ACEN infusing additional capital to Belenos

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led ACEN Corp. is injecting additional investment of P50 million into a subsidiary to provide financial clout in developing green energy projects.

The listed energy platform of the Ayala Group is planning to subscribe to 50 million redeemable preferred shares of Belenos Energy Corp. at a par value of P1 apiece.

The shares, which represent 6.22 percent of the total outstanding shares of Belenos, will be issued out of the increase in its authorized capital stock, subject to regulatory approvals.

The subscription is “meant to implement Belenos’ investment into a potential renewable energy (RE) project,” the company said.

Upon the deal’s closing, ACEN will own 100 percent of Belenos, a special-purpose vehicle for the group’s development projects in the country.

This followed the signing of contracts in July and August for ACEN’s planned subscription to a total of P548.75 million worth of Belenos shares.

Last December, ACEN subscribed to P22.33 million worth of common shares of Belenos and an additional P200.93 million worth of redeemable preferred shares.

The company wants to quadruple its attributable RE capacity to 20 gigawatts (GW) over the next six years as part of efforts to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia.

At present, it has about 4.8 GW of attributable RE capacity in operation and under construction, on top of the recently signed agreements and competitive tenders worth around two GW.

In the first half, ACEN reported a 49-percent increase in earnings to P6.3 billion from P4.2 billion a year ago due to a 42-percent growth in renewable output.

The energy firm delivered a total attributable RE output of 2,908 GW-hours during the period, 1,015 GWh of which were generated in the Philippines.