Insider Spotlight
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed that the listed company can issue 66.46 billion new shares to acquire Tubig Pilipinas Group Inc.
Tubig Pilipinas is a water utility business backed by businessman Dexter Tiu's Pure Energy Holdings Corp. and its partner Quad Water Corp., led by Ryan Wesley Yapkianwee, the chair and president of Tubig Pilipinas Holdings.
The deal is structured as a backdoor listing, allowing the privately held water business to enter the Philippine Stock Exchange through an existing listed company rather than conducting a traditional initial public offering.
Tubig Pilipinas Holdings (TUBIG) remains suspended from trading as it completes the business restructuring. It last traded on Dec. 23, 2025 at P0.028, valuing the firm at about P1.1 billion.
From coal to water
Tubig Pilipinas Group operates 12 water infrastructure projects across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, with five more under construction and another 13 in development.
Its latest initiative is a 25-year joint venture with the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan to improve and expand the area's water supply and sewerage systems.
Foreign investor backs expansion
Netherlands-based CEF 2 A09 B.V., an investment vehicle associated with climate infrastructure investor Climate Fund Managers, is also participating in the transaction.
Climate Fund Managers lists $28.4 million in construction equity financing and $6.9 million in development funding for Tubig Pilipinas' water infrastructure projects.
The investment targets the expansion of five water systems in Nueva Ecija, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Palawan and Samar, with plans to increase their combined daily water supply capacity to serve about 205,000 people.
Why no new tender offer?
Under the share swap, the owners of Tubig Pilipinas Group will exchange their shares in the private water business for newly issued shares in the listed company, which will then own the entire water operation.
The SEC said another mandatory tender offer was unnecessary because Pure Water Corp., which is owned by Pure Energy, and Quad Water had already conducted one when they acquired control of the former Coal Asia, and the latest transaction would not change who controls the company.
Following the share swap, Pure Water and Quad Water will each own 37.65 percent of the listed company, while CEF will hold 9.36 percent.
The issuance will expand the company's outstanding shares from 40 billion to 106.46 billion, reducing public investors' collective ownership from 28.32 percent to 10.65 percent.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
