalisation of S$967.7 billion. 

They include global giants such as UK insurer Prudential (US$35 billion), Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio (US$17 billion), Japanese financial services group Nomura, Swiss drug ingredients manufacturer Lonza Group (S$61.2 billion), and London-listed conglomerate Jardine Matheson (US$18.5 billion). 

Nearer home, regional powerhouses with secondary listings in Singapore include Malaysian healthcare player IHH Healthcare (S$20 billion), hospitality group Shangri-La Asia (S$2.7 billion), Philippine liquor giant Emperador (S$5.7 billion), and Thai rubber company Sri Trang Agro-Industry (S$790 million). 

While some secondary-listed issuers see good trading interest here, more often than not, their volumes trail that of their primary-exchange counterparts, which tend to experience considerably higher trading activity.

The exceptions are the Jardine Group of companies, including Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH), Hongkong Land , DFI Retail Group and Mandarin Oriental , which are relatively well-traded in Singapore.

Notably, the Jardine name is well-known to Singapore investors as JMH subsidiary Jardine Cycle & Carriage – the distributor for Mercedes Benz – has had a primary listing here for more than 50 years. 

The Business Times looks at what draws companies to lodge secondary listings in Singapore, and the drivers behind their often tepid trading volumes.

Perks of secondary listings

Secondary listings allow firms to tap Singapore’s status as a global hub to expand into South-east Asia, or connect with international investors. They let companies widen their investor base, open up more fundraising channels, boost visibility and access global capital.

Lin Yujun, chief executive of Interactive Brokers Singapore, said secondary listings on the local bourse enable investors here to trade stocks with “the robust regulatory regime and strong investor protections that they are used to having in the domestic stock market”.

Such listings permit trading during Singapore business hours, which can facilitate visibility and access to wider funding in the region. 

Jardine Matheson and DFI Retail Group – which are both primary-listed on the London Stock Exchange – are examples of secondary-listed firms with home bourses that operate in a time zone considerably different from that of Singapore.

These companies, which run businesses in Singapore and the region and are known to domestic investors, are well-traded on the SGX relative to other secondary-listed peers. Their daily turnover volumes range from the hundreds of thousands to millions of securities.

Obstacles faced by secondary listings 

A major hurdle for companies considering secondary listings in Singapore is the ease with which local investors can trade global stocks on their primary exchanges through online trading platforms.

This makes it more challenging for SGX to draw trading activity from these bourses, pointed out Maybank Securities analyst Jarick Seet.

Investors’ lack of familiarity with the company’s operations and branding is another factor that hinders trading interest, observed Joel Phua, research analyst at FSMOne Singapore.

He said: “Aside from familiar names such as Jardine Matheson, Shangri-La and Prudential, many secondary listings on SGX are relatively unknown to local investors. This lack of recognition, in turn, results in thin liquidity and low trading volumes.”

This comes as many secondary listings are conducted by way of introduction, without the issuance of new shares to investors, noted Foo Siang Sheng, Singapore head of investment banking at CGS International Securities (CGSI) Singapore. 

Secondary listings tend to take place without any fundraising, and typically do not involve investor roadshows or pre-listing marketing activities, he added. 

“While there has been some progress in enhancing liquidity of secondary-listed shares, such as engaging market makers post-listing, a meaningful increase in liquidity is unlikely without a concurrent offering of shares,” he said. 

SGX is actively tackling this. A bourse spokesperson said: “In general, past secondary-listed counters on SGX have not involved fundraising or the issuance of new shares. This means there is limited share inventory available locally, which contributes to the relatively low trading volumes among these counters.”

As part of the renewed drive to draw secondary listings, the bourse operator said its strategic priority is to encourage companies to fundraise on the SGX.

“When companies issue shares locally, it increases inventory and enhances liquidity, which in turn supports more active trading. AvePoint is a good example of this approach in action,” the spokesperson added.

AvePoint, a cybersecurity company with a primary listing on Nasdaq, commenced trading in Singapore on Sep 19, following an issue of 13.3 million shares. Since then, it has been actively traded with its share price moving up from the issue price of S$19.50.

FSMOne’s Phua said that the Singapore market is also known for yield plays via real estate investment trusts (Reits) and dividend stocks, but is not perceived as a growth market. 

Therefore, investors seeking growth companies tend to gravitate to Nasdaq or the Hong Kong exchange, given the high concentration of growth-oriented companies there. 

“Growth companies prefer to list on those exchanges because of the deeper liquidity, more favourable valuations, and wider analyst coverage. The presence of these companies reinforces the exchanges’ reputation as growth markets, creating a virtuous (circle),” Phua said.  

Compared with its peer markets, Singapore’s investor community is smaller and more conservative, with a stronger preference for income and stability over growth.

“Investors here are generally less willing to pay a premium for high-growth companies with uncertain near-term profitability, which in turn reduces the appeal for such companies to list on SGX,” Phua said. 

“As a result, SGX remains dominated by banks, Reits and mature blue-chips. (This) appeals to income-oriented investors, but does little to establish the exchange as a hub for growth equities.” 

More on investor relations 

To boost interest in secondary listings, firms must increase engagement with the investment community in Singapore and do more on the investor relations front, said CGSI Singapore’s Foo and Maybank’s Seet. 

“Issuers will need to invest more time in their investor relations efforts to build visibility and credibility among the investor and analyst communities in Singapore,” said Foo. 

Companies could hold more briefings, site visits to facilities and meetings with institutional funds, or attend more conferences and retail seminars to share their stories, Seet added. 

Phua noted that initiatives such as MAS’ Equity Market Development Programme and the enhanced Grant for Equity Market Singapore research scheme “represent positive steps in that direction”. 

Phua, Seet and Foo cited expanding analyst coverage of secondary-listed companies as a means of encouraging investor interest and driving liquidity. 

“Expanding analyst coverage can give Singapore investors a deeper understanding of these companies, spark stronger interest, and in turn boost trading volumes and enhance price discovery,” Phua said.