Aboitiz Power to prepay P3.4-B retail bonds
By Myrna M. Velasco – August 2, 2021, 1:25 PM
from Manila Bulletin
The board of directors of listed firm Aboitiz Power Corporation has approved last week the prepayment of P3.4 billion worth of fixed-rate retail bonds to be enforced September this year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the company noted that it will be “using its existing cash and a portion of the proceeds from the retail bonds it issued earlier this year.”
The retail bonds for prepayment carry fixed interest rate of 6.1-percent per annum and these were availed of in 2014 under the firm’s Series B bonds.
Aboitiz Power said it is currently coordinating with the BPI Asset Management and Trust Group as well as the Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. (PDTC), being the trustee, registrar and paying agent for the bonds.
It further indicated that BPI Asset Management and PDTC will draw up the “corresponding notices and computation of the amounts due to the bondholders of the 2014 Series bonds.”
The company registered earlier this year with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) its new P30 billion peso-denominated fixed rate retail bonds that it will be issuing in tranches.
The first tranche, as set out by the Aboitiz firm, had been placed at P4.0 billion and that was warranted with oversubscription leeway of up to P4.0 billion – and had been issued in “scripless form in minimum denominations of P50,000 each and in multiples of P10,000 thereafter.”
The power firm stated that it will be using its proceeds from the bond issue “to refinance corporate debts and for other general corporate purposes.”
Following its reported substantial financial rebound in the first half of this year, Aboitiz Power President and CEO Emmanuel V. Rubio has reiterated the company’s goal of beefing up its portfolio to 9,200 megawatts by 2030.
The Aboitiz firm is currently sorting out the remaining technical as well as regulatory concerns for the commercial operation of Unit 1 of its Dinginin coal-fired power plant in Bataan – which can then shore up Luzon grid supply by 668MW; while the facility’s Unit 2 of another 668MW capacity will be on stream next year.
The company’s investment focus will take a major shift to renewables in the coming years – anchoring that on the portfolio rebalancing of 50:50 ratio of thermal to RE (renewable energy) developments through the turn of the decade.
