AC Energy, partners acquire Chevron geothermal assets

AC Energy, partners acquire Chevron geothermal assets

Ayala’s AC Energy Holdings Inc. and its partners have acquired the Indonesian and Philippine geothermal assets of Chevron Corp.

The Indonesian consortium, with members AC Energy, Electricity Generating Public Company Ltd., Star Energy Geothermal Pte. Ltd., and Star Energy Group Holdings Pte. Ltd., will establish joint venture company Star Energy Geothermal (Salak-Darajat) B.V. for its Indonesian assets.

Meanwhile, AC Energy and Star Energy Group Holdings Pte. Ltd. will form ACEHI-STAR Holdings Inc. for its Philippine assets.

The consortium signed share sale and purchase agreements with Chevron Global Energy Inc., Union Oil Company of California and other affiliates to purchase Chevron’s assets in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Clifford Chance Pte Ltd. acted as the lead transaction counsel to the consortium. Credit Suisse acted as the sole financial advisor and joint financier while Bank of the Philippine Islands and DBS acted as lead coordinators for the debt financing.

“This acquisition is a major milestone for AC Energy as this scales up our renewable energy platform and establishes our presence in Indonesia. This is a significant step towards attaining our goal of reaching 2000MW by 2020,” AC Energy president and CEO John Eric Francia said.

For the acquisition of the Philippine asset, the closing of the transaction is subject to gaining certain consents and approvals, such as that of the Philippine Competition Commission.

Chevron subsidiaries in Indonesia operate the Darajat and Salak geothermal fields in West Java. They have a combined capacity of 235 megawatts of steam and 402 MW of electricity.

The Philippine company subsidiaries have a 40 percent equity interest in the Philippine Geothermal Production Company Inc., which operates the 289-MW Tiwi plants in Albay and the 458-MW Mak-Ban facilities in Batangas and Laguna.

*Photo from Shutterstock