ACEN taps P10-B loan to fund 2030 goal

MANILA  -Ayala-led ACEN Corp. has secured a P10-billion loan to fund its aggressive renewable energy expansion across the Asia-Pacific as it races to reach its 2030 goal.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Thursday, ACEN, the listed energy platform of the Ayala group, said the term loan facility was part of its P32-billion fundraising plan first announced in March.

At that time, ACEN president and chief executive John Eric Francia unveiled the company’s goal of expanding its renewable energy portfolio to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from the current 4.4 GW.

Forty percent of the 4.4-GW total, or about 1.7 GW, is covered by its local facilities, and the remaining 60 percent comes from businesses in Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia.

The company also borrowed in May around P8 billion from China Banking Corp. (Chinabank) and Japan-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) to support its expansion.

ACEN’s board of directors had approved a P5-billion loan from Chinabank, while the remaining P3 billion is from MUFG.

ACEN chief financial officer and treasurer Cora Dizon earlier told reporters the company was looking to borrow around P30 billion this year to fund the development of more clean energy projects.

ACEN currently has 1.1 GW of renewable energy projects under construction. Francia said around 800 megawatts were expected to begin commercial operations by the first quarter of next year.

“We expect the Philippines to remain our single largest market,” Francia said, adding that they wanted to increase renewable capacity in the country to 8 GW by the end of the decade.