PSE looking at up to 8 IPOs this year

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), is looking at six to eight initial public offerings (IPOs) this year or possibly double the four IPOs last year, its top official said.

“We’re looking at six to eight IPOs this year. It should be better than last year,” PSE president Hans Sicat said in a recent interview.

Sicat declined to name which companies but noted that some of these IPO candidates already have pending applications with the PSE.

Sicat said the environment is likely better this year as some of the global uncertainties have already dissipated. These include last year’s policy rate setting meeting of the US Federal Reserve, the US elections and move of Britain to exit from the European Union.

Among the IPO bound companies are Xeleb Inc., the celebrity mobile games company of listed technology company Xurpas Inc., media technology company Audiowav and home and construction supplier Wilcon.

Last year, total capital raised from the local bourse including IPOs amounted to P170.12 billion, slightly lower than the P184.60 billion raised for the whole of 2015.

IPOs alone amounted to P29 billion last year from P5 billion in 2015, according to data from the First Metro Investment Corp., the investment banking arm of George Ty-owned Metrobank.

Sicat said the market experienced a lot of volatilities in 2016 arising from unexpected developments in the global political landscape as well as the interest rate hikes in the US. 

Despite this, Sicat said the market still churned in a relatively healthy capital raising number, which is a testament to the strength of the local economy.

The PSE hopes to raise more capital this year with new products such as the Dollar Denominated Securities (DDS) and the listing of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) companies.

“The US dollar deal, that’s already approved. We just need to get it done,” Sicat said.

The introduction of DDS aims to provide issuers the flexibility to meet their capitalization requirements. It also offers an alternative instrument for investors with US dollar deposit accounts. In the same manner, the product can also attract offshore investors and reduce their currency risk exposure.

Listing of PPP companies, meanwhile, would allow them to raise funds from the stock market for their respective PPP projects.

Last year, the four companies that made their debut in the market are Golden Haven, Cemex Holdings Philippines, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Shakey’s.