Informally crowned the city-state’s “King of the IPO,” Choo has listed 24 companies, from a local bakery chain to a disk-drive manufacturer, over the past 18 months -- half of Singapore’s initial public offerings for that period. “We are a very driven, entrepreneurial firm,” says the 44-year-old Choo of his young investment bank, SBI E2-Capital.
Lean, too. Despite its heavy deal flow, SBI has just 30 employees and outsources much of its back-office work. The firm turned a profit within a year of Choo’s setting it up in March 2001, in a Shenton Way office tower directly opposite DBS Bank -- where Choo spent 14 years building that blue-chip institution into an IPO powerhouse, which today is SBI’s chief rival.
Choo says he left DBS because the giant bank was in the midst of a restructuring after mergers and he felt that it was underplaying the IPO business. Besides, he had an urge, apparently, to build his own boutique investment bank.
Choo’s clients, most of them entrepreneurs themselves, have an affinity for an upstart investment bank. SBI is in fact, though, a 51-49 joint venture between Choo and his partners and the Hong Kong arm of Japan’s Softbank -- itself an IPO icon from the dot-com days -- and Hong Kong investment firm E2-Capital. Customers “know we can raise money and get them listed fast, while a bank might take twice as long,” says Choo.
For a small firm, SBI has a broad horizon. Choo has already persuaded four mainland China companies, like Hongguo International, a maker of fashionable ladies’ shoes, to list in Singapore rather than in Hong Kong or in Shanghai. Most are valued higher in the city-state, he contends, because of their relative rarity on the local exchange.
“We are just scratching the surface,” Choo says. “There are thousands of well-managed, profitable companies in China that are ready for a stock market listing.” SBI plans to open a China office soon for scouting prospects; it already has a small Hong Kong branch.
Choo is breaking down more than geographical barriers. In a deal raising eyebrows in straitlaced Singapore, SBI was slated to take Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp public in mid-September. He describes the offering as “an exciting concept for retail investors, because Singapore has never had a listed gaming company.” Choo hopes it will lead to more deals with companies from Cambodia, Vietnam and even Laos.
That implies more travel for Choo, who confides that his wife complains he’s “not a good father because I haven’t been spending enough time with my [two young] kids in recent months.” He’s determined to change: “I try to be home on weekends to catch up on reading and be around my children.”
Nevertheless, he’s not about to turn off his cell phone. Nervous clients call at all hours about “silly things,” he says, but then, “investment banking is all about providing a service.”
Who, though, will calm Choo’s own nerves when SBI goes public as planned this November?
