When Spanish renewable energy player EDP Renováveis (EDPR) completed its acquisition of a 91% stake in home-grown clean energy solutions provider Sunseap in February, the latter shelved its IPO that was supposedly meant to raise some $600 million.
Six months after the deal was completed, which values the fourth largest solar player in Southeast Asia at $1.1 billion, the renamed EDPR Sunseap says it is keeping its IPO plans warm.
EDPR has reiterated its plans to invest up to $10 billion into Sunseap by 2030 to create an industry-leading clean energy hub for the region out of Singapore.
Speaking at a media briefing, executive chairman Pedro Vasconcelos says that at the time of the IPO, founders Lawrence Wu and Frank Phuah were looking at the capital needed to fund Sunseap’s expansion for the next 10 years.
With EDPR’s investment, Sunseap’s then funding needs were solved. “We bring the balance sheets, we bring the financial muscle to essentially deliver all these megawatts,” Vasconcelos says.
However, he does not rule out the possibility of a listing, quipping “never say never” when asked during the briefing. But he adds that the priority for the management team is to let EDPR Sunseap run and grow first, “and let’s see where we are in three to five years.”
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He adds that the limitation on EDPR Sunseap listing is the fact that three entities are already listed, namely: EDP, the parent company of EDPR, EDPR itself, and EDPR subsidiary EDPR Brazil. “To have a fourth listed company, with the other three really doesn't make sense,” he says.
Vasconcelos feels that if EDPR Sunseap lists, its "narrative” may be the same as the other entities. As such, a listing for EDPR Sunseap, if it happens, will be for the next decade.
Lawrence Wu, co-founder and CFO, adds that should the company choose to go public, it will be at a much larger scale. “We will maybe look at a US$5 billion to US$10 billion IPO on the Singapore Stock Exchange, when the time is correct.”
