Swiss drugs industry supplier Lonza (LONN.VX) is planning a secondary listing on the Singapore stock exchange, giving it access to large capital flows in Asia and expanding its investor base in the region.
The Basel-based group said it had submitted an application for a secondary listing on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited and expects the first day of trading to take place in the fourth quarter of 2011.
“We already have a strong presence across a large footprint in Asia, and this secondary listing signals Lonza’s long-term commitment to the region,” Chief Executive Stefan Borgas said in the statement.
Lonza, which bought U.S.-based Arch Chemicals earlier this year to boost its presence in fast-growing emerging markets, employs 1,400 people in Asia and generated 14% of its revenues in the region in 2010.
Vontobel analyst Carla Baenziger said the Singapore listing could open new lines of funding for the US$1.2 billion ($1.49 billion) Arch Chemicals deal.
“Obviously Lonza hopes to find new investors in Asia,” Baenziger said in a note.
“We could imagine that this is a preparatory step in case financing the Arch acquisition by bonds is not working out as planned and a potential capital increase could be done in Singapore.”
At 3:20 p.m. shares in Lonza were up 4.4%, outperforming a slightly firmer European healthcare sector index <.SXDP>.
Lonza said the Singapore branch of UBS (UBSN.VX) had been appointed to act as the sole issue manager for the introduction.
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