ACEN seeks to expand business scope, capital stock

March 12, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led ACEN Corp. is pursuing amendments to its articles of incorporation to strengthen its growth potential and secure fresh funds to fuel expansion.

In a regulatory filing, ACEN said its board of directors approved a proposal to expand the scope of its investment business, enabling the company to venture into other areas related to power generation.

Under its current charter, the company is engaged in electric power development and generation as well as in the retail electricity supply business.

Similarly, the Ayala Group’s listed energy platform is seeking to increase its authorized capital stock to P58.4 billion from P48.4 billion with the creation of additional common shares.

The move will allow the company to issue additional primary common shares in the future, which, in turn, will help raise fresh funds for growth and expansion.

ACEN plans to secure additional capital “whether by way of stock rights offering, follow-on offering or private placement.”

The proposed amendments will be presented to ACEN stockholders for approval at their annual meeting on April 23 this year.

The ACEN board also authorized the company’s investment in the 400-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) project in New South Wales, Australia.

The construction of the New England BESS is now in full swing, with the civil and base electric work expected to begin as early as this month.

With an estimated investment of $160 million, the facility is poised to bring additional capacity to ACEN’s growing portfolio across Australia, which includes over 13 gigawatts (GW) of development projects in the pipeline.

Globally, the company has a generation portfolio of around 6.8 GW spanning operational, under-construction and committed projects.

ACEN aims to scale up its renewables capacity to 20 GW by 2030 in an effort to become a major player in the Asia-Pacific region.