GT Capital to expand power investments

GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty is keen on expanding its power generation assets by bidding for state-owned assets scheduled for privatization, such as the four power barges outside Luzon and the Unified Leyte geothermal power plant.

Capital Holdings president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said in a recent briefing related to the conglomerate’s stock debut in April that the barges were attractive as these are in areas where the company wants to operate.

Bautista said the GT group was among the 12 bidders currently vying for these power barges. It also wants to participate in the bidding for the 640-megawatt Unified Leyte Geothermal power plant.

The government will split the capacity of this complex so that each winner will get only a 200- or 300-MW share in the capacity, Bautista said.

Bautista said the Philippines offered a lot of room for growth in the power generation business as electricity consumption per capita was low compared with neighbors.

He noted that the P43.6-billion investment in Cebu Energy and Panay Energy by GT Holdings unit Global Business Power and its partners was one of the single biggest investments in the Visayas in recent years.

Bautista noted that Global Business was now a leading power producer in the Visayas with 627MW of combined capacity from its nine power plants.

GT Capital has set the indicative price of its upcoming stock debut at between P415 and P470 per share for an initial public offering size of up to P22.3 billion.