Ayala power unit plans to raise P30 billion this year

MANILA, Philippines — AC Energy Corp. is eyeing to raise up to P30 billion from its planned capital raising activities this year, which will be used mainly to bankroll various project developments to meet its renewable target of five gigawatts (GW) by 2025.

In a virtual briefing yesterday, ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said the company would conduct a number of capital raising activities this year following the completion of its stock rights offer (SRO), where it raised nearly P5.4 billion last month.

These include the issuance of shares to an affiliate of Singapore state fund GIC Private Ltd. within the first quarter, conduct a follow-on offering (FOO) in the middle of the year, and conduct a secondary share to GIC toward the end of the year.

“I expect to raise up to P30 billion from the stock rights offer, private placement, and follow on offering,” Francia said, adding that “that’s the cash that’s going to be available to us and therefore we do have plans of deploying this amount focused on renewable energy projects.”

Earlier, ACEN’s board approved the investment of GIC affiliate Arran Investment Pte Ltd. through the subscription of four billion primary shares via a private placement and purchase of secondary shares from parent AC Energy and Infrastructure Corp. (ACEIC).

Francia said the private placement of four billion primary shares to Arran is targeted within the first quarter while the secondary share component would “come toward the end of the year.”

“ACEIC is expected to sell additional shares to GIC so that GIC would end up with 17.5 percent ownership stake in ACEN,” he said.

For the FOO, Francia said the company still has no final amount on the size. “We still plan to do that by middle of this year, that’s mostly going to be the issuance of primary shares,” he said.