Co-living operator Coliwoo to raise $48.2m through IPO on SGX

It is targeting net proceeds of some $96.2 million from the IPO and issuance of cornerstone shares

- Benjamin Lim Correspondent

Co-living operator Coliwoo is looking to raise $48.2 million through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) mainboard.

The offer of 80.3 million shares at 60 cents apiece comprises 75 million placement shares and 5.3 million public offer shares. In total, Coliwoo is looking to raise net proceeds of some $96.2 million from the IPO and the issuance of cornerstone shares.

The IPO opens on Oct 29 at 9am and will close at noon on Nov 4. Shares are expected to begin trading on Nov 6 at 9am.

Maybank Securities is the issue manager and global coordinator for the IPO. It is also joint bookrunner and underwriter, along with DBS Bank and RHB Bank.

Coliwoo expects to hit a market capitalisation of $288.5 million after listing, according to its final prospectus filed on Oct 28. The co-living business is being hived off from LHN Group as a separate listing.

Coliwoo’s founder Kelvin Lim, who is also the executive chairman and group managing director of LHN, told The Straits Times the main reason for spinning off Coliwoo is to improve the allocation of resources within the group.

LHN is a mainboard-listed real estate management company that rents out industrial and office space, manages commercial buildings and carparks, and installs solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations.

“We run multiple businesses under LHN, and a lot of financial resources have been allocated to Coliwoo. As a result, the other businesses are not growing as fast as we would like,” Mr Lim said.

The IPO would allow Coliwoo to raise funds for growth and enable LHN’s other businesses to be self-sustaining, he added.

Coliwoo’s IPO will also be the second time the group has spun off one of its businesses as a separate listing. It had listed its logistics arm, LHN Logistics, on the Catalist board in April 2022. That company was ultimately acquired by China’s Milkyway Chemical in 2023.