AC Energy scales down FOO proceeds target to P13.07 B

By Myrna M. Velasco – May 6, 2021, 6:30 AM
from Manila Bulletin

Ayala-led firm AC Energy Corporation has lowered the scale of proceeds it can fetch from its follow-on offering (FOO) to P13.07 billion from a higher end target of P16.4 billion that it first penciled in early this year.

The targeted stream of revenues from the FOO though is still very much within the range that the company had set — as the lower limit of proceeds eyed had been at P12 billion.

The company’s follow-on offering had been priced at P6.50 per share, and that was pegged following a recent approval granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“The price was determined on a book-building process which saw significant participation from leading global long-term institutional investors, resulting in multiple times oversubscription,” the Ayala firm stated.

For that offering, BPI Capital Corporation has been tapped as the sole global coordinator, underwriter and joint bookrunner; while CLSA Limited and UBS AG Singapore are the international joint bookrunners.

AC Energy’s retail offer period for its FOO kicked off on May 3 and will end on May 7 this year; while the targeted listing date is on May 14.

The FOO will cover 2.01 billion common shares, consisting of 1.58 billion primary shares; and 330.24 million secondary shares being offered by AC Energy and Infrastructure Corporation and Bulacan Power Generation Corporation, as the selling shareholders; and there is also over-subscription option of up to 100 million secondary shares.

“Assuming the over-subscription option is exercised in full, ACEN and the selling shareholders expect to raise gross proceeds of P13.07 billion,” the Ayala company emphasized.

AC Energy President and CEO Eric T. Francia described that there had been “overwhelming response we received from the institutional investors during the book-building process.”

He added that “the exceptional investor support reinforces AC Energy’s position as the region’s leading renewables platform.”

AC Energy stated that the net proceeds it will corner from the sale of primary shares “will be used by the company to partially fund the development of renewable power projects in the pipeline and inorganic payabales,” and the rest will be funneled also for the firm’s general corporate requirements.

It qualified that the company “will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the secondary shares by the selling shareholders.”