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Richmond Mercurio - The Philippine Star
February 16, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Unicapital Securities Inc., the securities brokerage arm of investment house Unicapital Group, sees as much as five local companies going public this year, supported by what it sees as a promising year for the country.
Unicapital Securities head of research Wendy Estacio-Cruz said that on the conservative side, they are seeing three to five initial public offerings (IPOs) taking place this year.
“Some of them are actually positive or optimistic despite the current market condition that they will push through with the IPO still,” she said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange is looking at a total of six IPOs for 2025, with that of e-wallet giant GCash among the most anticipated.
“GCash is quite big in the market and I think that you will have foreign investors that will probably be very interested,” Unicapital Securities president and CEO Ben Thomas Pañares said.
“If it’s pure local and the way things are moving, I think it’s going to be tough. But I think if we’re going to have foreign investors come in, which I think we will, then I think it can support it,” he said.
Globe Telecom, however, said that no final decisions have been made at the moment regarding the share of sales of Mynt, the parent company of GCash.
It said that GCash is currently evaluating all available options and the timing of any potential actions will be contingent upon market conditions.
So far, only Top Line’s IPO, which was supposed to be the fourth and last IPO for 2024, is scheduled this year.
Despite tangible risks and challenges, Unicapital sees 2025 as a promising year for the Philippines with the presence of opportunities and consumption rebound.
“We see an all-out election spending both on a local and national scale as we move closer to the May midterm elections. This, coupled with easing inflation, will boost household spending and ultimately favor the economy’s growth this year,” Estacio-Cruz said.
Unicapital projects a Philippine Stock Exchange index target of 7,800, which implies a 20 percent year-on-year gain from the 6,528 level at end-2024.
“This is actually a slight decline from our 8,000 outlook by the end of 2024,” Estacio-Cruz said.
“Key catalysts for our index target is of course the easing inflation, the rate cut prospect, some election spending boost, GDP growth that’s going to hit six percent target and of course there are a lot of risks as well which we have to take into account which is the inflationary pressures. But again, we are likely not to be much affected compared to other neighboring countries,” she said.
Unicapital said that easing interest rates and stronger market liquidity are expected to benefit the banking, consumer and real estate sectors in particular.
“With 2025 being a favorable year for the Philippine economy, Unicapital also believes it is an opportune time for investments. This will further usher the country in its post-pandemic rebound,” Estacio-Cruz said.
