The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the direct public offering (DPO) of Pacerm-1 Energy Corporation which is selling a 15 percent stake to investors in compliance with the requirements of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

Pacerm-1 Energy operates a diesel power plant in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental with a total capacity of 10.5 megawatts.

In its meeting on Aug. 24, the Commission En Banc resolved to render effective the registration statement of Pacerm-1 Energy covering 250,000 common shares, subject to the company’s compliance with certain remaining requirements. 

Pacerm-1 Energy will offer to the public 26,891 common shares priced at P2,100 per share. The company expects proceeds to amount to P15.89 million, which will be used for the payment of its long-term loans.

The DPO will run from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, based on the latest timetable submitted to the SEC. The shares may be sold to any person, partnership, cooperative, corporation, or trust account. 

Pacerm-1 will not be listing its shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The offering is being made in compliance with an order by the Energy Regulatory Commission to offer not less than 15 percent of its outstanding capital stock to the public. 

Under the implementing rules and regulators of the Securities Regulation Code, a firm may be considered a public company if its shares are listed at an exchange or if it has P50 million in assets and has 200 or more holders of at least 100 of its shares.

Section 14(t) of RA9136, also known as EPIRA, requires power generation companies and distribution utilities that are not publicly listed to offer and sell to the public at least 15 percent of their common shares of stocks. 

Last week, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said that 51 percent of generation companies, at 118 of 143, have not yet complied with the requirement, prompting the agency to lobby lawmakers for a suspension of the provision under the law for generation companies that are into renewable energy. 

Of the 118 entities, 65 are into renewable energy, and 24 of them being small renewable energy companies.