Therma Power prepays $320M in loans

Therma Power Inc. (TPI) has prepaid $320 million in loans drawn from various lenders, according to parent firm AboitizPower Corp.

The total amount was tapped through a facility agreement that was struck on Nov. 24, 2016.

AboitizPower said TPI, the holding firm of the Aboitiz group’s nonrenewable energy interests, used internally generated funds for the prepayment.

Earlier this month, the Ayala and Aboitiz groups said they had financial closing for their joint venture, the second generator of the $1.7-billion GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co.’s (GNPD) supercritical coal-fired power plant in Bataan.

Supercritical power plants are among coal-fired facilities that use “high efficiency, low emission” technologies, which means they harness more heat out of coal compared to conventional coal-fired plants.

Project officials earlier said they intended to borrow up to $1 billion to fund the construction of the first unit, which started last January.

“The estimated cost of the GNPD project is $1.7 billion, with the debt component to be provided by Philippine banks,” the parent firms said in their disclosures.

“The GNPD project will support the increasing electricity demand of Luzon and Visayas. Construction of the first unit is scheduled for completion by 2019, with the second unit scheduled for completion by 2020,” they added.

Both the Ayala group’s AC Energy Holdings Inc. and the Aboitiz’s TPI have a 50-percent economic stake in GNPD, although they also have a third partner in Nauru-based Power Partners Ltd. Co.

Also, they said GNPD signed on Dec. 5 the amended engineering, design, procurement and construction contracts with Shanghai Electric Power Construction Co. and Power Construction Corp. of China Ltd.