PSE chief says raising PHP200B at local stock market next year will depend on REIT listing

Capital raising at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) may not reach PHP 200 billion next year, the bourse operator’s top official said.

“Hindi natin kaya ang PHP 200 billion (We cannot hit PHP 200 billion),” PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Monzon told reporters when asked about capital raising next year.

“It would depend if the planned SM Prime Holdings, Inc.’s real estate investment trust (REIT) will push through because that could be big,” he said on the sidelines of a forum in Makati City last week.

“I expect that to be about USD 1 billion. We hope that it happens. We’ll see,” he added. 

Sy-led SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) said in August that it had deferred the record USD 1-billion REIT initial public offering (IPO) of its real estate unit SM Prime after assessing market conditions such as interest rates, inflation, and foreign exchange rates.   

Meanwhile, Mr. Monzon said that capital raising this year is expected to reach up to PHP 110 billion. 

“We’ll end this year [with] about PHP 105 to PHP 110 billion,” he said.

The PSE recently disclosed that the total capital raised as of September this year was at PHP 91.88 billion. More than half or 58.4% of the capital came from follow-on offerings, followed by private placements at 21.9%, stock rights offerings at 15%, and IPOs at 4.7%.

However, Mr. Monzon’s year-end projection is far from the expected PHP 160 billion announced by the market operator in January.

The local stock market logged PHP 110.29 billion in capital raised from primary and secondary shares last year, down 53% from the PHP 234.48 billion raised in 2021.

Mr. Monzon previously said that the local bourse expects at least four IPOs next year from SM’s planned REIT and other companies engaged in sectors such as mining, industrial, and food. 

The PSE recorded a 19% jump in its nine-month net income to PHP 575.65 million from PHP 480.07 million last year led by a 210.7% climb in its investment income to PHP 128.76 million. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave