ACEN Corp. said it had secured a total of 277 million Australian dollars to fund its renewable energy (RE) portfolio in Australia.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the Ayala-led listed energy company said its subsidiary ACEN Australia signed the syndicated green term-loan facility, its largest to date, with major international banks.
“This syndicated green term loan facility continues to build on the funding secured at the end of last year, and will be mobilized into our Australian portfolio. ACEN continues on the journey in decarbonizing Australia. It is exciting to work with quality financial institutions, and the appetite for quality investments is real,” Anton Rohner, chief executive officer of ACEN Australia, said in a media release.
The lending banks are comprised of Bank of China (BOC) in Manila and Hong Kong, CTBC Bank in Manila and Singapore, and Standard Chartered Bank in Australia. ACEN said Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. was the green loan structuring bank, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia served as the agent for the loan facility.
Herbert Smith Freehills was legal counsel for ACEN Australia, while King & Wood Mallesons was the counsel for the lenders.
The loan facility is part of ACEN’s 600-million Australian dollar target for its renewables project in the foreign country. It will fund several projects in Australia, the first of which is the New England solar farm that is set to start operation by the middle of the year.
Once fully constructed, the solar farm project is expected to power approximately 250,000 households annually.
ACEN Australia represents ACEN’s renewable energy assets in Australia. It has more than 1.5 gigawatts of projects in the pipeline, under construction, or at the advanced stage of development.
ACEN said it sees its renewable energy portfolio in Australia to be a significant contributor to the company’s aspiration to expand its renewable energy capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2030. Its project pipeline in Australia encompasses solar, wind, battery storage, pumped hydropower and energy storage.
At the local bourse on Monday, shares in ACEN closed 1.47% higher or P7.60 apiece. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
