Metro Pacific buying 16% of Leandro Leviste’s solar power firm for P2B

MANILA  -Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan-led infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is investing P2 billion in businessman Leandro Leviste’s SP New Energy Corp.

Metro Pacific sealed a definitive agreement to buy 1.6 billion common shares at P1.25 each, giving it a 16-percent stake in the listed developer of solar power projects, a stock exchange filing on Tuesday showed.

The seller is Leviste’s holding company, Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc., which will use the proceeds to fund land investments for the company’s flagship solar power project in Nueva Ecija.

Solar Philippines aims to build world’s largest solar farm

The infrastructure group, which owns energy distribution giant Manila Electric Co., will also gain an option to eventually acquire up to 43 percent of SP New Energy Corp., making it the company’s single-largest shareholder.

MANUEL  V. PANGILINAN –Raffy Lerma

“Our thrust of pursuing renewable energy brings the MVP Group one step closer to fulfilling our mission of creating long-term value for our stakeholders through responsible and sustainable investments,” Pangilinan said in a statement on Tuesday.

Upon the closing of the transaction, Pangilinan will become chair of the board of SP New Energy Corp.

Leviste, the son of Sen. Loren Legarda, is the current chair of the company.

“We have long seen a partnership with [Metro Pacific] to be the key to unlock the potential of our project pipeline. We are humbled and grateful for this opportunity, and believe that SPNEC now has the final ingredients to realize the value of our developments for the benefit of all stakeholders,” Leviste said in the same statement.

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