Ayala-backed int’l consortium wins bid to buy Chevron geothermal assets - Plants located in PH, West Java

Published December 23, 2016, 10:01 PM By Myrna M. Velasco 

http://business.mb.com.ph/2016/12/23/ayala-backed-intl-consortium-wins-bid-to-buy-chevron-geothermal-assets/

AC Energy Holdings of the Ayala Group is part of the Indonesian-Thai-Filipino consortium that successfully won the bid to acquire the multi-billion dollar geothermal assets divested by American energy giant Chevron Corporation in its Southeast Asian operations.

The transaction, it was emphasized, covers both the geothermal assets of Chevron in the Philippines for the Tiwi and Makiling-Banahaw steamfields in Albay and Laguna-Batangas provinces with capacity of 700 megawatts; and Indonesia’s Darajat and Salak geothermal fields in West Java with equivalent capacities of 235MW and 402MW, respectively.

Signing of share sale and purchase agreements had been executed by the winning consortium with Chevron Global Energy, Inc., Union Oil Company of California and their relevant affiliates.

The deal was previously reported to have been valued at US$3.0 billion, but the winning parties had not disclosed the amount of the final transaction.

For this merger and acquisition deal, the winning consortium tapped Clifford Chance Pte. Ltd. as lead transaction counsel; while Credit Suisse acted as the sole financial advisor and joint financier; and the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) and Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) as lead coordinators for the debt financing.

For the Indonesian asset, the winning consortium comprises of AC Energy with 19.8-percent shareholdings; Indonesia’s Star Energy Group Holdings Pte. Ltd., Star Energy Geothermal Pte. Ltd. and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Company Ltd. – with the acquisition done through joint venture firm Star Energy Geothermal (Salak-Darajat) B.V.

The Philippine assets, on the other, had been clinched through the consortium of AC Energy and Star Energy Group Holdings Pte. Ltd. and the acquisition had been carried out via joint venture vehicle ACEHI-Star Holdings, Inc.

“The closing of the transaction is made subject to the satisfaction of certain agreed conditions,” AC Energy has noted.  Primarily for the Philippine assets, it would have to go through the approval yet of the Philippine Competition Commission.

This will be a major milestone for the Ayala conglomerate on its expanding foray into the energy business – of which next stages will be geographical diversification of investments that also sets sights on offshore ventures kicking off primarily in Indonesia.

AC Energy President and Chief Executive Officer Eric T. Francia has affirmed that “this acquisition is a major milestone for AC Energy as this scales up our renewable energy platform and establishes our presence in Indonesia.”

He added that such shall reinforce probabilities for the group hitting their generation portfolio target of 2,000 megawatts by 2020 – from currently breaching the initial target of 1,000 megawatts.