Ayala unit sells stake in Iloilo power project

AC Energy Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Ayala Corp., has sold its stake in a thermal power plant project with A. Brown Company Inc. in Iloilo province, the parent firms said in separate disclosures.

ACEHI sold its 40 percent interest in Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC) and Panay Consolidated Land Holdings Corp. (PCLHC) to joint venture partner Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corp. (PTCHC), a wholly owned unit of A Brown.

With the acquisition, PTCHC is taking over ACEHI’s stake in the 135-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant project in Iloilo, A Brown said.

“ACEHI will be paid its original investment in PCPC and PCLHC,” Ayala Corp. said.

The sale, Ayala said, is a result of ACEHI’s strategic decision “to focus on its other existing power projects imminent in its development pipeline.”

A. Brown said PCPC and PCLHC would continue the project, which broke ground this year.

The coal-fired power plant project, which was launched on Jan. 15, will rise in a 30-hectare property in Barangay Nipa, Concepcion, Iloilo.

The Ayala group earlier bared plans to invest as much as $200 million (roughly P8.2 billion) this year in key power projects in line with a plan to invest $100 million to $200 million of equity every year, from 2012 to 2016.

The Ayala group, through ACEHI, plans to have an energy portfolio of 1,000 megawatts worth roughly $2.5 billion.

The Ayala group has investments in both conventional and renewable energy projects, which it is undertaking with various partners.