SPNEC expects to receive all installment payments for P2.8-B rights offer by March 5

Businessman Leandro Leviste’s SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) expects to receive all installment payments for its P2.8-billion stock rights offering by March 5 this year or six months after the share sale was launched.

At present, some 23 percent of the offer or P651 million remains outstanding, the company revealed in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.

“Based on indications of interest for SPNEC’s shares, the company believes that the partially paid [stock rights offer] shares will be fully paid,” the company said.

It added that controlling stockholder, Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc., is offering to buy “any remaining shares” by the March deadline at the original rights offer price of P1.50 each.

Turbulent market conditions when the fundraising plan was launched last September prompted the company to take the unusual route of allowing investors to put up a 25-percent downpayment for their rights offer shares.

The remainder was supposed to be on Dec. 5, 2022 but this was moved to March 5 this year.

Stock rights offers are typically priced at a discount to the prevailing market value.

Thus, investors might have been reluctant to pay for the shares after the price fell below the P1.50 offer price after the Philippine Stock Exchange entered bear market territory in late September last year, a trader told the Inquirer.

SPNEC revealed on Thursday that 60 percent of the stock rights offer shares were fully paid last September while owners of the 40 percent availed themselves of the instalment plan.

It said the additional P651 million expected from the rights offer will be used to finance its solar projects.

“We are grateful to our public shareholders for believing in the value of our company’s shares. With the improved market conditions this year, we hope this will bring forth a positive feedback loop, by enabling the completion of our SRO, and in turn enabling our share swap, private placements and project developments,” Leviste said in a statement on Thursday.

Under the share swap, SPNEC will issue 24.372 billion additional shares in exchange for projects of Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings.

The company said it may need to offer additional shares in the future.

“This will result in SPNEC having 34.37 billion shares outstanding, which would require the public to own a total of at least 6.87 billion shares to achieve an at least 20 percent public float,” SPNEC said.

“Assuming 4.75 billion shares held by the public after recent private placements, SPNEC would need to increase its public float by at least another 2.12 billion shares,” it said.

“The company has disclosed that it is working on further private placements to accelerate its project developments and broaden SPNEC’s shareholder base in preparation for its share swap,” it added.

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