LEVISTE-LED Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC) said on Monday that its board of directors had approved an increase in the company’s authorized capital stock to 50 billion shares ahead of asset-for-share swaps with its parent firm.

In a disclosure to the exchange, SPNEC said the increase in capital stock from 10 billion shares previously is subject to stockholder and regulatory approvals.

“This would prepare SPNEC for asset-for-share swaps with Solar Philippines [Power Project Holdings, Inc.] and additional capital raises to expand its solar project portfolio, subject to third-party valuations and approvals,” the company said.

“The company is planning to have further consultations and a stockholder’s meeting on this proposal,” it added.

It said the move comes after the “strong investor interest” in its stock, citing more than P5 billion in trading in the past month to make it the Philippine Stock Exchange’s best-performing initial public offering (IPO) in 2021. Its shares closed the year higher by 28%.

“We are thankful for the level of interest in SPNEC, even as a single pre-operating project. At the same time, we note the feedback that adding our already operating or contracted projects would make the company even more attractive. We wish to take this opportunity to give our public shareholders this option, in the interest of advancing SPNEC’s value and profitability,” said Leandro L. Leviste, Solar Philippines founder, in the disclosure.

“We see that other companies have successfully listed assets through share swaps, and we support SPNEC doing the same if that is what our public shareholders want,” Mr. Leviste added.

During its IPO, SPNEC sold 2.7 billion shares for P1 apiece. The company said its offer was oversubscribed, reaching a total of P5.3 billion in orders.

Part of the proceeds of its P2.7-billion IPO will be used to build the first 50 megawatts (MW) out of the 500 MW that SPNEC has already developed. The largest part of the proceeds will be used to acquire land to expand beyond its capacity 500 MW, the company earlier said.

SPNEC said its parent Solar Philippines developed a pipeline of more than 10 gigawatts of solar projects, including an operational 63 MW in Batangas in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corp.; 340 MW operating and under construction in Tarlac, Batangas, and Cavite in partnership with a group led by Enrique K. Razon, Jr.; and several projects on the rooftops of SM malls.

SPNEC, which aspires to develop the largest solar project in Southeast Asia, finished trading on Monday with its shares up nine centavos or 7.5% at P1.29 apiece. — M.C. Lucenio

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