The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center welcomed the Philippine Stock Exchange’s (PSE) initiative to have separate listing rules for companies undertaking PPP projects.
“PPP Center is taking a long-term view in the financing of its projects and have endeavored to work with PSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in setting up the legal and regulatory framework for accessing the capital markets for PPPs,” the center’s executive director Andre C. Palacios said in a statement.
“As PPP project cost is increasing in size and magnitude, it is important to plan ahead and offer various alternatives (for) financing or investing in PPP projects or PPP companies. We look positively on PSE’s progressive action in this aspect and look forward to more collaboration in the future,” Palacios added.
This new development comes after a series of roundtable discussions and consultations with public and private stakeholders on developing the capital markets for PPPs that was initiated by the PPP Center in collaboration with PSE, SEC, and Asian Development Bank.
PSE earlier said it recognizes the need for PPP companies to have funding options available to them and hopes that by enhancing the listing rules for infrastructure companies, PPP firms will consider raising capital through the stock market.
According to the recently released draft supplemental listing and disclosure rules applicable to a company engaged in PPP projects under Republic Act No. 6957 as amended, the PSE will, among others, allow a PPP company to be listed even if it has not complied with the three-year track record and operating history requirements under the existing PSE listing rules. The listing of PPP companies is an alternative option for financing PPP projects.
For its part, the PPP Center is now finalizing a policy circular on refinancing for PPPs projects. The policy circular aims to institute a preliminary framework to ensure long-term refinancing options are available to the private sector while ensuring that the government’s and the private sector’s contractual commitments and undertakings with regard to the PPP project are not impaired.
This policy will be presented to the PPP governing board for approval at its next meeting, PPP Center said.
Currently, PPP Center is keen to find financing for projects in the pipeline now in advanced stages of procurement. These include the bid submission for the Regional Prisons Project on August 25, the bid submission for the Civil Registry System Information Technology Phase II Project on June 10, and the submission of pre-qualification documents for the LRT Line 6 project on September 9.
In the pipeline are 53 projects in various stages of development and with an estimated worth of US$34 billion. Twelve projects have been awarded while 15 are in different stages of the bidding process. Of the 12 awarded projects, three have been completed: the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, PPPs for School Infrastructure Project Phase 1, and the Automatic Fare Collection System, now known as the beep card system.
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