15 October 2018 – AC Energy Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Philippine-listed conglomerate Ayala Corp, has entered into an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with AMI Renewables Energy Joint Stock Co for the development of two solar plants in Vietnam.

According to a disclosure to the Philippines Stock Exchange, the solar plants will be built in the provinces of Khanh Hoa & Dak Lak with a total capacity of 80 megawatts.

This brings the development project to an estimated valuation of US$83 million that will be financed with debt and equity, according to AC Energy.

The company will also maintain a 30 percent voting stake and about 50 percent economic share, which translates to an investment amount exceeding US$40 million.

Indovina Bank of Vietnam and RCBC of the Philippines will provide non-recourse financing for the Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa projects respectively.

“We appreciate the strong commitment of Vietnam government to promote renewables, and the strong support from our banking partners that are providing project finance,” said AC Energy president and CEO Eric T. Francia.

For AC Energy, this marks the second renewable energy platform in Vietnam, having previously forged a partnership with another Vietnam-based firm, BIM Group, to jointly develop over 300 megawatts of solar projects in Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan province in January 2018.

Last year, AC Energy formed a platform company with AMI Renewables to build renewable energy plants in Vietnam, which includes a 352-megawatt wind project in Quang Binh.

“AC Energy is very keen to participate in the fast-growing Vietnam power sector, with pioneering investments in renewable energy,” said Francia.

The Vietnam solar projects are part of AC Energy’s overall goal of expanding beyond the Philippines and growing its presence in Southeast Asian markets. The company aims to exceed 5 gigawatts of attributed capacity and generate at least 50 percent of energy from renewables by 2025.

In related news, AC Energy earlier announced plans to sell as much as 50 percent of its thermal or coal energy assets to raise up to US$1 billion that will finance its regional expansion plans.

AC Energy is the energy platform of Ayala, one of the largest business groups in the Philippines. The company has over US$1 billion of invested and committed equity in renewable & thermal energy in the Philippines and surrounding region.

AC Energy previously announced it was scaling up its international renewable energy platform through its strong investment portfolio that includes 1.2 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity investment in Vietnam, 400 megawatts of wind and geothermal capacity in Indonesia, and 1.7 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity in Australia.

Moving forward, AC Energy also plans to develop another 600 megawatt of solar capacity and 200 megawatts of wind capacity in the Philippines over the next five years.

Source: Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/brandfeatures/venture-capital/article?id=58337