AC Energy to pursue more RE projects

MANILA, Philippines — AC Energy Corp. (ACEN) is pursuing the development of more renewable energy (RE) projects – particularly solar and wind – in the country after raising nearly P5.4 billion from its stock rights offering (SRO) last week.

During the listing ceremony at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday, ACEN chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala said the company raised over P5.37 billion from the SRO, strengthening the company’s balance sheet to meet its 5,000-megawatt (MW) capacity goal by 2025.

“The tripling of ACEN’s balance sheet would pave the way for rapid expansion of its renewable business across the region, while also allowing us to make more sustainable investments that are certainly needed and welcomed during these challenging times,” he said.

From Jan. 18 to 22, ACEN’s SRO was fully subscribed and paid, with a total of 2.27 billion  common shares sold to eligible stockholders of record as of Jan. 13 at P2.37 per share.

The firm sold 2.09 billion  common shares in the first round and 172.68 million  common shares in the second round.

PSE president Ramon Monzon said the successful SRO, which generated strong demand, “speaks of the confidence in ACEN’s vision and strategic direction.”

“I am pleased that PSE is able to support this undertaking as funds raised in the funds offer will be primarily used for at least four solar projects in Luzon, one wind project, and a renewable energy laboratory,” he said.

“For shareholders, another exciting development is that with the integration of AC Energy International’s projects in ACEN, the company’s footprint will expand in Indonesia and Vietnam where there are operating projects which are all renewables, as well as in India, Myanmar and Australia,” Monzon said.

The PSE official also lauded the Ayala firm for consistently adhering to good corporate governance practices, particularly in investor protection.

Monzon said the consolidation of AC Energy Inc.’s international business and assets into ACEN through assets for share swap, where the company issued nearly 16.7 billion ACEN shares to AC Energy, diluted minority shareholders.

“To address this dilution, AC Energy purposely did not participate in the SRO in order to provide minority shareholders max availability of rights shares which are also priced at P2.37 per share. With such an attractive price, it’s no wonder that ACEN’s minority shareholders took up all the rights offer to them,” he said.

ACEN aims to hit 5,000 megawatts capacity by 2025 in line with the country’s ambitious national target to reach 35 percent share of renewables by 2030.

“We are encouraged with the continuing development of the renewable space in several key enabling policies that will help increase investments in new and clean energy,” Zobel said.

“Moving forward, we’re excited of the forthcoming integration of AC Energy’s international assets into a unified platform under ACEN. This would put us in an excellent position to reach our goal of 5,000 MW of renewables capacity by 2025 and be southeast Asia’s largest listed renewables platform,” he said.

ACEN’s goal is also in line with PSE’s advocacy of supporting sustainability reporting and discussing relevant topics such as climate neutrality. This as the country’s bourse became a member of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges in 2019.

“I’m glad that listed company’s like ACEN pursue business that directly address sustainable development goals (SDGs). In ACEN’s case, by opting to expand its energy portfolio through renewable sources, it contributes to affordable and clean energy, which is SDG 7 and climate action which SDG 13,” Monzon said.

ACEN, the energy platform of Ayala Corp., is one of the fastest growing energy companies with over $1 billion of invested and committed equity in renewable and thermal energy in the Philippines and around the region.