ACEN secures $150 million loan to fuel APAC expansion

MANILA, Philippines —  The listed energy platform of the Ayala Group has borrowed $150 million from international banks to ramp up its renewable energy (RE) portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region.

ACEN Corp., through its subsidiary, ACEN Renewables International Pte Ltd., signed a five-year syndicated green term loan and revolving credit facility with a consortium of foreign banks led by Taiwan’s CTBC Bank Group.

CTBC Bank (Philippines) Corp. and CTBC Bank Co. Ltd., which acted as structuring bank and arranger, respectively, teamed up with the Singapore branches of CTBC Bank, Malayan Banking Berhad, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank Ltd., Land Bank of Taiwan and Mega International Commercial Bank Co. Ltd.

CTBC Singapore branch head of corporate banking Sunny Sng said the $100 million green loan facility was oversubscribed and closed at $150 million, following warm support from international financial institutions.

ACEN group treasurer Cecilia Cruzabra said the transaction demonstrated foreign banks’ “strong confidence” in the company’s pipeline of RE projects in the Philippines and abroad.

“We are thankful to the lenders for their trust as we strategically head towards our goal of reaching 20 GW (gigawatts) by 2030,” Cruzabra said.

Currently, ACEN has around 4.8 GW of attributable RE capacity in operation and under construction, on top of the recently signed agreements and competitive tenders worth over one GW.

“Our introduction of ACEN to the Taiwan investors last year has indeed paved the way for this much-awaited transaction, which we are truly honored to have successfully arranged,” CTBC Bank Philippines senior vice president of institutional banking group Mike Albotra said.

The latest credit facility followed the AU$150 million green term loan secured by ACEN from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp. in February.