SPNEC plans asset for share swap

MANILA, Philippines — Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC), the newly listed solar developer, will do an asset-per-share swap with Solar Philippines to set the stage for future expansion and growth.

Its board of directors approved yesterday an increase in the company’s authorized capital stock to 50 billion shares from 10 billion shares, subject to stockholder and regulatory approvals.

The increase in the authorized capital stock would prepare SPNEC for asset-for-share swaps with Solar Philippines and additional capital increases to expand its solar project portfolio.

“We wish to take this opportunity to give our public shareholders this option, in the interest of advancing SPNEC’s value and profitability,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste.

There has been strong investor interest in SPNEC’s stock, which had over P5 billion in trading over the past month, and also emerged as PSE’s best-performing IPO of 2021, closing the year up 28 percent.

SPNEC made its debut in the stock market last month, with its share price closing one percent higher that day at P1.01 from its IPO price of P1 after opening at P0.95 per share.

SPNEC closed yesterday’s session 7.5 percent to 1.29 per share and was the third most highly traded stock of the day.

“We see that other companies have successfully listed assets through share swaps, and we support SPNEC doing the same if that is what our public shareholders want,” Leviste said.

Solar Philippines aims to accelerate the adoption of solar energy in the Philippines.

It has developed a pipeline of over 10 GW of solar projects, according to Department of Energy (DOE) figures. These include an operational 63 MW in Batangas in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corporation; 340 MW operating and under construction in Tarlac, Batangas, and Cavite in partnership with Prime Infra of the Razon Group; and several projects on the rooftops of SM malls.

The DOE plans to increase the Renewable Portfolio Standard target to 35 percent of the country’s energy that would need to be sourced from renewable energy by 2030, which would translate to the need to build over 20,000 MW of solar.

According to the DOE’s figures as of December 2020, the Philippines had a total operating grid-connected solar capacity of 1,021 MW.

In support of the DOE’s plan, Solar Philippines accelerated its developments in 2020 through strategic partnerships with other groups.