Vivant eyes P67-B in new energy projects for 2015-18

Listed energy firm Vivant Corporation (Vivant) said Friday it would continue its expansion in the power industry as it eyes P67 billion in new power generation projects in the next three years.

“Vivant is always looking for opportunities to expand its generation portfolio. Starting 2015 up to 2018, the group expects to invest in power generation projects that involve construction of new facilities with total capacity of over 450 MW worth roughly P67 billion. These projects are deemed part of the solution for the worsening power problems in Visayas and Mindanao,” Vivant’s chief operating officer Arlo Sarmiento said in a statement released to media.

”Vivant’s participation will be close to P4-billion which should result to a 51 percent increase in its attributable generation capacity by 2018 as projects are completed,” he added.

Sarmiento said in 2014 alone, Vivant infused more than P1.6-billion in equity investments in its power generation business. These include its acquisition of a 40 percent equity in Minergy Power Corporation (MPC) and 20 percent in Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI).

“MPC is currently constructing a 3 x 55-MW coal-fired power generation facility in Misamis Oriental. Its completion by year-end 2017 should provide a new and stable source of power for Mindanao. TVI, in the meantime, has broken ground on a 300-MW coal-fired power generation facility in Toledo City, Cebu. The project consists of two units, with the first one expected to be completed by end 2017, to be followed by the second unit three months after,” Sarmiento said.

The company continues to explore opportunities to expand and strengthen its core business, which are power generation and electricity distribution. Vivant said this would be done through acquisitions, green and brownfield initiatives or joint venture projects.

By end-2014, the firm’s attributable generation capacity has reached 249 MW, 9 percent higher than 2013 levels.

This increase was due to the completion of the Coron-Busuanga generation facilities of the Calamian Islands Power Corporation (CIPC), 50 percent of which is effectively owned by Vivant through wholly owned subsidiary Vivant Energy Corporation (VEC), and the turnover to VEC of 17 MW “strips energy” from the Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plants (ULGPP).

Sarmiento also reported that Vivant posted P1.3 billion in net profits in 2014, up 34 percent from year ago levels.

Robust growth was fueled by Vivant’s generation business, which contributed P1.1 billion to the group’s bottomline. This was 65 percent higher than the P668 million that the firm’s power generation group earned in 2013.

Meanwhile, Vivant’s distribution business continues to be a stable source of earnings and cash flows with income contribution of P553 million‎. The company has an effective equity stake of 35 percent in the Visayan Electric Company.

Vivant is the publicly-listed holding company of the Garcia-Escano family of Cebu, with investments in the power generation and electricity distribution businesses.