CapBridge and UOB sign agreement to provide companies across Asia with access to private capital

This is CapBridge’s first collaboration with a Singapore bank to provide companies with such alternative financing solutions and draws upon the combined market expertise of two Singapore-headquartered financial institutions and the country’s strength as a global financial centre.

Through its investment syndication platform, CapBridge will match UOB’s clients with anchor investors and accredited² co-investors, catalysing private capital as a source of funding and helping these companies to broaden their investor base further.

UOB’s clients can also choose to list a portion of their equity on CapBridge’s affiliate 1exchange (1X)³ , Singapore’s first and only regulated private securities exchange platform, of which Singapore Exchange Limited is a shareholder and strategic partner. In doing so, the Bank’s clients can create a new asset class of tradeable private equities to provide their shareholders with access to flexible financing and liquidity. This is because the buying and selling of the listed private equities can be done any time and easily, compared with the typical lock-up period of more than five years for private equity as an asset class.

Mr Edmund Leong, Head of Group Investment Banking, UOB, said, “Companies typically require different types of funding and capital structures that provide financial flexibility and liquidity to meet their needs at various growth stages. At UOB, we have been providing our corporate clients with a comprehensive suite of fundraising solutions. These include loans and bonds in the debt capital markets, initial public offerings in the equity capital markets and alternative private financing⁴ through our ecosystem partners. With our capital market expertise and through our collaboration with CapBridge and the 1X platform, we can offer our clients an even wider range of alternative private financing solutions to provide them with sustainable growth capital.”

Mr Johnson Chen, Founder and CEO of CapBridge, said, “The private capital market is a fast-growing source of primary and secondary capital for many companies. It offers stable capital and a value-adding stakeholder network in the form of sophisticated investors from the CapBridge platform, as well as higher liquidity and exit potential from the tradeable private equities pioneered by the 1X private securities exchange. We are pleased to have the support of UOB as we continue to help private companies in Singapore and the region access the private market for valuable growth capital.”

CapBridge recently completed a fundraising campaign for a leading fund management company in Singapore for a listing on 1exchange. The offer was oversubscribed and the company is set to become the first private company to list its shares on a private exchange in Singapore in July 2019.

¹  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines high-growth companies as enterprises with average annualised growth greater than 20 per cent per annum over a three-year period, and with 10 or more employees at the beginning of the observation period. Source: Eurostat − OECD Manual on Business Demography Statistics (2007)
² An accredited investor refers to an individual whose net personal assets exceed S$2 million, whose financial assets (net of any related liabilities) exceed S$1 million or whose income in the preceding 12 months is not less than S$300,000; or a corporation with net assets exceeding S$10 million.
³ 1X is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore with a Recognised Market Operator licence. It enables companies to create and professional investors to access tradeable private equities.
⁴ UOB offers end-to-end financing solutions including equity crowdfunding and venture debt through OurCrowd and InnoVen Capital respectively.