Ayala’s ACEN pours P875M more into land acquisition unit

Ayala-led ACEN Corp. is investing P875 million in its subsidiary Buendia Christiana Holdings Corp. (BCHC). The company is scouting for land assets for the group’s future energy projects.

In a disclosure on Thursday, the firm said both parties inked an agreement for the subscription of an additional 875,000 common shares and 7.87 million redeemable preferred shares, priced at P100 apiece.

ACEN said these will be drawn from the authorized capital stock of BCHC, which serves as the group’s special vehicle for land acquisition.

New funds from this transaction would be tapped “to acquire additional parcels of land for the ACEN group’s various potential power projects,” according to the filing.

Last March, ACEN made the same move of hiking its investment in BCHC by acquiring additional shares worth P660 million.

The company has been aggressive in its renewable energy deployment as it aims to grow its portfolio to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2030.

By the end of this year, it expects to fire up an additional 1,200 megawatts (MW) of new capacity.

Two of the major projects scheduled for activation are the 520-MW Stubbo Solar facility in Australia and the 146-MW Monsoon Wind in Laos.

Currently, ACEN has a clean energy portfolio of 7,000 MW—with 3,600 MW activated and 2.6 GW of assets under development in the Philippines and abroad.

Overseas, ACEN is operating renewables facilities in Australia, Vietnam, India, Laos and Indonesia.

ACEN was confident of boosting its capacity as it has been securing the support of major financial institutions here and abroad.

Just this year alone, ACEN raised 750 million Australian dollars from a group of 11 Australian and international banks. It also inked a 50-million euro loan agreement with Dutch lender ING Bank to fund its expansion plans.

Another fundraising activity that would strengthen its financial muscle is its planned P30-billion stock rights offering, which ACEN hopes to complete by September.