ACEN’s P30-B SRO likely by second half of 2026
ACEN Corp. might pursue its P30-billion stock rights offer (SRO) by the second semester, as the group beefs up its investment for 2026.
Eric Francia, the Ayala group unit’s president and CEO, said the company would revisit the plan after shelving it last year. That was due to the revised scheduling of ACEN’s capital expenditures (capex) in Southeast Asia markets.
Officials had previously targeted to launch the SRO by September 2025.
“We’ll revisit it in the middle of the year to assess where we stand in terms of the pace of capex deployment. And then hopefully, we’ll be making a decision maybe in the second quarter on the latest plans for capital raising. But it’s on the table,” Francia told reporters at a recent interview.
Even then, the CEO said ACEN would still review whether the company would keep the earlier plan to raise P30 billion.
“The mix may change depending on the projects that we end up prioritizing for this year,” he added.
For 2026, ACEN intends to spend more than P80 billion to help hit 5,000 megawatt (MW) of operational capacity by yearend. Out of its 7,000-MW target, 4,300 MW is already operational.
Francia said the earmarked capex was higher than 2025’s actual spending that reached P55 billion.
About 75 percent of the investment for 2026 would boost the Philippine operations of the Ayala Group’s listed energy arm. Several solar and wind parks are in the pipeline.
ACEN will also boost its investments in battery energy storage systems (BESS) to complement the expansion of its solar portfolio.
BESS is a technology that allows power producers to store excess electricity and release it when the demand spikes.
While the firm saw its earnings plunge by 78 percent in the first nine months of 2025, Francia was bullish about ACEN’s stronger performance this year. There are more facilities coming online and they have a mid-merit contract with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor.
