By James A. Loyola
NexGen Energy Corporation, a renewable energy corporation with a portfolio of solar and wind service contracts, debuted on the upside at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) with its share price rising 1.79 percent to P1.71 per share.
The firm and its principal shareholders raised a total of P529.2 million from its recently-concluded initial public offering (IPO) with investors taking up 315 million shares at P1.68 per share.
On its first trading day, NexGen shares peaked at P1.84 per share with P1.68 as its lowest point. A total of 16.17 million NexGen shares worth P28 billion changed hands during the day.
The 300 million NexGen primary common shares were fully sold but only 15 million or one-third of the 45 million over-allotment option were bought by investors.
The over-allotment shares were secondary shares sold by principal shareholder Pure Energy Holdings so only P504 million in gross proceeds will go to the company.
“Although our IPO is a small issue, the funds raised will jumpstart a basket of projects with our target of developing over 1,600 megawatts composed of several solar energy service contracts and 12 wind energy service contracts,” said NexGen President and CEO Eric Peter Y. Roxas.
This is the third IPO to be listed this year at the PSE which is aiming to have six companies debut at the bourse in 2024.
“Every year, since 2021, we have seen the listing of a renewable energy company on the main board of the Exchange. We had SPNEC in 2021, Raslag in 2022, Alternergy and Repower Energy in 2023 and, of course, the most recent one last month, Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation” said PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon.
He noted that NexGen is the first renewable energy company to list in the Small Medium and Emerging (SME) Board and “this IPO serves as a timely reminder to other small companies that need to raise capital that the SME Board is a very practical and feasible listing route."
NexGen’s operating units currently produce a total of 13.86 megawatts. Hopefully, this IPO will enable the company to increase its total capacity to 38.86 megawatts by the end of 2026.
Funds raised from this IPO will be used by the company to carry out its growth plans. Around half of the proceeds will be used for the construction and development of the company’s solar project in Zambales and wind projects in Cavite. The company is also allocating capital to develop and acquire renewable energy projects.