Leviste raises P3 billion from SPNEC share sale

MANILA, Philippines — Businessman-turned-lawmaker Leandro Leviste has pocketed P3 billion from unloading more shares in SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) of tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan.

A regulatory filing yesterday showed that Leviste’s Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. (SPPPHI) sold 2.4 billion SPNEC shares at P1.25 apiece to an unnamed buyer.

The transaction slashed SPPPHI’s stake in SPNEC to 11.51 percent from 16.3 percent, further weakening Leviste’s grip on the renewable power company he founded.

Pangilinan, whose Meralco Group took control of SPNEC in 2023 after acquiring a majority stake from SPPPHI, earlier confirmed that Leviste was in talks with a foreign investor to sell his remaining shares in the company.

In a separate disclosure, SPNEC said its board of directors approved the acquisition of land from Provincia Investments Corp. and JJPNM Agro Industrial Corp., both of which are SPPPHI subsidiaries.

Financial details of the planned deal were not immediately made available.

SPPPHI, which made Leviste the country’s youngest self-made billionaire, was caught up in a sweeping termination of renewable energy service contracts in January for failing to deliver on its commitments.

The Department of Energy imposed a P24-billion penalty on SPPPHI over its 33 terminated deals with a combined capacity of more than 11,400 megawatts.

Amid controversies surrounding his solar business, Leviste resigned as a director of SPNEC and its unit Terra Solar Philippines Inc.

Leviste and his mother, Sen. Loren Legarda, are currently facing plunder and graft complaints over allegations that his solar company failed to deliver power under its congressional franchise.

Solar Para Sa Bayan Corp., another company founded by Leviste, was granted a franchise in 2019 to build, install and operate distributed energy resources and microgrids in remote areas.