By BLOOMBERG
Heliconia Capital Management Pte Ltd, owned by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, wants to help local firms, such as the operator of a chain of chilli crab restaurants whose shares debuted on Monday, in their global expansion.
Jumbo Group Ltd surged in its trading debut after selling shares in the city’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) this year to investors including Heliconia and Osim International Ltd chairman Ron Sim.
The shares rose as much as 58% to an intraday high of 39.5 Singapore cents. Jumbo sold the shares at 25 Singapore cents.
“For Heliconia, our mandate is to identify and support Singapore-headquartered companies to be globally competitive companies,” chief executive officer Derek Lau said in an interview at the listing ceremony. “We’ll continue with a steady pace of investment.”
Heliconia took a S$10 million (RM30.6 million) holding in Jumbo’s IPO, according to a stock exchange filing by the restaurant operator. It has invested in about nine companies focused on urbanisation and the growing middle class, said Lau, a former managing director of investment at Temasek, the state investment company.
“We’re careful,” he said. “We have no set targets; it depends on when the opportunities arise. There’s no fixed formula. We need the stars to be aligned. Obviously the companies themselves must see the value that Heliconia can bring.”
Jumbo, which also operates restaurants offering pork rib soup, or bak kut teh, and ramen noodles, serves more than 6,000 customers daily, according to its website. The restaurant operator will open at least four more outlets in China and Singapore within the next two years, according to its filing.
— By Andrea Tan
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