Ayala-led ACEN Corporation will be acquiring five percent, equivalent to 500 million shares, in listed firm SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC), a subsidiary of Leviste-founded Solar Philippines, as prepayment to a loan it extended to the latter for a solar farm development in Central Luzon.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the Ayala company said the SPNEC shares will serve as a prepayment to a loan facility that it sealed way back in 2021 with Solar Philippines’ subsidiary Provincia Investments Corporation (PIC).
According to ACEN President and CEO John Eric T. Francia, the shares to be acquired will account for 5.0-percent equity of the company, as reckoned prior to SPNEC’s infusion of assets.
Based on the omnibus loan and security agreement (OLSA) inked by the parties, the repayment of the loan had been set on July 2, 2026.
The shares’ acquisition, ACEN added, will similarly represent the “payment of interest and arrangement and security amendment fees in consideration for the company releasing its pledge over shares owned by Solar PH in SPNEC.”
ACEN further indicated that immediately after the approval of its Executive Committee, “the company signed the definitive agreements for the transaction with PIC and Solar PH.”
There had been no specific project that the Ayala energy company and Solar Philippines had demarcated when they signed a joint venture agreement in 2021.
Nevertheless, the main project tied to the SPNEC subsidiary of Solar Philippines is the planned 500-megawatt solar farm development in Nueva Ecija that was designed to be developed in phases, starting with a 50MW installation.
In their 2021 pact, ACEN stated that it will subscribe to primary as well as secondary shares of Leviste’s company; and its subsidiary firm Solar Philippines Central Luzon Corporation.
Leviste has several gigawatts-scale of pipelined solar installations that he will need to advance to commercial developments – including the capacities he won in the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) administered by the Department of Energy; and the long-term power supply agreements (PSAs) he cornered with Manila Electric Company.
On ACEN’s part, it has been thriving on its renewable energy investments in the Philippines, as well as in the offshore markets of Vietnam, India and Australia then for its prospects in the United States – cementing its way into concretizing its grand ambition of 20GW RE capacity by the turn of the decade.