Hot stuff: Solar firm with ‘ice’ origins prepares for listing

Businessman Peter Nepomuceno’s solar power firm Raslag Corp. priced its initial public offering (IPO) at the maximum P2 per share ahead of the selling period next week.

Raslag is thus poised to raise up to P805 million from the sale of up to 402.5 million shares.

These are comprised of 350 million shares to finance expansion while another 52.5 million shares would be sold by Nepomuceno’s J Ten Equities Inc., the company’s controlling shareholder.

According to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Raslag’s IPO offer period would run from May 23-27. It is targeting to list on June 6 under the trading symbol “ASLAG.”

Nepomuceno is a prominent businessman based in Pampanga with six decades of experience in the power sector, the company’s initial IPO prospectus showed.

Expansion

He is the the patriarch of the Nepomuceno family, whose business history dates back almost a century ago when they established the Angeles Ice Plant.

The IPO would mainly finance the expansion of Raslag’s solar power projects.

Raslag has two operational projects, Raslag-1 and Raslag-2, which have a combined capacity of over 23 megawatts. Another project, the 18-MW Raslag-3, is under construction.

Proceeds from the IPO would be used to partially fund the 35-MW Raslag-4 and 60-MW Raslag 5.

The firm has tapped China Bank Capital Corp. as sole issue manager, sole underwriter and sole bookrunner for the offer.