The Philippine Stock Exchange expects companies to raise P200 billion from the sale of shares as the number of initial public offerings may reach a record this year.
PSE president and chief executive Ramon Monzon said in a virtual press briefing companies raised P76.17 billion in capital in the first half, while another P75 billion worth of fund-raising activities were in the pipeline.
“With the pending applications and completed capital raising activities, we already have P150 billion. We hope to get more applications, and we hope to reach P200 billion by the end of the year,” Monzon said.
Among the companies that will sell shares in the second half are Alternergy Holdings Corp. (P2.18 billion), ORCA Cold Chain Solutions Inc. (P1.6 billion), Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc.(P28.1 billion), Upson International Inc.(P5.4 billion) and Globe Telecom Inc. which will raise P32 billion from a follow-on offering.
Listed firms that debuted in the stock market this year were Haus Talk Inc., Figaro Coffee Group Inc., Citicore Energy REIT Corp., Bank of Commerce, CTS Global Equity Group Inc., Raslag Corp., VistaREIT Inc. and Balai ni Fruitas Inc.
Monzon said the local bourse was looking to revive its offer to buy the rest of Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp., the operator of the fixed-income market.
Monzon said the PSE temporarily put on the sideline its plan to acquire PDS after Land Bank of the Philippines offered to buy 49-percent interest in PDS.
“But nothing has happened in the past two and a half years since Landbank has been pursuing PDS. We feel maybe the interest is not there anymore specially with the new administration,” he said.
Monzon said the PSE would also proceed with the plan to increase from 15 percent to 20 percent the minimum public float requirement for index stocks by December this year.
Three companies that are part of the 30-company PSE index have public float of below 20 percent. These are San Miguel Corp., AC Energy Corp. and Emperador Inc.
The PSE, in its latest review from July 2021 to June 2022, included Semirara Mining and Power Corp. as member of the 30-company PSEi in place of Security Bank Corp.
The top-publicly listed companies based on liquidity, market capitalization, and free float level are the securities considered for inclusion in PSE indices. Aside from these criteria, relevant financial benchmarks are also used in the index review.
It said companies should have a public ownership level of at least 20 percent to qualify for index inclusion in the next review period. “We expect companies that would like to remain index constituents but have a free float of less than 20 percent to take the necessary corporate action to address this concern,” Monzon said earlier.
The sector indices also saw minor changes, with the addition of seven securities. Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. joined the Financials index while Benguet Corp. became a constituent of the Mining and Oil index.
The Property index saw the addition of 8990 Holdings Inc. and DDMP REIT Inc. Phinma Corp., Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. and Synergy Grid & Development Phils. joined the Industrial index.