K-Water signs MOA with SMC

Manila Bulletin 
By Myrna M. Velasco 
Published: September 4, 2013 
A joint venture agreement between Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water) and San Miguel Corporation for the 218-megawatt Angat hydropower facility is targeted to be sealed in the next three months.
In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the issuance of certificate of effectivity (COE) for the privatized asset, K-Water vice president for overseas business Byung Hoon Yune said the timeframe to firm up a partnership with San Miguel will be  91 days from their signing of memorandum of agreement (MOA) last August 23.
“We signed MOA and in 91 days, we will close,” he stressed. The special purpose company (SPC) for the asset acquisition, he added, will involve another Filipino company aside from San Miguel.
He emphasized that the deals to be inked with the Filipino conglomerate will be shareholders agreement and share purchase agreement.
Nevertheless, he refused to give further details given the confidentiality nature of the agreements reached by parties at this point.
For the Angat acquisition, the K-Water executive indicated that they are eyeing a turnover toward the end of this year.
The Korean firm will be tapping a bridge loan of $500 million from Korea Export-Import Bank (K-Exim) as well as local banks to finance the acquisition.
From the COE issuance, the buyer will have 270 days to close the deal with asset-seller Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation. K-Water’s winning offer for the Angat asset is at $440.88 million.
Despite K-Water’s earlier correspondence to PSALM on issues that it wants resolved prior to transaction closing, the officials of the Korean company finally approved to accept the facility without conditions.
When asked about raging concerns that K-Water might have placed a relatively high bid for the Angat plant, Yune noted that their company is not so much focused on cornering profits because they are state-owned firm in Korea.
The Angat facility was privatized by PSALM as early as 2010. Legal hurdles, however, prevented its early turnover to the buyer.  source