Solar Philippines unit prices IPO at P1 apiece

Solar Philippines’ wholly-owned unit, Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC) has set the final offer price of its initial public offering at P1 per share.

The IPO price sets SPNEC’s offering to the maximum of its indicative range at P2.7 billion, the Leviste-led company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company will offer to the investing public 2.7 billion shares.

The offer period is planned for December 1 to 7, 2021, with a tentative listing date on the Main Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on December 17, 2021, based on a notice published on the PSE EDGE website.

Proceeds of the IPO will be utilized by SPNEC for construction and development of its 50-megawatt solar project dubbed as Phase 1A, transmission line construction, lease for 2022, and general corporate purposes.

To start commercial operations, SPNEC is aiming to complete Phase 1A next year.

Capital raised from the offer will also be used to acquire land to expand the project beyond 500 MW, in support of SPNEC’s plan to develop the largest solar project in Southeast Asia.

“We are thankful for this opportunity to launch the Solar Philippines group’s first public offering, which we see as a favorable signal for future offerings,” Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste said.

SPNEC has engaged Abacus Capital and Investment Corp. as issue manager and lead underwriter and Investment Capital Corp. of the Philippines as participating underwriter for the IPO.

Solar Philippines said that this is the first time that a company has been approved to list under the Supplemental Listing and Disclosure Requirements for Renewable Energy (RE) Companies approved by the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2011.

The said PSE rules allow development-stage project companies to list, subject to certain requirements including having a valid and subsisting service contract awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE).

“I am pleased that PSE can support a renewable energy (RE) company with its fund raising requirements. The need for RE is more amplified now as more companies are turning to RE as part of their climate action program,” PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said.

Solar Philippines said it incorporated SPNEC in 2016, and secured a DOE service contract to develop the project in 2017.

SPNEC plans to start construction of the project before the end of 2021, it said.

Once operational, the project is intended to supplement the Luzon grid’s thin reserves and help prevent the rotating outages that affected millions of Filipinos earlier this year, it added.—LDF, GMA News