Aboitiz group to raise P40 B from debt sale

MANILA, Philippines - Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. plans to raise at least P39.5 billion ($900 million) from debt sales this year to fund capital expenditures and refinance maturing debt, a company official said yesterday.

The group’s power arm, Aboitiz Power Corp., is considering a P17-billion debt issue to fund a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant project in Subic Bay, northwest of Manila, said Stephen Paradies, company chief finance officer.

Another 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the southern province of Davao would also require about P17 billion, with the group considering a debt sale with maturity of possibly 12 years.

Aboitiz Power (AP) would also seek to raise a separate P3.4 billion for debt refinancing.

“AP is looking to raise cash now to prepare us for some of the maturities that are coming up next year,” Paradies told reporters on the sidelines of the listing of the company’s P3 billion of one-year and three-year fixed rate notes.

“These are all going to be fixed-rate notes,” Paradies said.

The group’s unlisted food units, Pilmico Foods Corp. and Pilmico Animal Nutrition Corp., were expected to raise P2.1 billion by April for expansion projects, he said.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has been tapped to arrange Pilmico’s debt offer, which was likely to have a maturity of five to seven years, he said.

The Subic coal project will be developed by a unit of Aboitiz Power, Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy), its joint venture with Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.

Construction of the group’s two coal-fired power plants was expected to take about three years, Paradies said.