The board of Energy Development Corp., the geothermal unit of the Lopez Group, approved a $300-million global bond offering to fund the company’s capital requirements and repay debt.
“The final terms, size and timing of the bonds’ issuance shall be determined based on prevailing market conditions. Upon issue, the bonds are intended to be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited,” EDC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
EDC, a unit of First Gen Corp., said it would use proceeds from the bond offering to finance expansion projects, capital expenditures, debt servicing and other operations.
The company hired Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Securities Ltd. as joint lead managers for the transaction.
First Gen president Francis Giles Puno said in December Energy Development planned to raise around $200 million from a dollar bond issue to fund wind power projects.
Puno, who also sits as director of EDC, said the 86-megawatt Burgos wind project in Ilocos Norte would require an investment of $240 million to $250 million.
Energy Development president Richard Tantoco earlier said negotiations were ongoing with two equipment suppliers for the Burgos wind project.
Tantoco said the company was also watching the formulation of the feed-in tariff or the electricity rate to be charged from renewable energy projects.
“We’re also in the process of monitoring the developments in the feed-in tariff,” he said. “We’re monitoring the FIT very closely.”
FIT offers guaranteed payments over a period of time to developers utilizing emerging renewable energy resources, such as wind, solar, run-of-river hydro, biomass and ocean.
The charge will be reflected in the electric bills in a separate portion under the universal fee.
EDC hopes to complete the rehabilitation of the 150-MW Bacon-Manito geothermal power plant by the second half.
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