Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. plans to spend up between P50 billion and P60 billion next year.
AEV chief finance officer Manuel Lozano said in a recent interview while the conglomerate had yet to finalize the capital spending plan for 2019, the bulk of the investments would likely be for the expansion of the power business as well as the water and real estate units.
Lozano said the company plans to file for up to P30 billion in bond shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission to partially finance the spending plan.
“We will probably do a bond shelf registration and depending on our investment plan, will plan an offering later in the year or 2020. But we will likely do something on the retail bonds,” Lozano said.
“A P10 billion a year bond offering is not unreasonable considering we are still growing our business,” he added.
AEV also plans to raise $579 million to fund the acquisition of a 49-percent stake in AA Thermal Inc., the newly-formed thermal energy platform of conglomerate Ayala Corp. in the Philippines.
“We have already have a group of banks that will lend us the amount. We expect to close that by the end of first quarter 2019,” Lozano said.
AA Thermal’s assets will initially comprise of AC Energy Inc.’s limited partnership interests in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd Co., which owns and operates a 632-megawatt facility in Bataan province, north of Manila, and in GNPower Dinginin Ltd Co, which is constructing a 1,336-MW plant also in Bataan.
Lozano, meanwhile, said real estate unit AboitizLand Inc. early this month opened a discount mall in Lipa Batangas.
Called The Outlets, the mall will feature discount shopping all year round on the 9.3-hectare property Lima Technology Center.
About present 25 percent of the mall, which has 25,000 square meters of leasable area, is leased out to retailers, offering premium international and local brands at reduced prices.