MANILA - Citicore Energy REIT Corp on Tuesday listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, following a delay due to "voluminous demand."
CREIT is the first renewable energy-themed real estate investment trust to list in the stock exchange, Philippine Stock Exchange President Ramon Monzon said during the listing ceremony.
Without disclosing exact figures, the company said its initial public offering was oversubscribed by all investing classes including local small investors (LSIs).
“The oversubscription by the local small investors in this IPO tells us that they’re optimistic about the company’s prospects,” Monzon said.
CREIT's assets have a stable occupancy rate all year compared to office assets that are exposed to vacancy risks, CREIT president Oliver Tan told ANC.
“We have a unique leasing structure. Our land asset is leased out to power generation companies, in our case solar plant operators,” Tan said.
CREIT is also the first REIT offering that draws its income from its solar energy investments, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said during the listing ceremony.
It is the 6th REIT listing in a span of 2 years which brought REITs' total market capitalization to nearly P300 billion, Dominguez said.
Proceeds from its initial public offering will be used to find its ongoing and future renewable energy projects, the company said.
CREIT has laid out its 5-year roadmap to achieve a 1,500 MW capacity "to address the nation's basic and essential power requirements," CREIT chairman Edgar Saavedra said.
Over 600 MW of the pipeline projects are in various stages of development, Saavedra said.
The entire 1,500 MW goal is estimated to cost roughly around P70 billion, Tan said.
For this year, the company expects to spend some P3 billion, he added.
Beyond the 5-year roadmap, CREIT is optimistic that the global push to replace fossil fuel with renewable energy will drive growth, Saavedra said.
He said the Energy Department's mandate is to increase renewable portfolio to 40 percent from 20 percent, equivalent to 12,000 to 14,000 MW.
"As we slowly rise out of the pandemic and continuously navigate the headwinds in today's business landscape our Citicore is very much energized to continue to develop our energy portfolio," Saavedra said.
"I think the challenge now is how fast can we really convert the fossil fuel to renewable energy,...There's an opportunity and that's the size of the market," he added.
In 2021, renewable energy firm Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp also listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange under the supplemental listing rules for petroleum and renewable energy companies.
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