THE corporate regulator announced that it has “favorably considered.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved AC Energy Corp.’s follow-on offering of up to P16.48 billion, the corporate regulator said on Thursday.

The SEC said that its commission en banc approved the registration statement of the Ayala-led company covering a total of 2,010,248,617 common shares.

Broken down, some 1,580,000,000 shares will be part of the firm’s primary offer, which is priced from P6 to P8.20 apiece; while the remaining 330,248,617 shares will be part of the secondary offer.

“The offer comes with an overallotment option consisting of up to 100 million common shares,” the SEC said.

The corporate regulator said that at maximum price, AC Energy and the selling shareholders may earn P16.08 billion from the follow-on offering, if oversubscription is allowed.

“AC Energy will use the net proceeds from the primary offer, estimated at P12.64 billion, to partially fund the development of power projects, inorganic growth opportunities, repayment of loans and reduction of payables, as well as other general corporate requirements,” SEC said.

The public offering will take place from May 3 to 7, while the shares are scheduled to be listed on the local bourse on May 14.

AC Energy, the energy platform of Ayala Corp., hopes to exceed 5 gigawatt of renewables capacity and generate at least half of its energy output from renewables by 2025.

AC Energy shares at the local bourse shed 2.71% or 20 centavos to finish at P7.19 apiece on Thursday. — Angelica Y. Yang