NGCP still up for IPO; preparations ongoing

Sy-led National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is still up for a required initial public offering (IPO) and is undertaking various projects to present the company in top shape when its shares are offered through the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

“When we go on IPO, we would like to present a strong company,” NGCP president Henry Sy Jr. told reporters, “What is important now is to ensure the infrastructure of NGCP is OK, we equip employees with the right tools, and we open new (transmission) corridors.”

NGCP is working on various additional infrastructure and redundancy measures, including the $500-million Leyte-Mindanao Interconnection Plan that will interconnect the Luzon-Visayas grid with the Mindanao grid by 2018.

Such projects are not only meant to accommodate new power capacity but also to ensure continued operation in case a component shuts down during emergency situations.

Section 8 of the Congressional franchise granted to NGCP on July 28, 2008 said the company had to offer to the public at least 20 percent of its outstanding capital stock.

“We were given 10 years to comply with that and I think we still have about six years to do that,” Sy said.

Sy said NGCP also wanted to gain government approval in 2015 for its plans under the coming 2016-2020 regulatory period so that by 2016, the company will be all set with new projects.

“Then maybe we can proceed with the Congressional requirement,” Sy said.

NGCP also wants to settle a proposed prepayment of $1 billion to $2 billion in concession fees to the government through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), which is tasked to privatize power assets.

NGCP, which has a 25-year Congressional franchise to operate the country’s transmission assets, is supposed to pay its concession fees on a staggered basis. However, PSALM wants a prepayment deal to be able to settle the obligations of state-owned National Power Corp., whose assets it now manages. The principal amount was $3.95 billion.

Last year, PSALM president Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said NGCP’s remaining obligations on the concession fees stood at $2.7 billion.