CREIT’s green bond issuance gets PRS Aa rating

MANILA, Philippines — Citicore Energy REIT Corp. (CREIT)’s proposed P3 billion green bond issuance, with an oversubscription option of up to P1.5 billion, has secured an issue credit rating of PRS Aa plus with a stable outlook from the Philippine Rating Services Corp.

Obligations rated PRS Aa are of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.

PhilRatings said CREIT’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is very strong.

A stable outlook, on the other hand, indicates that the rating is likely to be maintained or to remain unchanged in the next 12 months.

PhilRatings also assigned an issuer credit rating of PRS Aa plus (corp.), with a stable outlook, to CREIT.

It said an issuer credit rating is an opinion on the general and overall creditworthiness of the company, evaluating its ability to meet all its financial obligations within a time horizon of one year.

“A company rated PRS Aa (corp.) differs from the highest rated corporates only to a small degree, and has a strong capacity to meet its financial commitments relative to that of other Philippine corporates,” PhilRatings said.

PhilRatings said the ratings and corresponding outlook take into account CREIT’s unique portfolio of renewable energy REIT assets that enjoy stable full occupancy from lessees with cycle-resilient operations, the company’s reputable sponsors, strong profitability with high margins, and sound financial position and significant flexibility for expansion.

CREIT, the commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) platform of the Citicore Group, is the first and only energy-focused REIT in the Philippines.

CREIT hopes to raise up to P4.5 billion from the issuance of ASEAN green bonds.

Proceeds from the green bond offering will be used for the acquisition of multiple operating solar rooftop systems and various real estate properties suitable for utility scale solar power plants.

ASEAN green bonds refer to bonds that comply with the ASEAN green bonds standards, where the proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible green projects.

Eligible green projects include those for renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution prevention and control, environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use, clean transportation, climate change adaptation and green buildings.