Listed firm Aboitiz Power Corporation has secured the approval of the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation (PDEx) for the listing of its P9.55 billion bond issue that had been concluded this week.
“The PDEx approval paves the way for the secondary market trading of the bonds,” the Aboitiz firm has noted.
The offer, which has a principal amount of P6 billion and an oversubscription of P3.55 billion, is the last tranche of its P30-billion debt securities program that was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said the issue was done in two series: one is Series E which is fixed rate bonds due in 2022 with interest rate of 3.125% per annum; and the other is Series F which is fixed rate bonds due in 2025 and with interest rate of 3.935%.
The bonds were issued this July 6; and the offer period had been from June 19 to June 26. The proceeds from this capital-raising activity will be used to reimburse Aboitiz Power’s equity infusions in AA Thermal or its asset-acquisition from the Ayala group; then fund equity infusions into the 1,336-megawatt Dinginin coal-fired power project.
Aboitiz Power is currently at the process of advancing the commercial commissioning of the Dinginin plant, which is its joint venture with the Ayala group.
The first phase of the facility of 668MW capacity was supposed to come on-line middle of this year, but because of the logistical snags caused by the coronavirus pandemic, timelines shifted.
Aboitiz Power said the new target for the GNPower Dinginin plant to be on stream will be first quarter of 2021; while unit 2 of another 668MW capacity will synchronize by the first quarter of 2021 and will commence commercial operations by second quarter of next year.
The power generation investment arm of the Aboitiz conglomerate is one of the biggest players in this segment of the energy sector; and it has a strategic target of building up its portfolio to 4,000 megawatts this year.
Its power capacities are mix of thermal assets and renewable energy technologies – the latter of which are being sold to off-takers as part of the company’s “Cleanergy” brand pitch.
Given the dip in energy demand during the pandemic-linked lockdown in March to May, Aboitiz Power has not also been spared from whip on its financial performance. But with electricity demand already at its recovery pace, the company is eyeing that it could still bounce back from the pummeled earnings at the height of the health crisis.