CITICORE Energy REIT Corp. has forged a deed of absolute sale on Monday to acquire a property in South Cotabato from an affiliate for around P753.8 million.

In a disclosure, the listed real estate investment trust said that the acquisition would allow it “to generate leasing income over a long-term period of 25 years, adding 20% to its total leased area.”

The parcel of land it acquired is in the province’s Surallah town and has an area of 79,997 square meters (sq.m.). It was bought from Citicore Solar South Cotabato, Inc.

The property is the site of a 6.23-megawatt-peak (MWp) solar power plant, which was commissioned on Dec. 9, 2015. It was paid in cash upon the execution of the deed of absolute sale.

Citicore Solar South Cotabato is wholly owned by Sikat Solar Holdco, Inc., which is a unit of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC). CREC owns 47.63% of CREIT.

CREIT said that together with the acquisition in a 253,880-sq.m. property in Bulacan, the South Cotabato property will allow the company to generate leasing income for 25 years.

The two properties will contribute 21% to CREIT’s total lease revenue and bring total operating capacity of all its tenants to 145 MW of direct current (dc) from the company’s pre-initial public offering capacity of 124 MWdc. 

In the first quarter, CREIT recorded a net income of P300.3 million, more than 12 times higher than the P23.52 million posted a year ago, as it began to realize rental income from its assets leased out to solar plant operators.

The profit jump comes as the company’s gross revenues surged by nearly 470% to P331.79 million, which largely came from lease income from various solar plant companies.

“With an established list of tenants operating in a cycle-resilient industry, CREIT is optimistic in generating recurring green sources of lease revenues, translating to increasing distributable income and attractive dividend yields to our shareholders,” said CREIT President and Chief Executive Officer Oliver Y. Tan.

The company’s board of directors approved the declaration of cash dividends P0.044 per share, which is payable on June 24.

CREIT has a five-year road map that targets 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity by 2025. It said solar farm assets that meet its investment criteria “are scheduled to be acquired and infused” into the company once completed and operational.

On Monday, shares in the company slipped by 1.57% or four centavos to close at P2.51 apiece. — VVS

AC ENERGY Corp. (ACEN) said on Monday that it would continue to explore other means to unload of its diesel assets and its ownership in a petroleum exploration firm after it decided to cancel a property-for-share swap deal that would have realized the transition.

In a disclosure on Monday, the Ayala-led energy platform said the swap agreement between ACEN and its unit ACE Enexor, Inc. had been canceled “due to unfavorable market conditions.”

“Transaction would have required a follow-on offering and a stock rights offering, which will be challenging to execute under current market conditions,” it said.

ACEN said it remains committed to attain 100% renewable energy generation by 2025.

On Friday, ACEN disclosed that its board of directors and that of ACE Enexor had approved the cancellation of the property-for-share swap between the two companies.

The decision comes months after the two approved Oct. 18, 2021 the swap deal that involved the transfer to ACE Enexor by ACEN of its direct interest in Palawan 55 Exploration & Production Corp., which in turn has an ownership interest in Service Contract 55 (SC 55), an exploration block near the West Philippine Sea.

The swap also involved the transfer of ACEN’s ownership interests in various diesel assets, namely: Bulacan Power Generation Corp., CIP II Power Corp., and One Subic Power Generation Corp.

It would also have transferred ACEN’s interest in Ingrid3 Power Corp., which is a special purpose vehicle for a potential gas power generation project.

In exchange for the assets, ACE Enexor was to issue 339,076,058 primary shares to ACEN.

ACEN said that during the past few months, the management teams of the two companies “have exerted diligent and good faith efforts in planning and mapping out the implementation of the various steps needed to comply with the foregoing requirements.”

“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 added.

The company said ACE Enexor would continue to explore “relevant opportunities in energy transition space, including the opportunities under [SC 55] as management continues to look for the right partner for this endeavor.”

ACE Enexor is majority owned by ACEN. Its primary business is the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas through interests in petroleum contracts.

ACEN has about 3,800 megawatts (MW) of attributable capacity in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia. It aspires to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia as it aims to reach 5,000 MW in renewables capacity by 2025.

As of last count, the company’s renewable share of capacity is close to 90%, which is said to be among the highest in the region. ACEN is committed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

ACEN shares closed higher by 2.81% to P7.31 each, while those of ACE fell by 18.68% to P10.36 apiece. — Victor V. Saulon