MANILA – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday said it is now looking at imposing a five-year compliance period to give listed companies enough time to increase their minimum public ownership to 20 percent.
SEC commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong said that while the guidelines on doubling the required minimum public ownership to 20 percent from the current 10 percent have yet to be finalized, firms will likely be given a compliance period.
“Hindi pa natatapos, pero gagawin namin ‘yung requirement to increase [the minimum public ownership],” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Sustainable Finance Dialogue Forum in Makati City.
“Ang thinking ngayon is we’ll probably allow like a five-year compliance period,” he said.
Plans to increase the minimum public ownership were put on hold last year, as the local stock barometer, the Philippine Stock Exchange index, dropped below the 7,000 level.
Instead, the corporate regulator imposed the minimum public float only on new listings.
“Last year, hindi kami nag-move forward kasi depressed ‘yung market, ‘di ba? Ngayon, stable na siya,” Amatong said.
The local stock barometer has been hovering around the 7,800 to 8,000 level in the past months, up from the close of 7,466.02 end-2018.
“Thinking is to give them sufficient time para ‘yung concerns about market volatility or crowning out other issuances,” Amatong said.
“Kasi there will be many companies that will have to issue an order to comply with the 20 percent, some of them very, very big companies, so ‘yun ang pinag-uusapan na approach,” he added. (GMA News)
