MORE STRINGENT. The Philippine Stock Exchange is implementing its minimum public ownership requirement for listed firms to continue having access to public money. Photo by AFP

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Some of the country's largest firms or their units are among the 25 firms listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that have yet to comply with the 10% minimum public ownership requirement.

On December 10, the PSE released the list as the December 31, 2012 deadline looms. They have a month before risking losing the tax breaks given to investors buying their shares.

This is part of reforms meant to expand the capital market and improve transparency among listed firms.

Non-compliant firms face a trading suspension starting January 1, 2013 up to June 30, 2013. Thereafter, the PSE will delist these companies' shares.

Below are the non-compliant firms as of December 7 and their corresponding public float:

1. Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (8.53%)
2. Alphaland Corp. (8.03%)
3. Synergy Grid & Development Phils. (7.44%)
4. Manchester International Holdings Unlimited Corp.(6.79%)
5. LT Group Inc. (4.75%)
6. SPC Power Corp. (4.53%)
7. Vivant Corp. (4.18%)
8. Atok-Big Wedge Company Inc. (4.16%)
9. Mariwasa Siam Holdings Inc. (3.89%)
10. Filinvest Development Corp. (3.35%)
11. Southeast Asia Cement Holdings Inc. (2.4%)
12. PAL Holdings Inc. (2.3%)
13. 2GO Group Inc. (1.85%)
14. Allied Banking Corp. (1.51%)
15. Maybank ATR Kimeng Financial Corp. (0.89%)
16. San Miguel Brewery Inc. (0.61%)
17. PNOC Exploration Corp. (0.21%)
18. GlobalPort 900 Inc. (0.12%)
19. San Miguel Properties Inc. (0.06%)
20. Eton Properties Philippines (2.54%)
21. First Metro Investment Corp. (1.94%)
22. Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) (0.15%)
23. Cosmos Bottling Corp. (1.79%)
24. Nextstage Inc. (1.20%)
25. Philcomsat Holdings Corp. (9.61%)

The list includes those from the following groups:

• San Miguel group - PAL Holdings (minority-owned), San Miguel Brewery, San Miguel Properties
• Lucio Tan group - LT Group, Allied Banking, PAL Holdings (majority-owned), Eton Properties
• Ayala group - IMI
• Ongpin group - Alphaland, Atok-Big Wedge
• George Ty group - SPC Power, First Metro Investment Corp
• Gotianun group - Filinvest
• Manuel Pangilinan group - MPTC
• Conception group - Cosmos

The following have have pending petitions for voluntary delisting: Eton (for January 2, 2013), First Metro (December 17) and Metro Pacific (December 21).

Cosmos, NextStage and Philcomsat are currently under trading suspension.

Among the firms that were able to sell shares to comply with the public float requirement include Petron Corp., San Miguel Pure Foods Co., Inc., Sta. Lucia Land Inc., STI Education Services Holdings, Inc., Lafarge Republic, Inc. and F & J Prince Holdings Corp.

On the other hand, 4 companies were recently delisted from the PSE, namely Alaska Corp., Chinatrust Phils Commercial Banking Corp., Keppel Philippines Marine Inc., and PLDT Communications and Energy Ventures Inc.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairwoman Teresita Herbosa said non-compliant firms will face higher transaction taxes.

"If they don't meet the [10%] minimum [public float], then the sale of their shares get subject to the full tax," Herbosa said.

The PSE president Hans Sicat, however, noted that the exchange will deal with the petitions for delay in the compliance with the with public ownership rule on a case-by-case by basis. - Rappler.com

(Editor's note: We earlier reported that 2Go is part of the Aboitiz group. The logistics firm has already been acquired by the Negros Navigation group. We apologize.)