21/05/2026

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | MAY 21, 2026

READ OUR

HERE

18

Malaysian Paper

/thesun

Can Brazil become global leader in rare earths supply? o Despite having the world’s second-largest reserves, tech and infrastructure gaps are slowing expansion plans

Foreign firms eye HK listings as IPO rebound broadens SINGAPORE: About 10 companies from countries including Indonesia, South Korea and Singapore have filed for Hong Kong listings this year and some others are exploring options, an exchange executive said, as the market’s robust IPO momentum lures global firms. Although the foreign interest pales in comparison with domestic companies – 110 Chinese and Hong Kong firms raised US$36.4 billion (RM145 billion) in 2025, according to LSEG data – listings by 10 global firms would make it the city’s best year for international debuts since at least 2020. The foreign listing hopefuls represent sectors including technology, consumer, and financials, said Johnson Chui, head of global issuer services at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX), which runs the city’s stock exchange. The pipeline is a mix of first-time IPOs, concurrent dual listings and sequential dual listings, he said. “We feel that this is the start of a structural change of the next phase of international companies listing in Hong Kong,“ Chui told Reuters, adding the appeal of the city had widened beyond companies with China exposure. “The nexus is broadening,“ he said. “In the past it was more: do you have business exposure in Greater China? But now, there are very successful examples for companies that have no business at all in this part of the world.” The Hong Kong exchange, which is the most preferred venue for Chinese companies looking to raise offshore capital, was the world’s top market for IPOs last year with US$37.4 billion raised via 115 deals, according to LSEG data. While the bourse’s goal to attract large overseas listings has had limited success so far, the renewed effort comes amid strong momentum in the mainland China and Hong Kong equity markets and increased flows of foreign capital. Swiss-based seeds and agrochemicals company Syngenta Group plans a listing of up to US$10 billion in the second half of this year, Reuters reported in February, citing sources, in a move likely to bolster HKEX’s ability to lure big-ticket listings. While Chui did not give details about foreign IPO hopefuls, separate sources said international biotech companies Engine Biosciences from Singapore and NiKang Therapeutics from the US were among those considering possible listings in the city. The discussions are preliminary and plans could change, said the sources familiar with the two firms’ plans. They declined to be named as the matter was private. Engine Biosciences declined to comment. NiKang did not respond. Teleport, a Malaysian logistics firm, said Hong Kong was among the venues it was evaluating for a listing. “Our long-term roadmap includes a public listing,“ CEO Pete Chareonwongsak told Reuters. “We are keeping our options open.” Separately, LSEG data compiled on May 4 showed a possible 12 foreign companies in Hong Kong’s 2026 IPO pipeline, including US blockchain infrastructure firm Blockdaemon, Malaysian branding to logistics group Capital A, and British biopharmaceutical company Allergy Therapeutics. HKEX said seven international companies listed in Hong Kong in 2025. Since 2000, foreign firms have raised about US$22 billion across 156 deals in Hong Kong, according to LSEG data, a fraction of the market’s total.

to strengthen steel. In a bid to challenge China’s dominance over the rare earth market, Washington is actively encouraging exploration in Brazil. “We see Brazil as a place with the potential for billions in investment. We are already on that path, with over US$600 million (RM2.4 billion) invested,” an American embassy spokesman speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters at an event with investors in March. During the meeting, Washington signed a memorandum of understanding with the state of Goias in central Brazil to encourage rare earth mining. And in April, the American company USA Rare Earth bought Serra Verde – the company operating Brazil’s only producing rare earth mine in Goias – for around US$2.8 billion. Australia has also emerged on Brazil’s rare earths scene through the company Foxfire Metals, while China has a stake in a project in the Brazilian Amazon, according to IBRAM. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said he is willing to “make agreements with all countries.” “But no one...will ever lay claim to our wealth,” he said. This week, the leftist leader invited the US to “partner” with Brazil in rare earth exploration, days after meeting US President Donald Trump at the White House, with whom he has had an up-and-down relationship. – AFP

BRASILIA: Brazil sits atop a potential bonanza of rare earths that has sparked global interest, led by Washington, as demand surges for the increasingly vital minerals. But any windfall still appears a distant prospect as Latin America’s biggest economy currently mines only a marginal amount. Only China has greater reserves of the critical minerals which are essential to make everything from smartphones to electric vehicles and missiles. Despite their name, the 17 elements are not actually rare, but rather extremely complex to extract and the requisite capital and technology are in short supply in Brazil. So can the Latin American giant become a major supplier? Brazil has more than 20 million tons of rare earths, according to estimates by the US Geological Survey (USGS). It holds the second-largest reserves after China and ranks far ahead of India, the third placed nation which has an estimated 6.9 million tons of the critical minerals. But Brazil exported only 20 tons in 2024, a tiny share of global production, which the

USGS estimated at 390,000 tons that year. China accounts for around two-thirds of the total global production. Rare earth elements are found in sands, clays or rocks alongside dozens of other compounds and must be separated through a costly process. “Between what we extract from the ground and the oxide (of rare earths), which would be 99.9% pure, there are at least 400 industrial processes,” explained Pablo Cesario, president of the Brazilian Mining Institute (IBRAM), which represents the sector’s main companies. “We can do this at laboratory scale. What we do not have – and almost nobody in the world has – is this processing technology at industrial scale,” he added during a virtual press conference. Julio Nery, director of mining affairs at IBRAM, said the country needs infrastructure, technological research, and a cheaper, more abundant energy supply to ramp up production. Brazil is already one of the world’s leading mining countries, producing large quantities of iron ore, gold, bauxite and graphite. It dominates the global supply of niobium – used

Rising demand for critical minerals used in EVs, smartphones and defence systems is putting Brazil’s untapped deposits in the global spotlight. – AFPPIX

Singapore urges financial firms to use AI to create better jobs SINGAPORE: Singapore’s banks and financial firms should use artificial intelligence (AI) to create better jobs and train workers for higher value roles, not just cut costs, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said yesterday. Gan’s comments come a day after Standard Chartered said it would cut more than 7,000 jobs over four years as it steps up AI adoption. HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said yesterday that generative AI would “destroy certain jobs” and “create new jobs”, while urging staff to embrace the change. weaken our competitiveness and ultimately hurt workers more, not less,“ Gan said at the DBS Leaders Dialogue event in Singapore. A DBS report released at the event ranked Singapore third among 15 AI financial hubs, behind New York and San Francisco, and said the city-state was the open-market hub closest to combining AI capability with institutional trust at scale. Gan said Singapore’s next phase as a financial hub would depend on moving AI from experimentation into enterprise-wide adoption, ensuring it creates good jobs, and building trust, safety and security into the way AI is developed and used. “For Singapore, the answer cannot be to hold back change. If we slow AI adoption, we will

“When firms implement AI, they should not only ask: how much cost can we save? They should also ask: What new roles can we create? How can existing workers be trained for them.” DBS Group CEO Tan Su Shan said Singapore’s small size could become a strength if AI helped its limited workforce do more, describing the technology as a potential “great multiplier”. “Small amplified by AI means our limited workforce can now do many more things than we could before,“ Tan said, adding that companies needed to take employees and customers along because “humans matter”. – Reuters