SP New Energy Corporation is working for the resumption of the trading of its shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange as soon as possible—whether before or after increasing its public float above the minimum requirement of 20 percent. In an interview with reporters, Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. (SPNEC’s parent company) Founder Leandro Leviste said “We are working to increase our company's public float as soon as possible and also hope that we may resume trading even prior to our increasing the public float.” Solar Philippines Founder Leandro Leviste

“We are exploring ways and are hoping that we can exhaust possibilities that the trading can resume, even if we are below 20 percent public float… as you know, there are Philippine listed companies that have a public float of 10 percent,” he noted. Leviste pointed out that the PSE’s 20 percent minimum public float requirement is imposed on newly listed companies as there are older firms with public floats of only 10 percent or 15 percent that are being traded at the PSE. “That's why we hope that they may resume trading, even if we're below 20 percent. But nonetheless, we are working to get back above 20 percent as soon as possible,” he assured. SPNEC’s public float dropped below 20 percent after its parent company acquired additional SPNEC shares in exchange for assets as part of preparations to increase its authorized capital stock (ACS) and allow for the entry of strategic investors through private placements. The capital hike will also allow SPNEC to increase the public float to more than 20 percent. “We have been working to sell additional shares to even some of our existing public shareholders in preparation for the ACS increase, so that we remain above 20 percent minimum public ownership (MPO) at all times,” said Leviste. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of SPNEC’s capital increase came out earlier than expected, resulting in the effectivity of the issuance of new shares to Solar Philippines before sale of shares to other investors have been completed. “The SEC has not caused that, we should we should have kept the float above 20 percent. But we're very thankful to the SEC for their prompt approval of our ACS increase,” he noted. Leviste explained that, “Our ACS increase is from 10 billion to 50 billion shares with a subscription of 24 million new shares. And that subscription of 24 billion new shares caused our (float to fall below 20 percent). Actually we were at 33 percent or 36 percent prior to the new issuance of shares. But then our 36 percent became 83 percent.” “So now that we're at 83 percent, along with Metro Pacific Investment Corporation’s 1.6 billion shares, if it's counted, the public float is down to 13 percent. And that's why we're working to get the public float back up to 20 percent plus,” he said. Leviste noted that, “we believe that we can place the additional shares, not to mention new institutions, we can place additional shares. And we are working to do that as soon as possible.”