47 listed firms pass Shariah standards

Forty-seven companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange made it to the roster of Shariah-compliant issuers, which should attract the interest of Islamic investors here and abroad.

Shariah refers to the moral code subscribed to by those following Islam and touches on different aspects of life, including business.

Among these Shariah-compliant stocks are Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Aboitiz Power, DMCI Holdings Inc., Jollibee Foods Corp., Philex Mining Corp., Manila Electric Co., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Semirara Mining Corp. and Universal Robina Corp.

The local bourse teamed up with IdealRatings Inc. to determine compliance of listed companies with globally accepted Accounting and Auditing of Islamic Financial Companies (AAOIFI) standards.

Shariah compliance screening excludes companies with businesses in conventional interest-based lending, financial institutions, pork, alcohol, intoxicants, tobacco, arms and weapons, gambling, casinos, derivatives, pornography, music/entertainment and human stem cell research.

Other companies that made it to the list were Agrinurture Inc., Alphaland Corp., Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc., APC Group Inc., Apex Mining, Araneta Properties, Asian Terminals Inc., ATN Holdings, Basic Energy Corp., Calapan Ventures, Centro Escolar University, Chemical Industries of the Philippines., Chemrez Technologies, Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp., City & Land Developers Inc., Concrete Aggregates Corp., D&L Industrues, DFNN Inc., EEI Corp. and Holcim Philippines.

Also making the list are Ionics Inc., iPeople Inc., Keppel Philippines Properties, Lafarge Republic, Liberty Flour Mill, Mabuhay Vynil, Manila Bulletin Publishing, Marcventures Holdings, Megawide Construction Corp., Nickel Asia, Oriental Peninsula Resources Group., Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc., Philex Petroleum, Philippine Realty & Holdings Corp., Starmalls Inc., STI Education Systems Holdings Inc., Vivant Corp. and Vulcan Industrial & Mining Corp.

The 47 companies that passed Shariah compliance accounted for 18.4 percent of the PSE roster with daily market capitalization exceeding $62 billion.

Mehol Sadain, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Secretary, said that with the list, the PSE will be able to accommodate Muslim investors here and abroad.

Mohammad Donia, chief executive officer of IdealRatings, added that the creation of this list of Shariah-compliant listed companies would increase investment opportunities in Asean and the global Islamic capital markets.

“We are confident that the global investors in Shariah compliant equities would be keen on the Shariah compliant PSE companies since several of the PSE listed companies have outperformed their counterparts in Asean. The solution is a first step for Philippines to venture into the Islamic capital market and join the $1.5 trillion global asset class,” he said.

“The PSE is excited about this partnership with IdealRatings as we strive to bring more investors in our market,” said PSE president Hans Sicat, adding that the list would be updated quarterly.

“IdealRatings is a known and trusted institution in this field as shown by their presence in many markets globally. We are grateful to global Islamic-oriented institutions such as IdealRatings and AAOIFI for their generous assistance in our initiatives to introduce Islamic products to our Muslim brothers and foreign investors with interest on Islamic finance securities.” Doris C. Dumlao