Aboitiz Power raises P3B from bond offer

Aboitiz Power Corp. yesterday said that fixed-income trading platform Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) has approved the listing of its 10-year bonds worth P3 billion, which is the first tranche of a regulator-approved package of P30 billion.

The power generator said in a statement this paved the way for the secondary market trading of the bonds, which bear a fixed interest rate of 5.3367 percent a year and will mature on July 3, 2027.

This is related to Aboitiz Power’s public offer of fixed-rate bonds up to a total of P30 billion, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved last June 19.

“The remaining balance of the P30 bonds will be lodged under shelf registration and may be raised in future tranches,” the company said. The shelf registration window of the SEC allows issuers to register and sell under the same prospectus and other regulatory filing requirements a certain volume of securities that the company does not intend to use up right away. In the event that the oversubscription option is not fully exercised, the unused portion will be made part of the remaining bonds in the shelf to be used within a three-year period.

Earlier, Aboitiz Power said the first tranche was equivalent to P2 billion, with an oversubscription option of another P1 billion.

The company said proceeds from the retail bonds would be used to finance potential acquisitions, future investments and other general corporate requirements.

In the first quarter of 2017, Aboitiz Power reported a 13-percent year-on-year drop in its consolidated net income to P4.4 billion.

However, the company also saw a 4-percent year-on-year rise in first-quarter core net income to P5 billion from P4.8 billion in 2016.

The company said increased interest expense and depreciation narrowed the growth rate in core net income.

The group’s power-generation business recorded a 14-percent jump in Ebitda to P9.2 billion from P8.1 billion previously.

According to Liza Montelibano, chief finance officer of Aboitiz Power, the firm’s net sellable annual capacity was close to its target of 3,000 megawatts. “We were at [around] 2,567 before we acquired GN (Power), and then Mariveles was 600 megawatts. We partly own it (Mariveles) so including that, we are close to 3,000 (MW). I think its 2,967 (MW) to be exact,” Montelibano said.

The company’s new projects for 2019 and 2020 include the 1,336-MW Dinginin power plant and the 600-MW Redondo Peninsula Energy in partnership with Meralco Power Gen (MGen).

For infrastructure, AEV plans to start its bulk water project in Davao city by the end of this year. The expansion program for its cement venture, on the other hand, will cost $300-350-million to be spent over two to three years starting 2017.

“Our target is to grow by around three million tons in total. We [have] roughly around seven million annual capacity,” Lozano said. —WITH A REPORT FROM Odelinne Jan Lina