Toledo Power taps P7-B loan facility

Toledo power Co., a subsidiary of the Metrobank Group’s Global Business Power Corp., has tapped a P7-billion loan to fund the ongoing construction of its 82-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Toledo City, Cebu.

In a statement Friday, Toledo Power said its P7-billion loan requirement was 50-percent oversubscribed, a positive indicator of the financing institutions’ confidence in the coal power project. The loan represented 70 percent of the P10.175-billion total project cost. The remaining 30 percent will be funded through equity.

The Omnibus Facility Agreement was signed by a consortium of local financing institutions, namely the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Chinabank, EastWest Bank, Land Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Philam Life, UnionBank and United Coconut Planters Bank.

Lead arranger for the loan was First Metro Investment Corp., while the co-arrangers were BPI Capital Corp., China Banking Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, RCBC Capital Corp., UnionBank of the Philippines and United Coconut Planters Bank. Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Trust and Investments Group acted as the facility agent while Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. Trust Banking Group served as the trustee and paying agent.

The coal project is being put up to supply the additional electric power requirements of Carmen Copper Corp. starting Dec. 26, 2014. Carmen Copper, a subsidiary of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., will need the additional supply to power its mining expansion program.

Toledo Power is currently supplying Carmen Copper with 40 MW of power through its 66-MW coal-fired facility in Daanlungsod, also located in Toledo City.

With the signing of an electricity power purchasing agreement between the two parties in June last year, Toledo Power is now tasked to put up a new 82-MW power facility, to supply an additional 60 MW to Carmen Copper.

This will bring the total capacity to be supplied by Toledo Power to 100 MW by end 2014.

The company has commissioned Formosa Heavy Industries (FHI) to provide the design, engineering, procurement and construction for the new 82-MW facility, which will be using the same clean coal technology used in the existing power facilities of Global Business Power.

Apart from the coal plant, Toledo Power also operates a 40-MW diesel fired power plant in Cebu.

Its parent firm, Global Power, has a power plant in Oriental Mindoro and is one of the leading independent power generators in the Visayas with facilities in Cebu, Iloilo and Aklan. These can generate a total of 633 MW.

It is a member of the GT Capital Group of Companies of which Metrobank is the flagship company.