Citicore Renewable Energy Corp., parent of Citicore Energy REIT Corp., the country’s first energy real estate investment trust, plans to spend P70 billion for its pipeline of 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy projects in the next five years.
CREC and CREIT president Oliver Tan said in a briefing following the listing of CREIT’s shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange Tuesday that around 630 MW were already in various development stages and would come online in the next two to three years.
Tan said around 120 MW of RE capacity would be infused into CREIT by the first quarter of 2023.
“It [capital expenditures] can be funded by the sponsor using various funding sources, one would be from CREIT IPO proceed. We can also borrow from mixed local banks to bankroll construction which later on will be folded into CREIT and maybe a combination of preferred shares offering from the sponsor,” Tan said.
CREC plans to spend around P3 billion for the land capital expenditure this year. “This would be for the Arayat 2. We are expanding Silay plant, also the Bataan plant and three projects in Batangas,” Tan said.
He said CREIT is unique compared to other listed REITs in the PSE because of its leasing structure. “Land asset of CREIT are being leased out to RE companies,” he said. CREIT has partners such as AC Energy Corp.
Tan said they are also open to acquiring other solar power assets to grow CREC’s portfolio.
“You will see 10 MW, 20 MW across the Philippines. We see an opportunity to consolidate all these operating assets. Notwithstanding, we are open to looking into other technologies. We’re gonna be primarily solar, but were also exploring other technologies,” he said.
PSE president Ramon Monzon said CREIT is the first renewable energy themed real estate investment trust to list in the market and more than 19,400 investors waited since last Thursday for their investments to be listed and traded in the exchange.
“I am sure those investors are keeping their fingers crossed that CREIT will be worth the wait. The high level of interest among investors for both REITs and renewable energy companies obviously contributed to the brisk demand in the shares of CREIT,” he said.
CREIT generated proceeds of about P6.37 billion from the sale of 2.5 billion shares at P2.55 each.
“The oversubscription with the local investors in this IPO tells us that they are optimistic about the company’s prospects. As it lists today, the company has five properties involved in or being used for renewable energy business needs portfolio. This early, it is already looking at adding two other properties, one located in Bulacan and another in South Cotabato,” Monzon said.
“This is good news for us at the PSE. As a member of the Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative, we want to see more listed companies that directly address the imminent threat of climate change and remote sustainability,” he said.
CREIT closed at P2.84 per share, up 11.37 percent from its IPO price of P2.55 per share.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III urged clean energy companies to follow the pioneering move of CREIT in accessing the capital markets to fund green investments that will complement government efforts to help save the planet from the devastating effects of climate change.
“Citicore Energy REIT is the Philippines’ first-ever REIT offering that draws its income from solar energy investments. As such, it expands the REIT horizon, going beyond commercial property holdings. More importantly, its involvement with solar energy aligns with the country’s whole-of-nation effort to achieve our climate ambitions,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said the listing was “a perfect example of how the government and our own private sector can jointly build energy sufficiency and address issues related to global warming.”