ACEN to hike public float to 18.73%

By Myrna M. Velasco – December 15, 2021, 3:10 PM
from Manila Bulletin

Ayala energy firm ACEN Corporation has secured the nod of its stockholders for the issuance of 1.4 billion primary shares to its partners in UPC Renewables and the founders of Northwind Power Development Corporation, hiking the company’s public float to 18.73 percent from 15.9 percent.

During the company’s special stockholders’ meeting, ACEN President and CEO Eric T. Francia noted that “the issuance of shares to UPC Philippines principals, the UPC Australia principals and the Northwind minorities will help ACEN increase its public float from 15.9-percent today to around 18.73-percent after all of these share issuances.”

Francia said the company will be issuing a total of 1.4 billion shares to the UPC principals in the Philippines and Australia plus the minority shareholders of Northwind; and that will “bring ACEN’s total outstanding stocks to approximately 39.6 billion shares.”

Francia explained the shares issuance “will result in minimal dilution to the existing stockholders of ACEN and will increase the public float of ACEN as a result by around 3.0 percentage points.”

Following that, the ownership of the Ayala energy firm’s parent – AC Energy and Infrastructure Corporation – will go down to 62.48-percent, while its partner, GIC Private Limited of Singapore, will be reduced to 16.87-percent from currently at 17.5-percent.

Francia similarly stated “the pricing of the shares was pegged to the market price at the time the terms of sale were agreed; and this serves as the base price for the subscription.”

He qualified that “the number of shares to be subscribed were fixed but the price per share may still be adjusted in line with market conditions.”

Francia emphasized “as to the Northwind share price, we already signed the subscription agreement and fixed the subscription price at the base price, so it will not be subjected to any further adjustment,” with him adding that “the price was similarly pegged to the market price at the time that the ACEN Board approval was obtained for the transaction.”

On stockholders’ question in relation to ACEN’s compliance to the minimum 20-percent public float requirement to remain at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index, Francia indicated “we do have some time to plan for this,” and he assured that this will be unveiled in due course.

“We do note that this is still short of the minimum 20-percent public float that we have to meet by December 2022 for ACEN to remain in the PSE index. Right now, there is no imminent plan to do any further public offerings, but we obviously intend to work in meeting the public float requirement sooner rather than later,” he stressed.

The power generation business arm of the Ayala group is also pursuing rebranding as “ACEN Corporation” — and that is fundamentally anchored on the ticker symbol for its stocks trading at the local bourse.

“It is an opportune time for the company to have standalone brand and identity while maintaining the values and fundamentals of Ayala,” Francia said.

For their corporate rebranding, he intimated that this “is the shorthand for AC Energy and currently the company’s ticker symbol. ACEN exudes the challenger’s spirit that is principled and bold; sharp and adaptable; disruptive and unconventional; and relentless and persevering.”

The Ayala energy executive asserted that relative to its newly differentiated corporate identity, “we know the energy transition will be fraught with challenges, volatility and uncertainty as we are already seeing and experiencing at present.”

Nevertheless, he conveyed that “amidst this backdrop, ACEN is leading the charge in the renewables revolution across Asia and the Pacific. This is the spirit of the ACEN brand.”

ACEN Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala chronicled that 2021 “has been another challenging year to say the least, but successful execution of the vaccination program all over the country brings us hope that we may be seeing an end to the pandemic.”

Still, he recounted that “the lessons learned from this experience of resilience, compassion and commitment, collaboration and gratitude will sustain us as we face the challenge of rebuilding a better normal.”