Singapore fund completes deal to acquire 17.5% of AC Energy
By Alena Mae S. Flores – January 04, 2021 at 07:15 pm
from manilastandard.net
A unit of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund completed the acquisition of a 17.5-percent stake in AC Energy Philippines Inc. for P20 billion.
ACEN said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday that along with parent company AC Energy and Infrastructure Corp., it signed an investment agreement on Dec. 30 with Arran Investment Pte Ltd., an affiliate of GIC Private Ltd. involving a 17.5-percent ownership stake in ACEN.
The ACEN board earlier approved the GIC investment during its meeting on Nov. 11.
“The investment will be implemented through a combination of subscription to 4 billion primary shares (via a private placement) and purchase of secondary shares from AC Energy,” it said.
It said the completion of the subscription by the GIC affiliate to primary shares was subject to conditions, which include the completion by ACEN of its stock rights offering that is expected to occur in the first quarter, and applicable regulatory approvals.
ACEN said the completion of the purchase by the GIC affiliate of secondary shares from AC Energy was also subject to the completion of the infusion of the international business into ACEN by way of a property for shares swap slated in the third quarter, and applicable regulatory approvals.
AlphaPrimus Advisors acted as financial advisor to ACEN and AC Energy for the transaction.
ACEN earlier said the GIC acquisition price represented a 25-percent premium to the board-approved SRO price of P2.37 per share, which is subject to regulatory approval.
The terms of ACEN’s SRO, including the offer price, are subject to approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The ACEN board approved the pricing and volume of the shares that would be issued under the stock rights offering.
ACEN will issue 2,267,580,434 shares at P2.37 apiece subject to the approval by the SEC.
ACEN earlier obtained SEC approval of the increase of its capital stock from P8.4 billion to P24.4 billion, from which ACEN issued 6,185,182,288ACEN shares to ACEI in exchange for shares of stock in select Philippine operating and development companies owned by ACEI.
AC Energy declared a net income of P5.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2020, down from P24.3 billion a year earlier which included gains from the partial divestment of its thermal assets.
The company said the shift to ACEN signifies the forthcoming integration of AC Energy’s onshore and offshore business into a unified platform, as it aspires to become the largest listed renewable platform in
Southeast Asia, with the goal of reaching 5,000 megawatts of renewable capacity by 2025.
AC Energy is the energy platform of the Ayala Group, one of the largest business groups in the Philippines.
