MANILA, Philippines — Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is extending a P1-billion loan to Alternergy Holdings Corp. to partially fund its 28-megawatt (MW) peak solar farm in Hermosa, Bataan.
In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, Alternergy said its subsidiary Solana Solar Alpha Inc. has signed an omnibus loan and security agreement for the P1.4-billion Balsik Solar Power Project.
“The financing from RCBC further advances the ongoing construction of the Balsik Solar Power Project as we aim to complete it by early second half of this year,” Alternergy president Gerry Magbanua said.
RCBC Capital Corp. served as the lead arranger for the transaction, with Picazo Buyco Tan Fider and Santos acting as the lender’s counsel and Tantoco Villanueva & De Guzman Law Offices as the borrower’s counsel.
RCBC executive vice president and institutional banking group head Elizabeth Coronel said the solar facility adds to the growing list of Alternergy projects supported by the bank.
“More importantly, this further solidifies the longtime partnership between Alternergy and RCBC over the past decade and reaffirms our commitment to sustainability,” Coronel said.
Alternergy has secured about P3.65 billion in funding from RCBC to bankroll its several projects in the past 10 years.
In particular, the bank provided project financing for the energy firm’s Pililla wind project in 2014, Kirahon solar farm in 2015 and various commercial rooftop solar projects in 2018.
The parties then signed another P5.33-billion financing agreement last year for Alternergy’s 64-MW wind farm in Quezon, which is subject to financial close.
With robust expansion plans this year and the next, Alternergy intends to develop up to 500 MW worth of additional wind, solar and run-of-river hydro projects across the country.