Aboitiz Power gets PDEx okay for listing of P8-billion bonds

By Myrna M. Velasco – March 17, 2021, 5:00 AM
from Manila Bulletin

Aboitiz Power Corporation has secured the approval of the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation (PDEx) for the listing of its P8.0 billion Series ‘A’ bond issuance, which has an allotment for oversubscription.

“The PDEx approval paves the way for the secondary market trading of the Series ‘A’ bonds, with a fixed interest rate of 3.8224% per annum,” the company has stated in its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The bond issue is to mature in 2026; and this is part of the P30 billion fixed rate retail bonds that Aboitiz Power had registered with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 1 this year.

The company said the balance of its programmed bond offering has been lodged under the shelf registration program of the SEC and may be raised in future tranches.

Aboitiz Power said it will utilize the proceeds from its bond offering for the redemption of bonds maturing this year; as well as for the repayment of bonds falling due in 2026.

As previously disclosed by the company, tapped as joint issue managers, joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners for the bond issue had been BDO Capital & Investment Corporation, BPI Capital Corporation, China Bank Capital and First Metro Investment Corporation.

Like all other players in the power industry, the company was also perniciously affected by the economically distressing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is raising hopes that it can finally bounce back this year on its sales volume as well as on financial performance at both top and bottom lines.

As emphasized by Aboitiz Power President and CEO Emmanuel V. Rubio, the company is heading into this new year “armed with the lessons learned from the ultimate of stress tests experienced during the pandemic”; and with a strengthened resolve to pursue investment growth targets.