SP New Energy Corp. said it in talks with local and foreign funds for possible private placement to enable it to comply with the 20-percent minimum public ownership.
SPNEC founder and chairman Leandro Leviste said in a recent news briefing the company identified potential buyers for at least 2.12 billion common shares via a private placement.
SPNEC expects to raise roughly P3.1 billion from the share sale based on the stock’s price of P1.46 per share.
Leviste said to facilitate the transaction, the company would seek regulators’ approval to lift the trading suspension.
“We are working to increase public float as soon as possible, and we hope that our stock will resume trading prior to increase in public float,” Leviste said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange suspended the trading of SPNEC on June 3, after its public ownership fell below the required 20 percent following the completion of the share swap deal with parent Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc.
SPNEC said it would ask for temporary exemption from the 20-percent public ownership as the company is fully committed to increasing its public float back to the required level.
The company also cited an instance where the regulators allowed a listed company to obtain temporary exemption from the ownership rule to enable it to comply with the ownership requirement.
It noted that in 2018, the public float of San Miguel Food and Beverage fell below the minimum public ownership, but the PSE allowed SMFB’s trading to resume after the company obtained confirmation from the Bureau of Internal Revenue that during the period of exemption, all trades of its securities were not subject to the provisions of the BIR Revenue Regulation 16-2012.
BIR RR 16-2012 provides that the sale, barter, transfer and or assignment of publicly-listed companies which are non-compliant to the minimum public ownership requirement should be subject to final tax at the rate of 5 percent or 10 percent on the net capital gains and the documentary stamp tax.