MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange expects four companies to list in the second half, on track to meet its target of raising P200 billion from the capital market.
“It’s a moving target but we’re still hoping to reach that,” said PSE president Ramon Monzon.
For the second half, we have the Chelsea (Logistics) IPO, which is happening on Tuesday. There are three more smaller cap companies that have gotten approval from the SEC and have filed with us,” Monzon told reporters Wednesday night.
Chelsea, owned by businessman Dennis Uy, is seen to be the next big IPO in the country with an offering of 546.59 million new common shares for P10.68 a piece or P5.8 billion. It will list on the local bourse on Aug. 8.
So far, capital raised in the first six months amounted to P106.74 billion, up 92 percent from the same period a year ago. This is still way below the exchange’s P200 billion target.
Monzon said the PSE is having a difficult time attracting companies to list on the stock exchange.
He said the PSE would focus on getting more SMEs to tap the stock market for their funding requirements.
“We’re basically going to get more SMEs to list,” he said.
The PSE is partnering with organizations such as the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Go Negosyo Group and other business groups to identify which SMEs are candidates for listing.
“We’ve started to inform them. We hope to do it in volumes,” Monzon said.
Companies seeking to list this year are ExpressPay which plans to raise P528 million through its IPO of 193.453 million common shares at P2.73 per share; Audiowav (P2.7 billion), and Pure Energy Holdings (P1.5 billion).
The PSE posted a net income of P345.15 million in the first half, down 7.4 percent from the year ago.
Operating revenues rose 18.1 percent to P662.53 million due to double-digit gains in listing- and trading-related fees.
Listing-related income, meanwhile, increased 37.2 percent on the back of IPOs and stock rights offerings during the January to June period.