ACEN Corp. of the Ayala Group said Monday it is exploring ways to dispose of diesel assets and its direct ownership interest in Palawan 55 Exploration & Production Corp. in line with a commitment to attain 100-percent renewable energy generation by 2025.
This developed as the boards of ACEN and subsidiary ACE Enexor Inc. approved the cancellation of the property-for-share swap between the two companies due to prevailing market conditions.
ACEN said in a statement ENEX would explore relevant opportunities in the energy sector, including Service Contract 55, as it continues to look for the right partner on the project.
ACEN and ENEX on Oct. 18 last year approved the share swap, which was supposed to involve the transfer of direct interest in Palawan 55 to ENEX from ACEN. Palawan 55 has an ownership interest in service contract 55 and in several diesel assets, such as Bulacan Power Generation Corp., CIP II Power Corp. and One Subic Power Generation Corp.
The swap would also involve its interest in Ingrid3 Power Corp., a special purpose vehicle for a potential gas power generation project, in exchange for ENEX issuing 339,076,058 primary shares to ACEN.
ACEN said the transaction would have required a follow-on offering and stock rights offering but found it “challenging to execute under current economic conditions.”
The company said the management teams of ACEN and ENEX exerted diligent and good faith efforts to comply with the FOO and SRO in the past months.
“However, this has proven to be very challenging given the economic uncertainties due to the continuing pandemic and exacerbated by the Ukraine-Russia conflict,” it said.
ACEN is the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group. It has about 3,800 megawatts of attributable capacity in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia, of which close to 90 percent comes from renewable energy.
The company aims to reach 5,000 MW in renewable capacity by 2025.
