Pioneer Insurance & Surety Corp. invested in a 51 percent stake in Republic Surety and Insurance Co. Inc. that will bring the holdings of Manila Electric Co. to a minority.
Republic was a wholly-owned non-insurance subsidiary of Meralco prior to the entry of Pioneer. Republic underwrites Meralco’s risk exposures and addresses all its insurance needs, including those of its subsidiaries.
“We believe Pioneer will be a good partner. The combined strength of Republic will further strengthen to effectively compete in the market,” a Meralco official said.
Meralco on Friday disclosed that it signed a shareholders’ and subscription agreement with Pioneer and Republic Insurance.
Under the agreement, Republic Surety will issue 2,900,000 shares or new shares out of its unissued capital stock to Meralco and Pioneer.
Meralco will subscribe to 18,500 new shares, while Pioneer will subscribe to 2,881,500 new shares.
Meralco is the country’s biggest power distributor with over six million customers in its franchise.
“The subscription will result in Pioneer owning 51 percent and Meralco 49 percent of RSIC,” the electricity retailer said.
Meralco early this week approved the creation of a wholly-owned subsidiary to engage in the operation of electric vehicles and charging stations.
Meralco said in a disclosure the subsidiary would “engage in the business of owning, maintaining and operating transport service networks of charging stations, batteries and vehicles utilizing electric energy and other alternative energy sources.”
“Part of our support to create an ecosystem in EV. We see opportunity in the development of e-vehicles moving forward. At the same time, it’s pro- environment,” Meralco first vice president and head of legal and corporate governance William Pamintuan said.
Pamintuan said by investing in e-vehicles, Meralco would help reduce the country’s carbon emissions.
“It is a way towards the effort to reduce carbon emission. We also see it as an opportunity since it will also create a market of power users hoping to increase demand of electricity,” he said.
Pamintuan said Meralco would likely forge partnerships for the e-vehicle and charging stations later on, but the project was still on development stage.
“As more people adopt EV, we are hoping demand will increase exponentially. It will initially be Meralco franchise area. We will put up charging stations, EV, provide EV public shuttles,” he said.
Meralco teamed up with Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. and the government to put up electric vehicle charging stations in four locations.