The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) on Tuesday said it will conduct a two-day virtual forum for potential small, medium and emerging (SME) board listing applicants to encourage more small companies to go public.
The PSE partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry and Securities and Exchange Commission to organize the forum, which will be held on September 16 and 17.
“We had a similar IPO [initial public offering] event in May but that covered all potential listing applicants. This forum is aimed at large companies in the SME segment and SMEs with high growth potential that are looking to raise capital for expansion, research and development, and other business needs,” PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said.
The forum will feature topics that will help SMEs understand the benefits of going public, the different phases in the IPO process and the role of external parties that listing applicants work with to realize their IPO dream.
“The PSE’s SME Board has been around for several years now because we have long wanted to be a conduit of SMEs in achieving their growth potential. We understand that the original rules were restrictive so we worked on easing the listing requirements to make capital raising through the stock market a more viable option for them. Hopefully, the more favorable rules will help going public a more achievable goal for SMEs,” Monzon said.
The PSE earlier eased the listing standards for SMEs, such as reducing the required amount of time of operating to only two years from three years. SMEs also had to record positive earnings for three years.
“Now, even if you are not profitable as long as your sales figures show a 20-percent increase, you are qualified for listing,” he said.
“Finally, if you can’t meet the two matrix, all you need to do is to look for a sponsor accredited by the PSE. The listing sponsor will be the one to assess the applicant’s suitability; they will be the one to endorse the listing applicant to the PSE,” Monzon said.
The sponsor will be responsible for hand holding the company, from its IPO preparation phase to three years after listing, to make sure that the company complies with the initial and continuing listing rules.