MANILA - Philippines' Synergy Grid & Development Phils. Inc, majority owner of the country's electricity grid operator, has applied for an initial public offering (IPO), the corporate regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.

Synergy Grid is planning to sell as many as 1.154 billion shares, including the over-allotment option, at 15 to 25 pesos ($0.30 to $0.49) each, allowing the IPO to raise up to 28.85 billion pesos ($571.40 million).

In Philippine filings, IPO prices are typically set well above the final selling price, while the number of shares for sale could also be scaled back.

The company declined to comment.

Synergy Grid owns 60% of the National Grid Corp of the Philippines (NGCP), with the remaining shares held by the State Grid Corp of China.

Proceeds from the IPO will be used by Synergy Grid to buy non-voting preferred shares of NGCP, according to documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

NGCP would then use fresh capital to maintain and expand its network, which includes more than 20,000 transmission towers in 67 provinces. It committed to spend 160 billion pesos between 2021 to 2025.

NGCP was originally required by a 2008 law covering its franchise terms to sell at least 20% of its shares to the public within 10 years. But its IPO was delayed by volatile markets.

Synergy Grid hired Standard Chartered, BDO Capital, Philippine Commercial Capital, J.P. Morgan, UBS, BofA Securities, BPI Capital, and PNB Capital to arrange the IPO.

As the country's sole power transmission operator, it posted 24.19 billion pesos in consolidated revenues and 5.01 billion pesos in attributable income in the first half of 2021.

Synergy Grid's IPO adds to a slew of maiden share sale by property and consumer firms in the Philippines, allowing the country to take the rare top spot in terms of fundraising in Southeast Asia this year.

($1 = 50.49 Philippine pesos)

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales Editing by Ed Davies) ((neiljerome.morales@thomsonreuters.com; +632 8841 8914;))