MANILA, Philippines — Saavedra-led Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) plans to tap the green bond market next year, stepping on the gas to become one of the largest power producers in the country.
The company will issue green bonds “most likely next year,” CREC president and CEO Oliver Tan said.
He said the issuance would depend on interest rate conditions, as “we would want to wait for a cut (or) for rates to go down.”
A green bond is a debt security where proceeds will be exclusively used to finance or refinance new and existing eligible green projects.
The company’s goal is to contribute around one gigawatt (GW) of ready-to-build and under-construction solar energy capacity to the Philippine energy mix per year until 2028.
CREC debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange last Friday, successfully raising P5.3 billion and making it the country’s second initial public offering (IPO) this year.
The firm’s listing is one of its biggest fundraising initiatives, following a landmark mezzanine loan facility with Pentagreen Capital in 2023 and the sale of its shares in Citicore Energy REIT Corp. (CREIT) in March.
“The IPO proceeds, together with the sale of CREIT shares to SM (Investments), will fund the capital expenditures of our second batch of GW of new solar, which we intend to start construction next year,” Oliver said.
“With this new equity, CREC will have an expanded balance sheet, thereby enabling it to potentially issue green bonds to further fund the third batch (of) GW of the solar plant,” he said.
With the target operation of new solar energy capacities, Oliver said a stock rights offering (SRO) is not foreseeable in the near future.
The investments secured by CREC powered its ability to develop and increase its green energy portfolio, he said.
An SRO is capital-raising activity that gives the existing shareholders of a publicly listed company the right to buy additional shares, usually at a discounted price.
CREC, a pure-play renewable energy platform focused on and committed to the development of clean energy projects, has a portfolio of 10 operating solar assets with a combined installed capacity of 285.1 megawatts (MW).
It also has a gross installed capacity pipeline of 6,466 MW in solar power generation, 812.5 MW in onshore wind power generation and 3.1 GW in offshore wind generation capacities in various stages of development.