MANILA -ACEN Corp., led by Ayala, has secured a 10 billion peso loan to finance its aggressive renewable energy expansion in the Asia-Pacific region as it races to meet its 2030 target.
In a stock market statement on Thursday, ACEN, the Ayala Group’s listed energy platform, said the term loan facility was part of its 32 billion peso fundraising plan first announced in March.
Around this time, ACEN President and CEO John Eric Francia unveiled the company’s goal to expand its renewable energy portfolio to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, up from 4.4 GW currently.
Forty percent of the total 4.4 GW, or about 1.7 GW, is covered by its local facilities, and the remaining 60 percent comes from companies in Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia.
The company also borrowed around P8 billion from China Banking Corp in May. (Chinabank) and the Japanese group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) to support its expansion.
ACEN’s board had approved a 5 billion peso loan from Chinabank, while the remaining 3 billion pesos came from MUFG.
ACEN’s chief financial officer and treasurer, Cora Dizon, told reporters earlier that the company plans to borrow about 30 billion pesos this year to finance the development of cleaner energy projects.
ACEN currently has 1.1 GW of renewable energy projects under construction. Francia said about 800 megawatts is expected to begin commercial operations by the first quarter of next year.
“We expect the Philippines to remain our biggest market,” Francia said, adding that they want to increase the country’s renewable capacity to 8 GW by the end of the decade.
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