Aboitiz Power Corp. has completed the acquisition of a 49-percent voting stake and a 60-percent economic stake in AA Thermal Inc., a unit of AC Energy Inc., for $572.9 million.
Aboitiz Power disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange the completion followed the execution of a share purchase agreement last year and the compliance to all conditions of the transaction.
Aboitiz Power and Arlington Mariveles Netherlands Holding B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary AC Energy, signed the purchase agreement on September 26, 2018.
The Philippine Competition Commission approved the transaction on February 28, 2019.
AA Thermal has interests in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co., the owner and operator of an operating 632-megawatt coal plant in Mariveles, Bataan, and GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co., which owns the 1,336-MW coal plant project in Dinginin, Bataan that is currently under construction.
GNPower Mariveles has been operating since 2013, while GNPower Dinginin Unit 1 is expected to come online later this year.
The completion of the transaction increases Aboitiz Power’s economic interests in GNPower Mariveles, and GNPower Dinginin to 78.3 percent, and 70 percent, respectively.
AboitiPower is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, and retail electricity services. The company is one of the largest power producers in the Philippines with a mix portfolio of assets located across the country.
Meanwhile, AC Energy is the energy platform of conglomerate Ayala Corp. AC Energy is one of the fastest growing energy companies with over $1 billion of invested and committed equity in renewable and thermal energy in the Philippines and around Asia.
The company aims to exceed 5,000 megawatts of attributable capacity and generate at least 50 percent of energy from renewables by 2025.
Parent Ayala earlier said it remained on track to register a net income of P50 billion as early as this year despite subdued earnings in 2018.
Ayala Corp. chief finance officer Jose Teodoro Limcaoco said in a recent interview the group’s net income would be boosted by the partial sale of the group’s coal power assets in the Philippines to Aboitiz Power Corp.
Limcaoco said the acquisition of a majority stake in Phinma Energy Corp. by unit AC Energy Inc. would also push the conglomerate’s net profit starting this year.
“We are on track to hit P50 billion net income and that will be helped by AC Energy’s acquisition of Phinma Energy and disposition of assets,” Limcaoco said.
“If we do the final numbers, we can hit P50 billion this year but that will depend on the Aboitiz deal,” he added.
