SPNEC trading suspension lifted after 6 months
Billionaire Manuel Pangilinan’s Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and businessman Leandro Leviste’s SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) officially formalized on Thursday their share subscription deal that will pave the way for a P15.9-billion investment in the latter’s projects.
As the developed, the solar power firm’s stock price plunged by nearly 20 percent on Friday.
In separate disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Meralco and SPNEC said MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen) paid an initial P7 billion on Nov. 30 when they signed the share subscription agreement.
The remaining P8.9 billion will be paid on the closing date, they said. The total amount represents MGreen’s subscription to 15.7 billion of SPNEC’s common shares and 19.4 billion preferred shares.
The announcement came on the same day that SPNEC’s shares resumed trading on the PSE after a six-month suspension, with its share price plunging by 19.89 percent to P1.17 per share from P1.46, its last traded value recorded on June 2.
The stock is still trading above its initial public offering price of P1 per share.
Trading of SPNEC shares was suspended in June as the company’s public ownership fell below the 20-percent minimum requirement after increasing its authorized capital stock from 10 billion to 50 billion shares to support its expansion plans.
Parent company Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. last week donated 1.58 billion of SPNEC’s unlisted and fully paid common shares to Asia Pacific Institute for Green Development Inc. to meet the minimum public ownership requirement.
SPNEC and Meralco first announced the share subscription deal in October, saying that the distributor’s investment would be used to develop a 3,500-megawatt (MW) solar farm and a 4,000-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) in Luzon.
“This will be one of the largest solar projects not just in Asia, but in the world,” Pangilinan previously said.
Upon closing, MGreen will have a total voting interest of 50.5 percent in SPNEC, allowing the Meralco unit to become a controlling shareholder.
A shareholder with controlling interest in a business gives it the deciding voice in shareholder meetings, thus holding significant influence over corporate decisions.
SPNEC chief executive Leviste announced in January that they planned on securing land in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan provinces for the development of what he expected to be the world’s largest solar farm.
SPNEC’s project is larger than the combined 1,531-MW capacity of all solar projects in the Philippines as of August.
Last month, Meralco chair Pangilinan said they wanted to spend P200 billion to help develop the solar farm and BESS to ensure backup supply availability, especially at night and in the event of shortages. INQ
