Richmond Mercurio – The Philippine Star
December 19, 2022 | 12:00 noon
MANILA, Philippines – Aboitiz Power Corp. is considering listing a subsidiary when the right opportunity presents itself, with its renewable energy unit, Aboitiz Renewables Inc. (ARI), currently the frontrunner.
“It’s always an option open to us. So let’s look at that,” said Emmanuel Rubio, President and CEO of AboitizPower. The Company is planning an initial public offering (IPO) for one of the Company’s subsidiaries.
“What investors would value are our current assets, our ability to meet our commitments and the future value of our pipeline. With the value of the asset, that’s a tick. An execution story that can perhaps be ticked. But the pipeline is something we are developing,” he said.
Rubio said the potential IPO will be pursued “if there’s really a need.”
“We also need to consider the impact on AboitizPower when listing ARI,” he said.
AboitizPower is a public company that acts as a holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution and retail power services.
AboitizPower’s investments and interests in various renewable energy projects including geothermal, large-scale hydro, run-of-river and solar projects are mainly held by its wholly owned subsidiary ARI, which was founded in 1995.
Its renewable energy portfolio, which was operational at the end of February, consisted of approximately 1,249.17 megawatts (MW) of net salable capacity, divided into 46.80 MW solar, 912.37 MW hydro and 290 MW geothermal.
ARI is actively developing additional solar, wind, hydro and storage projects as part of AboitizPower’s 10-year strategy to expand its renewable energy capacity and achieve a 50:50 balance between its cleanergy and thermal portfolios.
“I suppose the advantage is that today there are investors who want pure renewables. Then we open a door when we do ARI (IPO),” said Liza Montelibano, Chief Financial Officer of AboitizPower.
“An IPO requires timing. If the price we can ask for our pipe already gives us a premium over a stock price by the time we go public, then we will do it. But I think it’s really about seeing what’s the best way to optimize value from the fact that we have this existing portfolio and a good pipeline,” she said.
AboitizPower plans to spend around 190 billion pesetas on an additional 3,700 MW of renewable energy over the next decade and increase its capacity to 4,600 MW by 2030, or triple the company’s current renewable energy portfolio.
“We believe the renewable energy discourse is changing around the world. With everything that is happening now and with energy security taking center stage and with I think the world is waking up to the fact that renewable energy is not the magic bullet for a very complex problem, it is also a good opportunity to wait and see see how the market evolves,” said Carlos Aboitiz, AboitizPower’s Chief Corporate Services Officer.
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