Local investors gobbled up the initial public offering of Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp., with shares oversubscribed by nearly two times at the end of the tender period.
Abacus Capital and Investment Corp., SPNEC’s underwriter, said the company received P5.3 billion in orders for the P2.7-billion offering.
Abacus cited a strong demand from investors who want exposure to the first pure-play solar company to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
“We’re grateful for the public’s faith in our ability to turn this power point into a power plant, and hope our work can live up to these expectations,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste.
SPNEC offered 2.7 billion common shares at a price of P1 apiece. The IPO would put SPNEC’s market capitalization at P8.12 billion. The shares will be listed on the PSE on Friday.
SPNEC is the 10th and final IPO for 2021. It is also the first company to list under the Supplemental Listing and Disclosure Rules for Renewable Energy (RE) Companies approved by PSE in 2011, which provides exemption from the PSE’s track record and operating history requirements.
SPNEC to date is at the pre-operating stage and has not started commercial operations.
The company plans to use proceeds from the IPO to complete the first 50-megawatt (MW) phase of the project and acquire land to expand the output to over 500 MW, in support of a plan to develop the largest solar farm in Southeast Asia.
SPNEC’s IPO comes as Prime Infrastructure Holdings, Inc., owned by tycoon Enrique Razon, announced investments of P3.5 billion for a 50 percent stake in three solar projects with a combined output of 340 MW.
Developed by SPNEC’s parent company, Solar Philippines, these solar projects are located in the provinces of Tarlac, Batangas, and Cavite.
Solar Philippines said its strategy is now focused on helping the country’s power companies enter the solar market, by making available project sites it has developed over the years.
“We want to help the country’s power companies replace their future coal and gas developments with solar, so that together, we can make solar the largest source of energy in the Philippines,” Leviste said.