Wednesday, June 30, 2010

STEAG to expand capacity of Philippine coal fuelled power station

30 June 2010 – The Philippines’ STEAG State Power Incorporated plans to increase the capacity of its coal fired power plant in Mindanao, reports The Manila Times. The capacity of the 232 MW facility, located in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, will be expanded by another 150 MW in an effort to help reverse the region’s power supply deficiency.
STEAG State Power is a joint venture between Evonik Steag GmbH of Germany, which controls 51 per cent of the generator, and local partners Aboitiz Power Corporation and La Fiipina Uy Gongco Corporation, which hold the remaining 34 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.
According to Erramon Aboitiz, president and CEO of Aboitiz Power, Mindanao needs more stable baseload capacity and also needs to diversify its generation sources to be less dependent on hydro.
“This addition to STEAG State Power is the logical way to achieve this. This project assures Mindanao of reliable and cost-effective power to fuel its continued economic advancement.”
STEAG State Power expects to complete the expansion of the coal plant by 2013.
In the first half of this year, Mindanao, which is the Philippines' second largest island, suffered from a severe generation deficit because of low water levels in the region’s hydroelectric power plants, which normally supply up to 70 per cent of power to the grid.
STEAG State Power sells its output to state-owned National Power Corporation, but the new facility will sell power to interested utilities or industries in the form of long-term sales agreements says the company.
Depending on the interest in the market, the consortium may decide to build additional generating capacity, reports the Manila Times.
The expansion of the plant is part the company’s previously announced plan to grow its coal generation portfolio across the country over the next five years.
The group has yet to finalize the financing for the proposed expansion but it is likely to focus on project finance loans. “The funding of that will be a combination of debt and equity,” Aboitiz said.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

SEMIRARA MINING CORPORATION Stock Rights Offering – Adjustment of Ex-Date

In a letter dated June 21, 2010, the Company, through its legal counsel, Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose, advised the Exchange that, in view of thedeclaration of June 30, 2010 as a non-working holiday, the ex-date will be adjusted from June 28, 2010 to June 25, 2010. Notwithstanding such adjustment in the ex-date, the other material dates for the SRO such as the Record Date, Offer Period and Listing will not be moved. In this connection, please be informed of the following timetable for the Company’s SRO:


Ex-Date June 25, 2010 
Record Date July 1, 2010 
Offer Period July 5 – July 9, 2010 
Listing Date July 19, 2010 

Source: www.pse.com.ph

Saturday, June 12, 2010

PSE okays stock rights offering of Semirara

By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated June 12, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (0) View comments


MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange has approved the listing application of Semirara Mining Corp. for its planned stock rights offering amounting to around P4.15 billion.
Semirara, which is 56 percent owned by Consunji holding firm DMCI Holdings Inc., is offering a total of 59.375 million shares to stockholders at a ratio of one new common share for every five common shares held as of July 1. The shares will be sold at P74 each, a price which which was arrived at using the volume weighted average price of the company’s common shares covering the 15-trading day.
Net proceeds from the offering, which will run from July 5 to 9, will be used to partially finance theacquisition of the 600-megawatt (MW) Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, SEM-Calaca Power Corp. Around P2.7 billion will be needed by the company for this.
The Calaca facility consists of two 300-MW generating units designed to run as a base load plant and designed to use local coal from Semirara.
Semirara’s total investments for the Calaca facility are estimated to reach $483.6 million, which include the acquisition cost of $361.7 million. The remaining $121.89 million had been allocated for the rehabilitation and working capital requirements of the power plant.
The company is also setting aside P1.63 billion out of the expected proceeds for payment of various bank loans. Around P890 million will be used for the purchase of mining equipment, tugboats and barges.
In December last year, Semirara paid the state-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) $150.8 million as downpayment for the coal facility.
BDO Capital & Investment Corp. has been tapped as the lead underwriter for the offering.