MGreen, SPNEC formalize partnership

MANILA  -Billionaire Manuel Pangilinan’s Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and businessman Leandro Leviste’s SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) officially formalized on Thursday their share subscription deal that will pave the way for a P15.9-billion investment in the latter’s projects.

In separate disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Meralco and SPNEC said MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen) paid an initial P7 billion on Nov. 30 when they signed the share subscription agreement.

The remaining P8.9 billion will be paid on the closing date, they said. The total amount represents MGreen’s subscription to 15.7 billion of SPNEC’s common shares and 19.4 billion preferred shares.

SPNEC and Meralco first announced the share subscription deal in October, saying that the distributor’s investment would be used to develop a 3,500-megawatt (MW) solar farm and a 4,000-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) in Luzon.

This will be one of the largest solar projects not just in Asia, but in the world,” Pangilinan previously said.
Upon closing, MGreen will have a total voting interest of 50.5 percent in SPNEC, allowing the Meralco unit to become a controlling shareholder.

A shareholder with controlling interest in a business gives it the deciding voice in shareholder meetings, thus holding significant influence over corporate decisions.

SPNEC chief executive Leviste announced in January that they planned on securing land in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan provinces for the development of what he expected to be the world’s largest solar farm.

SPNEC’s project is larger than the combined 1,531-MW capacity of all solar projects in the Philippines as of August.