ACEN Receives Green Outlook

AC Energy Corporation's (ACEN) proposed debut Peso Green Bond offering of up to 10.0 billion pesos has received a PRS Aaa issue credit rating from Philippine Rating Services Corporation (PhilRatings).

Photo Insert: ACEN is the Ayala Group's publicly traded energy platform.

The outlook for the rating is stable which indicates that the rating will most likely remain unchanged during the next 12 months.

The bonds are designed to meet the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, which demand that revenues be utilized solely to fund qualifying green initiatives.

ACEN is the Ayala Group's publicly traded energy platform. The company has witnessed a remarkable turnaround since AC Energy and Infrastructure Corporation’s (ACEIC) acquired a majority stake, with an aim to establish an all-renewables generation portfolio by 2025.

ACEN had a total net attributable capacity of 3,885 MW as of June 28, 2022, with 87 percent of its current capacity being renewable.

ACEN's performance improved as its revenue from power sales increased by 60.7 percent, from 16.10 billion in 2019 to 25.88 billion in 2021. The net income margin also increased from 4.8 percent in 2019 to 29.4 percent in 2021.

However, the company's net income fell to 752.45 million in the first three months of 2022. This was ascribed to higher purchased power costs due to high spot market pricing during the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation (SLTEC) thermal plant's large preventative maintenance outage. Despite the capital-intensive nature of operations, ACEN's capital structure is sound, with leverage at conservative levels. The debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio was at 0.4x as of end-March 2022, indicating more than enough room for future borrowings if needed, including the projected issuance.

ACEN is expanding its renewable energy (RE) platform and current collaborations, with a robust 18,000-MW pipeline of RE projects in various stages of development across the region. The development of these projects is designed to assist the company in meeting its goal of 5,000 MW of attributable RE capacity, which the firm believes it will achieve by 2025.

ACEN and its subsidiaries and affiliates manage a diverse portfolio of power generation projects and are principally involved in power project development and operations throughout the region.

The New England Solar Farm in Australia (521 MW), San Marcelino Solar (284 MW), Pagudpud Wind (160 MW), and Masaya Solar in India (336 MW) are among the major electricity assets scheduled to come online by 2023.

These electricity assets are expected to support the company's growing capacity, increasing both profitability and cash flow generation, and allow ACEN to reach its 2025 all-renewables targets.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic