ACEN boosts capital to $1 B after raising new $400-M green bonds
By Myrna M. Velasco – September 12, 2021, 7:20 AM
from Manila Bulletin
Ayala-led AC Energy Corporation (ACEN) has built up its fresh capital flow to US$1.0 billion, after raising US$400 million new proceeds from its green bonds offering.
ACEN Logo
The company said it will use the proceeds of its latest capital raising activity to finance its new renewable energy (RE) ventures; as well as to refinance loan portfolios spent on ongoing and completed projects.
The US$400 million raised by the Ayala energy firm had been via its senior guaranteed undated, non-callable 3.5-year fixed-for-life green bonds; that was undertaken by its subsidiary ACEN Finance Limited.
ACEN emphasized that the green bonds had been offered with a fixed coupon rate of 4.0-percent for life, “with no step-up and no reset, priced at par.”
Cora Dizon, chief finance officer of ACEN, primarily cited the “strong reception to the green bonds from the debt capital markets, despite the challenging macroeconomic backdrop due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” and she considers that as a show of “investors’ strong faith in the company’s fundamentals and their support for our aspiration to reach 5,000 megawatts in renewable attributable capacity by 2025.”
AC Energy’s cash build-up had likewise been propped by its earlier stock rights offering (SRO) that fetched proceeds of P5.4 billion; the follow-on offering (FOO) that brought in additional P10.3 billion; and then the P11.9 billion investment of Arran Investment Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of Singapore wealth fund GIC.
“ACEN has now raised a total of close to US$1.0 billion in fresh capital in 2021, which it can use to fund its goal of 5,000 megawatts in attributable capacity by 2025,” AC Energy stressed.
The Ayala firm reiterated that “the net proceeds from the bonds will be used to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, new or existing eligible green projects in accordance with the company’s green bond framework (GBF).”
In the pipeline of the company’s RE projects are blueprinted solar farm installations, onshore and offshore wind ventures; as well as geothermal energy projects.
As highlighted by AC Energy President and CEO Eric T. Francia, “the success of this fixed-for-life offering highlights the international investor community’s continuing confidence in ACEN and in our strategic objectives.”
He added “this green bond issuance will further empower us to scale up RE investments and achieve our vision of becoming the largest listed renewable energy platform in Southeast Asia.”
