(Bloomberg) -- Barrenjoey, one of Australia’s top investment banks, is pushing for a quicker process to get companies listed in Sydney, advocating for a US-style application system that keeps some key details confidential.
Australia would be able to attract more high quality investors to its equity market by changing rules to lift inflows, Barrenjoey’s co-executive chair Guy Fowler said at the Bloomberg Australia Briefing event in Sydney on Wednesday. That could help get an IPO done within a shorter timeline, of about two weeks, he said.
“The timeline to IPO here is a little longer than other markets,” Fowler said, “We should examine that. Are there things we can change and do better? That would help.”
Stock listings across Australia and New Zealand are showing signs of recovery this year following a dearth of activity in 2023, which saw the lowest number of IPOs in a decade. While the recent IPO of fast-food chain Guzman y Gomez Ltd. helped to return some buoyancy to the market, Fowler says more can be done to improve the process for businesses wanting to go public.
The proposal met with caution from the nation’s securities regulator, while Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair Joe Longo said he’s interested in ideas to make the process more efficient.
“I’m looking for actionable ideas,” Longo said on the same panel at the Bloomberg event. “We’re very interested in getting feedback about what ASIC can do and the regulatory settings, and how they might change or be adjusted to encourage the activity that we’re all interested in.”
ASX Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Helen Lofthouse, speaking at the same event, said market activity is also largely down to investor confidence and macro-economic settings show that’s helping currently.
“It’s a question of confidence,” she said. “The window is absolutely open and the opportunity is there as people are getting more comfortable with the inflation outlook and interest rates are certainly stabilizing more. It does seem like the timing is getting more attractive,” she said.
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