BOURSE LIKELY TO MISS IPO TARGET

‘Two to three more listings’ expected before yearend

MARKET debuts for 2015 will be well short of initial forecasts as the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) only expects “two to three more” before the year ends.

The bourse, which earlier in the year said it was expecting nine to 10 initial public offerings (IPOs),

- panies have gone public so far and

to date just one other is scheduled to stage an offering.

Roel Refran, PSE chief operating

that the exchange was “looking at

- low Crown Asia Chemicals, which debuted in April, and SBS Philippines Corp. that listed in August.

Set to follow in November is Metro Retail Stores Group, whose IPO plans were approved by the PSE and the Securities and Exchange Corp. ( SEC) earlier this month.

Already granted SEC approval but still to be green-lit by the PSE is Datem Inc.’s listing plan.

Refran did not identify the third IPO likely to be staged before the year ends. He did say that there were 10 in the pipeline, expected to be carried over to the

“We are just making sure that the offers are compliant with Refran added.

Ephyro Luis Amatong, SEC commissioner, said in a separate interview on Thursday that the corporate regulator was still IPOs this year on top of two bond issues also for approval.

“We’re working hard to approve them towards December. I think this is very significant, the fact that this is happening despite the that despite worries over a possible US interest rate hike, demand for IPOs, follow-on offerings, other share sales and bond offerings were strong.

Refran said two more IPOs added that the exchange would try to achieve more.

Market debuts were said to have been hindered by global - cently picked up on expectations that a US Fed rate hike would be delayed to next year.

Earlier this year, pipes and plastics maker Crown Asia raised P222.78 million from the issuance of 158 million primary common shares, while chemical trader SBS Philippines took in P1.15 billion in fresh funds.

Gaisano-owned Metro Retail, which runs department stores and

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