The P10 billion worth of maiden green bond issuance of Ayala-led ACEN Corporation has been oversubscribed by more than eight times, according to the company’s statement to the media.
The bond issuance has a fixed interest rate of 6.0526% per annum; and it has a 5-year tenor that will be due in 2027. This is part of the P30 billion debt securities program registered by the Ayala energy company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“The green bonds were 8.6 times oversubscribed as a result of robust demand for the issuance, with strong participation from leading institutional investors,” the Ayala firm stressed.
The additional project financing it fetched from the capital market will boost Ayala’s capability to concretize its pipelined renewable energy (RE) installations that shall be propped up to a towering 20,000 megawatts in the next eight years.
The Ayala energy firm conveyed that the proceeds from the bond float will bankroll ACEN’s renewable energy projects in the Philippines -- particularly the 283-megawatt dc San Marcelino solar farm in Zambales; the 42-MWdc expansion of the 72-MWdc Arayat-Mexico solar farm installation in Pampanga; and the construction of the 133-MWdc Cagayan solar project in Lal-lo, Cagayan.
As reiterated by ACEN President and CEO Eric T. Francia, “the successful offering will help ACEN realize its vision of reaching 20 GW (gigawatts) of renewables capacity by 2030.”
The green bond offer had been bestowed with PRS Aaa rating by the Philippine Rating Services Corporation (PhilRatings); while Sustainalytics provided a second-party opinion on ACEN’s strong ability to honor loan commitments.
Cora Dizon, chief finance officer and treasurer of ACEN, noted that despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, there had been “enthusiastic take-up of our bonds by the investing community.”
ACEN said its green bonds had been compliant with the ASEAN Green Bond standards, which primarily “require proceeds to be used exclusively for the funding of eligible green projects.”
The joint issue managers for the green bond issue had been BDO Capital & Investment Corporation and BPI Capital Corporation; while the joint lead underwriters and bookrunners for the transaction had been BDO Capital, BPI Capital, RCBC Capital Corporation, and SB Capital & Investment Corporation.