AC Energy Closing in on $1 Billion Deal for Renewables

AYALA CORPORATION’S POWER ARM AC ENERGY IS LOOKING FORWARD TO CLOSE A FINANCIAL DEAL WORTH $1 BILLION FOR RENEWABLE POWER PROJECTS FOR THE NEXT 12-18 MONTHS.

The planned project will have a capacity of around 800 MW and will be located in Australia, Vietnam, and Philippines.

“In Australia, we are hoping to get financial close for the first half of our 700-MW solar project, so call it 350 MW. For Vietnam, I think we are hoping to do another, probably around 400 to 500 MW of wind. We are also hoping to do in the Philippines over 100 MW of solar. All in all, that’s about 800 MW that we’re hoping to reach financial close in the next 12 to 18 months across these three markets,” AC Energy President Eric Francia was quoted in a report.

However, Francia clarified that from the $ 1 billion investment, debt could amount to over $ 600 to $ 700 million.

“Not all of that is equity, there’s debt too. Approximately, debt is over $600 million to $700 million and equity is $300 [million]to $400 million. A lot of the equity from the green bond can go there,” said Francia.

Around $410 million worth of green bonds were already raised, he said.

The firm said its green bond framework has well-defined guidelines on the use of funds for renewable energy projects and comprehensive monitoring and reporting commitments.

“Once we are successful in deploying that, I can argue that it would be the primary use of the green bonds. Those 800 MW will basically account for majority, if not all the green bond usage. The green bond can also finance some of the past green projects,” he said.

The firm has a 50-percent stake in UPC Renewables in Australia, which is developing the 1,000-MW Robbins Island and Jims Plain wind projects in North West Tasmania and the 600-MW New England Solar Farm located near Uralla in New South Wales.

AC Energy also acquired a 25-percent stake in Singapore-based Blue Circle Pte. Ltd last November. They will jointly develop, construct, own and operate around 1,500 MW of wind projects across Southeast Asia, primarily Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.

AC Energy and Blue Circle will begin with 100 to 200 MW of wind projects in Vietnam where the Singapore-based firm has 700 MW of wind power projects.

AC Energy also formed a platform company with AMI Renewables to build renewable plants in Vietnam, such as the 352-MW Quang Binh wind projecthttps://www.facebook.com/asiasenergyplatform.