Dezign Format surges over 7% upon SGX Catalist trading debut

Spatial design specialist Dezign Format rose by more than 7 per cent on Friday (Aug 15) morning, upon its trading debut on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

As at 9.02 am, its shares were up by around 3.8 per cent at S$0.275 from its opening price of S$0.265, before climbing to S$0.28 by 9.06 am. It reached a high of S$0.285 at 9.06 am, up 7.5 per cent, before easing to S$0.28 at 9.07 am, after 4.4 million securities changed hands.

The design agency’s placement of 32.5 million shares at S$0.20 apiece amounted to S$6.5 million, and were fully subscribed as at 12 pm on Wednesday.

Mike Chong, executive chairman and chief executive of Dezign Format, said: “The proceeds from this offering will support our regional expansion strategy, including the establishment of our Malaysia production facility and new sales offices in Thailand and Vietnam.”

He added that the company’s “growing location-based entertainment segment and our venture into virtual reality experiences... align with the increasing demand for immersive and experiential offerings”.

The group’s investors include Asdew Acquisitions, Lion Global Investors, Maybank Asset Management Singapore and Nikko Asset Management Asia.

Dezign Format’s initial public offering (IPO) is the fifth listing that the local bourse has had this year, after that of automotive solutions provider Vin’s Holdings, Info-Tech Systems, NTT DC Real Estate Investment Trust, and Lum Chang Holdings, in addition to a secondary listing by China Medical System.

Founded in 1988, Dezign Format focuses on experiential design in the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions sector and has been responsible for various visual installations in Singapore.

Its post-IPO market capitalisation is S$40 million, based on the group’s invitation price and the post-invitation share capital of 200 million shares. The listing joins SGX’s growing industrials sector which has a total market capitalisation of S$133 billion.