PCC approves Ayala unit, PINAI share purchase deal

By Lenie Lectura -February 20, 2020
from Business Mirror

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has approved AC Energy Philippines’s (ACEPH) takeover of the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s (PINAI) solar farm in Negros Occidental.

ACEPH said on Wednesday that it received a copy of the PCC’s Decision 05-M-004/2020 dated February 13, which states that the transaction “will not likely result in substantial lessening of competition” and that the commission will “take no further action with respect to the transaction.”

In November last year, ACEPH signed a share purchase agreement with PINAI investors—Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd., Langoer Investments Holding BV, and the Government Service Insurance System—for the acquisition of their ownership interest in San Carlos Solar Energy Inc. (Sacasol).

The deal is worth around P2.77 billion. Based on the agreement, PINAI investors will sell all of their shares of stock in Sacasol to ACEPH under a share purchase agreement.

“Upon the completion of the transaction, (ACEPH) will be able to increase its cash flows from the San Carlos solar power plant. It will also enable (ACEPH) to be in the position to be a major player in the renewable-energy business with the addition of the 45-megawatt Sacasol plant to the company’s existing portfolio of renewable-energy assets,” said ACEPH.

Sacasol is engaged in the business of owning, operating and developing solar power plants. It owns and operates a 45-MW solar farm located in Negros Occidental. The solar farm is operating under the feed-in-tariff (FiT) system.

“(ACEPH) will increase its ownership interest in a generating asset that is operating under the FiT system of the Renewable Energy Act. The acquisition furthers the company’s strategic objective to achieve at least 2 GW of attributable renewable-energy capacity by 2025,” it added.

AC Energy is the energy platform of Ayala, one of the largest business groups in the Philippines. On its web site, the company said it is one of the fastest-growing energy firms with over $1 billion invested and committed equity in renewable and thermal energy in the Philippines and around the region.

The company said it aspires to develop 5 GW of renewables capacity and generate at least 50 percent of energy output from renewables by 2025.