BOND FLOAT
Energy firm Aboitiz Power Corp. (AP) has raised P3 billion from the issuance of fixed rate bonds to fund expansion plans and potential acquisitions.
The bonds — which were listed on fixed income trading platform, Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) on Monday — forms the first tranche of the company’s P30 billion worth of securities approved for shelf registration by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The shelf registration window of the SEC allows issuers like AP to register and sell under the same prospectus and other regulatory filing requirements a certain volume of securities that the company does not intend to use up right away. In the event that the oversubscription option is not fully exercised, the unused portion will be made part of the remaining bonds in the shelf to be used within a three-year period.
Manuel Lozano, chief finance officer of AP’s parent conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., explained the use of proceeds from this offering in an interview after the PDEx listing ceremony. “We have a lot of different uses. We’re funding several of our power plants that are being completed now.
We have Pagbilao (power plant), Therma Visayas in Toledo, Cebu, and Manolo Fortich hydro-power plant in Bukidnon being completed. All of these, we’re still putting equity into these projects,” Lozano said.
This new listing brings the combined level of outstanding securities of AP and its parent company AEV listed on the PDEx to P45 billion.