Top firms urged to list shares in PSE

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is urging the country’s top 5,000 corporations to share their wealth with the general public by having their shares listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

SEC chairman Lilia R. Bautista said the country’s biggest corporations should list their shares in the exchange to provide the public with more investment choices.

Bautista has also encouraged entities registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) to offer their shares to the public to enable them to expand their capital base and finance capital expenditures. She said subsidiaries of companies that enjoy incentives from the BOI should also be included.

Bautista said she was informed by BOI managing head Gregory Domingo that the investment promotions agency could not force all BOI-registered entities to list their shares.

After a relatively lean year for initial public offerings (IPOs), the PSE hopes to attract more companies – from SMEs to giant multinationals – to list their shares and provide the impetus for a long-awaited stock market rally by next year.

From big-ticket items that include the likes of oil firms Shell and Caltex, energy companies PNOC and Mirant, and pharmaceutical leaders United Laboratories and Mercury Drug, the PSE is also in active discussions with small and medium enterprises, which seemed more eager to offer their stocks to the public.

To qualify for listing at the SME Board, companies should have an authorized capital of between P20 million to P100 million; a paid-up capital of at least 25 percent; and at least a two-year record of positive net operating income, among others.

Only five companies have made their IPOs this year: Salcon Power, Highlands Prime, Banco de Oro and Jolliville Holdings, and Makati Finance Corp.

PSE chairman Vivian Yuchengco said although it would be quite difficult to attract companies to go public at a time when the stock market is on a slump, an early move on their part would be beneficial on the long-term for both the company and its investors as the equities market recovers and brings about an increase in shareholder value.

Despite the mandatory listing requirements 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.

Earlier, the PSE also indicated plans to tap companies located in the country’s economic zones, a move that would "democratize" the stock market and make it a more effective barometer of the domestic economy.

Out of about 1,000 ecozone locators located in the country’s 85 accredited ecozones, only less than a handful are listed – Ionics Corp., SPI Technologies and Active Alliance. – Zinnia dela Peña