Raslag accelerates spend of IPO proceeds by 6 months
Raslag [ASLAG 1.68 1.20%] [link], the solar power generation company owned by the Nepomuceno Family, disclosed that its board has voted to re-allocate the disbursement schedule of its IPO proceeds to spend P380 million in mid-November of this year on paying the balance owed on the land for RASLAG-4, and funding the equity portion for RASLAG-4’s construction and development.
The original schedule called for this to happen sometime in the first half of next year. ASLAG also noted that the board approved a P250 million loan from affiliate companies.
ASLAG did not say why it is accelerating the RASLAG-4 project, nor did it say how the proceeds of the loan would be used.
MB BOTTOM-LINE
I’ve been a vocal opponent of a board’s ability to make changes to the disbursement plan of its IPO proceeds, but that’s usually because these changes are not obviously to the benefit of minority shareholders.
Think of CTS Global [CTS 0.85 1.19%] taking investor cash to push into three specific foreign markets, then when it gets the cash, suddenly changing plans to add a fourth market, and then later deciding to just hold on to most of the money for half a year and do nothing with it.
Or think of Solar Philippines [SPNEC 1.12 3.70%] taking investor cash to push into a development-stage solar project in Nueva Ecija, then suddenly deciding to use the proceeds of the IPO to buy boring operational projects from its parent company, then deciding to raise more money, then deciding to basically backdoor list its parent company.
That’s not what ASLAG is doing here.
They’re putting IPO investor cash to work sooner than anticipated.
They’re deploying the money to spend on site development and construction in November, instead of mid-2023, and this means that investors have a higher chance of seeing the benefit of that investment (income from the operating facility) that much sooner.
While the ASLAG board hasn’t provided much context to the change to minority shareholders to help those who invested to gain confidence in the appropriateness of the board’s actions, at least the moves are not obviously anti-minority.
--
Merkado Barkada's opinions are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any particular stock. These daily articles are not updated with new information, so each investor must do his or her own due diligence before trading, as the facts and figures in each particular article may have changed.
- Latest
