Ayala energy firm to borrow $352M for global expansion

MANILA  -A unit of Ayala-led power developer ACEN Corp. is raising $352 million via debt deals to support its aggressive international expansion as it races to reach its renewable energy targets by the end of the decade.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Thursday, ACEN, the listed energy platform of the Ayala group, said the funds would be raised by its offshore investment holding firm, ACEN Cayman.

The company likewise said it had invested $70 million in its international units, ACEN International Inc. and ACEN Renewables Pte. Ltd.

ACEN has been accelerating the rollout of its expansion plans since announcing earlier this year its goal of reaching 20 gigawatts (GW) in clean energy capacity by 2030 in line with its net-zero carbon emissions goal.

So far, the company has around 4.3 GW of capacity from its facilities in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia and India, with a renewable energy share of 98 percent.

Ramping up

As they were currently still at the 20-percent mark of this goal, ACEN president and chief executive officer John Eric Francia said they sought to hasten the development of new clean energy capacity from 1 GW to 2 GW annually.

According to him, bilateral loans and preferred share issuance will be tapped to fund the 16-GW incremental clean energy capacity requirement.

ACEN’s expansion to the United States began this year, following its acquisition of eight wind projects in Texas with a total capacity of 138 megawatts (MW).

As for Southeast Asia, ACEN recently disclosed that it had completed the first phase of its acquisition of Super Energy Corp. plc, a Vietnam-based company that operates 837 MW of solar projects.

The three remaining phases are expected to be completed within the year, with a total transaction value of $165 million.

Francia revealed earlier that they would earmark P70 billion in capital expenditures this year to accelerate the development of their renewable energy projects.

READ:

ACEN Q1 profit up fivefold on higher power output

ACEN to spend P70B this year to support clean energy ambition