ACEN takes full ownership of Australian joint venture

ACEN Renewables International (ACRI), a subsidiary of Ayalaled ACEN Corp., took full control of UPC Renewables Asia Pacific Holdings (UPCAPH) after completing the second and final tranche of the acquisition.

“ACEN, through its subsidiary, ACEN Renewables International (ACRI), today completed its previously announced acquisition of the Australia development platform,” ACEN said Thursday.

ACRI and UPCAPH signed an Instrument of Transfer for the transfer to ACRI of UPCAPH’S remaining 4,766 ordinary shares in UPC-AC Energy Australia (HK) Limited, which completes the second and final tranche of ACRI’S acquisition of ACEN Australia.

With this, ACEN, through ACRI, now wholly owns ACEN Australia.

The acquisition transforms the UPC\AC Renewables Australia joint venture into ACEN Australia, the company’s first wholly owned development and operating platform outside of the Philippines.

The acquisition results in the full ownership by ACEN of the 521 MW New England solar farm and the 520 MW Stubbo solar farm in Australia, as well as the development pipeline of ACEN Australia spanning New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, and South Australia.

The first tranche of the acquisition was completed in March last year with the signing of a share purchase agreement among ACRI, UPCAPH and Anton Rohner, the chief executive officer of UPC-AC Renewables.

The payment for the first and second tranches was adjusted to $173,089,643. “Our original disclosure was for a consideration of up to $243 million…after adjustment, the final consideration is about $173 million,” said ACEN.

Australia is ACEN’S biggest market outside of the Philippines to date, with over 1,000 MW of renewable energy projects under construction.

ACEN is targeting to reach 20 gigawatts of renewables capacity by 2030. It is also committed to transition the company’s generation portfolio to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025 and to become a Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions company by 2050.

At present, it has about 4,000 MW of attributable capacity from owned facilities in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia, with a renewable share of 98 percent, which is among the highest in the region.