AC Energy eyes P16-b follow-on offering as part of restructuring

By Alena Mae S. Flores – February 04, 2021 at 09:50 pm
from manilastandard.net

AC Energy Corp., the energy unit of Ayala Corp., said Thursday it will conduct a follow-on offering that will raise P12 billion to P16.4 billion.

ACEN said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its executive committee approved the follow-on offering price range and issue size.

“The company’s executive committee approved today an FOO price range of P6 to P8.20 per share and a primary share issuance size of up to 2 billion shares, with secondary shares to be included as part of the total offering size to be determined at a later date,” the company said.

ACEN president and chief executive officer Eric Francia said the amount to be raised is a “fair estimate”, but the volume will still be finalized, particularly the secondary share component.

Francia earlier said the company was looking at conducting the offering by the middle of the year “mostly through the issuance of primary shares.”

The offering is part of the capital raising program of ACEN to finance the expansion of renewable energy foot print to 5,000 megawatts by 2025 and meet its vision of becoming Southeast Asia’s largest listed renewable platform.

Francia said the FOO is part of the five steps the company would undertake this year to complete the structuring of ACEN “to become the unified, integrated platform of Ayala and AC Energy in energy.”

“That would really put us in a strong position to realize our vision which is to exceed 5GW and be the largest renewables platform in Southeast Asia,” Francia said.

He said the five-step restructuring includes the recently completed stock rights offering where ACEN raised about P5.3 billion on Friday which increased its capital stock about 15.9 billion shares.

Francia said the next step would be a private placement of 4 billion shares to GIC Private Ltd. slated in the first quarter.