MRC Allied sets up energy foray with P1-B shares offer

Holding firm MRC Allied Inc. will offer around P1 billion worth of common shares as part of a fundraising initiative to support its transformation from a power and mining company to a renewable energy enterprise.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Friday, MRC said its board had approved the sale of around 1.9 billion in new common shares at an issue price of 52.5 centavos each. This will be carved out from its unissued and unsubscribed capital stock.

The issuance is equivalent to about 22 percent of MRC’s current outstanding shares.

The private placement was priced at a premium vis-a-vis last Friday’s closing price of 35 centavos per share.

The PSE, for its part, said MRC’s transaction was covered by its rule on additional listing of securities. Thus, it would halt for an hour trading on MRC shares starting at 9 a.m. today, Monday.

The firm said the program was in line with the plan to raise as much as P2 billion from a combination of private placement and preferred shares offering.

MRC had said it was investing as much as P200 billion to build up a portfolio of 1,000 megawatts (MW) of “clean and renewable” energy by 2022. The aspiration includes potential investments in solar and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The company said it was upbeat on this power segment in view of increasing demand for power, declining costs of renewable power technology and opportunities to acquire existing power plants. To date, it has a total of 160-MW solar power projects in its pipeline.

MRC’s main shareholder is investment holding company Menlo Capital Corp., whose shareholders include Lucio Tan Jr. and Benjamin Bitanga, MRC’s former president. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA