Tighter rules in getting listed drafted by PSE
Posted on May 1st, 2010
A tighter rule in getting listed in the local stock exchange by way of introduction has been drafted by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in a bid to better protect the investing public. The new guidelines will affect the rule which allows the companies to start public trading of their shares without conducting an initial public offering.
In an interview after the annual stockholders meeting of the bourse on Saturday, PSE chair Hans Sicat said that the board had approved the amendments to the listing rules and they are now seeking the feedback of the public before they finalize the framework.
Sicat noted that the new rules had nothing to do with the recent questions over the 2007 listing by way of introduction by Vista Land & Landscapes of the Villar Family. He said that the PSE had long started the review and had already suspended the existing rules as early as February.
Val Antonio Suarez, chief operating officer of the PSE, said that among the proposed reforms is the imposition of the requirement for companies listing by way of introduction to undergo a third-party evaluation.
The new rules will also require a listing sponsor. For this, Suarez said the PSE is looking at accrediting institutions who can sponsor companies who will apply for listing by way of introduction.
A longer lock-up period, in which the controlling shareholders are prevented from selling shares, to one year from the current 180-day lock-up requirement is also being planned by the PSE. Suarez said the longer lock-up period would give controlling shareholders an incentive to proceed with the public offering the soonest time possible and protect the minority investors already trading the shares.
Some of the companies who have been listed in the local bourse by way of introduction since 2009 included: Century Peak Metal Holdings, Corp., IP e-Games Ventures, Inc., Integrated Microelectronics Inc. and Agrinurture Inc.
