The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) said eight companies raised P61.92 billion worth of funds through an initial public offering (IPO) in the six months of the year.
The amount raised was a little over half of the amount raised last year for the same period at P122.46 billion, though a similar number of companies tapped the equities market for the first time during the period.
Ramon Monzon, PSE president, said given the lineup of maiden offers in the next half of the year, “we may see a 26- year high in terms of the number of IPOs in a year.”
Monzon said last year’s IPOs were boosted by the the listing of Monde Nissin Inc., which was the largest IPO in PSE’s history.
The companies that debuted in the PSE between January and June were Haus Talk Inc., Figaro Coffee Group Inc., Citicore Energy REIT Corp., Bank of Commerce, CTS Global Equity Group Inc., Raslag Corp., VistaREIT Inc., and Balai ni Fruitas Inc.
Of the eight companies that conducted IPOs, five were listed on the Main Board while three joined the Small, Medium and Emerging Board.
“The record fund raising in 2021 will be difficult to break because of the sizable amount that was generated by the Monde Nissin. We have a robust pipeline of public offerings in the second half and if all of these materialize, capital raising may still reach the P200-billion mark,” Monzon said.
He added the PSE has instituted several reforms to sustain listing activities.
“We now have in place rules on initial listing through a preferred shares offering that gives companies the flexibility to tap the equities market by selling preferred shares instead of common shares. The lock-up rule has also been amended recently to give select entities an early exit mechanism when a company they invested in goes public. This frees up capital of alternative investment funds to reinvest in other target firms and increases the number of available shares to IPO investors,” he said.
The PSE index (PSEi) closed the first half at 6,155.43, down 13.6 percent on a year-to-date basis.
“The all shares index and five of the six sectoral indices also registered year-to-date losses of between 10.2 percent and 17 percent. Only the mining and oil Index ended in the green, up by 17.0 percent year-to-date,” the PSE said.
In terms of trading activity, the daily average value turnover as of June 30, 2022 was at P7.52 billion, down 16.1 percent from last year. Foreign investors were net sellers worth P40.73 billion, lower than the P77.86 billion net foreign selling registered in the same period in 2021.
