Metrobank group unit invests P5.6B in Visayas power plant expansion

MANILA, Philippines—The First Metro Investment Corp., the investment banking arm of the Metrobank group, is investing an additional P5.59 billion in Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC) to help fuel power plant expansion in the Visayas.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, FMIC said its board had approved the subscription to additional common shares in GBPC, thus bringing to 49 percent its stake in the company from the current 30 percent.

The rest of shares in GBPC are held by other affiliate companies within the Metrobank group.

Based on FMIC’s latest annual report, GBPC had mapped out a fresh investment spending of about $492 million for the power plants expansion in the Visayan region “to address the looming power shortage in the region and provide stable and reliable supply of electricity that will fuel economic growth” in the region.

The expansion projects in the Visayas are targeted on stream by 2014.

At present, GBPC is a leading independent power provider in the Visayas, with a combined total capacity of 633 megawatts of power supplied to the grid from its power plants in Cebu, Iloilo, Oriental Mindoro and Aklan. It is the parent company of the following power plants: GBH Power Resources Inc., Toledo Power Co., Panay Power Corp. and Panay Energy Development Corp. It likewise has an interest in Cebu Energy Development Corp., which is under a consortium where Global Power is a main investor through Global Formosa Power Holdings Inc.