FORMER IPO king Choo Chee Kong is returning to the investment
fray three years after he sold his stake in corporate finance
outfit Westcomb Capital, and left corporate life.
Mr Choo, who has handled more than 100 IPOs, is taking on a senior
advisory role at home-grown private equity firm CMIA Capital
Partners.
He told The Straits Times earlier this week that he wanted to
capitalise on his expertise with SMEs and tap opportunities 'in a
more structured and more systematic way'.
During his time at DBS Bank, and later as head of Westcomb Capital,
he handled the listing of a succession of local SMEs, including DMX
Technologies, Apex-Pal and Thomson Medical.
Mr Choo began his career at DBS, where he rose to head its
corporate finance unit
before leaving to set up Westcomb Capital, said to have been
Singapore's first homegrown boutique corporate finance outfit.
The latest step in the 52-year-old's career will see him work with
CMIA in finding and
assessing promising investment opportunities in Singapore's SME
sector.
'We will hold their hand, teach them about running a company,
and how to grow and
professionalise their businesses and raise successive levels of
finance.'
The ultimate sign of their success will come with their listing.
'For many, to go for a
listing - to be able to say that they are the boss of a listed
company, that is the apex of their career,' said Mr Choo.
CMIA Capital Partners is little known in Singapore, given that it
has invested mostly in China, but it has spearheaded about US$600
million (S$784 million) worth of private equity investments to
date.
Only a handful of its investee companies have listed here, the
most recent being China Minzhong.
CMIA is now turning its sights on Singapore and has handpicked
Mr Choo to expand its operations here.
CMIA's co-founder, Mr Lee Chong Min, said: 'In the last decade,
many of us embarked on private equity investments in China. But now
US funds back US companies to go into China instead. Why shouldn't
we do the same and back our own companies to go to China?'
Mr Lee anticipates launching a fund of at least US$50 million
soon.
CMIA will invest the money either by directly taking stakes, or by
lending money with
the option to take up shares at a future date, a mezzanine form of
financing.
With more and more investors in the region hailing from Europe and
the Middle East,Mr Choo thinks that Asia's time has come.
'There is so much emphasis on Asia, with people from Europe
coming here. A lot of
people want to set up their base here.'
CMIA and Mr Choo should be a high-powered match in the SME
landscape, bringing together funds and decades of expertise.