AboitizPower completes purchase of GNPower plants

By Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 29, 2016 - 12:00am

http://www.philstar.com:8080/business/2016/12/29/1657535/aboitizpower-completes-purchase-gnpower-plants

MANILA, Philippines – Aboitiz Power Corp. has completed its acquisition of interests in two GNPower coal-fired power plants in Bataan, allowing it to get closer to its 4,000-megawatt (MW) capacity target.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, AboitizPower said it completed the purchase of 66.1 percent in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. and 40 percent in GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. for $1.2 billion last Dec. 27.

This was after regulators Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and Board of Investments (BOI) cleared the deal last Nov. 21 and Dec. 19, respectively.

“Following receipt of the BOI and the PCC approval, the parties completed the acquisition on Dec. 27, 2016, Philippine time,” AboitizPower said.

Aboitiz paid $1.197 billion for the partnership interests from affiliated investment funds of The Blackstone Group – World Power Holdings L.P. and Sithe Global Power L.P.

The company said the payment was funded by a combination of internally-generated cash and financing from foreign banks.

Earlier, AboitizPower president and COO Antonio Moraza said the two GNPower plants are essential in the company’s commitment to securing a balanced energy mix to support the country’s energy security.

Both plants will also help the company increase its attributable net sellable capacity to 4,000 MW by 2020.

GNPower Mariveles is a 604-MW subcritical thermal power plant which started operations in 2014, while GNPower Dinginin is a new project consisting of 2x668-MW supercritical thermal power plant – both located in Bataan.

Aboitiz secures $1.2-B stake in coal plants

By: Daxim L. Lucas 01:02 AM December 29, 2016

https://business.inquirer.net/222140/aboitiz-secures-1-2-b-stake-coal-plants

A unit of Aboitiz Power Corp. has completed its acquisition of stakes in two coal-fired power plants in Bataan province, putting the power generation firm on track toward achieving its goal of generating 4,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity in four years’ time.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, AboitizPower said its wholly-owned subsidiary Therma Power Inc. (TPI) completed the purchase of indirect partnership interests in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. (GMCP) and GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD).

The selling parties are investment funds of international fund management giant Blackstone Group L.P.

 “Following the receipt of Board of Investments and Philippine Competition Commission approvals, the parties completed this acquisition on Dec. 27, 2016, Philippine time,” the company said, adding that the transaction was worth $1.2 billion “subject to certain price adjustments at closing depending on conditionalities.”

After the deal, TPI will hold indirect effective interests held by affiliated investment funds of Blackstone in World Power Holdings L.P. and Sithe Global Power L.P.

As a result, TPI will own a 66.1 percent effective beneficial ownership interest in GMCP and 40 percent effective beneficial ownership interest in GNPD. The acquisition will be funded by a combination of internally generated cash and financing from foreign banks.

GMCP is a 604-MW subcritical thermal power plant, which started operations in 2014, while GNPD is a new project consisting of 2 x 668-MW supercritical thermal power plant, located in Bataan. The first of the GNPD units is currently under construction and is targeting commercial operations in 2019.

“We welcome the government’s latest move to clear our planned acquisition of stakes in the GNPower thermal power plants, as we consider this an essential strategy in our commitment to securing a balanced energy mix to support the country’s energy security,” AboitizPower president and COO Antonio R. Moraza said in an earlier statement.

“This is also in line with our target to increase our attributable net sellable capacity to 4,000 MW by 2020,” he added. “We consider this acquisition very strategic as it gives us immediate earnings from the operating asset and incremental capacity in the coming years from the plant under construction and its expansion.”

At present, AboitizPower has investments in various thermal and renewable power generating facilities and maintains a balanced mix of energy sources to provide ample and reliable power at competitive rates.

AboitizPower is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution and retail electricity services.

Power producers expect ERC to get back on track by next year

By Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 29, 2016 - 12:00am

http://www.philstar.com/business/2016/12/29/1657532/power-producers-expect-erc-get-back-track-next-year

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s power producers are hoping the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will immediately get back on track in 2017 to implement reforms in the power industry which is plagued by uncertainties following the suicide of a commission official over alleged corruption within the agency, according to power producers.

In a statement, the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc. (PIPPA) said it trusts that the power regulator would continue to focus on much-needed industry reforms, particularly the implementation of mandatory contestability which is set for February next year.

“In the coming year, we hope the ERC will once again continue to bring the reforms back on track,” PIPPA managing director Anne Estorco Macias said.

“Mandatory contestability is a new and exciting phase in the electric power industry.  The industry is hopeful that the ERC is on top of its implementation,” he said.

PIPPA said the power industry recognizes and supports the initiatives and reforms being implemented by the current chair and its commissioners to further the ERC’s institutional integrity, capabilities, and efficiency.

The group issued the statement amid an ongoing impasse involving the ERC, which has cloaked the industry in uncertainty since the one-month leave of ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar last Dec. 5.

Salazar went on leave to accommodate an investigation launched by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Commission on Audit over irregularities alleged by the late ERC director Jun Villa in his suicide notes.

Following the death of Villa, President Duterte has repeatedly called for the ERC’s top officials resignation or else the commission will be abolished.

With respect to the current investigation on alleged anomalies, PIPPA believes that it will be conducted with due process and resolved expeditiously.

“PIPPA is hopeful that the ERC will continue and remain to be the energy sector’s regulatory body, exercising its mandate under the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act),” the group said.