SEC grants first Philippine Green Equity label to Maynilad

​The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted the first Philippine Green Equity label to Maynilad Water Services, Inc., pursuant to the new guidelines issued by the Commission to further promote sustainable finance. 

In a letter to the company dated September 26, the SEC Markets and Securities Regulation Department confirmed that Maynilad has sufficiently established and demonstrated its compliance with the requirements under the Guidelines on Philippine Green Equity, subject to its continuing compliance with the guidelines.

The Commission on September 23 launched the first Green Equity guidelines in Southeast Asia through SEC Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 13, Series of 2025. The guidelines form part of a series of Sustainable Finance Frameworks issued by the SEC to expand the capital markets in sustainable growth and development, complementing the PHP1.02 trillion Sustainable Finance fixed income market.

The guidelines allow publicly listed companies and companies preparing to go public that generate a significant portion of their revenues from, and direct majority of their investments toward, green activities, to distinguish themselves from other issuers through the use of the Philippine Green Equity label. 

Under the guidelines, companies intending to carry the Philippine Green Equity Level must be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) or preparing to go public, with more than 50 percent of their revenues and investments (sum of capital expenditure and operating expenditure) earned from or directed toward Green Activities. Such activities must meet the eligibility criteria of the Philippine Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Guidelines (SFTG) or the ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (ATSF). Companies’ revenues derived from fossil fuels must also be limited to less than 5 percent.

Based on the assessment report of an external reviewer submitted to the Commission, Maynilad derived 100 percent of its revenues from activities that are considered green under S&P Global Ratings’ Shades of Green. The activities were also assessed to substantially contribute to climate change adaptation Environmental Objective (EO) under the SFTG. The assessment satisfies the requirement on revenue under the Guidelines.

The report also indicated that 87% of investments of Maynilad are channeled to activities that are considered green under S&P Global Ratings’ Shades of Green, and substantially contribute to climate change adaptation EO under the SFTG. This satisfies the requirement on investments under the Guidelines.

Furthermore, Maynilad also had no revenues derived from fossil fuel activities, in compliance with the less than five percent threshold permitted under the guidelines.

The report likewise confirms that the activities of Maynilad, to the best of the company’s knowledge and belief, do not cause significant harm to environmental objectives nor fail to materially comply with the Minimum Social Safeguards.

The grant of the Philippine Green Equity Label to Maynilad comes ahead of its planned listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in November.

Maynilad will offer to the public up to 1,660,317,400 common shares, with an overallotment option of up to 249,047,600 shares and a preferential offer of up to 24,904,800 shares, priced at up to P20 each.

Assuming that overallotment option and preferential offer are fully subscribed, Maynilad could net up to P37.38 billion from the IPO.

The offer will run from October 23 to 29, with the shares expected to be listed on the main board of the PSE on November 7, according to the latest timeline it submitted to the SEC.