Source: BusinessWorld
27 November 2020 – AC Energy and Infrastructure Corp. has raised $300 million from its green bond issuance, its parent firm Ayala Corp. said in a regulatory filing on Friday, marking the country’s first fixed-for-life perpetual bond offering in about a year.
“We are very pleased to see the high level of investor confidence in AC Energy and the strong market response to our perpetual green bond, following our maiden green bond in 2019,” AC Energy CEO and President Eric T. Francia said in a statement.
The green bonds were priced at 5.1%, some 30 basis points tighter than the initial price guidance, AC Energy said, adding that the final book order volume went over $1.3 billion, around 4.33 times higher than the starting issue size.
“We believe that this will power AC Energy in its pursuit to scale up renewable investments in the region as we continue the transition to a low carbon portfolio,” Mr. Francia said.
Ayala Corp. said the green bonds of its energy platform AC Energy are the first public green bonds out of the Philippines in 2020. They were issued by the unit’s wholly owned subsidiary AC Energy Finance International Ltd. under its $2-billion medium-term note program.
The bonds were certified by the Securities and Exchange Commission as ASEAN Green Bonds on Nov. 18.
The issuance’s net proceeds will be used to finance AC Energy’s ongoing tender offer for its 5.65%, $400-million senior perpetual notes callable in December 2022. Part of the proceeds will be used to fund the company’s green energy projects.
BPI Capital Corp. was the sole global coordinator for the transaction, and a joint lead manager and joint bookrunner along with Credit Suisse (Hong Kong) Ltd., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., and UBS AG Singapore Branch.
China Bank Capital Corp., First Metro Investment Corp. and RCBC Capital Corp. participated in the issuance as the domestic lead managers.
On Friday, shares in AC Energy’s parent Ayala Corp. inched down by 0.12% to close at P823.50 apiece.
