MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange has approved the listing of IPVG Corp.'s gaming unit by way of introduction.

IP E-Game Ventures Inc. will list 33.54 million common shares on the PSE's second board at an indicative opening price of P50 per share.

IPVG said the subsidiary obtained the exchange's approval to list by way of introduction since its shares are already issued and widely held.

Listing by way of introduction will allow IP E-Games shares to be listed and traded in the bourse without raising capital through an initial public offering (IPO). But under the rules, the company must conduct an IPO within 12 months from its listing date.

IP E-Game chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez said the company will be the first local online game publisher to be listed in the PSE.

"With our access to the capital markets, we are well positioned to further grow the company by continuously investing in our content pipeline and publishing infrastructure. We hope to attract our gaming community to participate in the stock market, and in particular with our company," Gonzalez noted.

IP E-Game earlier increased its authorized capital stock to P100 million from P50 million in preparation for its planned listing.

Organized in 2005, IP E-Game is one of the country's leading publishers of online games, pioneering the free-to-play business model wherein gamers are not required to pay a subscription fee to play online games.

It owns the games RAN Online, O2Jam and Audition.

As of June 30, 2009, IP E-Game had 10 million registered gamers all over the country.

IP-E Global Holdings Corp., which is owned by IPVG, currently holds 76.9% of IP E-Game. IPVG owns a direct stake of 14.5% while IPVG employees hold the remaining 2.2%.