Solar firm Sunseap seeks IPO in Singapore

• Sunseap aims to list its shares publicly by the end of this year
• The IPO fundraise could reach S$600 million, according to Bloomberg
• Its investors have included Singapore’s Temasek, Dubai’s Dutco, and Thailand’s Banpu
• Amazon recently signed an agreement with Sunseap for a major Singapore project
• Trade Singapore's most popular stocks with an IG account

Sunseap mulls stock-market debut

Renewable-energy company Sunseap Group is in talks for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) that could raise up to S$600 million, Bloomberg reported last week.

The Singapore-based firm is targeting to list its shares at the end of 2021, though deliberations are ongoing and thus the size and timeline could change, Bloomberg said. It is currently working with advisers on the planned IPO.

Refinitiv’s International Financing Review also reported last Friday (26 March 2021) that Sunseap was hiring banks for an IPO on SGX.

The solar-energy provider’s customers in the city-state include US tech titans Microsoft, Apple Inc, Amazon.com, and Facebook.

If successful, its market debut could give a boost to the IPO market on the Singapore bourse, which has only seen one public listing this year, via Aztech Global’s (SGX: 8AZ) deal in early March.

Another listing candidate on SGX this year is private-equity firm TPG Capital Asia’s pathology business, Pathology Asia, whose IPO could raise as much as S$800 million, Bloomberg reported. Other IPO hopefuls in Singapore include Thai Beverage’s (SGX: Y92) brewery unit and City Developments Limited’s (SGX: C09) UK commercial Reit.

Who has injected capital into Sunseap?

Sunseap’s potential IPO would come after its slew of private fundraising efforts through the years.

Most recently, it secured an undisclosed amount in Series E funding from Dubai-based conglomerate Dutco Group. The fresh capital will go into Sunseap’s future solar projects across Asia, it said earlier this month.

Malaysian national electricity company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) also bought a 39% stake in Sunseap’s five solar rooftop projects in Vietnam, the Singapore company announced several weeks ago.

In February 2020, Sunseap received a S$100 million Series D injection from Thailand-listed energy group Banpu. Banpu earlier bought a substantial stake for S$75 million in 2017.

Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings and private-equity fund ABC World Asia took a minority stake in Sunseap after pumping in a combined S$50 million in January 2020.

Who are Sunseap’s customers?

The company is one of the largest players in the Asia Pacific solar-energy industry, with a pipeline of projects in Singapore, Australia, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, and Cambodia.

In mid-March 2021, e-commerce giant Amazon inked a long-term agreement for Sunseap to supply 62 megawatts of solar energy in Singapore to power its operations. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

Sunseap last month also signed 20-year agreements to supply clean energy to Vietnam’s national grid.

Facebook’s Singapore operations, including its data centre, are also powered by solar energy from Sunseap, as announced in October 2020.

Sunseap likewise partnered Apple Inc in 2015 to power its Singapore operations, and inked a deal with Microsoft in 2018 to create a rooftop solar project.