SP New Energy suspended again for public float violation

SP New Energy [SPNEC 1.21 suspended] [link] was suspended at the close of trading on Friday by the PSE after a block sale pushed SPNEC’s public float down to 19.57%, below the PSE’s minimum public float requirement of 20%. Earlier in the day, SPNEC disclosed a change in the number of issued shares from ~34 billion to ~50 billion after the SEC approved the amendments to SPNEC’s articles of incorporation to increase its authorized capital stock to facilitate Meralco’s [MER 377.40, down 0.7%; 91% avgVol] takeover of SPNEC through its subsidiary, MGEN. SPNEC’s disclosure, issued at around 10:30 AM, showed that the change in the number of issued shares would reduce SPNEC’s public float from 23.8% to 20.01%. The PSE’s suspension order was issued at 3:27 p.m., and mentioned only that the “execution of block sale applications” had caused the stock to slip below the 20% minimum threshold.

MB bottom-line: As KyzteR on Twitter said, “The S in $SPNEC stands for Suspended.” Not a great look for SPNEC, and not a great first impression for the new MER management to make considering SPNEC’s weirdly significant suspension history. For SPNEC shareholders who were frustrated with how comfortable Leandro Leviste seemed to be with allowing SPNEC to slip into suspension and who were disappointed with his evasive communication style, this feels like a case of “same book different chapter”. For those who are in this for the long term, they aren’t going to care too much about the shareholding machinations that will eventually result in MER taking control of the company and the project that could become one of the world’s largest solar power facilities. It could just be a temporary blip. It would be hilarious though if MER caused SPNEC to donate some of its unissued shares to the Asia Pacific Institute for Green Development.

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