AC Energy infuses P2.5 B into Ilocos wind farm unit

MANILA, Philippines — Listed AC Energy Philippines Inc. is infusing over P2.5 billion in its subsidiary to acquire an 81-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, AC Energy Philippines said it signed a subscription agreement with wholly owned subsidiary Giga Ace 1 Inc. to subscribe to the latter’s capital raising activity.

Under the deal, AC Energy Philippines will subscribe to 75,000 common shares to be issued out of the unissued authorized capital stock, and 43.07 million common shares and 53.56 million class A redeemable preferred shares to be issued out of the increase in capital of Giga Ace 1.

This will allow Giga Ace 1 to acquire the ownership interest of the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (PINAI) Investors in Philippine Wind Holdings Corp. (PhilWind), which directly and indirectly owns 67 percent of North Luzon Renewables Energy Corp.

NLREC, meanwhile, owns and operates an 81-MW wind farm in Pagudpud,

“The subscription will be used by Giga Ace 1 to fund its acquisition of the ownership interest of the Government Service Insurance System, Langoer Investments Holding B.V. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte Limited (the PINAI Investors) in Philippine Wind Holdings Corp. (PhilWind), the parent company of NLREC,”  AC Energy Philippines said.

In November last year, AC Energy Philippines signed a deal with PINAI to acquire its stake in NLREC for P2.7 billion.

Under this deal, PINAI will sell all of its shares in Philippine Wind Holdings Corp. (PhilWind) to AC Energy Philippines.

The deal was cleared by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) earlier this month.

NLREC is a joint venture between AC Energy Inc., UPC Philippines, and Luzon Wind Energy Holdings (an affiliate of Mitsubishi Corp.).

“The company will have a 31 percent effective preferred equity ownership and a 15 percent effective common equity ownership in North Luzon Renewables. The company will have the opportunity to earn stable dividend income from the operations of the wind farm,” AC Energy Philippines said.

The acquisition will support ithe group’s strategic objective to be its growth platform.

It will also help meet the company’s goal of achieving two gigawatts of attributable renewable energy capacity by 2025.