MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Tuesday started implementing a rule that listed companies should have a minimum public ownership of 10 percent to avoid being delisted, in an effort to improve liquidity in shares and enable the discovery of a fair price.
The move, which was approved last December following a 63 percent increase in the benchmark index in 2009, comes nearly five years after the stock market operator first scrapped a similar norm in 2005, retaining it only for initial and backdoor listings.
The weakness of the stock market in the first half of the decade forced many companies to resort to buying back shares to shore up stock prices. In the process, many companies ended up non-compliant of the minimum public ownership and faced the prospect of being delisted if the ownership limit for continuing listing wasn’t dropped.
As of last November, only 71 of the 179 listed firms listed on the bourse were compliant with the minimum ownership level.
Under the PSE’s amended rule, listed companies whose public ownership has fallen below 10% are given a 12-month grace period to comply with the ownership rule and are fined subsequently. If public ownership stays below the minimum level for 36 months, the firms will be delisted.
The bourse has sent out reminders to increase public stake to at least 10% of their outstanding stocks to avoid delisting.
Four companies–oil refiner Petron Corp., ship builder Keppel Philippines Marine Inc., pharmaceutical company Euro-Med Laboratories Philippines Inc. and investment holding company Manchester International Holdings Unlimited Inc.) – that had been asked to comply with the new rule have replied to the bourse’s request.
In separate filings with the PSE, all four companies have pledged to take steps to meet the required public ownership.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said that the Department of Finance will require listed companies to comply with the minimum public float of 20 percent to maintain their tax incentives.
Purisima said that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will write a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week, asking for the enforcement of the 20 percent public float.
“This is as part of the listing requirements of publicly listed companies. If not [they will not comply], the BIR might question the use of the final tax of those who don’t have meet the 20 percent requirement,” Purisima told reporters.
He noted that there are a lot of listed-companies that are below 20 percent. (Dow Jones)