Thursday, May 31, 2012

First Gen buys out UK partner

Posted  by Alena Mae S. Flores 


First Gen Corp. said Wednesday it acquired a company that owns the BG Group’s 40-percent stake in the 1,500-megawatt Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo natural gas power projects for $360 million.
First Gen said with the acquisition of the stake of its British partner, it would end up owning 100 percent of the 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo plants.
The Lopez-controlled power producer said wholly-owned subsidiary Blue Vulcan Holdings Corp. signed and closed a deal with BG Asia Pacific Holdings Pte. Ltd. on May 30 to acquire the entire capital stock of Lisbon Star Management Ltd., which owns 40-percent equity interest in the two power projects.
Lisbon Star is a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.  Its Philippine subsidiaries, BG Consolidated Holdings (Philippines) Inc. and BG Philippines Holdings Inc., own 40-percent equity interests in First Gas Holdings Corp., FGP Corp. and First NatGas Power Corp.
Blue Vulcan will fund the acquisition with the proceeds from the recently-issued P10 billion Series “G” perpetual preferred shares of its parent First Gen as well as loans and internal cash.
“The net consideration paid by BVHC to BGAPH for the LSML shares was $360 million. First Gas Holdings Corp., through wholly-owned subsidiary First Gas Power Corp., owns and operates the 1,000-MW combined cycle Sta. Rita natural gas-fired power plant, while FGP Corp. owns and operates the 500-MW combined cycle San Lorenzo natural gas-fired power plant.
First NatGas Power Corp. is the corporate vehicle for the development of the San Gabriel power plant project.
“We are extremely pleased with the closing and completion of this transaction.  Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo continue to perform reliably and have delivered consistent returns since the start of their commercial operations in 2000 and 2002, respectively,” said First Gen chairman and chief executive Federico Lopez.
“The natural gas plants were the Lopez group’s largest foray into the power generation business [prior to EDC] and have been instrumental in making the Malampaya gas-to-power project viable,” said Lopez.
Lopez said First Gen’s partnership with BG in the gas projects has been one of the most successful foreign partnerships in the country.
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/May/31)   source

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