By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated March 6, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Manila
Electric Co.., the country’s largest power distributor, is looking to add
another distribution utility (DU) in Nigeria, Africa under its wing within the
year, its top official said.
Meralco president Oscar Reyes said
the company is in discussions for a possible partnership with another Nigerian
DU which could “potentially’ happen this year.
“There’s another DU in Nigeria who
asked us to be a technical partner as well. This will be an addition to
Ibadan,” he said.
He was referring to Ibadan
Electricity Distribution Co. Plc., which Meralco took over with its partner
Lagos-based Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Ltd. in November 2013.
The IEDM-led consortium tapped
Meralco as technical partner for two power firms privatized by the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. The other power firm is Yola Electricity Distribution Co.
Plc.
Meralco has taken a five-percent
equity in IEDM, amounting to $31.500 and has the option to increase its stake
to 20 percent.
Meralco continues to scout for other
DUs overseas to provide its technical expertise in power distribution, Reyes
said.
The company president said overseas
expansion will allow Meralco to bring its power retailer brand outside the
Philippines, as well as provide more opportunities to its workforce.
“In terms of DU (acquisition),
actually, it’s low investment, it’s mainly people. The reason we’re having a
DU, look at other areas is because it provides pipeline opportunities for
people of Meralco as well as graduates of engineer who maybe enticed to take up
electrical engineering which has been declining in terms of number of students,
we’d like to revive that,” Reyes said.
Apart from Nigeria, Meralco has
presence in Singapore through the purchase of a 70-percent stake in an
800-megawatt liquefied natural gas project of GMR Energy (Singapore) for $488
million in April 2015.
The acquisition was through its
subsidiary PowerGen Corp., which formed a joint venture firm with First Pacific
Company Ltd. called FPM Power Holdings Ltd. . The remaining 30 percent is owned
by Petronas.
In 2015, Meralco chairman Manuel
Pangilinan said the company is eyeing to tap business opportunities in Myanmar,
Thailand and Vietnam through its subsidiary Meralco PowerGen. No developments
have progressed in this endeavor yet.
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