|
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
RP stock exchange goes public
MANILA—The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) went public yesterday in a float that saw the price surge while government pressed new restrictions to widen the ownership of the bourse.
At the same time, it was learned that the PSE will re-impose transaction fees to boost its revenues from January.
There was no initial public offering yesterday, but the broker-owners of the exchange were allowed to sell their shares to the public.
The PSE share price closed at P240 ($4.32) or more than double the P105 book value after hitting an intra-day high of P252.50.
Some 53,700 shares changed hands at the market for a value of P12.93 million.
The listing was to comply with a requirement by the government regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that the exchange divest its shares and widen its shareholder base.
Fine
SEC officials had threatened to impose a P1-million fine on the exchange unless it went public as part of a demutualization of the PSE in August 2001.
Originally, the PSE was due to list by August 2002, but this was repeatedly pushed back due to poor market conditions.
In a bid to further expand the PSE’s ownership, the SEC yesterday imposed a ban on the purchases of PSE shares by broker-dealers for their own account or the account of related interests such as subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, principal stockholders, nominees and close relatives.
PSE chairperson Alicia Arroyo said the public trading of PSE shares was a step forward in encouraging the sale of shares by stock brokers.
Want to sell
“Since there is no public offering, only existing owners can sell,” Arroyo said, noting that until yesterday’s listing, the PSE did not know that there was interest among some brokers to sell shares.
When the PSE converted into a stock corporation in 2001, it distributed 50,000 shares to each of its 184 member-brokers in exchange for their seats in the exchange.
Also yesterday, the PSE said it would re-impose transaction fees that it had stopped collecting from 1995 to boost revenues.
According to AFX-Asia, the transaction fee will be 0.5 basis points for each buy or sell order.
The latest development is bad news for PSE clients, as some brokers have said they may pass on the additional costs to clients.
The exchange posted a loss of P300,000 from January to September this year.
But in 2002, it made a profit of P28 million, while in 2001, its profit was P18.3 million, AFX-Asia said. (AFP)
(December 16, 2003 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here.
|
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
