PDEx hopes to sustain P207-B bond listings this year

Crisol said most of these issuers are those involved in infrastructure development, and banks issuing long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits (Shutterstock photo)

MANILA — The Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corporation (PDEx), the operator of the country’s fixed income exchange, expects bond listings in 2018 to match last year’s record high of PHP207.4 billion, as more companies continue to raise funds for projects.

“We were hoping that we can equal the volume of last year. We will know more definite trends probably towards the end of this first semester,” PDEx Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Cesar Crisol told reporters over the weekend.

Crisol said most of these issuers are those involved in infrastructure development, and banks issuing long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits (LTNCD).

He noted more companies that are focused on infrastructure development raise funds given the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.

“It will be related to that (infrastructure program) either as a support project or the project itself,” he said.

The PDEx chair bared there is already a lineup of bond listings, including the PHP20 billion worth of fixed rate bonds issue of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) on Monday.

“The others are awaiting their underwriters to finalize the dates but most of these have been already disclosed to the PSE (Philippine Stock Exchange), those who are going to issue. So it looks like it will be a busier (year) also for new issues,” Crisol added.