Ayala, Trans-Asia form coal power venture

Manila Standard Today

Conglomerate Ayala Corp., through unit AC Energy Corp., said Wednesday it signed an agreement with Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. to jointly develop and operate a 135-megawatt coal power plant in Calaca, Batangas.

Ayala Corp. and Trans-Asia Oil in separate disclosures with the stock exchange said they agreed to incorporate a joint venture company, South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp., which equally owned by Trans-Asia and AC Energy. The company will have an initial capitalization of P200 million.

Trans-Asia said the project would begin construction in September and start operations in 2014.

Trans-Asia earlier tapped BDO Capital and Investments Corp. as lead arranger of an P8.75-billion loan to finance at least 70 percent of the Calaca power plant.

The 135-MW circulating fluidized bed thermal power plant in Batangas is estimated to cost P12 billion and be financed by debt and equity.

ING Bank N.V. acted as financial advisor to Trans-Asia Oil in the transaction.

“We are glad to be partnering with the Ayala group in this joint venture project. We look forward to leveraging each other’s strengths in developing and running a modern and environment-friendly facility that will contribute to the country’s power supply generation through conventional source using clean technology,” Phinma president and Trans-Asia vice chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr. said in a statement.

Trans-Asia Oil last week listed 1.16 billion worth of shares from a stock rights offering that generated some P1.16 billion in proceeds.

The company is earmarking a portion of the stock rights offering to fund the 135-MW project and the 20-MW Maibarara geothermal power plant, where Trans-Asia Oil has a 25-percent equity.

Trans-Asia chose DM Consunji Inc., the construction unit of DMCI Holdings Inc., to build the plant. It also plans to purchase its coal requirement from Sem-Calaca Power Corp., which is owned by the Consunji group, and import from Indonesia.

Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said the joint venture was part of the group’s strategy to build a portfolio of power generation assets that combines conventional and renewable energy sources. Jenniffer B. Austria and Jeremiah F. de Guzman