Aboitiz Power raising P10 billion via bond offer

MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz Power Corp. launched today a retail bond offer to raise P10 billion to refinance debt and bankroll renewable energy (RE) projects.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, AboitizPower said the Securities and Exchange Commission (ERC) issued the certificate of permit to offer securities for sale.

“The permit allows AboitizPower to issue the third and final tranche of its P30 billion peso-denominated fixed-rate retail bonds registered under the shelf registration program of SEC on March 1, 2021,” the company said.

The third tranche bonds consist of up to P7 billion in principal amount and up to P3 billion in oversubscription.

The offer period commenced today and will end on March 9, with the issuance scheduled on March 17.

AboitizPower will use the proceeds to refinance previously issued bonds, fund the construction of future renewable projects, and other general corporate purposes.

The company recently broke ground on its the 94-megawatt peak (MWp) Cayanga-Bugallon solar project, its second solar facility after its 59-MWp solar plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

With project construction set to begin immediately, the Cayanga-Bugallon solar farm is targeted to be operational by the fourth quarter.

This year, the company will construct up to 600 MW of RE projects all over the country.

For the bond offering, AboitizPower appointed BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp. and First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp. (FMIC) as joint issue managers.

Meanwhile, BDO Capital, ChinaBank Capital, FMIC, and Security Bank Corp. were tapped as joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners.

AboitizPower intends to list the third tranche bonds with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

The third tranche bonds received an issue credit rating of “PRS Aaa,” with a stable outlook, from the Philippine Ratings Services Corp.

PRS Aaa is the highest credit rating on its long-term issue credit rating scale.