Citicore Renewable Energy Corp., a clean energy company, said Wednesday that along with unit, Citicore Solar Tarlac 1, it raised P5 billion from the sale of a 28.79 percent of Citicore Energy REIT Corp. to SM Investments Corp.
The investment holding company of the Sy Group, itself a listed company, bought for P2.6534 each of the total 1.88 billion shares of Citocore REIT, the largest renewable energy REIT landlord in the country having approximately 7.1 million square meters of gross leasable area.“We believe that the SM group’s entry and investment into Citicor REIT and the partnership with Citicore Enegy unlocks potential synergies given the energy requirements of the SM group,” said Citicore Energy president and chief executive officer Oliver Tan.“As part of our group-wide sustainability agenda to prioritize environmental responsibility and support a low-carbon economy, we are investing in CREIT to increase SM’s footprint in the renewable energy sector,” said SMIC president Frederic DyBuncio.CREC will continue to be the single largest stakeholder in CREIT with a 32.88 percent effective ownership post-transaction.
Proceeds from the sale will contribute to the further development of CREC’s 1,583MW ready-to-build or are already under construction solar power projects across eight site locations nationwide. Citicore REIT aims to contribute around 1.0 gigaWatt of solar energy capacity per year as part of its 5-year pipeline rollout roadmap.
Citicore Energy secured the green light from the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. and the Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering January 2024. It aims to list on the PSE around the second quarter of 2024.BDO Capital & Investment Corp. acted as transaction adviser for the sale.
