Listing of RP firms in foreign stock markets good for PSE, sayanalysts

The spate of listings by Philippine-based companies in stockmarkets abroad is providing an added boost to the lackluster performance of the local bourse, giving the much-needed publicity and support to local firms in the international arena, analysts said.

"It's good publicity for the company and for the country. It bolsters the capability of domestic companies to be at par with foreign firms and compete in a global market," veteran stockbroker Irving Ackerman of I. Ackerman & Co. Inc. said.

He said it is a good sign that many companies are exploring the international capital markets to look for sources of funds which cannot be readily available, or very hard to get by, in the domestic front.

PCCI Securities and Brokers Corp. research head Gonzalo Bongolan said companies have the natural inclination to "look for the best possible prospects that will maximize their valuation," hence leading to stockmarket listing or floating corporate bonds abroad.

Just the other day, PSi Technologies, the semiconductor unit of food and beverage conglomerate RFM Corp., was the first Filipino company to break into the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange with the listing of 3.5 million shares worth $16 each.

Although there have been a number of Philippine (and Philippine-related) stocks that are being traded at both the New York Stock Exchange and American Stock Exchange, led by PLDT, First Philippine Fund, Benguet, Philex Gold and Manulife Financial Corp., the trend toward listings abroad, in particular at the Singapore Stock Exchange, became more defined last year.

Initiated by Del Monte partner Macondray and Co., several more followed and have planned to follow suit. These include the original equipment manufacturing unit of Ionics Circuit, Fasttech, Pryce Gases and Macro-Asia.

Some quarters perceived this trend as an exodus of sorts, depriving the local market and investors of a share in the company's potentials. But Bongolan stressed this can nevertheless be done through the parent company listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange.