<article>Singapore-based financial services firm<a style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=+iFast+Corporation" target="_blank"> iFast Corporation</a> plans to raise about S$49 million through its initial public offering (IPO) that closed Tuesday. Its shares will begin trading on December 11.</article>

Singapore-based financial services firm<a style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=+iFast+Corporation" target="_blank"> iFast Corporation</a> plans to raise about S$49 million through its initial public offering (IPO) that closed Tuesday. Its shares will begin trading on December 11.
The company had issued 32.8 million shares at S$0.95 each, from its enlarged share count of 256.2 million, and of this, only 2.8 million were made available to the public, while the rest were sold using the placement option.
In addition to the shares on offer, the company is also selling 19 million shares to two cornerstone investors &#8211; <a href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=FIL+Investment+Management" target="_blank">FIL Investment Management</a> (part of the Fidelity group) and Singapore-based private equity firm <a href="http://www.oww.com.sg/" target="_blank">OWW Capital Partners</a>.
iFAST Corporation has two main business divisions – the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) website, <a href="http://www.fundsupermart.com/" target="_blank">Fundsupermart.com</a>, targeted at DIY investors, and its Business-to-Business (B2B) platform that caters to the specialised needs of financial advisory companies, financial institutions and banks. It has offices across various Asian markets, namely Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
The company plans to use over 50 per cent of the IPO proceeds towards funding iFast’s “mergers and acquisitions strategy”, as it looks to take the inorganic route to expand to new markets, and it will also use about S$ seven million for its China expansion strategy, according to its listing prospectus.
Currently, about a fifth of the company is owned by <a href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=SPH+AsiaOne" target="_blank">SPH AsiaOne</a>, a wholly-owned subsidiary of <a href="http://www.sph.com.sg/" target="_blank">Singapore Press Holdings Limited</a>, and post the listing, its holding in the company will reduce to 15,88 per cent. SPH has remained invested in the group since 2000.
It has case to the tune of  S$15.1 million on its books without any debt, and profits for the nine months ended September 2014 was S$7.6 million, up 40 per cent from the corresponding period last year
As compared to developed markets such as Australia and the UK, the penetration of investment platforms in the Asia ex-Japan region is much lower and has a shorter history. An increasing proportion of funds flowing through investment platforms in Asia ex-Japan is expected to drive the group’s growth.
As at end September 2014 and across the jurisdictions we operate, iFAST Corporation has over 115 distribution agreements with global fund houses offering over 1,800 investment products (including over 1,600 funds) on the platform. Over 5,000 FA representatives from more than 150 banks, financial institutions and FA companies use the iFAST B2B platform.
It expects to see a strong demand for its shares and had earlier said indications of interest received represented approximately 12 times of the placement.
<a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/stock-market-price-display-photo-p192420">Image:Freedigitalphotos.net</a>

Singapore’s iFast Corp to raise S$49m from IPO

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Singapore’s iFast Corp to raise S$49m from IPO

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