Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings, Inc. (SP) is opening up subsidiary SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC) to more strategic partners as it is planning private placements worth about P2.7 billion through asset-for-share swaps.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, SP said the acquisition by ACEN Corporation (ACEN) of a 5 percent stake in SPNEC as partial pre-payment under a loan agreement between ACEN and SP is just the start of plans to broaden SPNEC’s investor base.

“This is among several private placements that SP has been planning, to broaden SPNEC’s shareholder base and enable its asset-for-share swap,” the firm said to the PSE.

It added that, “SPNEC is planning to increase its public float by another over 2.1 billion shares in time to achieve an at least 20 percent public float upon the completion of its share swap. SPNEC will give further updates on its private placements at the appropriate time.”

“We have been working on transactions that would enable our share swap. We thank our shareholders for supporting our company and are committed to completing our share swap,” said Solar Philippines Founder Leandro Leviste.

Last Dec. 21, 2022, SP disclosed that it is exploring various options to support its project developments, including selling equity to partners at SPNEC.

"We are open to further broadening SPNEC's shareholder base, to build a more widely-held company and accelerate the development of solar in the Philippines," Leviste added.

ACEN acquired a 500 million SPNEC shares last Jan. 25, 2023 based on the previous day’s closing price of P1.32 per share, for a transaction value of P660 million.

As part of SP and SPNEC’s share swap, SPNEC will issue 24.37 billion shares to SP at an issue price of P2.50 per share, on top of the company’s existing 10 billion shares.

This will result in SPNEC having 34.37 billion shares outstanding, which would require the public to own at least 6.87 billion shares to achieve an at least 20 percent public float.

With 4.75 billion shares held by the public after the block sale to ACEN, SPNEC would need to increase its public float by at least another 2.12 billion shares.

Other than ACEN, SP has joint ventures with several other power companies. One of these is Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), which is in the process of exiting its Philippine fossil fuel investments in the first half of 2023.

KEPCO has said that it will stay in the Philippines through its existing joint venture with Solar Philippines and plans to make further investments in renewable energy.