SSS considering to invest in PSE

PSE welcomes 2018:
Photo 1 (L-R): PSE Treasurer Omelita J. Tiangco; PSE Director Amor C. Iliscupidez; PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon; PSE COO Roel A. Refran and PSE Director Alejandro T. Yu.

The Social Security System is considering to participate as one of the cornerstone investors in its P2.5 billion stock rights offering.

In an interview on Friday, SSS chair Amado Valdez said the state-controlled pension fund was now studying the possibility of investing in the local bourse.

“We’re talking about it. (PSE president Ramon) Monzon has visited me. We’re trying to study,” Valdez said, when asked whether the SSS was interested in participating in local capital market regulation as an investor in PSE.

Valdez said discussions on the matter had slowed because the person involved in studying the prospective investment in PSE was among those personal stock trades were being investigated for alleged conflict of interest.

Right now, he said the SSS was “undermanned” when it came to evaluation of prospective investments.

Nonetheless, the SSS is interested in becoming part of the PSE like the other state-owned pension fund Government Service Insurance System, which had long been an institutional investor at the local bourse.

But Valdez said the SSS would study this carefully, noting that the pension fund did not make money from its interest in the Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp. (PDS Group). Also, he noted that a big investment was required to be part of PSE.

No single entity can now buy more than 5 percent of PSE so in case the SSS decides to invest, it can only buy up to 5 percent. In the case of the other existing institutional shareholders of PSE which all have larger interest, they were given exemptive relief a long time ago when then newly-demutualized PSE was just starting to diversify ownership.

The PSE is now embarking on a renewed bid to take over the PDS Group in order to unify the country’s capital market infrastructure.

PDS is the holding firm for fixed-income trading platform Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp., Philippine Depositary and Trust Corp. and Philippine Securities Settlement Corp.

The PSE has filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission its registration statement for the issuance of up to 11.5 million new shares to existing shareholders.

This stock rights offering will not be open to the trading participations or stock brokers so that a forced dilution of the brokers’ shares would be achieved, in compliance with the 20-percent single-industry ownership prescribed by law.

The four other existing institutional shareholders of PSE – PLDT Retirement, GSIS, Premier Capital Venture Corp. and San Miguel Corp. Retirement Plan – were requested to waive their preemptive rights to the offering to allow the entry of new investors.

It was earlier reported that the PSE was likewise wooing the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to invest in PSE.