AC Energy to raise up to P16 billion from follow-on offer

MANILA, Philippines — AC Energy Corp. (ACEN) is looking to raise from P12 billion to P16.4 billion from its follow-on offering (FOO) targeted in the middle of the year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, AC Energy said its executive committee approved a price range of P6 to P8.20 per share.

The approval also set a “primary share issuance size of up to two billion shares, with secondary shares to be included as part of the total offering size to be determined at a later date.”

ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia earlier said the FOO is part of the company’s planned capital raising activities this year.

Last month, ACEN completed its stock rights offer of 2.267 billion common shares at P2.37 apiece, raising nearly P5.4 billion.

ACEN is also eyeing to issue four billion shares to Arran Investment Pte Ltd., an affiliate of Singapore state fund GIC Private Ltd., within the first quarter, and conduct a secondary share to the GIC unit by the end of the year.

Last year, ACEN’s board approved the investment of Arran Investment 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), where Arran would end up with a 17.5 percent ownership stake in ACEN.

ACEIC is also expected to infuse its international assets into ACEN in the second half of the year once a third-party study on all the local and international assets is completed.

Francia said the valuation of the Philippine and international platform – to be done by FTI Consulting Philippines– is necessary since both platforms have expanded significantly over the last 12 months.

“We would need to refresh the third-party valuation. We’re targeting to complete that within the first quarter as well. So when we do our FOO, prospective investors will already have a firm idea on the final terms of the infusion,” he said.

These series of capital raising activities will allow ACEN to raise an estimated P30 billion to meet its renewable target of five gigawatts by 2025.

Currently, the international platform has over 900 MW. The local and international business has a combined capacity of 1,350 MW.

ACEN, the energy platform of Ayala Corp., is one of the fastest growing energy companies with over $1 billion of invested and committed equity in renewable and thermal energy in the Philippines and around the region.