DMCI earmarks $450 million for power plant project

By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated July 28, 2011 12:00 AM MANILA, Philippines - DMCI Holdings Inc., the investment holdings firm of the Consunji family, is bankrolling $450 million to build another 300-megawatt coal-fired facility in Batangas. On the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday, DMCI president Isidro Consunji said the group is looking to build another power plant beginning next year to add to the 600-MW Calaca facility it acquired in December 2009. Slated to come onstream in three years, the planned facility will be funded by debt and/or internally-generated cash. Consunji said they intend to borrow half of the $450-million investment requirement from a syndicate of banks. The Calaca facility, consisting of two 300-MW generating units, is designed to run as a base-load plant using local coal from Semirara Island. Owned 100 percent by Semirara Mining Corp., the plant started rehabilitation in August 2010 and is targeted for completion by March or April next year. DMCI Holdings won the bidding for the Calaca coal fired facility in July 2009 with its offer of $361.7 million (roughly P17 billion). The expansion is in line with the group’s objective of churning out a total of 1,550 MW of power by 2013 from nothing in 2009. Meanwhile, Consunji said the company sees its earnings reaching P9.5 billion to P10 billion this year, mainly driven by the robust growth of its mining, power and water businesses. Its mining unit, Semirara, is forecast to grow its net income to more than P5.6 billion in 2011, an increase of over 40 percent from P3.95 billion a year before. Consunji said the group’s property business is also expected to register a 20 percent growth in net profit this year on steady demand for its products.