First Gen issuing $50-m notes

Manila Standard Today
By Alena Mae S. Flores 

FirsT Gen Corp. said Friday it is raising another $50 million to fund the company’s expansion projects in the pipeline.

“Please be informed of the reopening of Firs Gen Corp.’s 6.5-percent senior notes due October 2023. The reopening size will be up to the amount of $50 million,” First Gen said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

First Gen did not provide additional details.  The company successfully closed its $250-million bond issue on Oct. 10.

First Gen said the $250-million, 10-year non-call 5 senior unsecured bond issuance had received strong investor response.

“The positive investor response to our international debt capital markets issuance highlights the strength of First Gen’s portfolio of power assets and its growth opportunities,” First Gen president and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno said earlier.

Puno said First Gen was looking at various options to raise the additional financing for the 500-megawatt San Gabriel expansion project in Batangas.

First Gen plans to raise another $250 million from export credit agencies to partly finance the construction of the 500-megawatt San Gabriel expansion project in Batangas.

Puno said the company needed some $650 million to finance the construction of the San Gabriel expansion, which involves a 100 megawatt natural gas-fired plant (aero derivative unit) that will run as a peaking plant and a 400 MW natural gas power facility.

He said  the additional $250-million export credit borrowing was on top of the recently completed successful offshore bond offering while the remaining $100 million would be raised by the company through internally generated funds.

“The total capex is about $650 million, it’s huge. Then we’ll borrow probably an additional $250 million and then the $100 million will be internally generated,” Puno said.   source