AboitizPower’s P30-B bond offering gets top credit rating
Proceeds from AboitizPower’s bond offer would go to refinance corporate debts. File photo
MANILA, Philippines — The plan of Aboitiz Power Corp. to issue up to P30 billion worth of retail bonds has received a strong credit rating from local debt watchdog Philippine Rating Services Corp. (PhilRatings).
PhilRatings gave it a rating of PRS Aaa with a stable outlook. It is the initial tranche of the energy firm’s P100-billion fixed-rate retail bond program.
A triple-A credit rating, the highest score PhilRating could assign to a firm, shows that AboitizPower has “extremely strong capacity” to meet its financial commitments.
Meanwhile, a stable outlook means that AboitizPower will likely keep its credit score in the next 12 months.
The ratings, Aboitiz said in a disclosure, were given based on its diversified portfolio with good growth prospects. Also considered were an experienced management team, healthy liquidity and capital structure.
The group earlier bared that the first tranche would include the issuance of P20 billion worth of retail bonds by the second quarter this year. If it gets robust traction from investors, AboitizPower may exercise an oversubscription option of up to P10 billion.
The bonds would be listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.
AboitizPower will refinance debts
Proceeds from this fundraising activity would go to refinance corporate debts, it said.
BDO Capital & Investment Corp., First Metro Investment Corp. and Union Bank of the Philippines will serve as joint issue managers. BDO Unibank Inc. will act as the trustee.
The joint issue managers will also serve as joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners. They will do so along with China Bank Capital, Land Bank of the Philippines, PNB Capital and Investment and Security Bank Capital Investment.
READ: AboitizPower earmarks P78B for expansion this year
In a separate filing, Aboitiz Power reported a sharp 41.7-percent drop in its earnings in the first quarter.
The firm said net income in the January to March period declined to P4.6 billion from P7.9 billion.This was blamed on “the full impact of depreciation and interest expenses for GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.”
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization also fell by 8 percent to P15 billion from P16.4 billion.
Aboitiz Power has operations in power generation, power distribution, retail electricity services, and distributed energy. Its power generation portfolio includes both renewable and non-renewable generation plants.
