Ayala scales up RE bid with new holding firm

The Ayala group yesterday announced it was restructuring its energy business with the creation of a holding company named AC Renewables Inc.

In a statement, Ayala Corp. said the restructuring would also result in the renaming to ACE Thermal Inc. of their holding firm related to conventional power projects.

While all of the group’s renewable energy assets will be transferred to AC Renewables, Ayala will retain AC Energy as its umbrella brand for both renewable and thermal platforms.

“AC Energy has scaled up rapidly over the last five years, and we believe that having these two exciting platforms will enable focused strategies and accelerate our growth,” AC Energy chair Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a statement.

Eric Francia, chief executive of AC Energy, said in an interview the restructuring showed the Ayala group’s awareness that the two segments of the energy market were “two distinct businesses that attract different types of investors.”

“This move therefore provides AC Energy a sharper proposition and greater flexibility in the event that we broaden our investor base for our platforms,” Francia said.

“We are looking to expand [our business] internationally,” he added. “We are very active in business development particularly in the markets of Vietnam and Indonesia.”

In 2016, AC Energy began to expand regionally with its first two investments in Indonesia: Sidrap wind and Salak-Darajat geothermal plants.

The company also expects to make investments in Vietnam this year to further expand its footprint in Southeast Asia.

Also in December, AC Energy affiliate GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD)—a partnership with Therma Power and Power Partners—secured financing for the second 668-megawatt (MW) unit of its critical coal-fired power plant in Dinginin, Bataan.

The estimated project cost of the GNPD Project was pegged at $1.7 billion, with the debt component to be provided by Philippine banks.

The secured financing for the GNPD project brought AC Energy’s attributable capacity to over 1,600 MW.

Aside from the projects in Indonesia, AC Energy’s renewable energy projects include the 81-MW wind farm in Ilocos Sur, 52-MW wind farm in Ilocos Norte, and 18-MW solar farm in Negros Oriental.