iFAST shares plunged about 12% on Tuesday, 19 Aug 2025, after Cuscaden Peak (CP Invest) offloaded some S$140 million worth of shares at $9.12, approximately 6.7% discount to the prior closing price
With this sale, CP Invest’s stake in iFAST falls from 9.62% to 4.9%, and CP Invest will thus cease to be a substantial shareholder in iFAST.
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As of August 22, the share price stands at around S$8.45, down roughly 13% from the prior week. It has since recovered ~1.5% at the start of the week and is now trading around $8.56.
Why Is Cuscaden Peak (CP Invest) Selling?
It is still uncertain whether CP Invest will continue to pare down their stake. However, it has been noted that CP Invest is not selling because they believe iFAST’s fundamentals have deteriorated. Instead they are selling because iFAST is non-core to their real estate business.
This could indicate that the divestment is strategic rather than sentiment-driven—possibly timed when liquidity and price made it opportune.
It is worth noting that the share sales were executed via a married deal with the assistance of UBS and Morgan Stanley. In such transactions, CP would sell the shares to the banks who would likely then dispose the shares to other parties.
Therefore, CP Invest could continue to pare their stake, and possibly through another large married deal which could affect share prices when they choose to do so again.
Minority shareholders do not need to be excessively worried as insiders still hold a substantial stake of about 28%, aligning management incentives with minority shareholders.
1H25 Financial review
iFAST recently reported a stellar set of earnings for 1H25. Revenue increased 23.7% YoY resulting in 1H25 net profit increasing 34.7% YoY and EPS landing at 13.68 cents per share, a 33.1% increase. As a result, iFAST’s current ROE stands at a remarkable 24.6%
iFAST also declared an interim dividend of S$0.02, 33% higher than the S$0.015 paid out a year ago.
Looking at the bottomline performance by geographic segment, we can see that every single region has improved when compared to the preceding years.
Looking ahead, iFAST noted that 2H25 is set to outperform, resulting in FY25 dividend increasing at least 35% YoY from 5.9 cents in FY24.
The increase in 2Q2025 profitability was driven by growth in the Hong Kong ePension business, a turnaround of iFAST Global Bank and continuing growth in the core wealth management platform business
iFAST’s assets under administration (“AUA”) grew 21.6% YoY to $27.20 billion as at 30 June 2025, reaching another record high, while net inflows stood at an all-time high at S$2.23 billion in 1H2025 and net inflows for the Singapore operations were also at a record high in 1H2025. Similarly, unit trust subscriptions in 1H2025 (S$4.59 billion) were at a record high level. The number of customer accounts crossed 1 million as of 30 June 2025.
Valuation
Extrapolating from 1H25’s EPS of 13.68 cents and given that iFAST expects 2H25 to outperform, we can assume that iFAST would deliver at least 28 cents in EPS and 8 cents in annual dividends.
At the current share price, this would value iFAST at just under 30x P/E and a 1% yield, much pricier than comparables listed in the SGX. However, with ROE at nearly 25% and earnings growth likely to be at least 20% if not higher, iFAST is easily growing at double the rate of other companies.
Taking into consideration growth in the 20% range, valuation is still not cheap and research house ratings are either a hold or a buy with limited upside.
Growth Prospects
iFAST’s Malaysian arm recently received approval-in-principle to operate as an E-Money issuer, enabling broader fintech expansion.
Looking at it more holistically, iFAST has set out a Three-Year Plan (2025-2027) with 4 objectives.
1. iFAST targets AUA of S$100 billion by 2028-2030. It intends to grow its AUA and continue to increase the scale and quality of its wealth management platform. The scalability profile of the platform looks stronger today with a profitable global digital bank at the core of its fintech ecosystem,
2. iFAST Global Bank aims for a full year of profitability in 2025
3. iFAST intends to further ramp up its capability in the ePension division, as the onboarding of the ePension services continue to progress, and as the ORSO (Occupational Retirement Scheme Ordinance) business starts to contribute.
4. iFAST is also looking to develop its range of products. It is looking at developing Innovative Fintech Services that are Complementary to Digital Banking and Wealth Management Platforms. These include payment related services and a bond market place targeting individual investors from around the world (Bondsupermart).
Risks to Watch
The stock trades at somewhat lofty valuations, making it sensitive to earnings disappointments or macro shifts.
iFAST’s valuation relies on continued growth on flawless execution, especially in platform scalability and new business integrations. Competition from banks, insurers, and wealth managers continues to be high.
In addition, market volatility could hurt short term AUA inflows. Regulatory changes in key markets could also impact performance.
So is iFAST a Good Buy Now?
The market reaction to the block sale indicates sensitivity to shareholder exits and potential liquidity shocks.
It’s not necessarily overreaction — the swift 11% drop reflects normal response to a large, discounted block sale.
Given its valuation, growth outlook, and regulatory tailwinds, this could be a reasonable entry point for long-term investors. But if you’re risk-averse, you might wait to see if the price stabilises further or bounces back toward analyst targets.
There is growth momentum from fintech expansion and e-money licence. Strong insider alignment through significant holdings.
Regardless, the recent insider selling though small in proportion and light in significance may still suggest some caution. Afterall, always follow the fund flow.
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