Pertamina seals $120 million buy-in of Citicore

MANILA, Philippines — Indonesian power giant Pertamina has completed its acquisition of a 20-percent stake in tycoon Edgar Saavedra’s Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) for $120 million.

Pertamina, through Pertamina New & Renewable Energy (Pertamina NRE), and CREC signed a share subscription agreement involving about 2.23 billion common shares.

The deal’s closing, witnessed by Energy Assistant Secretary Mylene Capongcol, will pave the way for potential collaborations in developing green projects in the Philippines and Indonesia.

These projects encompass solar and wind technologies, along with partnerships focused on carbon credit development and trading.

“To be a first-world Philippines powered by pure renewable energy (RE), we must seek every opportunity to collaborate with the government as well as peers in the industry and beyond our borders,” CREC president and CEO Oliver Tan said.

“With Pertamina NRE, we can view the energy transition through a different lens and create responsive, collaborative solutions for clean energy in the Philippines and Indonesia,” Tan said.

The entry of Pertamina is expected to accelerate the development of CREC’s extensive pipeline of RE projects across the Philippines while setting the stage for potential expansion across Southeast Asia.

Currently, the Citicore Group operates solar assets with an aggregate capacity of 287 megawatts and aims to reach five gigawatts of renewables capacity by 2028.

The multimillion-dollar deal marks Pertamina NRE’s first-ever investment in the country’s emerging clean energy market.

“Our partnership with Citicore, with their expertise and experience in RE development, is a way to elevate our capability in RE development, as well as a big step in accelerating our clean energy goals,” Pertamina NRE CEO John Anis said.

Pertamina NRE, which leads the RE transition in Indonesia, is dedicated to supporting CREC and the Philippines with its “expertise, technology and best practices,” Anis said.

Under the Philippine Energy Plan, the country aims to expand the share of renewables in the energy mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040 from the current 22 percent.

“A heightened level of cooperation between our countries offers potential benefits across economic, environmental and geopolitical dimensions through collaboration on energy transition and renewable energy,” Capongcol said.