The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday it will impose a minimum 15-percent public float requirement on companies holding an initial public offering.
SEC chairperson Teresita Herbosa said in an interview the new requirement for companies planning to list their shares with the Philippine Stock Exchange would be imposed starting next month.
“We will target the new issuers with higher minimum public float requirement by August,” Herbosa told reporters.
Companies currently listed with PSE have a minimum public ownership of 10 percent.
Among the IPOs in the pipeline are those of business process outsourcing company Pointwest Technologies Corp., community mall developer Philippine Primark Properties Inc., miner TVI Pacific Inc., brokerage Philstocks Financial Inc., construction firm Datem Inc. and property developer DM Wenceslao & Associates Inc.
SEC said it would also decide before the end of the year if it would raise the minimum public float for all listed companies to 15 percent from the current 10 percent.
“By end of this year, we will resolve if the higher minimum public float will be applicable to existing listed firms,” Herbosa said.
After imposing a 10-percent minimum public float for listed firms in 2011, the corporate regulator last year indicated plans to gradually increase the public float of listed firms until it hit the target of 25 percent.
Under the plan, SEC will initially increase the minimum public float by 5 percent every year. The planned increase this year was deferred after financial markets turned volatile towards the end of 2015 until the first few months of 2016.
Herbosa said with the recent surge in the market after the May elections, SEC would review the proposed increase in public float requirement.
Herbosa earlier said the move to increase the public float requirement aimed to make the local capital markets at par with other Asean countries.
Stock markets in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand already imposed a minimum float requirement of 10 percent to 25 percent.
SEC said the move would could also encourage small investors to invest in the stock market instead of putting their hard-earned money in investment scams.
PSE said despite the 10-percent minimum public float, listed companies had an average public float of 30 percent.