Companies raise almost P62B through stock market in H1 — PSE

Companies have raised nearly P62 billion in fresh funds as of the first six months of 2022 by offering their shares to the investing public through the stock market.

In a statement, the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) said capital raising through the local bourse amounted to P61.92 billion, down 49.4% year-on-year.

The amount was raised from the sale of primary and secondary shares in eight initial public offerings (IPOs), one stock rights offering, and four private placements during the first half of the year, the PSE said.

Compared to the same period in 2021, capital raising totaled P122.46 billion, "boosted by the largest IPO in PSE history that raised P55.89 billion," it said.

The stock market saw eight IPOs in the first semester of the year, the same number as in all of 2021.

Of the eight companies that conducted IPOs, five were listed on the Main Board, while three joined the Small, Medium, and Emerging Board.

Among the listed firms that debuted 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.

PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said that “the record [for] fund raising in 2021 will be difficult to break because of the sizable amount that was generated by the Monde Nissin Corp.’s IPO.”

Nonetheless, Monzon said, “We have a robust pipeline of public offerings in the second half and if all of these materialize, capital raising may still reach the Php 200 billion mark."

“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,” he said.

The PSE chief said the local bourse has put in place rules on initial listing through a preferred shares offering that give 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,” Monzon said.

In terms of trading activity, the daily average value turnover as of June 30 was P7.52 billion, down 16.1% year-on-year.

Foreign investors were net sellers during the January to June period at P40.73 billion, lower than the P77.86 billion net foreign selling registered in the same period in 2021.

The PSE index (PSEi) closed at 6,155.43 points on the last trading day of the semester and posted a 13.6% decline year-to-date.

The All Shares Index and five of the six sectoral indices also registered year-to-date losses of between 10.2% and 17%.

Only the Mining and Oil Index ended in the green, up by 17% year-to-date. —VBL, GMA News