February 12, 2019 | 12:02 am
THE Phinma
group signed an investment agreement to sell its stake in the energy sector to
AC Energy, Inc., marking the former’s departure from power generation and
retail electricity and the Ayala-led company’s growing prominence in the said
businesses.
“AC Energy, Phinma
Corporation (PHN), Philippine Investment Management (Phinma), Inc. (PHI),
signed the Investment Agreement on February 8, 2019 for AC Energy’s acquisition
of PHN and PHI’s combined 51.48% stake in (Phinma Energy Corp.) via a secondary
share sale for approximately P3.42 billion, based on the valuation date of
December 31, 2018 and subject to adjustments,” Ayala Corp. said in a disclosure
on Monday.
The company said AC
Energy will also subscribe to approximately 2.632 billion primary shares of
Phinma Energy at a par value of P1 per share.
Separately, Phinma
Corp. said the move was a “timely opportunity … to harness value from a
business which it established 50 years ago and which [the group] believes it
has grown to the extent it can.”
It “believes that it
can make meaningful expansions in other sectors such as education and
construction materials, and has elected to sell its shares to AC Energy which
is fully committed to this sector.” AC Energy is its partner in South Luzon
Thermal Energy Corp.
Ayala Corp. said the
deal brings AC Energy a step closer to achieving 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewables
by 2025.
“The Phinma Energy
platform has significant operating and developmental renewable energy assets,
and its large diesel capacity will complement the scaling-up of AC Energy’s
renewable projects,” the listed conglomerate said.
AC Energy owns around
1.7 gigawatts of generation capacity in operation and under construction based
on its equity interest in power generation businesses. It generated 2,800
GW-hours of energy last year, of which 48% was from renewable sources, the
company said.
Phinma Energy has an
attributable generation capacity of 472 megawatts (MW). It is the third-largest
stand-alone retail electricity supplier serving 378 MW of customer demand.
Sought to comment on
the deal, 2TradeAsia.com earlier said two possibilities could happen — for AC
Energy to proceed with a tender offer, and for Phinma Energy to be merged with
the Ayala company.
The online arm of F.
Yap Securities, Inc. said the contribution of AC Energy to parent Ayala Corp.
as of the third quarter of 2018 was around 7%. It said with the consolidation
of equitized earnings from Phinma Energy, “that would still be the same at
around 7% (assuming a merger is undertaken here).”
On Monday, shares in
Phinma Energy were unchanged at P1.32 each, while those of PPG fell by 4.11%%
to P3.50 each. Phinma Corp. closed at P9.36 apiece, or higher by 4.12%. — Victor
V. Saulon
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