Philippine bourse expects record stock listings this year

The number of initial public offerings (IPO) at the Philippine Stock Exchange will probably rise to a record this year, with a value of at least 150 billion pesos ($2.69 billion), the exchange’s president Ramon Monzon said, Bloomberg News reported. The guidance is based on existing IPOs in the pipeline and eight completed listings in the first half of the year which raised a total of 76.17 billion pesos, according to Monson. The value of IPOs country could reach 200 billion pesos if the companies that indicated interest submit applications, he added. While the number of IPOs this year would…

The number of initial public offerings (IPO) at the Philippine Stock Exchange will probably rise to a record this year, with a value of at least 150 billion pesos ($2.69 billion), the exchange’s president Ramon Monzon said, Bloomberg News reported.

The guidance is based on existing IPOs in the pipeline and eight completed listings in the first half of the year which raised a total of 76.17 billion pesos, according to Monson.

The value of IPOs country could reach 200 billion pesos if the companies that indicated interest submit applications, he added.

While the number of IPOs this year would probably be the highest-ever for the exchange, the capital raised would not match the record 234.48 billion pesos of IPO value last year, when just two share sales brought in a total of almost 70 billion pesos.

Planned large IPOs for the remainder of this year include Prime Infrastructure Capital’s 28.2-billion-peso share sale and Globe Telecom’s 32-billion-peso follow-on offer, Monzon said.

Public float requirement for index stocks unchanged

The exchange will proceed with a minimum 20 per cent public float requirement for index stocks by December and has urged the three companies in the benchmark with a public float below this level to comply.

The plan to boost the public float of listed companies to 25 per cent and expand trading liquidity is on hold as the market may not be able to absorb this, given the current weak investor sentiment, according to the bourse president.

With regards to crypto trading, for which the Philippine Stock Exchange has the technical capability, Monzon said that such an offer will be on hold until rules and regulations for the sector have been established.