TDCX’s Potential Privatisation, 4 Reasons Firms Go Private, And Whether This Signal More Privatisations Ahead

Why is publicly listed TDCX potentially going private again after 2 years on the NYSE?

Today Enterprise Explores the proposed privatisation of NYSE-listed Singapore-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firm TDCX with Simon Huang, Chief Analyst at Tech In Asia. We get into potential reasons behind the proposal, comparable examples from the past such as Razer’s privatisation and not-so comparable ones such as Michael Dell’s $25 billion buyout of Dell, and whether this signals more potential privatisation of recently listed public listed companies.

We also speak to Simon about what we know about how this TDCX will be financed and how privatisations are typically financed, and how the firm compares to other public-listed BPOs, and get his thoughts on the current state of public listed tech companies in Southeast Asia

For background, TDCX kickstarted 2024 with the announcement that its founder and CEO wanted to delist the NYSE-listed company and take it private again. Founder, CEO and Executive Chairman Laurent Junique proposed to acquire the remaining shares that he doesn't own at a price of US$6.60 per share, which represents a 36% premium to the closing price before the announcement was made, but is around 63% below the $18 US dollars per share TDCX was priced at when the company went public just over two years ago.