‘Good time’ to do IPOs, bourse head tells firms

MANILA, Philippines — The head of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said now is a good time again to raise capital from the equities market.

This is on the back of the country’s improving fundamentals, including easing inflation, which reached a one-year low of 5.4 percent in June.

PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said companies should take the cue from Petron Corp., which last week raised P14 billion through the issuance of preferred shares.

“It is auspicious that we are starting the second half of 2023 with the listing of Petron’s FOO (follow-on offering) preferred shares. Hopefully, it will send a positive signal to other companies that it’s a good time to raise capital again in the equities market,” Monzon said.

This, as some companies have put off their capital raising plans due to market volatility.

This year, the PSE targets to raise P160 billion in capital, with more companies expected to go public compared to 2022, which saw a total of P110 billion in capital raised.

If everything goes as planned, some 14 companies are expected to go public, of which 11 will be listed on the main board and at least three are SMEs.

Among the companies that already listed are Alternergy Holdings Corp., which raised P1.61 billion from the market in March, and Upson International Corp., a retailer of personal computers and other tech gadgets, which went public last April 3, raising P1.65 billion.

Another company, Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC), a subsidiary of Pure Energy Holdings Corp., is targeting to list on July 24 with a target to raise P1.15 billion by offering some 200 million common shares at P5 per piece.

Enrique Razon’s Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. has also announced plans to go public via an upsized P33 billion blockbuster initial public offering (IPO), but no definite timetable has been given for its public debut.

Prime Infra is a holding company focused on infrastructure such as construction, energy and water.

Meanwhile, SM Prime Holdings Inc.’s planned P55 billion real estate investment trust listing in the second half of this year could be the largest capital raising IPO this year.