September 26, 2018 | 12:04 am
ABOITIZ POWER Corp. is in advanced
talks to acquire stakes in some of Ayala Corp.’s thermal power assets, people
with knowledge of the matter said.
The companies aim to announce a deal
as soon as the coming weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified
because the information is private. Ayala, which has a market value of about
$10.5 billion, and Aboitiz are still in discussions on the structure of the
transaction, according to the people.
Shares of Aboitiz Power fell as much
as 3.4% in early Manila trading Monday. They were down 1% to P36.25 pesos at
11:25 a.m., compared to a 0.4% gain in the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange
Index.
Ayala, the oldest conglomerate in
the Philippines, said earlier this year it was planning to sell as much as half
of its thermal power business to help fund expansion in Southeast Asia. Its
energy unit’s portfolio, which derives 84% of its attributable capacity from
coal, is valued at P135 billion ($2.5 billion), according to a February
research report from CLSA Ltd.
A deal could still be delayed or
fall apart, the people said. Any transaction would add to the $31.1 billion in
acquisitions of Asian energy and power assets announced this year, data
compiled by Bloomberg show.
Aboitiz Power’s chief strategy
officer, Luis Miguel Aboitiz, declined to comment. Eric Francia, president of
Ayala’s AC Energy, Inc. unit, also declined to comment. — Bloomberg
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