CREIT taps capital markets in bid to fund real estate acquisitions

MANILA, Philippines — Citicore Energy REIT Corp. is looking to issue green bonds in a bid to fund real estate acquisitions, a first for the company. 

In a disclosure sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the renewable energy real estate investment trust said they are looking to issue ASEAN Green Bonds in a bid to raise P3 billion. This would enable the company to acquire solar rooftops and 500 hectares of land for leasing to solar power developers. 

The rooftops and land acquisition fall squarely with Citicore Power Inc.’s green financing framework. Likewise, proceeds bagged from this specific bond offering are stipulated to be used solely to finance or refinance green projects, complying with ASEAN Green Bonds standards. 

“We want to fast-track this initiative to facilitate our growth trajectory, as disclosed in the REIT Plan, at the same time keep our borrowing costs at manageable levels, considering the continued pressure on global interest rates,” said Oliver Tan, president and chief executive of CREIT. 

The bond offering, which is part of CREIT’s program to hit a minimum leverage level of 35% of invested capital, has an oversubscription allotment of P1.5 billion. 

“The success of this acquisition will pave the way for more future acquisitions of real estate properties ideal for utility scale solar plants, thus cementing CREIT as the largest renewable energy REIT landlord in the Philippines,” he added.

That said, Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. is looking to fatten its renewables portfolio by introducing hyro and wind. CREIT’s sponsor is planning to a project pipeline of 1,500 MWdc in the next five years. 

Shares at CREIT closed up 1.36% at P2.23 at the end of trading on Tuesday.