AboitizPower to issue P12 billion bonds

MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz Power Corp. is planning to issue fixed-rate retail bonds amounting up to P12 billion in the fourth quarter of the year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, the company said it secured board approval to issue the second tranche of the P30 billion bonds registered in March under the shelf registration program of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company board also assigned management to determine the final issue amount, interest rate, offer price, tenors, and other terms and conditions of the bonds.

“Subject to market conditions, the second tranche bonds is expected to be offered to the general public in the fourth quarter of 2021 and shall be listed with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. as and when issued,” AboitizPower said.

In a text message, AboitizPower CFO Liza Luv Montelibano said the proceeds of the second tranche bonds would be used for refinancing, general corporate purposes and/or future renewable projects.

The company plans to double its attributable net sellable capacity to 9,200 megawatts (MW) by 2030, of which 4,600 MW will come from various renewable energy (RE) developments to balance out its renewable and thermal capacities as part of its greener transition.

In the next 10 years, Aboitiz Power plans to spend P190 billion to build 3,700 MW under its Cleanergy portfolio.

So far, the company has already identified 2,900 MW of new RE projects, all in varying stages of development and located primarily in Luzon as of August, AboitizPower president and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said earlier.

From the initial tranche of the shelf registered bonds last March, AboitizPower raised P8 billion, including oversubscription. With a term of five years, the bonds carried an interest rate of 3.8224 percent per annum.

Proceeds from the first issuance were allocated to refinance corporate debts and for other general corporate purposes.

The company has allocated P23 billion this year to complete its coal-fired power plant in Bataan and to finance its entry in the battery storage development.

These projects include the continued construction of 668x2-megawatts (MW) super critical coal-fired power plant of GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. in Bataan, the 49-MW battery energy storage system project of Therma Marine Inc. in Compostela Valley, as well as the 20-MW BESS and 67-MW floating solar projects of SN-Aboitiz Power.