Maynilad Water Services Inc. has been granted the first Philippine Green Equity label by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) based on the new guidelines the regulator issued to further promote sustainable finance.

The grant makes Maynilad’s planned initial public offering (IPO) more attractive, especially to foreign investors and institutions that include sustainability in their investment criteria.

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 Sept. 23, 2025, 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 capital markets in sustainable growth and development, complementing the ₱1.02-trillion sustainable finance fixed-income market.

It also allows publicly listed companies and firms 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 label must be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) or are preparing to go public, with more than 50 percent of their revenues and investments, or the sum of capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenses (opex), earned from or directed toward green activities.

Such activities must meet the eligibility criteria of the Philippine sustainable finance taxonomy guidelines (SFTG) or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) taxonomy for sustainable finance (ATSF). Companies’ revenues derived from fossil fuels must also be limited to less than five percent.

Based on the assessment report of an external reviewer submitted to the SEC, Maynilad derived 100 percent of its revenues from green activities, such as water supply, wastewater treatment, sanitation services, and installation of new water service connections, in line with the minimum 50-percent requirement as provided under the guidelines.

The report also indicated that 95 percent of Maynilad’s capex and 87 percent of its opex were largely aligned with green activities, complying with the minimum requirement that more than 50 percent of a company’s investments must be channeled to such activities.

Maynilad also had no revenues derived from fossil fuel activities, in compliance with the less-than-five-percent threshold permitted under MC 13.

Meanwhile, Maynilad was given one year to align its activities with either SFTG or ATSF, in accordance with the transition period provided in the guidelines.

During the transition period, Maynilad must ensure that green activities covered by the revenue and investment criteria significantly contribute to at least one environmental objective of SFTG or ATSF, and covered activities do not cause harm or are non-compliant with the minimum social safeguards at the time of application.

The grant of the Philippine Green Equity label to Maynilad comes ahead of its planned listing on the PSE in November.

Maynilad will offer to the public up to 1.66 billion common shares, with an overallotment option of up to 249.05 million shares and a preferential offer of up to 24.9 million shares, priced at up to ₱20 each.

Assuming that the overallotment option and preferential offer are fully subscribed, Maynilad could net up to ₱37.38 billion from the IPO.

The offer will run from Oct. 23 to 29, with the shares expected to be listed on the main board of the PSE on Nov. 7, according to the latest timeline that Maynilad submitted to the SEC.