The Philippine Stock Exchange has issued the new listing and disclosure rules applicable to companies engaged in PPP projects, supporting the Philippines Government's efforts to sustain the country's economic growth through sustainable partnerships with the private sector for infrastructure development.

The new framework is seen to open up an alternative funding opportunity for PPP companies to address the country’s backlog in infrastructure such as in public highways, airports and power plants.

As more Public-Private Partnerships projects have been approved and undertaken in recent years, several stakeholders agree that there is a need to tap more sources of funding. Given this, the Exchange is issuing these Rules to allow private sector entities to raise funds from the capital market and allow the listing and trading of their shares in the Exchange.

The implementation of these Rules shall be made in coordination with the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines.

The applicant must be a corporation awarded a PPP contract with a minimum project cost of PHP5 billion (US$100 million) and should have completed a phase of the project.

PSE president and chief executive officer Hans Sicat, said:

"We are excited about this new product especially as government has committed to accelerate infrastructure spending. We hope that PPP companies will now consider the equities market as an avenue for their capital raising activities. We thank the SEC, the PPP Center and other stakeholders for supporting this product.”

“We believe that infrastructure development is critical in enhancing productivity and efficiency of various sectors of the economy. With these rules, we hope the PSE is able to contribute to the goal of sustaining the growth trajectory of the country.”

In November, we reported that Regulators allowed companies building infrastructure projects under the government’s public-private partnership scheme to list shares on the stock exchange.