SPNEC shareholders approve P60-B stock swap

By James A. Loyola – March 7, 2022, 3:41 PM
from Manila Bulletin

Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation’s stockholders have approved its increase in authorized capital stock and the P60 billion share swap with parent company Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said it will raise its authorized capital to P50 billion from P10 billion and the new shares will be exchanged for the assets of Solar Philippines.

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SPNEC would issue 24.37 billion shares at P2.50 per share in exchange for the shares of Solar Philippines in over 20 companies.

These include solar farms in Batangas, Tarlac, and Cavite with a combined 163 MW in operations and 240 MW for expansion, from which Solar Philippines has sold shares at project valuations of over P20M per MW.

Along with additional capacity from these, Solar Philippines’ rooftop portfolio, and the Nueva Ecija solar farm, SPNEC aims for its developments to reach 1 GW of operational capacity by the end of 2023.

Moreover, these companies have DOE solar energy service contracts with over 10 GW of potential capacity, or over two thirds of the total capacity of the Awarded Solar Projects as of Dec. 31, 2021.

While many of these projects will not materialize, and particular project plans are subject to change, Solar Philippines has spent years working to progress developments with over 10 GW of potential capacity.

Considering this, SPNEC aims to create P15 million per MW of value from 10 GW of developments by 2025.

The achievement of this goal would depend on three steps. First, SPNEC would focus on being a project developer and not an IPP.

“We believe the greatest challenge for solar in the Philippines is neither a lack of demand nor a surplus of projects, but rather, the challenge of consolidating land and permits that has resulted in a shortage of developed solar sites,” it explained.

SPNEC added that, “This calls for us to maximize our attention devoted to the development of sites to create our target P15 million per MW of value, while working with other IPP’s on financing and construction once the sites are shovel-ready.”

Second, SPNEC will prioritize executing projects via partnerships with other IPPs. In line with its view that partnerships are key to accelerating the country’s energy transition, Solar Philippines has reserved its 10 GW of planned projects pursuant to agreements with various companies to invest in its projects subject to certain milestones.

“The largest share is reserved for our joint venture with Prime Infra, which may use the first 1000 hectares already being acquired by SPNEC and further land to be acquired,” the firm said.

Third, SPNEC would seek to raise at least P10 billion from the issuance to the public of at least 5.12 billion shares to complete the development of 10 GW of solar projects, through a stock rights offering planned to be filed in the second quarter of 2022 and a possible private placement and follow-on offering.