SEC approves Citicore’s planned ₱12.94-B IPO

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the planned initial public offering (IPO) of Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation's (CREC) primary and secondary shares for as much as ₱12.94 billion.

In its Jan. 16 meeting, the Commission En Banc resolved to render effective the registration statement of Citicore covering 10.04 billion common shares, subject to the company’s compliance with certain remaining requirements.

Citicore will offer to the public up to 2.9 billion common shares at a maximum price of ₱3.88 apiece. The offer will include additional 435 million outstanding common shares for overallotment.

The offer shares, which will be listed at the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), will account for 28.9 percent of Citicore’s outstanding capital after the IPO and up to 33.2 percent if the overallotment option is exercised.

Based on the latest timeline submitted by Citicore to the SEC, the IPO will run from March 4 to 8. The company targets to list its shares on the PSE main board on March 15.

Of the net proceeds from the firm shares amounting to ₱10.76 billion, ₱9.15 billion will be allotted for capital expenditures and development of solar energy plants in 2024 and 2025 while ₱1.61 billion will be for capex and development of battery energy storage systems (BESS) next year.

Citicore will not benefit from the proceeds from the overallotment option amounting to ₱1.69 billion as these will be go to the selling shareholder Citicore Power Inc.

The company engaged UBS AG as sole global coordinator and joint bookrunner, and BDO Capital & Investment Corporation as domestic lead manager and joint bookrunner for the IPO.

Citicore is a pure-play renewable energy platform that directly and through its subsidiaries and joint venture manages a diversified portfolio of renewable energy generation projects, power project development operations and retail electricity supply in the Philippines.