Solar Philippines plans stock offering
Local firm Solar Philippines is prepping up for its planned initial public offering (IPO) at the local bourse, according to company executives.
The firm, which was founded by young businessman Leandro Leviste, has recently tapped power industry hotshot Marty Crotty as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who will steer the company on its targeted listing at the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Crotty formerly served as president of AES Asia, an American company which built strategic energy investments in Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
For the company’s Philippine operations, AES became the owner and operator of the 600-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired power plant that was sold to San Miguel Group in 2017.
Prior to his stint at AES, Crotty served as CEO of Upwind Solutions, an asset management company with ventures in wind power and had the backing of Silicon Valley investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
For Solar Philippines, the company’s first major development was the 63-megawatt Calatagan solar farm installation and was among the first to be qualified in the feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentive accorded by the Philippine government.
In the project’s corporate vehicle Solar Philippines Calatagan Corporation, 38-percent of shareholdings had been acquired by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) in 2018.
Razon-led Prime Metroline Infrastructure Holdings Corporation (Prime Infra) also bought 50-percent stake this year in Solar Philippines Tarlac Corporation, another Leviste-founded firm that developed the 150MW solar farm venture in Tarlac.
As qualified, the company in the stock offering plan will be Solar Philippines Holdings, which is the parent firm that holds equity in the various power projects with partners. No financial adviser named yet for the IPO.
In a statement to the media, Solar Philippines claimed that its portfolio had already grown since its founding in 2013 – and it now employs around 2,000 people; and it is targeting developments of up to 10,000 megawatts.
The company said it just recently shifted its strategy “from competing with others in the power industry to collaborating with several local and foreign conglomerates to execute an ambitious solar pipeline.”
Leviste asserted his company is “finding more and more partners and colleagues who can see the time for solar in the Philippines is now.”
He added with our new partners and colleagues, we are more optimistic than ever that we can deliver the largest portfolio of renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia.”
Source : mb
