Beaver Lopez takes board seat at First Gen

Published November 20, 2020, 1:46 PM by Myrna M. Velasco
https://mb.com.ph/2020/11/20/beaver-lopez-takes-board-seat-at-first-gen/

Scion Manuel “Beaver” L. Lopez Jr. has been designated board director at listed firm First Gen Corporation, taking the seat vacated by his cousin Eugenio “Gabby” L. Lopez III, who bowed out from the company’s board last September.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the Lopez firm indicated that the appointment of Beaver Lopez was approved by the company’s board of directors during their meeting on November 19 (Thursday).

Lopez Jr., is a son of former Manila Electric Company (Meralco) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel M. Lopez, and he is a brother of ABS-CBN Chairman Martin “Mark” Lopez.

Aside from Lopez’s appointment into the First Gen board, the company also greenlighted the designation of David Simon Luboff as senior board advisor. Luboff is a partner and head for Asia Pacific of KKR, a global investment firm which invested P9.6 billion in the Lopez firm in June to corner 11.9-percent stake through tender offer.

Additionally, First Gen informed the local bourse that it appointed lawyer Mario Luza Bautista, founding partner of Poblador Bautista and Reyes Law Offices, as a senior board adviser at the energy firm.

Another matter discussed in the company’s board meeting was its declaration of cash dividend amounting to P0.28 per share for the company’s outstanding common shares. This will cover stockholders as of record date December 7, 2020 and will be payable on December 22 this year.

First Gen is a leading investor in gas-fired power generation; while its subsidiary Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is a trailblazer not just in the country’s geothermal sector but is also a ranking player in the world.

The energy firm of the Lopez group currently has 3,492 megawatts of installed capacity on its portfolio. First Gen, which is a subsidiary of First Philippine Holdings Corporation, already counts more than 20 years of experience in the development of power projects.

Beyond gas and geothermal, the Lopez group is also a front-runner in investments on other renewable energy technologies – mainly for solar, wind and hydro facilities.

Onward, the company is targeting to pioneer liquefied natural gas (LNG) importation into the country, with its interim offshore LNG terminal (IOT) that is expected to reach commercial operations by the third quarter of 2022.

As indicated by First Gen President and COO Francis Giles B. Puno, the company is already “gaining a lot of positive momentum in developing its LNG platform.” This project, that will have floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) as a key component, is its joint venture with Japanese firm Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. The company just recently awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the IOT project to the Philippine subsidiary of Australian firm McConnell Dowell that had been served with a notice to proceed on construction by fourth quarter of this year.