Solar PHL secures approval of regulators for unit’s IPO

BY LENIE LECTURA AND VG CABUAG – NOVEMBER 14, 2021
from Business Mirror

Solar Philippines has secured the green light of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the planned initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC).

“The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. has given the go signal for Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation to conduct an initial public offering for up to 2.7 billion shares of the company. SPNEC’s IPO shares will be offered at a price of up to P1 apiece while the target offer period is from December 1 to 7, 2021. The final offer price will be determined on November 23, 2021 after the company completes its book building process,” the company said, quoting PSE.

The tentative listing date is on December 17.

“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 S. Monzon said.

SPNEC is expected to raise up to P2.7 billion. It plans to utilize P1.3 billion to complete the first 50 MW of the planned 500MW solar project in Nueva Ecija. The remaining amount, meanwhile, will be used to acquire land to expand the project beyond 500 MW.

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

It claims that the 500MW solar power facility would be the “largest solar project in the Philippines, with potential for further expansion, given its proximity to Manila.”

Construction is expected to start soon while commercial operation will commence sometime next year. Once operational, the project is intended to supplement the Luzon grid’s thin reserves.

This is the first time that a company has been approved to list under the Supplemental Listing and Disclosure Requirements for Renewable Energy Companies approved by the PSE in 2011. These 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).

“We thank the PSE and SEC for approving this IPO, which aims to give the public a new option to invest in RE and increase the RE capacity of the Philippines,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste.

“We’ve decided to make this our group’s first venture into the public markets because this is the asset that we are proudest to showcase: a site where will rise the largest solar project in Southeast Asia, with potential for expansion given its proximity to Manila, to meet the growing demand for renewable energy in the Philippines.”

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

The Nueva Ecija project would be the largest among the first one gigawatt (GW) of projects of Solar Philippines planned to be operating by 2022. The other projects include a 63MW in Batangas with Korea Electric Power Corp.; up to 200MW in Tarlac with Prime Infra of the Razon Group; and two more in Batangas and Cavite with a combined capacity of 140 MW planned to be fully operational by 2022.