MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen), a unit of Manila Electric Co., acquired another 2.17 billion shares in SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) for P2.5 billion.
SPNEC said in a stock exchange filing dated Feb. 5 that MGreen bought 2.17 billion preferred shares from SPNEC’s parent firm Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc.
MGreen previously acquired 15.7 billion common shares representing 31.4 percent of SPNEC’s total outstanding common shares, which together with the 19.40 billion preferred shares it purchased, brought its total voting interest in SPNEC to 50.53 percent.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) in May 2023 also made an initial purchase of 1.6 billion SPNEC shares for P2 billion.
MGreen is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meralco Powergen Corp., which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meralco. Meralco’s largest shareholder is MPIC.
These brought MGreen’s and its affiliates’ total interest in SPNEC to 19,473,913,000 common shares, or 38.89 percent for P20.2 billion. Including the redeemable preferred voting shares, these acquisitions brought the total voting interest of MGreen and its affiliates to 55.96 percent.
MGreen became the largest shareholder of SPNEC and acquired the control of the company from its founder Leandro Leviste.
Solar Philippines continues to own 18,993,622,998 billion shares equivalent to less than 30-percent stake in SPNEC, with other shareholders and the public owning the remaining shares.
SPNEC is developing a 3.5-GW solar farm in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan provinces, which is touted as the world’s largest solar project.