The Philippine Stock Exchange expects capital raising activities to reach the P200-billion mark this year, given the pipeline of public offerings in the second half.
“The record fund raising in 2021 will be difficult to break because of the sizable amount that was generated by the Monde Nissin Corp. initial public offering. 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,” PSE president and chief executive Ramon Monzon said.
Data showed total capital raised from the IPOs, stock rights offerings and private placement reached P61.92 billion in the first half, down 49.4 percent from P122.46 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Last year’s fund raising activity was boosted by the P55.89-billion IPO of Monde Nissin, the largest on PSE record.
Eight companies conducted IPOs in the first six months this year, including five that were listed on the main board and three on the small, medium and emerging board of the PSE.
Among the listed firms that debuted this year 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.
“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.
He said to sustain the listing activities at the PSE, the bourse put in place rules for initial listing through preferred shares offering.
Monzon said this would give companies the flexibility to tap the equities market by selling preferred shares, instead of common shares.
The PSE reported that daily average value turnover in the first half reached P7.52 billion, down by 16.1 percent year-on-year.
Foreign investors were net sellers from January to June at P40.73 billion.
