NexGen off to a good start in market debut

MANILA, Philippines — Businessman Dexter Tiu’s latest listed renewable energy company is off to a good start following a successful market debut.

Listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)’s small, medium and emerging board yesterday, the shares of NexGen Energy Corp. opened at P1.76 apiece, up by 4.8 percent from its initial public offer (IPO) price of P1.68. It closed 1.79 percent higher at P1.71.

“We are proud to be the third IPO this year and part of the PSE’s goal to have at least six IPOs for 2024,” NexGen president and CEO Eric Peter Roxas said.

“We stood here about the same time last year, July 24, 2023, as we held the listing of our sister company, Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC). The PSE index this same time last year was just around the same level as it is today, between the 6,300 and 6,500 level, and slowly strengthened to the 7,000 level. We believe that NexGen is in the same position to ride a similar wave,” he said.

NexGen is a renewable energy company that serves as the solar and wind power development arm of Pure Energy Holdings Corp.

It operates through subsidiaries Solar Powered Agri-rural Communities Corp., 5hour Peak Energy Corp. and Airstream Renewables Corp. These companies currently produce 13.86 megawatts capacity.

According to Roxas, the company’s thrust is to diversify, grow and expand to other more complex renewable technologies such as floating solar, onshore wind and offshore wind.

He said NexGen’s advocacy is to build and provide for the future generations renewable, sustainable and secure power supply to address the growing population.

“The successful raise for our IPO is a testament of the support and confidence given to us by our shareholders. 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,” Roxas said.

“The synergy we have with our sister company REDC will play an important factor in the completion of these projects,” he said.

NexGen raised P504 million in gross proceeds from its primary offering

To accommodate the greater-than-expected investor demand, NexGen sold an additional 15 million shares from its over-allotment option with a total purchase price of P25.2 million.

The funds raised from the IPO will be used to carry out the company’s expansion plans.

Around half of its proceeds will be used for the construction and development of the company’s solar project in Zambales and wind projects in Cavite.

NexGen is also allocating capital to develop and acquire renewable energy projects.

“Hopefully, this IPO will enable NexGen to increase its total capacity to 38.86 megawatts by the end of 2026,” PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said.

Monzon said NexGen’s market debut may just be the beginning of even more exciting things to come for the company.