AC Energy, unit cancel share swap deal amid uncertainty
BY LENIE LECTURA – JUNE 6, 2022
from Business Mirror
Citing unfavorable market conditions, AC Energy Corp. (ACEN) said it has cancelled the property-for-share swap deal with its oil and gas exploration unit, ACE Enexor (ENEX).
“The respective Boards of Directors of ACEN and ENEX approved the cancellation of the property-for-share swap between ACEN and ENEX and for this purpose, both companies have signed the corresponding Deed of Cancellation of the Share Swap on the same day,” ACEN said.
The supposed deal involved the issuance of 339,076,058 ENEX shares to ACEN worth P3.4 billion in exchange for ACEN’s interest in Palawan55 Exploration and Production Corp., Bulacan Power Generation Corp. (BPGC), CIP II Power Corp., Ingrid3 Power Corp. (Ingrid3) and One Subic Power Generation Corp. (OSPGC).
Palawan 55 is the operator of Service Contract (SC) 55. BPGC owns and operates a 52MW diesel plant in Norzagaray, Bulacan. Likewise, CIP II owns a diesel plant (21MW) in Bacnotan, La Union. OSPGC, meanwhile, leases 116MW diesel plant in Subic.
Ingrid3 is a development special purpose vehicle for a potential gas power generation project.
The deal would have required a follow-on offering and a stock rights offering, which will be challenging to execute under current market conditions.
“During the past few months, the management teams of ACEN and ENEX have exerted diligent and good faith efforts in planning and mapping out the implementation of the various steps needed to comply with the foregoing requirements. However, this has proven to be very challenging given the economic uncertainties due to the continuing pandemic and exacerbated by the Ukraine-Russia conflict,” it said.
ACEN said it would continue to explore other means to transition the diesel assets and its direct ownership interest in Palawan 55, as ACEN remains committed to attain 100 percent renewable energy generation by 2025.
Meanwhile, ENEX will continue to explore relevant opportunities in energy transition space, including the opportunities under SC 55 as management continues to look for the right partner for this endeavor.
In Arpil, ACEN—the listed energy platform of the Ayala group—announced that it will pour in $200 million to partly fund its newly-formed partnership with ib vogt GmbH of Germany which seeks to build up at least 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy (RE) capacity in the coming years.
ib vogt and ACEN have agreed to set up a platform to fund the construction and operation of large-scale solar power plants throughout Asia. They will focus on late-stage, shovel-ready projects in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, Bangladesh and other countries in the region.
