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With Russia's invasion of Ukraine driving the knife deeper into languishing global stock markets, we decided to take a look at those brave enough to make their debut amid bearish red flags.

The IPO market isn’t exactly hot right now, with a few new issuers either delaying or trimming the size of their listings. But that hasn’t stopped swathes of high-profile IPOs from quietly simmering under the surface.

Asian tech companies have been doing plenty of IPO-related groundwork recently - from changes in citizenship to drawing executives from competitors. A closer look at the scene will reveal the various approaches these firms are taking.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

For instance, Shein, the fast-fashion giant, appears to be doing whatever it can to bypass China’s tougher rules for offshore IPOs.

Not only did the retailer shift its parent firm to Singapore - similar to the move made by super app Grab (GRAB, NDAQ) - but its founder and CEO, Chris Xu, also became a permanent resident of the city-state. These developments come following reports that suggested Shein was looking to list in New York later this year.

Meanwhile, IPO-bound FinAccel, the parent company of Kredivo, an Indonesia-based buy now, pay later service, has stoked investor interest by taking the M&A route. FinAccel raised its stake in Bank Bisnis Internasional (BBSI, IDX) from 40% to 75% in a bid to claim a chunk of Indonesia’s fast-growing digibank market.

Akulaku, another fintech unicorn heading for the public market, managed to line its coffers by raising US$100 million in a series E round. However, that wasn’t the case for Alibaba (BABA, NDAQ), which shelved plans to raise US$1 billion for Lazada before Southeast Asian firm’s IPO.

The bad news doesn’t end there for the Chinese ecommerce giant as it posted its slowest revenue growth since going public last week. You can find a detailed review of Alibaba’s financial health here.

Carousell, on the other hand, offered a glimpse into its financial performance in the lead-up to its debut on the public market, which might happen as soon as this current quarter. In this premium story, we break down the key aspects of the online classifieds firm’s 2020 earnings result.

Carsome, Carousell’s competitor in the automobile space, has been beefing up its digital marketing and tech units in a peculiar manner. Malaysia’s first unicorn has been gearing up to dive into public markets this year and, as my colleague Emmanuel reports in this premium story, it has made a habit of luring a host of junior and senior staff from rival firms.

Most companies prefer to keep their IPO plans on the down-low, but Singapore-based PropertyGuru doesn’t beat around the bush. Despite having already announced the firm’s intention to list in the US last year, PropertyGuru’s CEO went a step further to confirm that the listing will take place by the end of the first quarter this year.

-- Shravanth

4 STOCKS TO WATCH

Image credit: Timmy Loen
 

🇸🇬 Grab (GRAB, NDAQ)

It’s no secret that the super app has had a tough time since it made its public market debut in December. Its beleaguered investors will hope for some respite when Grab reports its Q4 results on March 3.
 

🇮🇳 Vodafone Idea Ltd (IDEA, NSE)

The troubled telecommunications firms could be in line for a much-need capital infusion after British parent Vodafone Group said it plans to sell up to a 5% stake in tower firm Indus Towers to Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL, NSE). “The two sides are in discussions and things could move very fast in the next few weeks,” a source told The Economic Times.
 

🇨🇳 Baidu Inc (BIDU, NYSE)

Despite initially feeling the full force of China's crackdown, the tech giant has managed to weather the storm to some extent, with its shares shedding just around 2.5% over the last six months. The Chinese search engine has reportedly laid off nearly 10% to 15% of its total employees.

The question on everyone’s minds is whether Baidu can now shift gears and reverse its fortunes. A few answers are likely when it reports its Q4 results on March 1.
 

🇮🇳 Infosys Ltd (INFY, NSE)

Erm.. hockey, anyone? India’s second-largest software services firm by revenue believes the metaverse - the much hyped next step in the evolution of the internet - will see “hockey stick-shaped growth” very soon. That’s why the company has been aggressively building an array of solutions revolving around the metaverse.

3 MARKET WHISPERS

Photo credit: 123rf
 

1️⃣ Halting a pandemic-induced slide

Over 200 of AirAsia’s fleet of 260 planes have remained idle since the pandemic hit airlines around the world in 2020. Yet, Capital A (CAPITALA, KLSE) CEO Tony Fernandes says he remains bullish not only his airline’s prospects but also its super-app ambitions in this insightful interview. Capital A’s annual results for 2021 are expected this week.
 

2️⃣ A nip in the bud

Blackstone Inc (BX, NYSE) and Toshiba Corp (6502, TYO) moved swiftly to deny reports that the US-based private equity firm had made a buyout offer for the US$18 billion Japanese conglomerate. Toshiba said in a statement that no specific proposals, "including preliminary and initial ones, were brought to Toshiba, including those from Blackstone, to take Toshiba private."
 

3️⃣ An IPO on the way

Swiggy has begun preparations to raise at least $800 million in an IPO early next year. The Indian food delivery decacorn is looking to raise the funds in order to expand its market share amid stiff competition from Zomato in the food delivery space.

Meanwhile, Swiggy’s quick commerce business is also challenged by the Reliance Industries-backed Dunzo, Tata Group's BigBasket, Zomato-backed Blinkit, and Y Cominator-funded Zepto.

2 QUOTES FROM THE WISE

• “It is my belief that the next 1,000 unicorns won’t be a search engine, won’t be a media company, they’ll be businesses developing green hydrogen, green agriculture, green steel and green cement,” said Larry Fink, BlackRock (BLK, NYSE) CEO, talking about the businesses potential in the need to address climate change.

• “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” This famous quote is somewhat dubiously attributed to the founder of the Ford Motor Company (F, NYSE), Henry Ford, who was the chief developer of the assembly line technique that kickstarted the mass production of automobiles.

1 NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Photo credit: Samuel Zeller / Unsplash.
 

VR headsets and insurance

There has been a lot of distressing news (pandemic, wars, inflation, and so on) in the headlines lately. Amid the doom and gloom, news that Sony Group (6758, TYO) had revealed the design for its next-generation PlayStation VR2 headset went largely under the radar.

Tech advancements in virtual reality hardware have accelerated. However, regardless of how immersive the experience is, players of VR games are still inescapably rooted in the physical world. When gamers forget that, bad things happen (in other words, expensive equipment gets broken). Hard to believe? Well, insurance claims in the UK that mention VR headsets jumped 31% in 2021.

That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it!

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Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Kindly do not construe any such information as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.