PSE pushes for listing of Mirant, other power firms

In line with hardline efforts to lure more investors into the stock market, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is pushing for the listing of more power and oil companies, including Mirant Philippines Corp.

PSE president Francis Lim said the exchange has met with officials of Mirant Phils. to discuss the possible listing of the company’s shares in the local bourse.

"We met with them in the hope we could encourage them to revive plans to go public," Lim said.

Mirant Phils. was earlier looking at raising about P18 billion from its planned initial public offering (IPO) which had been shelved following US-based parent Mirant Corp.’s bankruptcy petition in court.

However, Mirant’s operations in the Philippines and the Caribbean were excluded from Chapter 11 filings of Mirant Corp. and most of its subsidiaries.

The company has been aggressively investing in the Philippines through the establishment of several power plants.

Mirant Phils. owns more than 2,000 megawatts of installed generating capacity throughout the Philippines. It also owns a stake in the natural gas-fired 1,200-megawatt Ilijan plant in Batangas province.

Another power firm being eyed for listing include the PNOC-Energy Corp., the oil exploration arm of the government-controlled Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC). It holds a 10-percent stake in the country’s biggest natural gas project, the Malampaya natural gas, and has various exploration projects particularly in Visayas and Mindanao.

Lim said the exchange is also set to meet with Pilipinas Shell Corp. and Caltex Philippines to discuss their possible listing on the bourse.

Under the Oil Deregulation Law, oil refiners should make a public offering of at least 10 percent of their shares through the PSE.

Since it is no longer engaged in oil refinery, Caltex, however, can no longer be required to undertake an IPO.

Despite the mandatory listing requirement for energy companies as well as those that have availed of fiscal incentives from the Board of Investments, they were able to delay their listing, citing poor market conditions.

Among the oil firms operating in the country, only Petron Corp. has been listed at the PSE with 20 percent of its outstanding capital stock floated since 1994.

An IPO is done by selling a portion of the company’s shares of stock at a price based on its book value or on its projected earnings for the year. These shares are then listed with the PSE so that stockholders and investors may trade the issue.