KUALA LUMPUR (April 25): Shares in RHB Bank Bhd rose marginally at mid-morning today after the group said it expects two sizeable IPOs in the pipeline this year.

At 10.10am, RHB Bank added 0.52% or 3 sen to RM5.82 with 559,400 shares traded.

RHB Bank is involved in the flotation exercise of at least two sizeable initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, according to group managing director Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli.

"And we also got mandates for two or three IPOs that are reasonably big ones," Khairussaleh told reporters after the company's annual general meeting yesterday.

He said the two sizeable IPOs, which are scheduled to be listed by the second half of the year, would raise estimated RM750 million each. One of the companies is involved in consumer products and the other in trading services.

RHB is the joint global coordinator of one such prospect that would be launching its prospectus today, he added. Although he did not identify the company, it is widely believed to be poultry producer Leong Hup Holdings Bhd.

On Tuesday, a Reuters report citing unnamed sources said Leong Hup had halved its IPO offer size to US$290.84 million (RM1.2 billion), from an earlier target of US$600 million to match subdued investor sentiment amid choppy markets.