Alternergy [ALTER 1.28 pre-IPO] [link] set its pricing at P1.28/share, which is 13.5% lower than the P1.48/share maximum price that ALTER advertised in its preliminary prospectus. Vince Perez, the former Department of Energy Secretary, hopes to raise P1.66 billion from the IPO to fund the expansion of solar and hydro projects, and to pay “accrued liabilities” it incurred through acquiring Kirahon Solar Energy Corporation.
MB Quick Take: When the pricing data was delayed, I thought there was a chance that ALTER might be pulling an Upson International [UPSON pre-IPO] and delaying its IPO for a couple of weeks, or maybe even pulling a “market conditions” stunt and deferring it indefinitely to wait for a more clear up-trend in PSE valuations. Credit where credit is due: ALTER lowered its price and is (so far) pushing forward with the transaction.
Aboitiz Power [AP 10.80] [link] FY22 net income was P27.5 billion, up 32% from the P20.8 billion it posted in FY21. AP attributed the out-performance to “fresh” contributions from its 1,336 MW GNPower Dinginin facility, and to “higher availability” across the rest of its portfolio. Excluding P1.0 billion in one-off gains, AP’s year-on-year profit increase was still 27% higher than FY21. AP said that it is ready to “ride the waves of transformation” as it attempts to “leverage digitalization and innovation” to “improve our operations further.”
MB Quick Take: Did the Aboitiz Family steal the Villars’ copywriter? If you get past the corporate buzzwords (there’s no guarantee), this teaser is showing AP for what it really is: a rising power in the crowded power game that has significant tangible and intangible assets filling its sails going forward. AP looks to be the main beneficiary of the family’s recent political “luck”, which should only serve to juice what will already be a pretty solid pipeline of projects and opportunities.
Synergy Grid [SGP 11.16 0.9%] [link] declared Q1 cash dividends of P0.1737/share, payable on April 13 to shareholders of record as of March 23. When annualized, the dividend represents a 6.2% yield relative to SGP’s closing price of P11.16/share. The Q1 dividend represents an annualized yield of 5.8% relative to SGP’s ?12.00/share follow-on offering (FOO) price.
MB Quick Take: SGP continues to deliver on its dividends, but the stock price has been a huge let-down to FOO buyers who were likely hoping for the future to have been brighter. In a way, these FOO buyers are no different from the hordes of REIT IPO buyers who thought they were locking-in at some relatively attractive rates back when those stocks first came available, who were soon pushed underwater by the relentless rising tide of inflation and the related interest rate increases that forced stock valuations lower.
ACEN [ACEN 6.52 2.7%] [link] amended its articles of incorporation to carve out 100 million preferred shares that the Board of Directors can issue in series or tranches, at pricing and dividend levels of the board’s choosing.
MB Quick Take: The original articles of incorporation just split the entirety of ACEN’s P48.3 billion in authorized capital stock into common shares, so this little carve out will give the board a fairly straight-forward path to selling some debt, like what Megawide [MWIDE 3.33 0.6%] is doing right now. ACEN didn’t provide any guidance on exactly what the board would use the funds for, but the company’s other disclosures hint at the desire to increase its land acquisition budget and to expand the use of that budget to include Australia and Indonesia. Selling preferred shares is a flexible way to raise debt, provided the company has enough money to redeem the shares before the step-up, like what happened to Phoenix Petroleum [PNX 19.74].
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