Alternergy hopes to raise P2.5 B from green bonds

Renewable energy firm Alternergy Holdings Corp. hopes to raise as much as P2.5 billion from the issuance of green bonds after debuting in the Philippine Stock Exchange to fund its renewable energy (RE) expansion.

Alternergy president Gerry Magbanua said the issuance of green bonds is one of the company’s initiatives to raise funds for its lineup of RE projects. “Ballpark, we’re looking at P2 billion to P2.5 billion for green bonds after the initial public offering (IPO),” he said.

Alternergy plans to issue the green bonds timed along with the rollout of its RE projects.

“We hope to launch that in the next few months so that we are aligning the timing of that in the implementation of our projects. We are ready when we implement the projects and we have that source of equity to fund our participation,” Magbanua said.

Earlier, the company announced that it has set a capital expenditure of P20 billion in the next three to five years to build up to 350 megawatts (MW) of green projects.

Broken down, the project pipeline consists of 220-MW of onshore wind, 33-MW of solar and 50-MW run-of-river (ROR) hydro projects.

The green bonds will finance part of the equity portion of the P20-billion capex, Magbanua said.

Meanwhile, the mediumterm capex will also be funded by the net proceeds of the company’s IPO.

“A portion of proceeds from the IPO will be channeled toward our equity participation in Lamut and Solana projects,” Magbanua said.

He was referring to the Solana Solar project in Hermosa, Bataan, and Lamut Hydro project in the municipalities of Lamut and Asipulo in Ifugao.

From March 13 to 17, Alternergy offered up to 1.150 billion in primary shares, representing 30.11 percent of the company’s economic ownership, at an offer price of up to P1.48 per share.

The company also issued an over-allotment option of up to 115 million shares for a stabilization fund to be managed by BDO Capital, the joint issue manager and joint lead underwriter.

Alternergy is eyeing to list on the PSE on March 24.

Alternergy is a RE holding company that has a portfolio of investee companies that embarked on different renewable energy projects, such as wind, solar, hydro, floating solar and battery storage power projects.

It aims to build 1,245-MW of renewable energy capacity in the next five years.