Solar Nueva Ecija prices IPO at P1 per share

MANILA, Philippines — Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC), a subsidiary of Leandro Leviste’s Solar Philippines, has priced its initial public offering (IPO) at P1 per share to raise up to P2.7 billion.

Proceeds will be used to complete the first 50 MW of Phase 1A of the project, which is 25 percent of the cost of the first 225 MW of Phase 1B.

The rest of the proceeds would be used to acquire land to expand the project beyond 500 MW, in support of SPNEC’s plan to develop the largest solar project in Southeast Asia, the company said.

SPNEC’s offer comprises up to 2.7 billion primary common shares to be offered from Dec. 1 to 7 with a tentative listing date on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Dec. 17, based on the company’s notice filed with the PSE.

“We are thankful for this opportunity to launch the Solar Philippines group’s first public offering, which we see as a favorable signal for future offerings,” said Leviste, Solar Philippines founder.

PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said the local bourse is happy to support a renewable energy company.

Incorporated in 2016, SPNEC secured a DOE service contract to develop the project in 2017.

The company plans to start construction of the project before the end of 2021. Once operational, the project is intended to supplement the Luzon grid’s thin reserves and help prevent the rotating outages that affected millions of Filipinos earlier this year.

The Nueva Ecija project would be the largest among the first 1 GW of projects of Solar Philippines planned to be operating by 2022.

Other projects include one in Batangas with an operational 63-MW in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corp., one in Tarlac, being expanded to up to 200-MW in partnership with Prime Infra of the Razon Group and another two in Batangas and Cavite with a combined capacity of 140-MW planned to be fully operational by 2022.

SPNEC tapped Abacus Capital and Investment Corp. as issue manager and lead underwriter and Investment Capital Corp. of the Philippines as participating underwriter for the IPO.