Meralco PowerGen, the renewable energy arm of the Manila Electric Company, is acquiring a P6.26 billion stake in SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) from its founder, Leandro Leviste, as part of the divestment move by the incoming Batangas legislator.
In a statement, Leviste, representative of the first district of Batangas province, said the transaction covers 5.01 billion SPNEC shares for P6.26 billion, or at P1.25 per share. SPNEC closed Wednesday’s trade at P1.21, up P0.01 from Tuesday’s P1.20 per share.
Leviste said the share sale is part of a divestment of most of his stake in SPNEC before he assumes office.
He said the sale is in addition to a previous agreement to sell 5.82 billion shares of SPNEC for P7.50 billion.
“Under these agreements, MGen has already paid Leviste P13.76 billion, while the transfer of the 10.83 billion shares is expected soon,” he said.
Company filings showed that Leviste has a 27.34 percent indirect stake in SPNEC through Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. (Solar Philippines), equivalent to 18.99 billion shares.
Following these transactions, Solar Philippines will retain 8.16 billion shares in SPNEC.
Leviste said he is considering options for other private placements and financing on the remaining SPNEC shares of Solar Philippines and affiliates. The total funding raised from the SPNEC shares of Solar Philippines and affiliates amounts to more than P34 billion.
Leviste founded Solar Philippines in 2013 and developed Luzon’s largest solar farm in Batangas, which went online in 2015. The next year, the company started developing its Nueva Ecija solar farm. In 2019, SPNEC commenced operations at its Tarlac solar farm.
In 2021, SPNEC became the first-ever solar company to IPO in the Philippines.
In 2023, Meralco invested P15.90 billion in the construction of the Nueva Ecija project, the 3,500-megawatt (MW) Terra Solar project, the world’s single largest solar-battery project.
Leviste ran for public office after selling SPNEC controlling stake to Meralco.
