ACEN CFO retiring by year-end, chief strategy officer to take post

MANILA, Philippines — ACEN Corp. has announced the retirement of its chief finance officer Maria Corazon Dizon by year-end, with the company’s chief strategy officer Jonathan Back taking over the position by next year.

Dizon, who has been ACEN’s CFO since May 2019, will retire effective Dec. 31, 2023.

“Her leadership was vital to the company’s strategic pivot to focus on renewable energy, as well as projects and investments outside the Philippines,” ACEN said in disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

ACEN said Dizon was also instrumental in the company’s well-received debt capital market issuances, including its $400 million maiden green bonds and most recently, its P10 billion maiden peso bonds issuance.

With Dizon’s retirement, ACEN’s board of directors has appointed Back as CFO effective Jan. 1, 2024.

Back is a banker and lawyer with over 25 years of experience in the legal, investment banking, and private investment sectors with significant experience in equity capital markets, corporate finance, and in advising on large infrastructure, power, and telecom projects.

Before being appointed as ACEN’s chief strategy officer, he served as a director and executive chairman of BPI International Finance Ltd., the Hong Kong banking subsidiary of Bank of the Philippine Islands and co-head of wealth management and head of international businesses of BPI.

He was also a director of BPI Research & Management SPC, a Cayman fund vehicle, and Schools Relief Initiative Ltd., a Hong Kong based charity supporting education in Southern Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, aside from Back’s appointment, ACEN’s board during a special meeting also approved the issuance of corporate guarantees in support of debt facilities amounting to $352 million to be raised by ACEN Cayman, a subsidiary of the company, to fund its payment obligations

ACEN Cayman was incorporated under Cayman Islands laws in 2016 as a holding company.

ACEN’s board likewise approved a $70 million equity investment inACEN International Inc. and/or ACEN Renewables International Pte. Ltd., which are subsidiaries of the company.

No further details were provided by the company on the items approved.

ACEN is working toward reaching 20 gigawatts of renewables capacity by 2030, making it the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia.

The company currently has about 4,300 megawatts of attributable capacity from owned facilities in the country and abroad, with a renewable share of 98 percent, which is among the highest in the region.