Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC), the first pure renewable energy firm to go public, has pegged its initial public offering (IPO) price at P1 per share for an offer size of P2.7 billion.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said the offer period is planned for Dec. 1 to 7, 2021, with a tentative listing date on the Main Board of the PSE on Dec. 17, 2021.
The proceeds of the IPO are to be used to complete the first 50 megawatts (MW) of the project and 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,” said Solar Philippines Founder Leandro Leviste.
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 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).
“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,” said PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon.
Solar Philippines incorporated SPNEC in 2016, and secured a DOE service contract to develop the project in 2017. The company plans to start construction of the project before the end of 2021.
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.
The Nueva Ecija project would be the largest among the first 1 GW of projects of Solar Philippines planned to be operating by 2022.
The other projects include one in Batangas with an operational 63 MW in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corporation; one in Tarlac, being expanded to up to 200 MW in partnership with Prime Infra of the Razon Group; and another two in Batangas and Cavite with a combined capacity of 140 MW planned to be fully operational by 2022.
SPNEC has engaged Abacus Capital and Investment Corporation as issue manager and lead underwriter and Investment Capital Corporation of the Philippines as participating underwriter for this IPO.