Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is targeting to acquire up to 43-percent shareholdings in publicly listed SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC). In a statement, it was disclosed that MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and SPNEC President and CEO Leandro Leviste signed the agreement for the former’s initial “purchase of secondary shares of SPNEC.” The initial investment funneled by MPIC was at P2 billion for the purchase of the SPNEC's 1.5 billion common shares. The shares will be acquired through Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. (SPH), the parent firm of SPNEC – and both firms were founded by Leviste. In turn, “SPH will advance the proceeds to SPNEC to fund its land investments in Nueva Ecija.” For SPNEC’s solar installation in Nueva Ecija, that was designed for 500-megawatt solar farm development, with the initial phase planned at 50MW. Upon closing of that shares acquisition transaction, Pangilinan will take over as chairman of the board of SPNEC. For this deal, UBS acted as the financial advisor. The Pangilinan-led firm noted “this is the first of several agreements through which the MPIC group  may acquire up to a total of about 19 billion common shares of SPNEC, subject to approvals.” The conglomerate reiterated that the MPIC Group “may acquire up to 43-percent of the total outstanding shares of SPNEC,” adding that SPNEC and SPH, are currently “in the process of completing an asset-for-share swap where SPH’s pipeline of over 8.0 gigawatts of projects will be consolidated under SPNEC.” That particular deal, according to MPIC, “would increase SPNEC’s outstanding shares from 10 billion to over 34.3 billion out of an authorized capital stock of 50 billion common shares.” If the Pangilinan group’s planned significant shareholdings acquisition in SPNEC will be concretized, the conglomerate stated that “this would position MPIC to be a leading contributor to the country’s renewable energy goals, and is also corollary to MPIC’s investments in biodiversity protection to help mitigate the devastating impacts of climate change.” Relative to this transaction, Pangilinan asserted that “our thrust of pursuing renewable energy brings the MVP Group one step closer to fulfilling our mission of creating long-term value for our stakeholders through responsible and sustainable investments.” Leviste, for his part, emphasized that “we have long seen a partnership with MPIC to be the key to unlock the potential of our project pipeline,” stressing that his company is “humbled and grateful for this opportunity, and believe that SPNEC now has the final ingredients to realize the value of our developments for the benefit of all stakeholders.”