BIZ BUZZ: San Miguel unit ready to go public

The power generation unit of San Miguel Corp. may finally go public this year. But instead of selling common shares, it may offer preferred shares to the investing public.

This is according to Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) president Ramon Monzon, who said the local bourse was now tweaking the rules on preferred shares to encourage the likes of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. to tap the local bourse instead of flocking to Singapore or other overseas markets.

In the past, SMC Global Power had planned to list on the local exchange, but this was shelved amid legal debate with the state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. at that time.

This time around, Monzon said the rule on preferred shares would tailor-fit the needs of companies like SMC Global Power, as well as other infrastructure ventures. PSE is also targeting public-private partnership ventures that do not want to conduct an initial public offering.

“We really were targeting SMC (Global Power) because they were offering in Singapore,” Monzon said. “Dito na kayo (Just do it here),” Monzon said.

“They (SMC Global Power) told us they will do it this year,” Monzon said.

By offering preferred shares, investors are given an option to buy equity-like instruments that pay dividends.

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According to Monzon, PSE is amenable to proposals to lower the minimum offering size requirement for preferred shares listing to P500 million from the current P1 billion. This was suggested by investment banker Eduardo Francisco, president of BDO Capital.

PSE is also keen on lowering the minimum number of investors required to subscribe to 200 from the current 1,000.

Monzon also hopes that small and medium enterprises could take the route of preferred shares issuance for public listing.