AboitizPower eyes green bond issuance next year

MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz Power Corp. is looking to raise capital for its renewable energy projects through the issuance of green bonds next year.

Liza Montelibano, AboitizPower CFO, said the plan is to do the green bond issuance by the end of next year.

“It’s going to be renewables for the next things that we’re going to do. Hope we get to do a green bond before the end of next year,” she said.

ASEAN green bonds refer to bonds and sukuk which comply with the ASEAN green bonds standards, where the proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible green projects.

Eligible green projects include those for renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution prevention and control, environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use, clean transportation, climate change adaptation, and green buildings.

Montelibano said the plan is for Aboitiz Renewables Inc. (ARI) to do the green bond issuance.

ARI primarily holds AboitizPower’s investments and interests in various renewable energy projects, including geothermal, large hydro, run-of-river hydro, and solar projects.

Its renewable energy portfolio, in operation as of end February consisted of net sellable capacity, of approximately 1,249.17 megawatts (MW), divided into 46.80 MW of solar, 912.37 MW of hydro, and 290 MW of geothermal.

ARI is actively developing more solar, wind, hydro, and storage projects as part of AboitizPower’s 10-year strategy of growing its renewable energy capacity, as well as striking a 50:50 balance between its Cleanergy and thermal portfolios.

“If it’s pure renewable, it can be ARI. I can opt to do a small maiden issuance. Normally, if it’s your first time you want to do a small one and then follow it with a big one after that,” she said.

“Nowadays, when people do a maiden shelf (registration) its about P3 billion. That’s the smallest. So it can be P3 billion at first, which we can follow with a bigger one,” Montelibano said.

AboitizPower targets to spend around P190 billion over the next decade for an additional 3,700 MW of renewable energy, growing its capacities to 4,600 MW or three times the company’s current renewables portfolio by 2030.