George Ty-led GT Capital raises stake in Global Business Power to 51%

MANILA, Philippines—Tycoon George Ty’s GT Capital Holdings Inc. acquired on Wednesday a total of 66.15 million shares of the Global Business Power Corp. (GBPC), worth an estimated P2.32 billion.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, GT Capital said the shares it acquired from the Global Business Holdings Inc., which represented 12 percent of GBPC’s outstanding capital stock, were priced at a fixed P35.13 per share.

This acquisition has raised GT Capital’s direct holdings in GBPC to 51 percent.

GBPC is a joint venture among several companies whose main players are Global Business Holdings Inc. and First Metro Investments Corp., a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and a member of the Metrobank Group of Companies.

At present, GBPC has claimed to be the leading independent power provider in the Visayas, with a combined total capacity of 633 megawatts of power supplied to the Visayas region.

GBPC president Arthur N. Aguilar earlier said the company has been mulling to go public in 2013, upon the firming up of its expansion plans in both Visayas and Mindanao, should there be favorable market conditions by then.

These projects included the proposed 82-megawatt facility in Toledo, Cebu, whose capacity will be fully used by the copper mines of Carmen Copper Corp., a subsidiary of the Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. This project is being undertaken by Toledo Power Corp.

The other project, being undertaken by the Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC), is the expansion of the existing 164-MW coal plant in Iloilo by another 82 MW.

These two proposed power facilities by the GBPC, Aguilar had said, might help address the need for additional capacity in the Visayas grid by 2015 and 2016.

Mindanao, meanwhile, has “always been an interest” for GPBC, which is now eyeing to build its first power facility in the electricity-starved island.

While declining to cite specific details, Aguilar said they have been looking at a greenfield coal-fired power plant, should they decide to push through with the project.